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TIMESTAMPS

GAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUSusually called Pliny the Elder to distinguish him fromhis nephew and ward, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, whose collectedcorrespondence has preserved such a vivid picture of Roman life in the time ofTrajanbelonged to a family of wealth and position in the North of Italy. He wasborn at Como in AD 23. After studying at Rome he started whentwenty-three years old on an official career, serving in Germany under L. Pomponius Secundus, and rising to the command of a cavalry squadron. Seven oreight years later he came back to Rome and took up the study of law. During mostof Nero's principate he lived in retirement, but towards the close of it here-entered public life and became Procurator in Spain. He held this post untilVespasian won the principate, when he returned to Rome and was admitted to theEmperor's intimate circle; they had been acquainted in earlier days when at thefront in Germany. He also launched into another field of activity, receiving anaval commission.

Throughout his busy career as a man of action he had kept up a constant practiceof study and authorship. His interest in science finally cost him his life, atthe age of 56. He was in command of the fleet at Misenum on the Bay of Naples inAD 79 when the famous eruption of Vesuvius took place on August 23 and24, overwhelming the little towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Pliny as a man ofscience sailed across the bay to obtain a nearer view; he landed at Stabiae, andthere was killed by poisonous fumes. The circumstances are recorded by hisnephew in a letter to Tacitus (Pliny,Epp. VI. xvi). Vespasian had diedand had been succeeded as Princeps by his son Titus two months before.

Pliny's earlier writings were on subjects suggested by his professionalexperiences,e.g., the use of the javelin by cavalry, a history of theGerman wars, the training of the orator. During his retirement he produced Dubius Sermo, a treatise on grammar, and later a continuation down to hisown time of the history of Rome by Aufidius Bassus; and lastlyNaturalHistory, the largest and most important of his works and the only one thathas survived, although his historical writings on the defence of the Germanfrontier and on the events of his own period were clearly works of value, theloss of which is much to be regretted. The substance of both, however, isdoubtless largely incorporated in the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius, theformer indeed repeatedly citing Pliny as his authority both inAnnals andinHistories.

Natural History is dedicated to Titus, who is referred to in the Preface, § 3, as 'sexies consul'; this dates the completion of the work at A.D.77, two years before the author's death and the accession of Titus. It is anencyclopaedia of astronomy, meteorology, geography, mineralogy, zoology andbotany,i.e. a systematic account of all the material objects that arenot the product of man's manufacture; but among these topics, which are impliedby the title, Pliny inserts considerable essays on human inventions andinstitutions (Book VII), as well as minor digressions on similar subjectsinterspersed in various other parts of the work. He claims in his Preface thatthe work deals with 20,000 matters of importance, drawn from 100 selectedauthors, to whose observations he has added many of his own; some of the latterhe has indicated as they occur, and there are doubtless others not so labelled,but even so they form only a small fraction of the work, which is in the main asecond-hand compilation from the works of others. In selecting from these be hasshown scanty judgement and discrimination, including the false with the true atrandom; his selection is coloured by his love of the marvellous, by his lowestimate of human ability and his consciousness of human wickedness, and by hismistrust of Providence. Moreover his compilations show little methodicalarrangement, and are sometimes unintelligible because he fails to understandhis authority, or else because he gives wrong Latin names to things dealt withby his authorities in Greek.

Nevertheless it is a mistake to underrate the value of his work. He is diligent,accurate, and free from prejudice. Though he had no considerable firsthandknowledge of the sciences and was not himself a systematic observer, he had anaturally scientific mind, and an unaffected and absorbing interest in hissubjects. If he gives as much attention to what is merely curious as to what hasan essential importance, this curiosity has incidentally preserved much valuabledetail, especially as regards the arts; moreover anecdotes that used to berejected by critics as erroneous and even absurd have now in not a few casesbeen corroborated by modern research. The book is valuable as an anthropologicaldocument: it is a storehouse of scattered facts exhibiting the history of man'sreaction to his environment--the gradual growth of accurate observation, ofsystematic nomenclature and of classification,i.e. of NaturalScience.

Pliny's own general attitude towards life, like that of other educated men ofhis day, may be styled a moderate and rational Stoicism.

A vivid account of his authorship written by his nephew may be appended here.The younger Pliny in reply to an enquiry from a friend, a great admirer of hisuncle, gives (Epistles, III, v) a full list of his works, numbering sevenin all and filling 102 libri or volumes. Of these theNaturaehistoriarum (libri) triginta septem is the latest. He calls it (§ 6)opus diffiusum,eruditum,nec minus vermin quam ipsa nature; and he goeson to describe by what means a busy lawyer, engrossed in important affairs andthe friend of princes, contrived to find time for all this authorship (§ 7): 'Hehad a keen intelligence, incredible devotion to study, and a remarkablecapacity for dispensing with sleep. His method was to start during the last weekof August rising by candlelight and long before daybreak, not in order to takeauspices but to study; and in winter he got to work at one or at latest twoa.m., and frequently at 12 p.m. He was indeed a very ready sleeper, sometimesdropping off in the middle of his studies and then waking up again. Before dawnhe used to wait on the Emperor Vespasian, who also worked during the night; andthen he went off to the duty assigned to him. After returning home he gave allthe time that was left to study. Very often after lunchwith him a light andeasily digested meal, as the fashion was in old daysin the summer, if he had noengagements, he used to lie in the sun and have a book read to him, from whichhe made notes and extracts; he read nothing without making extracts fromitindeed he used to say that no book is so bad but that some part of it hasvalue. After this rest in the sun he usually took a cold bath, and then a snackof food and a very short siesta, and then he put in what was virtually a secondday's work, going on with his studies till dinnertime. Over his dinner a bookwas read aloud to him and notes were made, and that at a rapid pace. I rememberthat one of his friends, when the reader had rendered a passage badly, calledhim back and had it repeated; but my uncle said to him, "Surely you got thesense? and on his nodding assent continued, Then what did you call him back for?This interruption of yours has cost us ten more lines!" Such was his economy oftime. He used to leave the dinner table before sunset in summer and less than anhour after it in winterthis rule had with him the force of law. These were hishabits when in the thick of his engagements and amid the turmoil of town. Invacation, only the time of the bath was exempted from study; and when I say thebath I mean the more central portions of that ritual, for while he was beingshampooed and rubbed down he used to have something read to him or to dictate.On a journey he seemed to throw aside all other interests and used theopportunity for study only: he had a secretary at his elbow with book andtablets, his hands in winter protected by mittens so that even the inclemencyof the weather might not steal any time from his studies; and with this objecthe used to go about in a chair even in Rome. Once I remember his pulling me upfor going somewhere on foot, saying "You need not have wasted those hours! hethought all time not spent in study wasted. This resolute application enabledhim to get through all those volumes, and he bequeathed to me 160 sets of noteson selected books, written on both sides of the paper in an extremely smallhand, a method that multiplies this number of volumes! He used to tell howduring his Lieutenant-governorship in Spain he had an offer of £3,500 for thesenotes, and at that date they were considerably fewer in number.'

A large number of MS. copies of Pliny'sNatural History have beenpreserved; the oldest date back to the 9th or possibly the 8th century A.D.Attempts have been made by scholars to class them in order of merit, but itcannot be said that even those that appear to be comparatively more correctcarry any paramount authority, or indeed show much agreement on doubtfulpoints, while the mass of scientific detail and terminology and the quantity ofcurious and unfamiliar erudition that the book contains has necessarily affordednumerous opportunities for copyists' errors and for the conjectural emendationof the learned. Many of the textual problems raised are manifestly insoluble.Only a few variants of special interest are given in this edition.

Many editions have been printed, beginning with that published by Spira atVenice, 1469, an edition by Beroaldus published at Parma, 1476, and that ofPalmarius at Venice, 1499. Commentaries start withHermolai BarbariCastigatianes Plinianae, Romae, 1492, 3.

The text of the present edition is printed from that of Detlefsen, Berlin, 1866;it has been checked by the Teubner edition of Ludwig von Jan re-edited by KarlMayhoff in two volumes, 1905, 1909 (Volume I reissued 1933), which is admirablyequipped with textual notes.

Useful are the commentary by C. Brotier inusum Delphini (1826);Pliny: Chapters on the Hist. of Art by K. Jex-Blake and B. Sellers (1896)and more recentlyPliny's Chapters on Chemical Subjects by K. C. Bailey(1929); and D. J. Campbell's commentary on Book II (1936).

The chief diseases in Pliny's day were those of the chest, skin and eyes,together with the various forms, intermittent or remittent, of malaria (ague).The ordinary infectious feverssmallpox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria,enteric, influenzawere apparently unknown. Luteric is doubtful, because it isso like certain types of remittent malaria, which was very prevalent, that onlythe microscope can distinguish between them. Plague (pestis,pestilentia)often appeared in epidemic form, and, when not malignant malaria, wasprobably typhus or bubonic plague. The main difficulty met when attempting tofind modern equivalents for ancient diseases is due to the old method ofdiagnosis, that is, by general symptoms. Two cases superficially alike wereusually called by the same name. Many things besides gout were included underpodagra, many besides leprosy underlepra, many besides cancer undercarcinoma.

Eye diseases.The same overlapping of meanings, which makes sodifficult the accurate identification of ancient descriptions of disease, meetsas again when we come to complaints of the eyes. These were very common, becausedust was everywhere, and hygienic rules for keeping it uncontaminated wereunknown. Moreover, there were no mechanical aids, such as spectacles. Plinymentionsaegilops,albugo,argema,caligo,epinydis,epiphora,glaucoma,hypochgsis,inflammatio,lippitudo, nubeculae,nyctalops,prurigo,pterygium,scabritia,suffusio, as well as other disorders, nervous or functional. Someof these names, laying stress on a prominent symptom, which is common to morethan one eye trouble, cannot be safely assigned to any particular moderndisease, but a few identifications are fairly certain.

It will be seen that often a Latin name can be associated only with a symptom orsymptoms. Moreover, Pliny's nomenclature does not altogether coincide with thatof Celsus, so that the invaluable aid of the latter is not always available.

Abscesses are called by various names, such ascarbunculus,collectio,furunculus,panus,parotis,tumor. Theparotis received its name fromits position by the ear, thepanus was a superficial abscess in a hairfollicle (Spencer on Celsus V. 18, 19), and the others probably denotedvariations in size or severity.

There is much confusion in the use of Latin terms to denote conditions due tomortification and putrefaction of the tissues. We have the termscancer,carcinoma,erysipeias,ignis sacer,phagedaena, and Pliny's favourite wordulcera, very often qualified by an adjective or participle likevetera,manantia, putrescentia, serpentia. On the other hand there are the moderntermssepsis,erysipelas,lupus,shingles,gangrene,cancer. Identifications areoften difficult, or even impossible, and the medical historian, faced with theLatin names, can do little more than make probable guesses.

Pliny does not use the worderysipelas, butignis sacer, and thismay sometimes refer tolupus or toshingles (XXVI. §121).Phagedaena iscertainly gangrene, and so perhaps areulcera serpentia orputrescentia. Superficial malignant disease would be included undercarcinoma, but neither Celsus nor Pliny says anything about internal cancer,though this was known to Hippocrates (Aphorisms VI. 38).

Podagra presents a problem to the translator. "Gout" is really too narrowan equivalent, forpodagra andchiragra were used of any pain inthe joints of the feet and hands. Usually, however, our gout is meant, unlessDr. Spencer is right when he says (Celsus I. 464) that chronic lead poisoning,which presents the symptoms of gout, may have been common at Rome owing to theextensive use of lead water-pipes.

Two terms are very troublesome to the translatoropisthotonus andorthopnoea, and a third,angina, is almost equally so. The diseases concerned are discussed by Celsus in IV. 6, 1, IV. 8, 1 and IV. 7, 1. These are translated by Dr. W. G. Spencer as follows:

According to Jan's Index,opisthotonus occurs in Pliny 24 times,tetanus 9 times, andemprosthotonus not at all. According to the sameIndex,dyspnoea is mentioned 4 times,asthma twice,orthopnoea28 times, andsuspiriosi (not apparently in Celsus) 34 times.

The first reaction of a. reader is to infer that Pliny was lax in his use ofthese terms, as Celsus says some people were in their use of the terms for thevarious forms of tetanus. But Pliny is not an original authority; he is merely anote-taker, borrowing his technical terms from other writers, whether Greek orRoman. The laxity (if laxity there is) is not Pliny's, but that of his sources.It is possible thatsuspiriosus is a word which was in general use, andnot a technical term of the physicians. With the Latin text before his eyes, thereader should not be confused if I translateopisthotonus by "opisthotonictetanus," and any of the breathing complaints "asthma."

It is curious that Pliny makes so few references to the common cold.Gravedo,according to Jan's Index, occurs 4 times, anddestillatio 17times. Of these some,e.g. XX. 122, refer to catarrh, not of the throatand nose, but of the stomach. It may be that in ancient times catarrhs were lesstroublesome than today, if not absolutely at least in comparison with otherminor ailments.

The medical historian feels more confident when discussing the meaning offebris. This is sometimes just the symptom, high temperature, as we oftencall it, that accompanies so many serious illnesses. It can also denote, not amere symptom, but a disease, and then it is almost always malaria that is meant.As has been said, the common infectious fevers of modern times cannot beidentified with any described by the ancient medical writers, but malaria can bediagnosed with ease and certainty, owing to its periodicity, its habitat, itsseasonal epidemics, and its effect upon the spleen.

There were also, besides these impenitent fevers, remittent or sub continuousforms, which were much more serious. Pliny does not mention the καύσος andήμιτριταίος which Hippocrates and Galen deal with so fully, but he often speaksof two other dangerous forms,phrenitis andlethargus, the formercharacterised by wild delirium, the latter by heavy coma. As we should expect,the terms are often used to describe, not the disease, but its characteristicsymptom, even when that was not due to pernicious malaria.

Malaria is most common in marshy places, and is epidemic in summer and autumn.One of its usualsequelae is an enlarged spleen, which is not so often heard ofin countries free from malaria. As the ancients thought that malaria was causedby black bile (μέλαινα χολή), μελαγχολία and μελαγχολικός were often used todescribe the depressed mental condition that tends to accompany or to follow it.Pliny refers tomelanchlolici about a dozen times, but we cannot becertain that he is speaking of malarial melancholia, and not of chronicbiliousness.

The remedies mentioned in Pliny's prescriptions are chiefly herbal, and thechemicals used are mostly for external application. Writing for laymen, he isconcerned almost entirely with what may be called home medicines, but the numberof these is enormous. The simple, often superstitious, remedies of thecountryside were at an early date prepared for town dwellers by druggists (φαρμακοπώλαι),who are referred to by Aristophanes [Clouds 767. These druggists had their"sidelines," dyes, poisons and probably charms.] and other writers,although the contemporary physicians of the Hippocratic school made little useof drugs, relying on regimen and thevis naturae medicatrix tobring about cure. By the time of Pliny, however, the use of drugs was much morein favour with professional physicians, and very common indeed among the amateurdoctors who treated themselves and their families when they fell sick. Sometimesmodern medicine approves of the prescriptions given in theNatural History,but for the most part they are of little or no value, and occasionally evendangerous. Amulets and other charms, often mentioned, were evidently popular,but Pliny himself seems on the whole to be noncommittal as to their efficacy,although he condemns magic in the first chapters of Book XXX.

This faith in drugs and charms may be, at least in part, due to the probableincreased prevalence of malaria in the first century A.D. Ancientmedicine was powerless against it, and its victims betook themselves to drugs,at the same time developing a timid inferiority complex with regard to thepredisposing causeschill, exposure and fatigue. Among theMoralia ofPlutarch is an essay on keeping well (de sanitate tuenda praecepta).It consists chiefly of rules for avoiding "fever" by abstaining from excessor strain of all kinds. In fact it seems as though the old Greek cult ofphysical fitness and beautyfor there was a science of health as well as ofhealinghad been replaced by something very near to valetudinarianism.

There is at least one ingredient of the Plinian remedies that must have been ofgreat value. Honey appears again and again in both potions and externalapplications, full use being made of its healing powers. The superseding ofhoney by sugar has been by no means an unmixed blessing.

The identification of plants mentioned in theNatural History is adifficult matter. Pliny was not a botanist, but derived his information frombooks, which were often read aloud to him while he took notes, and not studiedat leisure. Naturally he made mistakes due to misunderstandings. Pliny'sauthorities again were sometimes inadequate or confused or even wrong. Inaddition to the difficulties caused by positive error, there is also anotherone due to the fact that the same name was often given to more than one plant,and the same plant was often called by more than one name. Accordingly even atrained botanist hesitates at times to give with any confidence the modernequivalent of an ancient name in some particular context. Sometimes, of course,there is no reasonable doubt;rosa is rose, andcepa onion. Often,however, even when certain that a Latin or Greek name is generally equivalent toan English one, the botanist is not sure that a variety included by Pliny, orTheophrastus, under the former should also be included under the latter. Thedegree of doubt may vary from a moral certainty to a slight suspicion. Typicaldifficulties are those facing the translator when he has to render into Englishasparagus,hyacinthus andstrychnos. To keep the Latin name alwayswould be consistent, but cumbersome and pedantic. It seems better to give theEnglish name when the risk of error is slight, but to keep the Latin when therisk is great. An index of plants, with probable or possible identifications,should give most readers the information they require. But some inconsistenciesand uncertainties are inevitable.

The resemblance of certain passages in theMateria Medica of Dioscoridesto parts of the botanical books of Plinyeven to some parts outside thesebooksis so striking that there must be a close relation between them. Scholarswithout hesitation use the Greek text when passing judgment on the readings oremendations of the manuscripts of Pliny. Many times it is clear that Plinyeither saw (or heard read) Greek identical, or almost so, with our Dioscorides,but blundered badly in translating his authority. Among the cases of suchblundering mentioned in the footnotes to this volume there is a striking examplein XXIII. §7, where Pliny hascicatricibus marcidis, ossibus puruleatelimosis, but the text of Dioscorides reads (V. 5): πρός ... οΰλα πλαδαρά,ώτα πυορροούντα. Here are confused οΰλα (gums) and ούλή (scar),and (unless with some editors we readauribus for theossibus ofthe manuscripts) ώτα and όστα.

Now Pliny does not include Dioscorides among his authorities. Is this anaccidental omission? Pliny's pride in acknowledging the sources from which hederived his information makes this an almost impossible explanation of therelationship between the two authors. It is even more unlikely that Dioscoridescopied Pliny; the discrepancies, for one thing, are obviously the result of amisunderstanding of Greek, not of Latin.

There remains a third possibility. Both authors may have a common source, fromwhich each made large borrowings. It is thought that this common source may havebeen Crateuas, of the first century BC, a famous herbalist (ριζοτόμος) mentionedby both Pliny and Dioscorides. There is an interesting (and genuine) fragment ofCrateuas that can fortunately be compared with Dioscorides II. 176 and PlinyXXI. §164 [See the German translation of Dioscorides by J. Berendes (Stuttgart,1902), p. 8. See also Wellmann,Dioscorides Vol. III. pp. 144-48,especially fl. 4 of Crateuas on P. 144.]. Several phrases in Crateuas areexactly, or almost exactly, the same as the corresponding phrases in Dioscorides, so that it is certain that the latter made full use of the materialcollected by the former. It may be that Pliny, too, read Crateuas, but he is notas close to Crateuas as is Dioscorides in the passage under consideration, sothat some hold that Pliny got most of his information from one Sextius Niger,who, as Pliny tells us, wrote in Greek. A yet earlier physician and herbalist,Diodes of Carystos, may be the original source of all the later writers onmateriamedica. Speculation on such a point is useless, but our knowledge issufficient to show that Pliny had access to writings so similar to the work of Dioscorides that the resemblances between the two authors can be explainedwithout supposing that Pliny was a deceitful plagiarist.

The early history of the Magi is obscure, although modem research [Seee.g.the article in Pauly s.v.magoi, and that in Hastings'Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. See also the admirable summary in Howand Wells'Commentary on Herodotus Vol. I. Appendix viii, pp.407-10, and a most interesting note by A. D. Nock in The Beginnings ofChristianity, Part I, by Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake, pp. 164-88. Thewriter considers Apion to be Pliny's authority.] has done much to put themain outlines into clear relief. Originally they were a local tribe of theMedes, who became a priestly caste, thus presenting a curious parallel to thetribe of Levi among the Hebrews. Greek tradition had it that the Magian religionwas introduced among the Persians by Cyrus, and there is nothing improbable inthis belief. It certainly contained much esoteric knowledge and priestcraft, butwhether any "magic" was employed is a matter of dispute; a fragment of Aristotle[Fr. 36] expressly denies it, but Herodotus [See e.g. VII.191.] speaks of Magian incantations. This narrow denotation of Magi wasgradually widened, resulting finally in the use of the word "magician."

By the beginning of the first century AD. the word had gone halfway onits journey. The Magi could be "wise men from the East," [SeeMatthew II. 1,2.] and Cicero speaks of them as "wise and learned men among the Persians," [DeDiv. I. 23, 46 and I. 41, 90. Cf. Juvenal III. 77.] butOvid [Metamorphoses VII. 195.] mentionscantusque artesque magarum,that is, witches' spells and incantations.

Pliny devotes the first eighteen sections of his thirtieth book to aconsideration of the Magi. His account of their origin is true in its outlines,though combined with much obvious fable. He speaks of their art as springingfrommedicina, reinforced byreligio andartes mathematicae.[XXX. §1; by the last (artes mathematicae) is meantastrology.] Some of the Magian methods are given in XXVIII. §104 (luceruis,peivi, aqaa, pila) and at slightly greater length in XXX. §14 (aqua, sphaeris, aere, sinus, lucernis, pelvihus, securibus); they arecuriously suggestive of modern fortune-telling. It does not surprise us that inseveral places Pliny speaks ofMagian vanitas, so large was the elementof witchcraft and sorcery.

By the time of Pliny, however, the word Magus had lost much of its associationwith the East. This is well illustrated by a sentence in XVI. §249:nihilhabent Druidaeita suos appellant magosvisco et arbore in qua gignatur, si modosit robur, sacratius. Mayhoff has here a small "m," as though to mark thatthe word in this context is not a proper, but a common noun. Moreover, in §11 ofBook XXX Pliny speaks of a magices factio a Mose et Ianne et Lotape acIudaeis pendens, words suggesting thatmagice in the first century ADincluded much that would be called today thaumaturgy. Incidentally, it maybe noticed that in ancient times conjuring was not yet distinguished from "blackmagic." It is easier now to separate honest deception from dishonest; in ancienttimes they were hopelessly confused, as were also legitimate "suggestion" andwitchcraft. A sceptical mind would regard allmagice as fraud, asuperstitious mind would accept it all as truly miraculous, and ordinary menwere puzzled and uncertain. We can be sure, however, that on the whole credulityoutweighed scepticism, as it did until the commonplaces of modern scienceleavened the popular mind. Witches are no longer burned alive, and those whoentertain superstitious beliefs are laughed at. Unless we remember thisdifference between ancient and modern times we cannot fully appreciate thealmost venomous attack of Lucretius onreligio.

Pliny's mind was of a very ordinary type, and shows much of the uncertainty theordinary man used to feel with regard to the arts of the Magi. He speaks oftheirvanitas andfraudes, but nevertheless gives details of theirprescriptions and amulets, over sixty of them, in contexts dealing with everydayremedies and medicines. Perhaps the most interesting example of this uncertainattitude occurs in XXVIII. §85.id quoque convenit, quo nihil equidemlibentius crediderim, iactis omnino menstruo postibus inritas fieriMagorum artes, generis vanissimi. Pliny would "like to believe" that bymerely smearing the door-posts the arts of the Magi, "those arrant quacks,"would be "made of no effect." The Magi were agenus vanissimum, and yetit would be a good thing to render theirartes harmless! Anarswhich is notinrita, but must be made so, can scarcely bevanissima.In several other passages Pliny expresses his strong disapproval of Magism,which he thus dislikes, distrusts, and yet fears.

Pliny, while often giving the size of a dose, very rarely tell us the number ofthe doses or the interval between each.

The rising of the Pleiades (10 May) marked the beginning of summer. Theirsetting (11 Nov.) marked the beginning of winter. See II. §123, 125 and XVIII.§222, 223, 225, 248, 309, 313. The rising of Arcturus was "eleven days beforethe autumnal equinox " (II. §124), the setting was on 13 May (VIII. § 187).

There are, besides these, one or two subsidiary authorities, for which see Mayhoff vol. III. pp. viii-xii.In the critical notes "codd." signifies that all, or very nearly all, themanuscripts have the reading justgiven; "vulg." the text of the oldest editions.

For Book XX the chief MSS. are FdE, with help from V from §186, and from G(§§162-86). For XXI the MSS. are VGdRE to §161, where E has a gap, and x begins.For XXII we have VdxR to § 65, VdRE to §71, VGdRE to §135, VdRE to §144 and VdEto the end. For XXIII we rely on V, d and B. For Book XX particularly,but also for some other parts of Pliny, the textual critic is helped byDioscorides and Theophrastus, but most of all by theMedicina ofGargilius Martialis, published, with a book of prescriptions attributed toPlinius Iunior (Secundus), by Valentin Rose in 1875. Both are taken largely fromtheNatural History, or perhaps from its original sources, thus affordingevidence that is independent of our MSS. Unfortunately, the prescriptions arenot verbal quotations, but paraphrases or summaries, given without naming thesources. Rose's edition was the first to be published, and Detlefsen could makeno use of it; Mayhoff tends to attach too much importance to both Plinius Iuniorand Gargilius. The first sentence of the former is worth quoting, both becauseit explains why laymen in antiquity were seriously interested in medicine, andalso because it presents some curious parallels to modern patentmedicines. "Frequenter mihi in peregrinationibus accidit ut aut propter meam antpropter meorum infirmitatem varias fraudes medicorum experiscerer,' [Sic,with a v.l.experirer.]quibusdam vilissima remedia ingentibuspretiis veñdentibus, allis ea quae curare nesciebant cupiditatis causasuscipientibus."

The valueof such excerptors from Pliny for the reconstruction of the text is stressed byD. J. Campbell inClassical Quarterly for 1932, pp. 116-19. See also L.Thorndike,Epitomes of Pliny's Natural History in the fifteenth century,inIsis 26 (1936, 7).

Hermolaus Barbarus,Castigationes Plinianae, Rome, 1492.
*Hardouin, Paris, 1685.
Fee, A. L. A.,Histoire Naturelle de Pline, 1826.
*Delphin Classics, London, 1826 (founded on G. Brotier).
M. Littré,Histoire Naturelle de Pline . . . avec traduction,Paris, 1850.
*Sillig, K. J., Hamburg and Gotha, 1851-8.
Urlichs, K. L.,Viudiciae Pliniauae, Gryphiae, 1853.
*Jan, L. von (Teubner), 1854-65.
*Detlefsen, D., Berlin, 1868.
Wittstein, G. C.,Die Naturgeschichte des Cajus Plinius Secundus,Leipzig, 1881.
Muller, J.,Der Stil des Etlteren Plinius, Innsbruck, 1883.
*Mayhoff, C., Teubner edition, vols. III and IV, Leipzig, 1892.

Dioscorides,de materia medica, ed. M. Wellmann, Berlin, 1907.
Theopbrastus, Loeb edition, by Sir Arthur Hort, London, 1916.
Wethered, H. N., The Mind of the Ancient World, London, 1937.

N Nonantulanus (Sessorianus)5th or 6th century, a palimpsest, now in Rome, once in a Benedictine Monasteryat Nonantula, near Modena.

"Codd." in the apparatus criticus is usually the same as Mayhoff'sll.,i.e., a consensus of VR(r)dE, sometimes only a consensusof several MSS. of the more reliable kind. Vulg. = thetextus receptus of the early editions. Of FTx Mayhoff says: "lectionesita tantum adnotatae sunt, ut e silentio nillit concludendum sit."

As to the value of these MSS., I have generally followed Mayhoff. The methodadopted in fixing the text has been to accept as correct the parts whereDetlefsen and Mayhoff agree, except in a few places where internal evidence orthe text of Dioscorides pointed to another reading. Where these two editorsdiffer I have tried to choose the likelier of the two readings. If I felt thatneither alternative could be accepted, I have sometimes ventured on anemendation suggested by a friend or thought out by myself, but never, I hope,where a reasonable reading is found in at least one MS. of fair authority. Sucha method as this would be unsafe were it not for the fact that Mayhoff'sapparatus criticus is both full and trustworthy.

Although one who has not collated, or at least personally examined, the MSS. inMayhoff's apparatus, cannot claim to appreciate fully their relativeimportance, yet he must acquire, as he studies their various readings, someconception of the weight to be attached to them. Such a critic, however, shouldexercise even greater caution than the critic fully equipped for his task. Forhis judgment, however great his knowledge is of Plinian usage, of the parallelpassages in Theophrastus and Dioscorides, and of the principles of textualcriticism, is certain to be influenced unduly by the subjective element in hisreasoning. A translator, however, although he would prefer to spend all his timeand care on his proper task of translating, is sometimes compelled to defend anew reading or suggest an emendation, because in his opinion such a course isrequired by the sense of the passage. But the extra caution necessary in thesecases has made me refrain from mentioning some emendations of my own that Ithought possible or even likely. It is, moreover, often forgotten that anancient authorand this perhaps applies especially to Plinymay himself havemade mistakes, even bad ones, that escaped the notice of his corrector,if he had one.

THERE are in Pliny few words more perplexing thanpinguis when applied toleaves. Forcellini says "pinguia folia: crassa et veluti carnosa." Pliny,however, uses it to translate λιπαρός, which is very common inDioscorides, and is rendered by fort "glossy" (leaves) in his edition ofTheophrastus.

It is therefore tempting to use "glossy" to translate Pliny'spinguis(and the λιπαρός of Dioscorides) on all occasions, but there aredifficulties. The latter has (IV 170): κλώνας λιπαρούς, and "glossytwigs" seems unlikely; while Pliny in XXV § 124 speaks ofradicibus pinguuis,which is surely "juicy roots." It would appear that "juicy" is at least apossible translation ofpinguis, especially as Pliny often speaks ofleaves having asucus. Examples are:sucus foliorum (XXIV § 47 and131);folds erprimitur sucus (XXIV § 70);fit et folds sucus (XXIV§ 109);sucus fronde (XXV § 68).

The claims of "fleshy" have to be considered. On the face of it, perhaps, it isa more natural epithet for leaves than either "glossy" or "juicy," and it is theonly meaning given by Forcellini. Against the rendering must be put the frequentuse of σαρκώδης by our Greek authorities in this sense, often in closeconjunction with λιπαρός.

In Pliny XXV §161 occurs a phrase which seems at first sight to settle thematter. He speaks ofJolla ... carnosa, pinguia, [Littretranslatespinguia (into the French) "grasses" Bostock and Riley"unctuous."]larga suco. Does this mean "fleshy, glossy,juicy leaves"? The last two epithets, however, may be connected, which wouldgive the sense: "rich with copious juice." This is perhaps unlikely, but cannotbe ruled out as impossible. The parallel passage in Dioscorides (IV 88, 89)does not help in deciding the question.

Hort may be right in translating λιπαρός by "glossy," but what did Plinytake it to mean when applied to leaves? A consideration of all the pertinentpassages suggests a combination of "glossy" and "fleshy,"i.e., not necessarilylarge, but "sleek and plump." Perhaps, if a single word must be chosen to renderpinguis whenever it occurs, which gets as near to Pliny's idea of themeaning as the English language will permit. But unfortunately modem botanistsare opposed to this rendering.

It may seem that the best course would be to identify the leaf referred to, andto vary the translation to suit the actual facts. Botanists, however, point out(1) that identification is often uncertain; (2) that we may know the genus, butnot the species of the plant mentioned, and (3) that a leaf is often both fleshyand glossy.

On the whole, perhaps "fleshy" is the best translation, except in cases whereanother rendering is obviously desirable.

Words signifying colours are very troublesome in the botanical parts of Pliny;niger, candidus, albus, parpurens, bewilder the translator nearly everytime they occur.

I have used "black" and "white" unless there is something in the context thatmakes "dark" and "light" more appropriate; the comparativenigrior, forinstance, is more likely to be "darker" than "blacker" when applied to leaves orstalks.

Pliny has quite a long section (IX, 124-141) dealing withpurpura. It isplain from this that the colour referred to was usually a deep red tinged withmore or less blue, our "purple" in fact, the most esteemed variety being likeclotted blood. There were many shades of it, a common one being bright red.

The wordpurpureus covered a very wide range of meanings; Pliny appliesit to the violet (XXI, 64), to plums (XX, 41), to figs (XV, 69) and to lettuce(probably a form of headed lettuce) (XIX, 126). The last suggests our "brown cos"and "continuity." In books XX-XXVII Pliny is mostly translating Greek, and πορφύρεος seems to be a somewhat wider term thanpurpureus, which isPliny's equivalent. To these elements of uncertainty must be added thepossibility that flowers may have varied their shades in the last two thousandyears, so that modern plants are not an infallible guide.

On the whole it seems best to keep "purple" (Littré has regularly "pourpre")unless the context shows that such a rendering is impossible or absurd.

Vero in Pliny is often neither intensive nor adversative, neither"indeed" nor "however," but almost a mere connective particle equivalent toitem. Sometimes, but by no means always, it introduces a climax. Usually,however, a slight, generally a very slight, adversative force remains, and Ihave always tried "however" and "indeed" before falling back on a purelyconnective word.

0leum, translated "oil," was usually, perhaps always, olive oil. Whenanother kind of oil is indicated an epithet is added.

The Latin names of plants have been kept unless to do so would be absurd; Iwrite for instancesideritis andageraton, but "rose" and"plantain." In other words, English names are used only when they are familiarand also correct identifications. The Index of Plants should clearup most of the difficulties that may occur.

THE text printed in this edition is largely identical with Mayhoff's, butdiffers from it in some 120 instances. Sometimes a different reading has beenpreferred, particularly if it improves the sense; and not infrequently Mayhoff'semendations have been rejected as superfluous or unsuitable. Several passagesomitted or bracketed by Mayhoff as interpolations have been allowed to stand inthe text. In this respect, Mayhoff appears to attach too much importance to B,which in spite of its superiority is sometimes careless or facile. He does not,however, refrain from curtailing even B. The present text is more conservativethan Mavhoff's, and so conforms to recent tendencies. Nevertheless, some newreadings have been offered in passages which seem to invite or demand a remedy.

The difficulty of identifying the stones mentioned by classical authors is wellknown. Nomenclature in itself is often misleading. In Pliny, for example,chrysoprasus is not chrysoprase, nor istoparus topaz orsappltirussapphire.Basanites (v.1. basaltes) is probably never basalt.Smaragdas includes many stones that are not emeralds, andcarbanculussome that may not be carbuneles.Iaspis embraces many stones that are notjaspers, while of genuine jaspers it includes at the most the green variety. Forreasons such as these, Latin names of stones have usually been retained in thetranslation.

Interpretation is rendered even more difficult by Pliny's lax use ofcertain terms.

A perplexing word ispinguis and its derivatives (see Vol. VII, pp.xi-xii). In XXXVII. 66pingui seems to mean 'rich' (in colour); in 69 and70pinguiter andpingues should mean 'massively,' 'massive'; in105pinguitudo must mean 'greasy appearance' (cf. III 94pingues),while in 115pingui is 'dull.'

Again in XXXVII. 79crassitudine might be 'opacity,' but is probably just'thickness,' whereas in 106crassiores is 'opaque,' but crassius(withnitent) should mean 'with a duller lustre.' In 21crassitudineis translated as 'bulk.'

Nitor andfulgor can be puzzling. Although both usually refer tolustre, they are sometimes used of brilliance in colour, as in XXXVII. 129 (nitor),and in 121, 125 and 156 (fuigor).

In XXXVI. 161, we are told thatlapis specularis (selenite) is formedwhen a liquid is frozen and petrified 'by an exhalation in the earth' (Qerraequudorn anima). In the first three books of theMeteorologicaAristotle describes the characteristics and manifestations of two exhalations (άναθυμιάσεις),one of which is dry, smoky and potentially fiery, while the other is moist,cool and potentially frosty (for it forms hoar-frost, 347a 12 ff.). At the endof the third book Aristotle describes the effects produced by the twoexhalations when they are trapped underground. Under these conditions, thecool, moist exhalation, to which Pliny refers in the present passage, producesmetals (378a 26 ff.), certainly as their material cause and probably (thoughthis is not explicitly stated) as their effective cause as well.

Aristotle does not mention the formation and hardening of stones by thecool exhalation, but that such an idea eventually arose in the Lyceum is notimprobable. For again at the end ofMeteorologica III (378a 21 ff.) hestates that the dry exhalation produces by combustion (έκπυρούσο) not onlycoloured earths, but also stones that cannot be fused, only to show later inMeteorologica IV (388b 26 ff.) that infusible stones can be produced also bycooling. This fact seems to have been accepted by Theophrastus, who asserts(de Lap. 3) that it is possible for some stones to be produced by heating orby cooling. He cautiously refrains from ascribing any particular stones to thelatter process. Nor did he know ofselenite, unless by chance he includes itunder γύψος. Pliny's statement clearly originated with a later and more dogmaticthinker. It is preceded by a reference to Spain which immediately calls to mindthe Stoic philosopher Posidonius (c. 135-50 BC), who studied Spanish mines(Strabo III. 2, 4) and who was keenly interested in the formation of stones, asis shown by a passage of Diodorus Siculus (II. 52, 1-4), which is probablyderived from him. Seneca (N.Q. II. 54, 1) confirms that the two exhalationsplayed a part in the physical theories of Posidonius. [For Diodorus and Seneca,see K. Reinhardt,Poseidonius, pp. 132-33, 172, where Reinhardt'scomments do not seem to have been questioned in the controversies aroused by hisbook.]

The dry exhalation is at work in forming stones in XXXVII. 21, where Plinyrecords the view thatmyrrhine is a liquid compacted underground by heat (umoremsub terra putanl calore densari: in XXXVII. 48 the dry exhalation is calledmore preciselycaloris anima). Aristotle, as we have seen, ascribed theformation of infusible stones and coloured earths to the dry exhalation, andTheophrastus mentions it explicitly in connection with coloured earths (deLap. 50). Obviously both of them regarded the dry exhalation as a hardeningand as a colouring agent. Whether they extended its colouring activities tobrightly coloured gems and gem-like stones we cannot tell: there is no reasonwhy they should not have done so, although the cautious Theophrastus might wellhave refused to commit himself. Posidonius was bolder, if we can trust theevidence of Diodorus in the passage already cited (II. 52, 1-4). Here thebrilliantly coloured gemstones of India and neighbouring countries areenvisaged as very pure rock-crystal compacted not by cold but by fire and'tinted in many colours by an exhalation' (βαφήναι δέ πολυμόρφως άναθυμιάσειπνεύματος), which is especially strong in these regions. Diodorus doesnot mention myrrhine (fluor-spar), which during the greater part of Posidonius'lifetime was probably still a rarity in the western world, but Juba orXenocrates or whoever was responsible for the view expressed by Pliny seems tohave been influenced by the general theory of Posidonius, a theory which Pliny,had he cared to do so, might have applied widely to many brightly colouredstones. Pliny, however, was not greatly interested in such speculations. [He mayalso have been sceptical: his statement concerning the formation ofrock-crystal (XXXVII. 23) is followed bycerte, 'at any rate.' However,his view as to the formation of selenite leaves him with no doubts whatsoever (manifesto apperet, XXXVL 161) because observation seems to support it.] Heintroduces them only incidentally as isolated curiosities. In this instance hehappens to have used a source which reflects an interest in the true nature ofmyrrhine. In general, when he is discussing stones, he is largely concerned withmoral, practical and historical considerations, and does not fail to mention,however scornfully, the supposed magical properties of gemlike stones whichclaimed the attention of writers such as Sotacus from the 3rd century b.c.onwards.

Another passage which may ultimately owe something to Posidonius is XXXVII. 23,where rock-crystal is said to have been compacted by intense frost. [Readingconcretum forconcreto. Unless Pliny has misunderstood the idea, hemust mean that the frost is the hardening agent, not the materialthat is subjected to hardening, for this latter is aumor (XXXVII. 26).Both Diodorus (l.c.) and Seneca (N.Q. III. 25, 10) agree that 'cold' is theeffective cause of ordinary rock-crystal. Withgelu vehementioreconcretum compare Seneca's phraselongioris frigorispertinacia spissatur.] This, however, was a common ideabecause κρύσταλλος means both ice and crystal, and the theme must have beenfrequently discussed, as is clear from the number of authorities cited by Pliny.In the Alps at least, rock-crystal was, it seems, thought to occur at or nearthe surface (XXXVII. 27). Hence the effective cause would be not the coolexhalation trapped underground, but the cold air above ground. That this topicinterested Posidonius is suggested by a passage in Seneca (N.Q. III. 25,10), which may well have been derived from him.

Seneca inthis passage confronts us with a fresh point. He describes the material ofrock-crystal as 'rain water containing a very little earthy matter' (aqua caelestis minimum in se terreni habens). Pliny, however, callslapis specularis and myrrhine in their original state simply 'a liquid' (umor)and rock-crystalcaelestis umor(XXXVII. 26). Similarly Diodorusstates that the rock-crystals which are tinted by an exhalation are of 'purewater' (έξ ΰδατος καθαρού). We may suspect that Seneca'sdescription is the more accurate, and that Diodorus and Pliny (or Pliny'sauthorities) are speaking loosely. A similarly loose use of language occursalready in Theophrastus, who in the first sentence of his bookde Lapidibusstates that all stones, including the more uncommon kinds (i.e.,gemstones), are of earth, and later (de Lap. 27) describes a stonethat was partly asmaragdus and partly aniaspis, 'as though thetransformation from water (έξ ΰδατος) was not yet complete.' Pliny in hisrendering (XXXVII. 75) translates έξ ΰδατος asumore. We can hardlysuppose that Theophrastus was guilty of a flagrant inconsistency. Consequentlyby 'water in this context he must mean water in which earthy particles weresuspended; [We may add in this connection that he was strangely impressed(probably through the influence of the physician Diocles of Carystus) by thebelief that thelyncurium gemstone was formed by the urine of the lynx(de Lap. 28, quoted by Pliny XXXVII. 52). Theophrastus may have supposedthat the raw material of gemstones in general was similarly compounded.]and even the 'pure water' of Diodorus is probably a rhetorical exaggerationwhich must be modified in this sense. It is, however, just conceivable that Posidonius did not accept the fundamental distinction made by Theophrastus(de Lap. 1) that stones are of earth and metals of water.

Thus we find in Pliny random allusions to a theory regarding the formation oftransparent and semitransparent stones. According to this theory, which appearsto have been developed by Posidonius, the raw material of such stones was water,possibly impregnated with earthy particles; and this liquid was compactedeither by cold in the atmosphere or by one or other of two exhalations, coloursbeing imparted to coloured stones by the dry exhalation, which also hardenedthem. The theory as a whole must have been unknown to Pliny. Nevertheless, theinterest in natural phenomena which Posidonius aroused was strong enough toflourish in succeeding generations [See A. D. Nock in theJournal of RomanStudies, vol. XLIX (1959), p. 14.], and thus left its mark onPliny's sources.

This is in the form of a covering letter from Pliny, to accompany the gift ofhis treatise onNatural History to his friend Vespasian Caesar (i.e. theruling Emperor Vespasian's son, Titus, his successor as Princeps, who hadalready been vested with Imperium and Tribunicia Potestas).The reference to him in §3 dates the passage: see above. The author goes on tosay that this dedication places the work outside the class of books intended forthe general reader, and invites serious criticism. The subject does not admit ofan elevated stylethe treatise is a plain record of the facts of Nature,designed for utility and not for entertainment. Its compilation has occupied theleisure left to the author by the claims of public duty. The authorities drawnupon are faithfully recorded. The matter-of-fact title, in place of somefanciful label, indicates the author's aim, and the practical object of the workis aided by the table of contents that forms Book I, enabling the reader to turnto any particular subject that he desires to look up.

PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY

MOSTGracious Highness (let this title, a supremely true one, be yours, while that of'Most Eminent' grows to old age with your sire)I have resolved to recount toyou, in a somewhat presumptuous letter, The offspring of my latest travail, myvolumes ofNatural History (a novel task for the native Muses of your Romancitizens)For 'twas e'er your way, To deem my trifles something worthto give a passing touch of polish to my "opposite number"you recognize even this service slangCatullus (for he, as you know, by interchanging the first syllables madehimself a trifle harsher than he wished to be considered by his `darlingVeraniuses and Fabulluses') and at the same time that my present sauciness mayeffect what in the case of another impudent letter of mine lately you complainedof as not coming offthat it may result in something getting done, andeveryone may know on what equal terms the empire lives with youyou with atriumph to your name and censorial rank, six times consul, colleague intribune's authority, and (a service that you have made more illustrious thanthese in rendering it equally to your father and to the equestrian order)commander of his bodyguard; and all this in your public lifeand then what agood comrade to us in the companionship of the camp! Nor has fortune's grandeurmade any change in you save in enabling you to bestow all the benefit youdesire. Consequently as all those methods of paying you reverence are open toeverybody else, to me is left only the presumption of treating you with moreintimate respect. For that presumption therefore you will debit theresponsibility to yourself, and will grant yourself pardon on the score of myoffence. I have tried to put on a bold face, and yet have not succeeded, as yourgrandeur meets me by another route and the rods of office that your genius bearsmake me move on yet further: in no other person ever radiate more genuinely thedictatorial power of oratory and the tribunician authority of wit! Howeloquently you thunder forth your father's praises and your brother's fame! Howgreat you are in the poet's art! O mighty fertility of geniusyou have contriveda way to imitate your brother also.

But who could judge the value of these compositions with confidence whenabout to submit to the verdict of your talent, especially when that verdict hasbeen invited? for formal dedication of the work to you puts one in a differentposition from mere publication. In the latter case I could have said: 'Why doesyour Highness read that? It was written for the common herd, the mob offarmers and of artisans, and after them for students who have nothing else tooccupy their time: why do you put yourself on the jury? You were not onthis panel when I took the contract for this undertaking: I knew you to be toogreat for me to think you likely to descend to this! Moreover even in the courtof learning there is an official procedure for challenging the jury: itis employed even by MarcusCicero, whowhere genius is in question stands outside all hazard... It may surprise us, butCicero calls in the aid of councilnoryet for the very learned; ManiusPersiusI don't want to read this, I want JuniusCongus.

But if Lucilius, the originator of criticalsniffing, thought fit to say this, andCiceroto quote it, especially when writing hisTheory of the Constitution, how muchmore reason have we to stand on the defensive against a particular juryman? Butfor my part at the present I have deprived myself of these defences by mynomination, as it matters a great deal whether one obtains a judge by lot or byone's own selection, and one's style of entertainment ranks quite differentlywith a guest one has invited and one who has offered himself. The candidates ina hotly contested election deposited sums of money withCato, that resolute foe of corruption,who enjoyed a defeat at the polls as an honour obtained free of charge; and theygave out that they did this in the defence of the highest among humanpossessions, their innocence. This was the occasion of that famous sigh ofCicero'O happy Marcus Porcius whom noone dares to ask for something underhand!' LuciusScipio Asiaticus by appealing to thetribunes, one of them beingGracchus,testified that his case could be made good even to an unfriendly judge: in facta judge whom one chooses oneself one makes the supreme arbiter of one'scasethis is the source of the term 'appeal.' You yourself indeed, I know, beingplaced on the loftiest pinnacle of all mankind, and being endowed with supremeeloquence and learning, are approached with reverential awe even by personspaying a visit of ceremony, and consequently care is taken that what isdedicated to you may be worthy of you. However, country folk, and many natives,not having incense, make offerings of milk and salted meal, and no man was evercharged with irregularity for worshipping the gods in whatever manner waswithin his power.

My ownpresumption has indeed gone further, in dedicating to you the present volumesawork of a lighter nature, as it does not admit of talent, of which in anycase I possessed only quite a moderate amount, nor does it allow of digressions,nor of speeches or dialogues, nor marvellous accidents or unusualoccurrencesmatters interesting to relate or entertaining to read. My subject isa barren onethe world of nature, or in other words life; and that subject inits least elevated department, and employing either rustic terms or foreign,nay barbarian, words that actually have to be introduced with an apology.Moreover, the path is not a beaten highway of authorship, nor one in which themind is eager to range: there is not one person to be found among us who hasmade the same venture, nor yet one among the Greeks who has tackledsingle-handed all departments of the subject. A large part of us seek agreeablefields of study, while topics of immeasurable abstruseness treated by others aredrowned in the shadowy darkness of the theme. Deserving of treatment before all things are the subjects included by the Greeks under the name of 'EncyclicCulture'; and nevertheless they are unknown, or have been obscured bysubtleties, whereas other subjects have been published so widely that they havebecome stale. It is a difficult task to give novelty to what is old, authorityto what is new, brilliance to the common-place, light to the obscure, attractionto the stale, credibility to the doubtful, but nature to all things and all herproperties to nature. Accordingly, even if we have not succeeded, it ishonourable and glorious in the fullest measure to have resolved on the attempt.

For my own part I am of opinion that a special in learning belongs tothose who have preferred service of overcoming difficulties to the of givingpleasure; and I have myself done this in other works also, and I declare that Iadmire the famous writerLivy whenhe begins a volume of hisHistory of Rome fromthe Foundation the City with the words 'I have already achievedenough of fame, and I might have retired to leisure, did not my restless mindfind its sustenance in work.' For assuredly he ought to have composed hishistory for the glory of the world-conquering nation and of the Roman name, notfor his own; it would have been a greater merit to have persevered from love ofthe work, not for the sake of his own peace of mind, and to have rendered thisservice to the Roman nation and not to himself. As DomitusPiso says, it is not books butstorehouses that are needed; consequently by perusing about 2000 volumes, veryfew of which, owing to the abstruseness of their contents, are ever handled bystudents, we have collected in 36 volumes 20,000 noteworthy facts obtained fromone hundred authors that we have explored, with a great number of other factsin addition that were either ignored by our predecessors or have been discoveredby subsequent experience. Nor do we doubt that there are many things that haveescaped us also; for we are but human, and beset with duties, and we pursue thissort of interest in our spare moments, that is at nightlest any of your houseshould think that the night hours have been given to idleness. The days wedevote to you, and we keep our account with sleep in terms of health, contenteven with this reward alone, that, while we are dallying (in Varro's phrase) with these trifles, weare adding hours to our lifesince of a certainty to be alive means to be awake.Because of these reasons and these difficulties I dare make no promise; the verywords I am writing to you are supplied by yourself. This guarantees my work,and this rates its value; many objects are deemed extremely precious justbecause of the fact that they are votive offerings.

As for your sire, your brother and yourself, we have dealt with you all in aregular book, theHistory of our own Times,that begins where Aufidius's historyleaves off. Where is this work? you will enquire. The draft has long beenfinished and in safe keeping; and in any case it was my resolve to entrust it tomy heir, to prevent its being thought that my lifetime bestowed anything onambition: accordingly I do a good turn to those who seize the vacant position,and indeed also to future generations, who I know will challenge us to battle aswe ourselves have challenged our predecessors. You will deem it a proof of thispride of mine that I have prefaced these volumes with the names of myauthorities. I have done so because it is, in my opinion, a pleasant thing andone that shows an honourable modesty, to own up to those who were the means ofone's achievements, not to do as most of the authors to whom I have referreddid. For you must know that when collating authorities I have found that themost professedly reliable and modern writers have copied the old authors wordfor word, without acknowledgement, not in that valorous spirit of Virgil, forthe purpose of rivalry, nor with the candour ofCicero who in hisRepublicdeclares himself a companion ofPlato,and in hisConsolation to hisdaughter says 'I follow Crantor,' andsimilarly as toPanaetius in hisDe Officiisvolumes that you know tobe worth having in one's hands every day, nay even learning by heart. Surely itmarks a mean spirit and an unfortunate disposition to prefer being detected in atheft to repaying a loanespecially as interest creates capital.

There is a marvellous neatness in the titles given to books among the Greeks.One they entitled Κηρίον, meaningHoneycomb; others called their Kέρας 'Αμαλθείας, i.e.Horn of Plenty (so that you can hopeto find a draught of hen's milk in the volume), and againViolets, Muses, Hold-alls, Handbooks, Meadow,Tablet, Impromptutitles that might tempt a man to forfeit his bail.But when you get inside them, good heavens, what a void you will find betweenthe covers! Our authors being more serious use the titlesAntiquities, Instances and Systems,the wittiest,Talks by Lamplight, Isuppose because the author was a toperindeedTippler was his name.Varro makesa rather smaller claim in his SatiresAUlysses-and-a-half andFolding-tablet.Diodorusamong the Greeks stopped playing with words and gave his history the title ofLibrary. Indeed the philologistApion (the person whomTiberius Caesar used to call 'theworld's cymbal,' though he might rather have been thought to be a drum,advertising his own renown) wrote that persons to whom he dedicated hiscompositions received from him the gift of immortality. For myself, I am notashamed of not having invented any livelier title. And so as not to seem adownright adversary of the Greeks, I should like to be accepted on the lines ofthose founders of painting and sculpture who, as you will find in these volumes,used to inscribe their finished works, even the masterpieces which we can neverbe tired of admiring, with a provisional title such asWorked on by Apelles orPolyclitus, as though art was always athing in process and not completed, so that when faced by the vagaries ofcriticism the artist might have left him a line of retreat to indulgence, byimplying that he intended, if not interrupted, to correct any defect noted.Hence it is exceedingly modest of them to have inscribed all their works in amanner suggesting that they were their latest, and as though they had beensnatched away from each of them by fate. Not more than three, I fancy, arerecorded as having an inscription denoting completionMade by so-and-so(these I will bring in at their proper places); this made the artist appear tohave assumed a supreme confidence in his art, and consequently all these workswere very unpopular.

For my own part I frankly confess that my works would admit of a great deal ofamplification, and not only those now in question but also all my publications,so that in passing I may insure myself against your 'Scourges of Homer' (thatwould be the more correct term), as I am informed that both the Stoics and theAcademy, and also the Epicureans,as for the philologists, I always expected itfrom themare in travail with a reply to my publications on Philology, and forthe last ten years have been having a series of miscarriagesfor not evenelephants take so long to bring their offspring to birth! But as if I didn'tknow that Theophrastus, a mortal whoseeminence as an orator won him the title of 'the divine,' actually had a bookwritten against him by a womanwhich was the origin of the proverb about'choosing your tree to hang from'! I am unable to refrain from quoting theactual words ofCato the Censor applyingto this, to show that even the treatise on military discipline ofCato, who had learnt his soldieringunderAfricanus, or rather under him andHannibal as well, and had been unable toendure evenAfricanus, who whencommander-in-chief had won a triumph, found critics ready for it of the sortthat try to get glory for themselves by running down another man's knowledge.'What then?' he says in the book in question, 'I myself know that if certainwritings are published there will be plenty of people to quibble and quarrel,but mostly people quite devoid of true distinction. For my part I have let thesepersons' eloquence run its course.' Plancusalso put it neatly, when told thatAsiniusPollio was composing declamations against him, to be published by himselfor his children afterPlancus's death,so that he might be unable to reply: 'Only phantoms fight with the dead!' Thisremark dealt those declamations such a nasty blow that in cultivated circlesthey are thought the most shameless things extant. Accordingly, beingsafeguarded even against quibble-quarrellers (Cato'snickname for thema neat compound word, for what else do these people do butquarrel or seek a quarrel?) we will follow out the remainder of our intendedplan. As it was my duty in the public interest to have consideration for theclaims upon your time, I have appended to this letter a table of contents of theseveral books, and have taken very careful precautions to prevent your having toread them. You by these means will secure for others that they will not need toread right through them either, but only look for the particular point that eachof them wants, and will know where to find it. This plan has been adoptedpreviously in Roman literature, byValerius Soranus in his books entitledLadyInitiates.

BOOK I

Book II. Contents (i-iii) The worldis it finite? is it one? itsshape; its motion; reason for its name. (iv) The elements. (v) God. (vi) Theplanetstheir nature. (vii) Eclipses, solar and lunar. Night.(viii-x) The starstheir magnitude; astronomical discoveries. (xi) The moon's motion.(xii-xvi). Motions of the planets; theory of their light; causes ofapparent recession and approach; general properties of planets; reason forchanges of colour. (xvii) The sun's motion; reason for inequality of days.(xviii) Thunderbolts, why attributed to Jove. (xix) The starstheir distancesapart. (xx) Music from the stars. (xxi) Dimensions of the world. (xxii, xxiii)Shooting stars. Comets; their nature, position and kinds. (xxiv) Identificationof stars--method of Hipparchus.(xxv-xxxv) Sky portentsrecorded instances torches, shafts, skybeams,sky-yawning, colours of the sky, sky-flame, sky-wreaths, sudden rings, prolongedsolar eclipses, several suns, several moons, daylight at night, burning shield;an unique sky-portent. (xxxvi) Disruption of stars. (xxxvii) The `Castores.'(xxxviii) The air. (xxxix-xli). Fixed seasons. Rise of dogstar. Regular effectof seasons. (xlii, iii) Irregular seasons. Rain storms. Showers of stones, theirreason. Thunderbolts and lightnings. (xliv-viii) Echoits reason. WindstheirWinds, natures and behaviour. (xlix, i). Cloud-burst, typhoon, whirlwinds,presteres, tornadoes, other portentous kinds of storms. (li-vi)Thunderboltswhat countries immune from them and why; their kinds, theirpeculiarities; Tuscan and Roman observances connected with; method of callingdown; general properties; what objects never struck. (lvii) Showers of milk,blood, flesh, iron, wool, bricks. (lviii) Portents.(lix) Stones falling from theskyAnaxagoras as to. (lx) Rainbow. (lxi).Nature of hail, snow, frost, cloud, dew. (lxii) Local peculiarities of the sky.(lxiii-v) Nature of the earth; its shape; antipodesdo they exist? (lxvi-viii)Waterhow linked with earth? Rivers--their reason. Is the earth surrounded by theocean? What portion of the earth is inhabited? (lxix). The earth at the centreof the world. (lxx) Obliquity of zones. Inequality of climates. (lxxii)Eclipseswhere invisible, and why? (lxxiii) Reason for daylight on earth;gnomonics of daylight. (xxv-vii). Absence of shadowswhere and when? where twiceyearly? where shadows travel in opposite direction? Where days are longest andshortest? (lxxviii) The first clock. (lxxix) How days are observed. (lxxx)Racial difference and latitude. (lxxxi-vi) Earthquakes. Chasms. Signs ofimpending earthquake. Precautions against impending earthquakes. Records ofunique earth portents. Marvels of earthquake. (lxxxvii-xciv) treat of sea, whereoccurred? Emergence of islands reason for; instances and dates of. Disruptionof straits. Junction of islands with mainland. Total inundation. Shrinkage ofland areas. Cities engulfed by sea. (xcv) Air-holes. (xcvi) Continuousearth-tremors. Islands in constant agitation. (xcvii) Places where rain does notfall. (xcviii) Collection of earth marvels. (xcix f.) Rise and fall oftidesreason for. Where do irregular tides occur? (ci-cv) Marvels of the sea:influence of the moon on earth and sea; of the sun; why is the sea salt? whereis it deepest? (cvi) Remarkable properties of springs and rivers. (cvii-cx)Combined marvels of fire and water: mineral pitch; naphtha; regions constantlyglowing. (cxi) Marvels of fire alone. (cxii) Dimensions of entire earth. (cxiii)Harmonic principle of the world.Total: 417 facts, investigations andobservations.

Authorities: MarcusVarro, SulpiciusGallus, the Emperor TitusCaesar, QuintusTubero, TulliusTiro, LuciusPiso, TitusLivy, CorneliusNepos,Sebosus, CaeliusAntipater,Fabianus,Antias,Mucianus,CaecinaOn the Tuscan System,Tarquitius ditto, JuliusAquila ditto, SergiusPaullus.Foreign authorities; thePythagorean writers, Hipparchus,Timaeus,Sosigenes,Petosiris,Nechepsus,Posidonius,Anaximander,Epigenes,Eudoxus,Democritus,Critodemus,Thrasyllus,SerapionOn Sun-dials,Euclid, Coeranus the philosopher,Dicaearchus,Archimedes,Onesicritus,Eratosthenes,Pytheas,Herodotus,Aristotle, Ctesias,Artemidorus of Ephesus,Isidore of Charax,Theopompus.

Book III. Contents: sites, races, seas, towns, harbours, mountains,rivers, dimensions, present and past populations of (iii) Baetica, (iv)North-east Spain, (v) Province of Narbonne, (vi-x) Italy to the southernmostpoint, (ix the Tiber, Rome), (xi-xiv) 64 islands (including the Balearics,Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily), (xv-xxii) Italy from the south toRavenna (the Po), Transpadane Italy, (xxiii) Istria, (xxiv) the Alps and Alpineraces, (xxv-xxx) Illyria, Liburnia, Dalmatia, Noricum, Pannouia, Moesia, Ionianand Adriatic islands.Totals: ... famous rivers; famousmountains; ... islands; ... extinct towns or races; ... facts, researchesand observations.

Authorities: TuraniusGracilis, CorneliusNepos,Livy,Cato the Censor, MarcusAgrippa, MarcusVarro, His Late MajestyAugustus,Varro of Atax,Antias,Hyginus, LuciusVetus,Pomponius Mela, the elderCurio,Caelius,Arruntius,Sebosus, LiciniusMucianus, FabriciusTuscus, LuciusAteius, AteiusCapito, VerriusFlaccus, LuciusPiso,Gellianus,Valerian.Foreignauthorities: Artemidorus,Alexander the Learned,Thucydides,Theophrastus, Isidorus,Theopompus,Metrodorus of Scepsis,Callicrates,Xenophon of Lampsacns,Diodorus of Syracuse,Nymphodorus,Calliphanes,Timagenes.

Book IV. Contents: sites, races, seas, towns, harbours, mountains,rivers, dimensions, present and past populations of (i-iv) Epirus, (v-x) Achaia,(xi-xiii) Greece, (xiv-xviii) Thessaly, Magnesia, Macedonia, Thrace, (xix-xxiii)islands off these coasts, including Crete, Euboea, the Cyclades, the Sporades,(xxiv) Dardanelles, Black Sea, Sea of Azoy, (xxv. f.) Dacia, Sarmatia, Seythia,(xxvii) Islands of black Sea, (xxviii f.) Germany, (xxx) North Sea Islands, 96including Britain, (xxxi-xxxiii) Belgium, Lyonnaise, Aquitaine, (xxxiv)North-eastern Spain, (xxxv) Western Spain and Portugal. (xxxvi) Atlanticislands. (xxxvii) Dimensions of the whole of Europe.Totals ... towns andraces; ... famous rivers; ... famous mountains; ... islands; extinct townsor races; ... facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Cato the Censor,MarcusVarro, MarcusAgrippa, His Late MajestyAugustus,Varro of Atax, CorneliusNepos,Hyginus, LuciusVetus,Pomponius Mela, LiciniusMucianus, FabriciusTuscus, AteiusCapito,Ateius the scholar.Foreign authorities:Polybius, Hecataeus,Hellanicus,Damastes,Eudoxus,Dicaearchus,Timosthenes,Eratosthenes, Ephorus,Crates the philologist,Serapion of Antioch,Callimachus,Artemidorus,Apollodorus,Agathocles,Timaeus of Sicily,Myrsilus,Alexander the Learned,Thucydides,Dosiades,Anaximander,Philistides of Mallus,Dionysius,Aristides,Callidemus,Menaechmus,Aglaosthenes,Anticides,Heraclides,Philemon,Xenophon,Pytheas,Isidore,Philonides,Xenagoras,Astynomos,Staphylus,Aristocritus,Metrodorus,Cleobulus,Posidonius.

Book V. Contents:sites, races, seas, towns, harbours, mountains, rivers,dimensions, present and past populations of (i-viii) the Mauritanias, Numidia,Africa, the Syrtes, Cyrenaiea, African islands, remote parts of Africa, (ix-xi) EgyptChora, Thebaid, Nile, (xii) Arabian coast of Egyptian Sea, (xiii-xix)Idumea, Syria, Palestine, Samaria, Judaca, Phoenicia, Hollow Syria, Syria ofAntioch, (xx-xxxiii) Euphrates, Cilicia and adjoining races, Isaurica, Omauadés,Pisidia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, Taurus Mountain, Lycià, Caria, Ionia, Aeolid,Troad and adjoining races, (xxxiv-ix) Islands on Asiatic coast (212) includingCyprus, Rhodes, Cos, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, (xl-xliii) Dardanelles, Mysia,Phrygia, Galatia and adjoining races, Bithynia.Totals: ... towns and races; ... famous dyers; ... famous mountains; 118 islands; ... extinct towns andraces; facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Agrippa, Suetonius Paulinus, MarcusVarro,Varro of Atax, CorneliusNepos,Hyginus, LuciusVetus,Mela, DomitiusCorbulo, LicininsMucianus, ClaudiusCaesar,Arruntius,Livy junior,Sebosus,TriumphsOfficial records.Foreignauthorities: KingJuba, Hecataeus,Hellanicus,Damastes,Dicaearchus,Baeto,Timosthenes,Philonides,Xenagoras,Astynomus,Staphylus,Dionysius,Aristotle,Aristocritus,Ephorus,Eratosthenes,Hipparchus,Panaetius,Serapio of Antioch,Callimachus,Agathocles,Polybius,Timaeus the mathematician,Herodotus,Myrsilus,Alexander the Learned,Metrodorus,Posidonius'sCircumnavigation orRound Guide,Sotades,Pindar,Aristarchus of Sicyon,Eudoxus,Antigenes,Callicrates,Xenophon of Lampsacus,Diodorus of Syracuse,Hanno,Himilco,Nymphodorus,Calliphanes,Artemidorus,Megasthenes,Isidore,Cleobulus,Aristocreon.

Book VI. Contents:sites, races, seas, towns, harbours, mountains,rivers, dimensions, present and past populations of (i) Pontus, Mariandyni, (ii)Paphlagonia, (iii, viii) Cappadocia, (iv) region of Themiscyra and its races,Heniochi, (v) Colic region and races, Achaean races, other races in the samearea, (vi-xii) Cimmerian Bosphorus, Maeotis and adjacent races, Lesser Armenia,Greater Armenia, River Cyrus, River Araxes, Albania, Iberia and adjoining Gatesof Caucasia, (xiii) Black Sea Islands, (xiv) races towards the Scythian Ocean,(xv-xix) Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea, Adiabene, Media, Caspian Gates, races roundHyrcanian Sea, Scythian races, (xx-xxxvi) regions towards the Eastern Sea,China, India (Ganges, Indus), Taprobane, Arians and adjoining races, voyages toIndia, Carmania, Persian Gulf, Parthian kingdoms, Mesopotamia, Tigris, Arabia,Gulf of Red Sea, Trogodyte country, Ethiopia, Islands of Ethiopian Sea. (xxxvii)The Fortunate Islands. (xxxviii f.) Lands compared by measurements, division oflands into parallels and equal shadows.Totals: 1195 towns; 576 races, 115famous rivers, 38 famous mountains, 108 islands, 95 extinct towns and races;2214 facts and investigations and observations.

Authorities: MarcusAgrippa,MarcusVarro,Varro of Atax, CorneliusNepos,Hyginus, LuciusVetus,Pomponius Mela, DomitiusCorbulo, LiciniusMucianus, ClaudiusCaesar,Arruntius,Sebosus, FabriciusTuscus, TitusLivy junior,Seneca,Nigidius.Foreign authorities: KingJuba, Hecataeus,Hellanicus,Damastes,Eudoxus,Dicaearchus,Baeto,Timosthenes,Patrocles,Demodamas,Clitarchus,Eratosthenes,Alexander the Great,Ephorus,Hipparchus,Panaetius,Callimachus,Artemidorus,Apollodorus,Agathocles,Polybius,Timaeus of Sicily,Alexander the Learned,Isidore,Amometus,Metrodorus,Posidonius,Onesicritus,Nearchus,Megasthenes,Diognetus,Aristocreon,Bion,Dalion, the youngerSimonides,Basilis,Xenophon of Lampsacus.

BookVII. Contents: (ii f.) Remarkable racial bodily configurations; monstrousbirths. (iv-xi) Human generation: periods of pregnancy from 7 months to 13 shownby famous examples; significant prenatal indications of sex in the pregnant;monstrous births, cases of surgical delivery; meaning ofvopiscus; humanconception; human generation; cases of likeness; cases of very numerous progeny.(xii) Age-limit of procreation. (xiii) Exceptional periods of pregnancy. (xiv)Theory of generation. (xv) Investigation as to teeth; as to infants. (xvi f.)Instances of exceptional size. Premature births. (xviii-xxiii) Bodilydistinctions, exceptional strength, remarkable speed, exceptional sight,marvellous hearing, bodily endurance. (xxiv-xxvi) Memory, mental rigour,clemency, magnanimity. (xxvii) Supremely distinguished exploits. (xxviii-xxxi)Three supreme virtues in the same person, supreme innocence, supreme bravery,exceptional talents. Who are the wisest men? (xxxii) The most useful rules ofconduct. (xxxiii) Divination. (xxxiv-vi). The man deemed the best, the mostchaste matrons; instances of extreme piety. (xxxvii-ix) Cases of eminence in thesciences and arts, astronomy, philology, medicine, geometry, architecture,painting, sculpture in bronze, in marble, in ivory; engraving. (xl-xlvi)Remarkable prizes of mankind; supreme happiness; rarity of its continuance infamilies; remarkable cases of change of fortune; twice proscribed; remarkablecases of honours; ten supremely happy things in the case of a single person;misfortunes of his late Majesty Augustus. (xlvii f.) Whom the gods have judgedhappiest; what man they have commanded to be worshipped as a god in hislifetime. A remarkable flash of lightning. (xlix) Cases of exceptionallongevity. (l) Various modes of birth. (ii) Diseases in various cases. (lii-lvi)Death; cases of the dead coming to life again; instances of sudden death;burial; ghosts; the soul. (lvii-lx) Discoveries in life; matters on which therewas the earliest agreement of the races; ancient literature; date of earliestbarbers, earliest time-pieces.Total: 747 facts, investigations andobservations.

Authorities: VerriusFlaccus,GnaeusGellius, LiciniusMucianus, MasurinsSabinus,Agrippina wife of Claudius, MarcusCicero, AsiniusPollio, MarcusVarro, MessalaRufus, CorneliusNepos,Virgil,Livy,Cordus,Melissus,Sebosus, CorneliusCelsus, ValeriusMaximus,Trogus,NigidiusFigulus, PomponiusAtticus, PedianusAsconius,Fabianus,Cato the Censor,Official Records, FabiusVestalis. Foreign authorities:Herodotus,Aristeas,Baeton,Isigonus,Crates,Agatharchides,Calliphanes,Aristotle, Nymphodorus,Apollonides,Phylarchus,Damon,Megasthenes,Ctesias,Tauron,Eudoxus,Onesicritus,Clitarchus,Duris,Artemidorus, the medical authorsHippocrates andAsclepiades,Hesiod,Anacreon,Theopompus,Hellanicus,Damastes,Ephorus,Epigenes,Berosus,Petosiris,Nechepsus,Alexander the Learned,Xenophon,Callimachus,Democritus, the historianDiyllus,Strato'sReply to Ephorus's 'Heuremata,'Heraclides of Pontus, theTragoedumena ofAsclepiades,Phulostephanus,Hegesias,Archemachus,Thucydides,Mnesigiton,Xenagoras,Metrodorus of Scepsis,Anticides,Critodemus.

Book VIII. Contents: (i-xi) Elephants, their sense; when first harnessed;their docility; remarkable achievements of; instinctive sense of dangers inwild animals; elephants, when first seen in Italy; fights between elephants;modes of capture; modes of domestication; their propagation, and generalphysiology; native habitat; hostility between elephants and great snakes. (xii)Intelligence of animals. (xiii) Great snakes. (xiv) Serpents of remarkable size.(xv f.) Animals of Scythia; of the north; bisons, bears, the elk, the achlisfthe varieties, their characteristics; with lions in the circus at Lionstheirmode of with the largest number first harnessed lions to a among the exploits oflions. (xxii) Man recognised and rescued by a great snake. (xxiii f.) Panthers,resolution of senate and laws as to African; who first showed African panthersat Rome, and when? who showed the largest number? (xxv) Tigers; when was a tigerfirst seen at Rome? nature of tigers; tiger-cubs. (xxvi-xxx) Camels; theirkinds. The giraffe; when first seen at Rome. The spotted lynx. The cephi. Therhinoceros. The lynx and the sphynxes. The crocottae [hyena?]. The long-tailedmonkeys. (xxxi-iv) Land animals of India; ditto of Ethiopia; a creaturethe sight of which brings death; basilisksnakes; wolves; source of thefabulous werewolf. (xzxv-xl) Snakes, species of; the ichneumon; the crocodile;the African lizard; the hippopotamus: who first showed this animal, and thecrocodile at Rome. (xli-iii). Drugs obtained from animals; warnings of dangersfrom animals; races destroyed by animals. (xliv f.) Hyenas; corocottae;mantichorae. (xlvi) Wild asses. (xlvii-ix) Amphibious species: beavers, otters,the sea-calf, geckoes. (1) Stags. (ii f.) Chameleon; other species that changecolour--reindeer, lycaon, jackal (liii) The porcupine, (liv) Bears; theirreproduction. (lv-viii) Mice, Black Sea and Alpine; hedgehogs, lion-killer,lynxes, badgers, squirrels. (lix f.) Snails; lizards. (lx-lxiii). Dogs,nature of; instances of relation to masters; nations that have kept dogs of war;dog-breeding; cures for rabies. (lxiv-vii) Nature of horsesequine psychology;remarkable four-in-hands; horse-breeding; cases of conception by wind. (lxviii)Asses; breeding in their case. (lxix) Nature of mules and other draft-animals. (lxxf.) Oxen, breeding of. Apis in Egypt. (lxxii-v) Nature of sheeptheir breeding;kinds of wool and of colours; kinds of cloth. (lxxvi f.) Goats, their nature andbreeding; swine, ditto. (lxxviii f.) Wild pigs. Who originatedmenageries? (lxxx-ii) Apes. Hares, their kinds. Half-wild animals. (lxxxiii)What animals do not occur in what places? which in what places harm onlystrangers? which in what places only natives?Total: 787 facts,investigations and observations.

Authorities:Mucianus,Procilius, VerriusFlaccus, LuciusPiso, CorneliusValerianus,Cato the ex-Censor,Fenestella,Trogus,Official Records,Columella,Virgil,Varro,Lucilius, MetellusScipio, CorneliusCelsus,Nigidius, TrebiusNiger,PomponiusMela, MamiliusSura.Foreign authorities: KingJuba,Polybius,Herodotus, Antipater,Aristotle,Demetrius'sNatural History,Democritus,Theophrastus, Euanthes,Scopas'sOlympic Victors, KingHiero, KingAttalus, KingPhilometor,Ctesias,Doris,Philisto,Archytas,Phylarchus,Amphilochus of Athens,Anaxipolis of Thasos,Apollodorus of Lemnos,Aristophanes of Miletus,Antigonus of Cumae,Agathocles of Chios,Apollonius of Pergamum,Aristander of Athens,Bacchius of Miletus,Bio of Soil,Chaeareas of Athens,Diodorus of Priene,Dio of Colophon,Epigenes of Rhodes,Euagon of Thasos,Euphronius of Athens,Hegesias of Maronea,Menander of Priene andMenander of Heraclea, the poetMenecrates,AndrotionOn Agriculture,Aeschrion ditto,Lysinachus ditto,Dionysius's translation ofMago,Diophanes's summary ofDionysius,KingArchelaus,Nicander.

Book IX. Subjectthe nature of aquatic animals. (i) Extreme sizeof marine animals, reason for. (ii) Monsters of the Indian Sea. (iii) Which arethe largest in each Ocean? (iv) Tritons and Nereids, shapes of. Sea elephants,shapes of. (v) Whales, grampuses. (vi) Do fishes breathe? do they sleep? (vii-x)Dolphins, persons loved by; places where they fish in partnership with men;other curious facts as to. (xi) Porpoises. (xii f.) Tortoiseskinds ofwater-tortoise; mode of capture; who invented cutting tortoise-shells (xiv)Aquatic animals arranged by species. (xv) Sea-calves or sealswhich species arehairless? mode of reproduction. (xvi) How many kinds of fish? (xvii-xix). Thelargest fishes; tunny-fry, young tunny, full-grown tunny; tunny divided andpickled, salted tunny slices, chopped tunny; amia-tunny, mackerel-tunny. (xx)Fishes in the Black Seawhich species not found in it, which enter in fromelsewhere, which leave it. (xxi) Why fishes leap out of the water. Thesword-fish. (xxii) Augury from fishes a fact. (xxiii-v) Species of that have nomales; that have a stone in the head; that hibernate in winter; that are onlycaught on certain days in winter; that hide in summer; that are liable toplanet-stroke. (xxvi-xxx) Mullet, sturgeon, pike, cod, wrasse, lamprey;varieties of mullet; the sargus. (xxxi f.) Remarkable prices for fish.Different kinds popular in different places. (xxxiii) Gills in various species;scales ditto. (xxxiv f.) Fish with voice, fish without gills; fish thatgo ashore. Seasons for catching fish. (xxxvi) Classification of fish by shape.Difference between turbot and sparrow-turbot. Long fishes. (xxxvii) Fins andmode of swimming. (xxxviii) Eels. (xxxix) Lampreys. (xl) Kinds of flat-fish.(xli) The remora and how it operates. (xlii) What fish change colours. (xhii)Swallow-fish. The fish that shines by night. The homed fish. The weever. (xliv)The bloodless fishes. The so-called soft fishes. (xlv) The sepia fish. The cuttle-fish. The small scallops, flying fish. (xlvi-ix) The polyps, includingthe sailing polyp. The sailor-fish. (l-lii) Shell-fish: lobster, varieties ofcrab, the sea-pen's guard, sea-urchins, snails, scallops. Varieties of shell. (liii)Quantity of delicacies supplied by the sea. (liv-lix) Pearlshow do they growand where, how found; varieties of large pearltheir remarkable features, theirnature, instances of their occurrence, when first used at Rome. (lx-lxv) Natureof varieties of purplethe purple-fish; kinds of purple-fish; how used to supplydye for woollens; date of use of purple at Borne, date of purple stripe andpurple-bordered robe; purple dyed dresses; dying amethyst; Tyrian,vegetable-scarlet, kermes-scarlet. (lxvi) The sea-pen sea-pen's guard. (lxvii)Perception of aquatic animals: the electric ray, stingray, scolopendrae, shad,ramming-fish. (lxviii f.) Species intermediate between animal and vegetable:sea-nettles; sponges, their kinds and habitat; sponges, living creatures. (lxx)Sea-bitches. (lxxi) Flint-shell fish; marine animals without senses; other lowspecies. (lxxii) Venomous marine animals. (lxxiii) Diseases of fishes. (lxxiv-vii)Their reproduction curious, reproductive methods; species both oviparous andviviparous; delivery by rupture of the stomach, afterwards closing up; speciespossessing matrix; self-fertilizing species. (lxxviii) Longest life of fish. (lxxix-lxxxi)First inventor of fish-ponds; oysters; who invented lamprey-ponds. Notablefish-ponds; who first invented snail-ponds. (lxxxiii) Land fishes. (lxxxiv)Mouse-fish in the Nile. (lxxxv) Flower-fish, mode of catching. (lxxxvi)Starfish. (lxxxvii) Remarkable species of finger-fish. (lxxxviii) Instances ofhostility and friendship between aquatic animals.Total: 650 facts,investigations and observations.

Authorities: TurraninsGracilis,Trogus,Maecenas, AlfiusFlavus,CorneliusNepos, theMimes ofLaberius,Fabianus,Fenestella,Mucianus, AeliusStilo,Sebosus,Melissus,Seneca,Cicero, AemiliusMacer, CorvinusMessala, TrebiusNiger,Nigidius. Foreign authorities:Aristotle, King Archelaus,Callimachus,Democritus,Theophrastus,Thrasyllus,Hegesidemus,Sudines,Alexander the Learned.

Book X. Subjectthe nature of birds. (i f.) The ostrich, the phoenix.(iii-vi) Eagles, their species; their nature; when adopted as regimental badges;self-immolation of eagle on maiden's funeral pyre. (vii) The vulture. (viii)Lámmergeier, sea-eagle (1) (ix-xi) Hawks: the buzzard; use of hawks by fowlerswhere practised; the only bird that is killed by its own kind; what birdproduces one egg at a time. (xii) Kites. (xiii) Classification of birds byspecies. (xiv-xvi) Birds of ill-omen; in what months crows are not a bad omen;ravens; the horned owl. (xvii) Extinct birds; birds no longer known. (xviii)Birds hatched tail first. (xix) Night-owls. (xx) Mars's woodpecker. (xxi) Birdswith hooked talons. (xxii-v) Birds with toes: peacocks; who first killed thepeacock for food; who invented fattening peacocks; poultrymode of castrating; atalking cock. (xxvi-xxxii) The goose who first introduced goose-liver (foie gras);Commagene goose; fox-goose, love-goose, heath-cock, bustard; cranes; storks;rest of reflexed-claw genus; swans. (xxxiii-v) Foreign migrant birds: quails,tongue-birds, ortolan, horned owl; native migrant birds and theirdestinationsswallows, thrushes, blackbirds, starlings; birds that moult inretirement: turtle-dove, ring-dove. (xxxvi) Non-migrant birds: half-yearly andquarter-yearly visitors: wit.walls, hoopoes. (xxxvii-xl) Mernnon's hens,Meleager's sisters (guinea-hens), Seleucid hens, ibis. (xli) Where particularspecies not known. (xlii-v) Species that change colour and voice: thedivination-bird class; nightingale, black-cap, robin, red-start, chat, goldenoriole. (xlvi) The breeding season. (xlvii) Kingfishers: sign of fine weatherfor sailing. (xlviii) Remainder of aquatic class. (xlix-li) Craftsmanship ofbirds in nest-making; remarkable structures of swallows; sand-martins;thistle-finch; bee-eater; partridges. (lii f.) Pigeonsremarkable structures of,and prices paid for; (liv f.) Varieties of birds' flight and walk; footlessmartins or swifts. (lvi) Food of birds. Goat-suckers, spoon-bill. (lvii)Intelligence of birds; gold-finch, bull-bittern, yellow wagtail. (lviii-lxl)Talking birds: parrots, acorn-pies; riot at Rome caused by talking crow. (lxi)Diomede's birds. (lxii) What animals learn nothing. (lxiii) Birds, mode ofdrinking; the sultana hen. (lxiv) The long-legs. (lxv f.) Food of birds.Pelicans. (lxvii f.) Foreign birds: coots, pheasants, Numidian fowl, flamingos,heath-cock, bald crow or cormorant, Ted-beaked or Alpine crow, bare-footed crowor ptarmigan. (lxix) New species: small cranes. (lxx) Fabulous birds. (lxxi) Whoinvented fattening of chickens, and which consuls first prohibited? who firstinvented aviaries? Aesop's stewpan. (lxxiii-lxxx) Reproduction of birds:oviparous creatures other than birds; kinds and properties of eggs; defectivehatching and its cures; Augusta's augury from eggs; what sort of hens the best?their diseases and remedies; kinds of small heron; nature of puff-eggs, addledeggs, wind-eggs; best way of preserving eggs. (lxxxi f.) The only species ofbird that is viviparous and suckles its young. Oviparous species of landanimals. Reproduction of snakes. (lxxxui-vii) Reproduction of all land animals;posture of animals in the uterus; animal species whose mode of birth is stilluncertain; salamanders; species not reproduced by generation; species whosegenerated offspring is unfertile; sexless species. (lxxxviii-xc) Senses ofanimals: all have sense of touch, also taste; species with exceptional sight,smell, hearing; moles; have oysters hearing? which fishes hear most clearly?which fishes have keenest sense of smell? (xci-iii) Difference of food inanimals: which live on poisonous things? which on earth? which do not die ofhunger of thirst? (xciv) Variety of drink. (xcv f.) Species mutually hostile;facts as to friendship and affection between animals; instances of affectionbetween snakes. (xcvii f.) Sleep of animals; which species sleep?Total: 794facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Manilius, CorneliusValerian,Records, UmbriciusMelior, MasuriusSabinus, Antistins Labeo,Trogus,Cremutius, MarcusVarro, AemiliusMacer,Melissus,Mucianus,Nepos, FabiusPictor, TitusLucretius, CorneliusCelsus,Horace,Deculo,Hyginus, theSasernae,Nigidius, MamiliusSura.Foreign authorities: Homer, Phemonoe,Philemon,Boethus'sOrnithogonia,Hylas'sAuguries,Aristotle,Theophrastus,Callimachus,Aeschylus, KingHiero, KingPhilometor,Archytas of Tarentum,Amphilochus of Athens,Anaxipolis of Thasos,Apollodorus of Lemnos,Aristophanes of Miletus,Antigonus of Cumae,Agathocles of Chios,Apollonius of PeruamumAristander of Athens,Bacchius of Miletus,Bion of Soli,Chaereas of Athens,Diodorus of Priene,Dion of Colophon,Democritus,Diophanes of Nicaea,Epigenes of Rhodes,Evagon of Thasos,Euphronius of Athens,Juba,AndrotionOn Agriculture,Aeschrio ditto,Lysimachus ditto,Dionysius's translation of Mago,Diophanes's epitome ofDionysius,Nicander,Onesicritus,Phylarchus,Hesiod.

Book XI. Subjectthe kinds of insects. (i) Nature's subtlety inthis department. (ii) Do insects breathe? have they blood? (iii) Their bodies.(iv-xxiii) Beesstructure of their comb; its materials, gum, pitch-wax,bee-glue, bee-bread (sandarack, serintkus); flowers from which materialsderived; instances of bee-lovers; drones; nature of honey; the best honey;unique local varieties of honey; test of varieties; heather (heath, sisyrus);reproduction of bees; their system of royalty; swarming sometimes actually agood omen; kinds of bees; diseases of bees; enemies of bees; beekeeping;replenishment of stock. (xxiv) Wasps and hornets. What animals reproduce fromanother species? (xxv-viii) Assyrian silkworm: chrysalis, larva; inventor ofsilk fabric; silkworm of Cos; manufacture of Coan silk. (xxviii f.)Spiderswhich varieties make webs; material used in webs; mode of reproduction.(xxx ff.) Scorpions; geckoes; grasshopperstheir lack of mouth and vent.(xxxiii) Insects' wings. (xxxiv-vi) Beetles; glow-worms; other kinds of beetle;locusts; ants. (xxxvii-ix) Chrysalises, gadflies, butterflies; animals bornfrom wood or in wood; animals of human refuse; which is the smallest animal?summer animals. (xl) Ventless animal. (xli-iii) Moths, beetles, gnats;snow-animal; fire-animal (pyrallis or pyrotos); mayflies. (xliv-xcviii)Nature and account of all animals arranged according to the parts of the body:species possessing caps; crested species. (xlv-li) Varieties of hornwhichspecies can move the horns; heads, headless species; hair; bones of head;brain; earswhich species have none, which hear without ears or apertures;face, brow, eyebrow. (lii-lvii) Eyes: what animals without eyes, what with onlyone eye; varieties of eyes; method of sight; species that see by night;structure of pupil; species that do not close the eyes; species whose eyes afterbeing destroyed grow again; eyelashesspecies that lack, species with lashes ononly one lid; species with no eyelids. (lviii-lx) Cheekbones; nostrils; cheeks,lips, chin, jaws. (lxi-iv) Teethkinds of; species with teeth in one jawonly; with hollow teeth; snakes' teeth, snakes' poison; which bird has teeth;remarkable facts as to teeth; age of ruminants indicated by teeth. (lxv) Tonguetonguelessspecies; croaking of frogs; palate. (lxvi-viii) Tonsils; uvula, epiglottis,windpipe, gullet, nape, neck, backbone, throat, jaws, stomach. (lxix-lxxi)Heart, blood, life; which species has largest heart, which smallest, which twohearts; when inspection of heart of victims began; (lxxii) Lungswhich specieshas largest, which smallest, which no internal organ besides lungs; cause ofspeed in animals. (lxxiii-vi) Liverhead of internal organs; its inspection byaugurs; species with two livers, and their habitats; gallwhat species have two,and where; what animals have none, which have gall elsewhere than in liver; itsfunction; species whose gall grows and shrinks in size with moon; observation ofthese species by augurs, and marvellous portents. (lxxvii) Diaphragm; nature oflaughter. (lxxviii) Stomach; species that have none; the only species thatvomit. (lxxix) Smaller intestines, entrails, stomach, great gut; why someanimals have voracious appetites. (lxxx-iii) Caul, spleenspecies withoutspleen. Kidneys; habitat of species with four kidneyswith none; chest; ribs;bladderanimals without bladder; entrails; membranes. (lxxxiv-viii) Bellythe'parts,' the womb, sows' womb, paps; what species have suet, what tallow; natureof each; what species have no fat; marrow; species that have none; bones;prickles; species that have neither hones nor prickles; cartilages; sinews;species without sinews. (lxxxix-xcii) Arteries, veins; species with neitherveins nor arteries; blood; sweat; species whose blood thickens most quickly,whose blood does not coagulate; which species has the thickest blood, thethinnest, none at all, none at certain seasons of the year; whether blood isdominant factor in body. (xciii f.) Back; hair and integument ofback; species having hair inside mouth and under feet. (xcv-xcvii) Paps; whichbirds have paps; noteworthy points about animals' udders; milk; which the onlyanimal that gives suck while in motion; biestings; cheese; species whose milkdoes not form cheese; curdled milk; kinds of food obtained from milk; kinds ofcheese. (xcviii-cxiii) Differences in limbs between man and other animals; thefingers; arms; resemblance to monkeys; nails; knees and thighs; which parts ofhuman body associated with ritual; dilated veins; gait, feet and legs; hooves;feet of birds; feet of animals, between 2 and 100 ; dwarfs ; genital organs;hermaphrodites; testicles; three kinds of half-man; tails; voices of animals;limbs of subsequent growth. (cxiv) Marks of vitality and character derived fromconformation of limbs in man. (cxv) Respiration; nutrition; animals that fromeating poison do not die, but kill those who taste them. (cxvii-ix) Causes ofindigestion in man; remedies for indigestion; cause of corpulence, and mode ofreduction; things whose taste allays hunger and thirst.Total: 2700 facts,investigations and observations.

Authorities: MarcusVarro,Hyginus, Scrofa,Saserna, CorneliusCelsus,AemiliusMacer,Virgil,Columella, JuliusAquila'sEiruscan System,Tarquitius ditto, UmbriciusMeior ditto,Cato the ex-Censor,Calvinus,Trogus,Melissus,Fabianus,Mucianus,Nigidius,Mamilius,Oppius.Foreign authorities:Aristotle,Democritus, Neoptolemus'sProduction of Honey, Aristomachus ditto,Philiscus ditto,Nicander,Menecrates,Dionysins's translation ofMago,Empedocles,Callimachus, KingAttaius,Venomous Animals byApollodorus,Hippocrates,Herophilus,Erasistratus,Asclepiades,Themiso,Posidonius the Stoic,Menander of Priene,Menander of Heraclea,Euphronius of Athens,Theophrastus,Hesiod, KingPhilometor.

Book XII. Contents: treestheir various qualities. (i, ii) In praise oftrees. (iii-lxiii) Foreign trees. (iii-vi) Planewhen and whence firstintroduced into Italy; their nature; remarkable products; dwarf planes; whofirst introduced the pruning of garden trees. (vii) Assyrian apple, instructionsfor planting. (viii-xvii) Indian trees; ebony, when first seen at Rome; itskinds; Indian thorn; Indian fig; beautiful unnamed Indian trees; Indians'flax-trees; plantain tree, its fruit bananas; pepper trees, kinds of pepper,defective pepper, ginger, nut-leaf, wolf-plant or Chiron's box-thorn, macir,sugarcane. (xviii f.) Trees of the Arian race, ditto of Gedrosia,ditto of Ilyrcania, ditto of Bactria; myrrh plant or gain-plant (malacha,maldacum); germander. Modes of adulteration, tests and pricesspecified for all scents or spices. (xx f.) Trees of Persia; trees of islands inPersian Gulf; cotton-tree. (xxii-iv) Cynas tree; trees used in East for makinglinen; locality with no deciduous trees; modes in which trees form fruits.(xxv-xxix) Costus; nard, its 12 varieties; hazelwort; amomum, amomis,cardamon. (xxx-xxxii) The incense-producing district, incense-bearingtrees; nature and kinds of incense. (xxxiii-v) Myrrh: trees that produce it;nature and kinds of myrrh. (xxxvi-xl) Mastic; ladanum, scorbus, styptic,bratus tree; stobrum tree. (xli) Arabia, why happy. (xlvi-xlvii)Cinnamon, cinnamomum, cinnamon-shrub; wild cinnamon, cancamum, aloe-wood;serichatuxn, gabalium; behennut; Egyptian date. (xlviii-lxi) Scented reed,scented rush; Hammonian gum-tree; fragrant moss; cyprus; calycotome orerysisceptrum; cat-thyme; balsam, balsam-juice, balsam-wood sigma;galbannm; all-heal; bear's-foot: cinnamon-leaf; grape-plant; moss,vine-flower, wild vine; fir or larch; cinnamon comacton.Total: 468facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities: MarcusVarro, Mucianus,Virgil,Fabianus,Sebosus, PomponiusMela, FlaviusProcilius,Hyginus,Trogus, ClaudiusCaesar, CorneliusNepos, GreekTreatise on Medicine by SextiusNiger, CassiusHemina, LuciusPiso, Tuditanus,Antias.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus,Herodotus, Callisthenes,Isogonus,Clitarchus,Anaximenes,Duris,Nearchus,Onesicritus,Polycritus,Olympiodorus,Diognetus,Nicobulus,Anticlides,Chares of Mitylene,Menaechmus,Dorotheus of Athens,Lycus,Antaeus,Ephippus,Dinon,Adimantus,Ptolemy son of Lagus,Marsyas of Macedon,Zoilus of Macedon,Democritus,Amphilochus,Aristomachus,Alexander the Learned,Juba,ApollodorusOn Scents; thephysicians Heraclides,Botrys,Archedemus,Dionysius,Democedes,Euphron,Mnesides,Diagoras andJollas;Heraclides of Tarentum,Xenocratesof Ephesus.

Book XIII. Contents: On foreign trees. (i-v) Perfumeswhen invented; 12kinds and combinations; ointments, salves, testing of perfumes; perfume aspromoting luxury; when first in use at Rome. (vi-ix) Palmstheir nature; howplanted; 18 kinds of fruit and noteworthy facts. (x-xii) Trees of Syria:pistachio, small fig, damson, Syrian plum; cedar; what trees carry threeyears' fruit at once; terebinth; sumac. (xiv-xvi) Trees of Egypt: Alexandrianfig; Cyprian fig; Carob.(xvii-xx) Persian tree; what trees produce a successionof fruit; cuci palm; Egyptian thorn; gum tree, 8 kinds; Persian gum.(xxi-vii) Papyrus; employment of paper; when begun; how manufactured; 9 kinds;mode of testing papers; defects of papers; paper-glue;Books of Numa. (xxviii) Trees of Ethiopia. (nix)Atlantic tree; citrus-tree ; citrus-wood tables, their merits and defects;citrus-fruit. (xxxii-iv) Lotus; trees of Cyrenaica, Christ's-thorn;pomegranate, 9 kinds, wild pomegranate. (xxxv-xlvii) Trees of Asia and Greece; helleborine, heath, seed of Cnidus or altar-plant or canine thistle or fire-foamor cnestor or mezereon; goat-plant, goat-thorn goat or scorpion, tamariskor brya, hop-hornbeam; euonymus; lion-tree; purslane; cuckoo-plant, tare;fennel; Thapsas-shrub; caper-bush or dog's bush or snake-vine; sari ha;king's thorn; tree-medick. (xlviii-lvii) Trees and bushes of the Mediterranean;of the Red Sea; of the Indian Ocean; of Cavedwellers' Seasea-weed, grassonor girdle-plant, sea-lettuce, plait of Isis, Graces' eyelid.Total 468facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities: MarcusVarro, Mucianus,Virgil,Fabianus,Sebosus, PomponiusMela, FlaviusProcilius,Hyginus,Trogus, CiaudiusCaesar, CorneliusNepos, SextusNiger's Greek treatiseOn Medicine, Cassius Hemina, LuciusPiso,Tuditanus,Antias.Foreignauthorities:Theophrastus,Herodotus, Callisthenes,Isogonus,Clitarchus,Anaxitnenes,Duris,Nearchus,Onesicritus,Polycritus,Olympiodorus,Diognetus,Nicobulus,Anticlides,Chares of Mitylene,Menaechmus,Dorotheus of Athens,Lycus,Antaeus,Ephippus,Dinon,Adimantus,Ptolemy son of Lagus,Marsyas of Macedon,Zoilus ditto,Democritus, Amphilochus,Aristomachus,Alexander the Learned,Juba,ApollodorusOn Scents; the following medical writersHeraclides,Botrys,Archedemus,Dionysius,Democedes,Euphron,Mnesides,Diagoras,Iollas;Heraclides of Tarentnm,Xenophonof Ephesus.

BookXIV. Contents: fruit-trees. (i-v) Vines, their nature; their ways ofbearing; grapes, their nature and tending; 91 kinds of vines and grapes;viticulture and vineyards, noteworthy facts as to (vi-xi) Mead, its discovery;50 wines of quality; 38 foreign vintages; Opimian wine; wine-cellars, notablefacts as to; nature of wine; salt wine, 7 kinds; raisin-wine, must, sweet wine,17 kinds. (xii) Inferior wines, 3 kinds. (xiii-xvii) Wines of quality, howrecently begun to be made in Italy; remarks as to wine from reign of Romulusonwards; wines used in early periods; four kinds of wine, when firstestablished. (xviii-xxi) Wild vine, 5 uses of; what juice by nature the coldest;artificial wine, 66 kinds; mead or honey-wine or water-mead; vinegar-honey.(xxii-v) Remarkable wines, 12 kinds; wines not permissible to use atsacrifices; substances used to flavour mustpitch, resins. (xxvi f.) Wine-jars,vinegar, lees, cellars. (xxviii f.) Intoxication; drinks made from waterand fruit can be as potent as wine.Total: 510 facts, investigations andobservations.

Authorities: CorneliusValerian,Virgil,Celsus,Cato the Censor, Saserna senior,Saserna junior,Scrofa, MarcusVarro, DeciusSilanus, FabiusPietor,Trogus,Hyginus, VerriusFlaccus,Graecinus, JuliusAtticus,Columella, MasuriusSabinus,Fenestella,Tergilla, MacciusPlautus, FabiusDossennus,Scaevala, LuciusAelius, AteiusCapito, CottaMessalinus, LuciusPiso, PompeiusLenaens,Fabianus, SextiusNiger, VibiusRufinus.Foreign authorities:Hesiod,Theophrastus,Aristotle,Democritus, King Hiero, KingAttalus, KingPhilometor,Archytas,Xenophon,Amphilochus of Athens,Anaxipolis of Thasos,Apollodorus of Lemnos,Aristophanes of Miletus,Antigonus of Cumae,Agathocles of Chios,Apollonius of Pergamum,Aristander of Athens,Bacchius of Miletus,Bion of Soli,Chaereas of Athens,Chaeristus ditto,Diodorus of Priene,Dinon of Colophon,Epigenes of Rhodes,Evagon of Thasos,Euphronius of Athens,AndrotionOn Agriculture, Aeschrion ditto,Lysimachus ditto,Dionvsius's translation ofMago, Diophanes'sEpitome ofDionysius, the medical writers Asclepiades andErasistratus, treatises onThe Making of Wine by Commiades,Aristomachus andHicesius,Themiso on medicine,Onesicritus, KingJuba.

BookXV. Contents: Fruit-bearing trees, their various natures. (i-viii) The olivetreehow long was it grown only in Greece; when first introduced into Italy,Spain, Africa; olive-oil, its kinds and valuable properties; nature of the oliveand olive-oil when forming; 15 kinds of olives; nature of olive-oil; cultivationof olive-trees; storing of olives; manufacture of olive-oil; 48 kinds ofartificial olive-oil; the kiki-tree or croto or sill or sesamum (castor-oiltree); olive-lees. (ix-xxxiv) The varieties of fruit, their kinds and nature:pine-cones, 4 kinds; quinces, 4 kinds; sparrow-apples, 4 kinds; pomegranate, 9kinds; peach, 7 kinds; plum, 12 kinds; the persca-trea; apple, 30 kinds; foreignapplesdates and sources of introduction into Italy: most recent introduction;pears, 41 kinds; grafting of varieties, and expiation when struck by lightning;storage of fruit and grapes; figs, 29 kinds; researches as to; artificialripening of; medlars, 3 kinds; service-berry, 4 kinds; nuts, 8 kinds; chestnuts,18 kinds; carobs; fleshy fruits; mulberries; the arbutus; berries, varieties of;hard fruit, varieties; cherry, 9 kinds; cornel-cherries; mastic-trees;juices, 13 different sorts; (xxxv-viii) the myrtle, researches as to; 11 kinds.(xxxix f.) The bay-tree, 13 kinds.Total: 520 facts, researches andobservations.

Authorities:Fenestella,Fabianus,Virgil, ComeliusValerian,Celsus,Cato the Censor, theSasernae,senior and junior,Scrofa, MarcusVarro, DecimusSilanus, FabiusPictor,Trogus,Hyginus, VerriusFlaccus,Graecinus, JuliusAtticus,Columella, MasuriusSabinns,Tergilla, MessalinusCotta, LuciusPiso, PompeiusLenaeus, MaccinsPlatens, FabiusDossennus,Scaevola, LuciusAelius, AteiusCapito, SextiusNiger, VibiusRufinus.Foreign authorities:Hesiod,Theophrastus,Aristotle,Democritus, King Hiero, KingPhilometor, KingAttalus,Archytas,Xenophon,Ampbuloehus of Athens,Anaxipolis of Thasos,Apollodorus of Lemnos,Aristophanes of Miletus,Antigonus of Cumae,Agathocles of Chios,Apollonius of Pergamum,Aristander of Athens,Eaechius of Miletus,Bion of Soli,Chaereas of Athens,Chaeristus ditto,Diodorus of Priene,Dinon of Colophon, Epigenes of Rhodes,Evagon of Thasos,Euphronius of Athens,AndrotionOn Agriculture, Aeschrion ditto,Dionysius's translation ofMago,Diophanes's summary ofDionysius,Asclepiades the physician,Erasistratus ditto,CommiadesOn Making Wine, Aristomachus ditto,Hicesius ditto,Onesieritus, KingJuba.

BookXVI. Contents: forest trees, their various natures. (i f.) Races that haveno trees; remarkable trees in the North. (iii-xiii) Acorn-bearing trees: thecivic wreath; origin of wreaths; wreath of foliage, on whom bestowed; 13 kindsof acorns; the beech; the other acorn-bearing trees; charcoal; the oak-apple;how many fruits beside the acorn borne by the same trees; catkin,cochineal-berry, larch-fungus. (xiv) Trees whose bark is utilized. (xv-xx)Roof-shingles: stone-pine, wild pine, spruce, silver, larch, pitch-pine, yew.(xxi-iii) Liquid pitch, methods of making; cedar-oil, methods of making;wax-pitch, methods of making; resin, methods of boiling; thick-pitch. (xxiv-ix)Trees of value for timber: ash, 4 kinds; lime, 2 kinds; maple, 10 kinds; growthon the maple, maple-fungus; pistachio tree; box, 3 kinds; elm, 4 kinds. (xxx f.)Nature of trees classified by habitat those that grow on mountains, on plains,on dry soils, in water, in several habitats. (xxxii) Classification.(xxxiii-viii) Non-deciduous trees: rhododendron; partially deciduous trees;regions where all trees evergreen; nature of deciduous foliage; trees whosefoliage changes colour: poplars, 3 kinds; foliage that changes shape of leaf;foliage that yearly turns round; palm-leaves, cultivation and use of; remarkablefoliage. (xxxix) Process of growth in trees grown from seed. (xl) Non-floweringtrees: the junipers. (xli-l) Conception, germination and parturition of trees;order of flowering; the husk; date of bearing of the various kinds, trees thatbear yearly, three-yearly; trees that do not bear fruit; trees believedunlucky; trees that lose fruit or flower most easily; which kinds do not bearin which places; method of bearing of the various kinds; kinds that bearfruit before foliage; kinds that bear twice a year, thrice a year. (li) Whichage most rapidly, which least rapidly; early ripening and late ripening fruits.(lii) Which kinds have products of more than one sort: the kernel of the box. (liii-vi)Differences of trees in trunks and boughs the lotus or date plum; boughs, bark,roots. (lvii f.) Instances of trees rising again of their own accord;spontaneous generation of trees, modes of. (lix-lxi) Differences of nature notgenerating all kinds everywhere; places where particular kinds do not grow;cypresses; growth from the earth of entirely novel kinds a frequent occurrence.(lxii) Ivy, its 20 kinds. (lxiii) Bindweed. (lxiv-lxxi) Water plants: canes;reeds, 25 kinds; reed arrows, reed pens, reed pipes; the bird-catcher's andfisherman's reed of Orchomenus; the vine-prop reed; the alder; the willow, itskinds; other plants useful for ties; bulrushes, rush-lights, canes, thatch;elders, brambles. (lxxi f.) Sap of trees. (lxxiv-vii) Nature of timbers;wood-cutting; sizes of trees; the pine; charcoal. (lxxvii-lxxxi) Trees exemptfrom rotfrom splitting; researches as to durability of timbers; kinds ofwoodworms; wooden architecture. (lxxxii-iv) Wooden tools; gluing timber; sawnsheets of wood. (lxxxv-xc) Age of long-lived trees: tree planted by the elderAfricanus; tree in Rome 500 years old; trees dating from the foundation of thecity; trees in the suburbs older than the city; trees planted byAgamemnon; frees dating from first yearof the Trojan War; trees at Troy shown from designation 'Ilion' to be older thanthe Trojan War; ditto at Argos; trees planted by Hercules; trees plantedby Apollo; a tree older than Athens; what kinds of trees are least long-lived.(xci-iv) Trees celebrated for some occurrence; parasitic plants; plantsparasitic on trees and able to grow in earth9 kinds of these; cadytas, hyphear,stelis, hippophaestum; nature of mistletoe and similar plants; manufacture ofbird-lime.Total: 1135 facts, researches and observations.

Authorities: MarcusVarro, Fetialis,Nigidius, CorneliusNepos,Hyginus,Masurius,Cato,Mucianus, LuciusPiso,Trogus, CalpurniusBassus,Cremutius, SextiusNiger,CorneliusBocchus, Vitruvius,Graccinus.Foreign authorities:Alexander the Learned,Hesiod,Theophrastus,Democritus,Homer,Timaeus the mathematician.

Book XVII. Contents: the natures of cultivated trees. (i) Remarkableprices for trees. (ii-iv) Effect of climate on trees; proper aspect for vines;best soil; soil enjoyed by Greece and the Gallic provinces8 kinds. (v-viii) Theuse of ashes; dung; what crops enrich the soil, which impoverish it; methods ofusing manure. (ix-xxi) Methods of growing trees; kinds springing from seed; thatnever degenerate; kinds springing from settings, from a cutting, from a layer;seed-beds, transference of seed-beds; growing elms from seed; trenching;distances between trees; shade; droppings from leaves; slow-growing and quickgrowing kinds; kinds springing from layers. (xxii-viii) Graftinghowdiscovered; kinds of grafts; eye-grafting; budding; grafting of vines; graftsgrowing from boughs; kinds grafted by cuttings, and method. (xxix-xxi)Olive-growing; seasonal arrangement of propagating; trenching round and bankingup vines. (xxxii-iv) The willow thicket; reed bed; other plants cut for polesand stakes. (xxxv f.) Arrangement of vineyards and plantations; prevention ofinjury to vines from animals. (xxxvii f.) Diseases of trees; remarkable productsfrom trees. (xxxix-xlvii) Remedies for diseases of trees; method of watering;remarkable facts as to water-meadows; use of dung; method of hoeing round trunk;lopping of trees; how to dig round trees; pruning of trees; effect ofgall-insect; mistakes in pruning; medicaments for trees. Total: 1380 facts,researches and observations.

Authorities: Cornelius Nepos,Cato the censor,MarcusVarro,Celsus,Virgil,Hyginus, theSasernae, senior andjunior,Scrofa, CalpurniusBassus,Trogus, AemiliusMacer,Graecinus,Columella, JuliusAtticus,Fabianus, MamiliusSura, DessiusMundus, GaiusEpidius, LuciusPiso.Foreign authorities:Hesiod,Theophrastus,Aristotle,Democritus,Theopompus, King Hiero, KingPhilometer, KingAttalus,Arehytas,Xenophon,Amphilochus of Athens,Anaxipolis of Thasos,Apollodorus of Lemnos,Aristophanes of Miletus,Antigonus of Cumae,Agathocles of Chios,Apollonius of Pergamum,Bacchius of Miletus,Bion of Soli,Chaereas of Athens,Chaeristus ditto,Diodorus of Priene,Dinon of Colophon,Epigenes of Rhodes,Evagon of Thasos,Euphronius ofAthens,AndrotionOn Agriculture, Aeschrion ditto,Lysimachus ditto,Dionysius's translation ofMago,Diophanes's summary ofDionysius,AristanderOn Portents.

BookXVIII. Contents: crops, their natures. (i) Devotion to agriculture in earlytimes. (ii) The earliest wreath at Rome; the wreath of ears of corn; (iii) Theacre. (iv) Number and dates of lowest falls; price of corn. (v) Distinguishedauthorities on agriculture. (vi) Rules for preparing the ground. (vii) Locationof homesteads. (viii) Old authorities on methods of agriculture. (ix) Kinds ofgrain. (x-xxix) Properties of corn according to kinds; emmer, wheat, barley,pearl-barley; barley-groats porridge, starch, common wheat, wheat-flour, twograin wheat, seed; the remaining kinds in the east modes of grinding; sesame,erysimum or irio, clary, species of millet; yeasts; bread, methods of making andkinds of; when bakers began at Rome. (xxx-xxxvi) Leguminous plants: beans, kindsof chickpea, calavance, pea; turnips, navews, lupin. (xxxvii-xliii) Fodder:vetch, pulse, fenugreek, secale or rye, mixed fodder, besil, bitter vetch;lucerne. (xliv f.) Oats; corn diseases, remedies. (xlvi) Proper crops to sow invarious kinds of soil. (xliii) National differences in methods of sowing.(xlviii-l) Kinds of plough; method of ploughing; harrowing, weeding, hoeing;cross-harrowing. (li-liii) Greatest fertility of soil; method of cropping samefield more than once a year; manuring. (liv-lxi) Seed-testing; amount of seed ofdifferent varieties of corn required per acre; seasons for sowing; position ofstars from day to day and earthly signs as to agricultural operations. (lxii-xxiv)Agricultural operations proper to the several months; poppies; hay; causes ofvarious kinds of Infertility; remedies; harvests, storage of corn, vintage andautumn operations. (lxxv f.) Conditions of the moon, of the winds. (lxxvii)Fixing of rounds of estates. (lxxviii-xc) Weather-forecasts: from the sun, moon,stars, thunderclouds, mists, earth-fires, waters; from the seasons themselves;from aquatic animals, from birds, from quadrupeds. Total 2060 facts, researchesand observations.

Authorities: MasuriusSabinus,CassiusHemma, VerriusFlaccus, LuciusPiso, CorneliusCelsus, TurraniusGracilis, DecimusSilanus, MarcusVarro,Cato the ex-Censor,Scrofa, theSasernae senior and junior, DomitiusCalvinus,Hyginus,Virgil,Trogus,Ovid,Graecinus,Columella,Tubero, LuciusTarutius's Greek treatiseOn theStars,Caesar the Dictator ditto, SergiusPauilus, SabinusFabianus, MarcusCicero, CalpurniusBassus, AteiusCapito, MamiliusSura,Accius's Praxidica. Foreign authorities:Hesiod,Theophrastus,Aristotle,Democritus, King Hiero, KingPhilometer, KingAttains, KingArchelana,Archytas,Xenophon,Amphilochus of Athens,Anaxipolis of Thasos,Apollodorus of Lemnos,Aristophanes of Miletus,Antigonus of Cumae,Agathocles of Chios,Apollonius of Pergamos,Aristander of Athens,Bacchius of Miletus,Bion of Soli,Chaereas of Athens,Chaeristus ditto,Diodorus of Priene,Dinon of Colophon,Epigenes of Rhodes,Evagon of Thasos,Euphronius of Athens,AndrotionOn Agriculture, Aeschrio ditto,Lysimachus ditto,Dionysius's translation ofMago,Diophanes's summary of Dionysius,Thales,Eudoxus,Philip,Calippus,Dositheus,Parmeniscus,Meto,Crito,Oenopides,Conon,Euctemon,Harpalus,Hecataeus,Anaximander,Sosigenes,Hipparchus,Aratus,Zoroaster,Archibius.

BookXIX. Contents: (i-vi) Flax, nature and remarkable properties of; 27specially good kinds of; how grown and how made up; earliest employment ofawnings in the theatre. (vii-ix) Esparto grass, nature of; how made up; whenfirst used. (x) The wool-bearing bulb. (xi-xviii) Plants that spring up and livewithout root; plants that spring up and cannot be grown from seed: mushroom,iton, stork's bill; truffles, stalkless mushrooms; silphium plant, and itsjuice, leaf and stalk; madder; dyers' rocket, (xix-xxi) The charm of gardens;description of plants other than cereals and shrubs. (xxi-xxxvii) Nature andkinds and descriptions of 20 garden plants: roots, flowers, leaves of all these;deciduous garden plants; various periods of sprouting; nature of seeds; variousmodes of sowing; which of a single kind and which of several kinds. (xxxviii-lv)Nature and kinds and descriptions of 23 garden plants cultivated forcondiments. (xlviii) Plants springing from an exudation; (lvi) Fennel-giant, 4kinds; hemp. (lvii-lix) Diseases of garden plants; cures; modes of killing ants;modes of protecting against caterpillars, against green-fly what plantsbenefited by salt water. (lx) Method of watering gardens. (lxi f.) Juices andflavours of garden plants; pepperwort, rosemary, mint.Total: 1144 facts,investigations and observations.

Authorities: MacciusPlautus, MarcusVarro, DecimusSilanus,Cato the Censor,Hyginus,Virgil,Mucianus,Celsus,Columella, CalpurniusBassus, MamiliusSura, SabinusTiro, LiciniusMacer, QuintusBirrius, VibiusRufinus,CaesenniusOn gardening, Castritius ditto,Firmus ditto,Potitus ditto.Foreignauthorities:Herodotus,Theophrastus,Democritus, Aristomachus,Menander'sThings serviceable for life, Anaxilaus.

BookXX. Subject: medicines obtained from garden plants: (ii) from thewood-encumber 26, (iii) wild encumber 27; (iv) snake cucumber or wild cucumber5, (v) garden encumber 9, (vi) pumpkin 11, (vii) gourd or somphus 1, (viii)eoloeynth 10, (ix) turnips 9, (x) wild turnip 1, (xi) navews or swede of twovarieties 5, (xii C) garden radish 43, horseradish 1, (xiv) parsnip 5, marshmallow or plistolochia or wild mallow 11, (xv) staphyhnus or wild parsnip 22,(xvi) French carrot 1, (xvii) skirwort 11, (xviii) hartwort 12, (xix)elecarnpane 11, (xx) onion 27, (xxi) cut leek (chives) 32, (xxii) headed leek39, (xxiii) garlic 61, (xxiv) lettuce 42, goat-lettuce 4, (xxv) caesapum lettuce1, isatis 1, wild lettuce 7, (xxvi) hawk-weed 17, (xxvii) beet 24, (xxviii) wildbeet or neurois 3, (xxix) endive or wild succory 4, (xxx) chicory or worthy orchampionship 12, (xxxi) scented succory 4, (xxxii) endive 2 kinds, 7 medicines,(xxxiii) cabbage 87, (xxxv) sprouts, (xxxvi) wild cabbage 27, (xxxvii) charloek1, (xxxviii) sea-cabbage 1. (xxxix) squill 23, (xl) onions 30, (xli) bulbine1, emetic onion, (xlii f.) garden asparagus 17, wild asparagus or orminus orLibyan asparagus 24, (xliv) parsley 17, (xlv) wild parsley or bee-plant ; (xlvi)olusatrum or horse-parsley 11, mountain parsley 2, beg parsley 1, (xlvii) rockparsley 1, cow-parsley 1, (xlviii) basil 35, (xlix) colewort 12, (l) cress 42, (li)rue 84, (lii) wild mint 20 (liii) mint 41, (liv) fleabane 25, (lv) wild-bane17, (lvi) cat-mint 9, (lvii) cumin 48, wild cumin 27, (lviii) ammi 10, (lix)caper-bush 18, (lx) lovage or all-heal 4, (lxi) ox-cunila 5, (lxii) cock-cunilaor marjoram 5, (lxiii) cunilago 8, (lxiv) soft cunila 3, libanotis 3, (lxv)garden cunila 3, mountain cunila 7, (lxvi) pepperwort or Indian pepper 5,(vii-ix) wild marjoram or horehound 6, goat's-thyme 9, Heraclean marjoram, 3kinds, 30 drugs; (lxx) pepperwort 3, (lxxi) git or cultivated fennel 23,(xii-iv) anise or anicetum 61,dill 9, (lxxv) sacopeniuxn sagapenum 13, (lxxvi-lxxx)white poppy 3, black poppy 8 (narcotic effect, opium, prophylactics calledanodynes, peptic drugs, febrifuges and purges); poppy-juice 1, wild poppy 2,wild horned poppy or glaucous or shore poppy 6, Heracles poppy or foam poppy 4(medicinal poppy-juice), spurge poppy or a poppy 3, (lxxxi) purslane, alsocalled peplis, 25, (lxxxii-iv) coriander 21, orache 14, varieties of mallowmalope13, malache 1, althaea or plistolochia 54, (lxxxv f.) wood-sorrel oroxalis or horse-sorrel or dock 1, water sorrel 2, horse-sorrel 6, bitter sorrel4, cultivated sorrel 21, cow-sorrel 1, (lxxxvii-ix) mustard 3 kinds, 44drugs, sedge-froth 48, horehound or prasiurn or flax-twist or lads-love orbilochares 29, (xc-xcix) wild thyme 18, wild mint or Thrynibraeum 23, flax-seed30, blite 6, bear wort or Athanxas 7, fennel 22, horse-fennel or bay-fennel 5,hemp 9, fennel giant 8, edible thistle or cardoon 6. (c) Snakebiteantidote, recipe for.Total 1606 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Cato the Censor,MarcusVarro, PompeiusLenaeus, GaiusValgius,Hyginus, SextiusNiger's Greek writings, JuliusBassus ditto,Celsus, Antonius Castor.Foreign authorities:Democritus,Theophrastus,Orpheus, Menander'sThings serviceable for life,Pythagoras, Nicander.Medical writers:Hippocrates, Chrysippus,Diodes,Ophion,Heraclides,Hicesius,Dionysius,Apollodorus of Citium,Apollodorus of Tarentum, Praxagoras,Pleistonicus,Medius,Dieuches,Cleophantus,Philistion,Asclepias,Crateuas, PetroniusDiodotus,Iollas,Erasistratus, Diagoras,Andreas,Mnesides,Epicharmus,Damion,Dalion,Sosimenes,Tlepolemus,Metrodorus,Solon,Lycus,Olympias of Thebes,Philinus,Petrichus,Miccio,Glancias,Xenocrates.

Book XXI. Contents: the natures of flowers and of flowers for garlands.(ii-ix). Of wreaths; garlands; inventors of blending flowers; when first called'floral crowns,' and why; who first bestowed crowns with silver and goldfoliage; why called 'garland-gratuities'; of ribbonswho first reproduced themin carving; high value placed on crowns of honour among the ancients; simplicityof crowns among the ancients; who received a crown bestowed by the nation atRome; plaited crowns; stitched crowns, nard-crowns, silk crowns; QueenCleopatra's action with regard to crowns. (x-xil, lxxiii-v). Rose, 12 kinds, 32drugs; lily, 3 kinds, 23 drugs; plant from an exudation; narcissus, 3 kinds, 16drugs. (xiii) Flowers grown of special colours by dyeing the seed. (xiv-xxxvii)Mode of growing from cuttings, from seed, mode of cultivating various flowers,arranged under various kinds; the violet 3 colours (lxxvi, 17 drugs);yellow herb, 5 kinds (lxxvi, 10 drugs); marsh marigold; king flower; cyclamen(17 drugs); rush (1 drug); crocus (lxxxi, 20 drugs); where the best flowers are;what flowers were in vogue in Trojan times; nature of scents; the iris (41drugs); wild nard (3 drugs); the hulwort or teuthrium (19 drugs); flowers withdifferent colours in the morning, at midday, and at sunset; floral patterns indress; amaranth; the cornflower (2 drugs); the all-gold (3 drugs); the petiliuin or ox-eye daisy; the goldy-locks or gilt lady (6 drugs); whichplants' flowers provide wreaths, which plants' leaves; white byrony, privet,wild marjoram, mezereum or casia, 2 kinds, bee-leaf or balm (21 drugs), melilot,garland of Campama or honey-lotus (12 drugs); trefoil, 3 kinds (4 drugs) mousebane; thyme, 3 kinds (28 drugs); plants springing from flower, not seed;elecampane; flower of Jupiter; martagon-lily (4 drugs) calamint (5 drugs);phlox; plant with scented stalk and leaves: southern-wood (22 drugs); flower ofAdonis, 2 kinds; self-fertilizers; leucanthemum (1 drug); marjoram, 2 kinds (60drugs); wake-by-night or chenamyche or see-by-night. (xxxviii f.) Time-series ofbirth of flowers; garland anemone or phrenion (xciv-ix 10 drugs); wine-flowergrass (6 drugs); cultivated fennel (11 drugs), marigold (11 drugs), gladiolus,hyacinth (8 drugs), lychnis (7 drugs), narcissus, pothos, 2 kinds, crocus, 2kinds, periwinkle or dwarf laurel (xl, 4 drugs); evergreen grass. (xli-ix)Length of life of various flowers; what kinds among flowers should be cultivatedto attract bees; waxflower; diet of bees; their diseases and remedies;poisonous honey and its remedies; honey that causes madness; honey that flieswill not touch; apiaries, hives and care of hives; do bees feel hunger?manufacture of wax; the best kinds of wax; Carthaginian wax. (l-cviii)Self-grown vegetation, its use among certain races, its kinds, remarkable casesof; strawberries, wild grapes, butcher's broom (c, 4 drugs); samphire, 2 kinds (ci.11 drugs), meadow parsnip, willow-hop, culcas (cii, 2 drugs) Oretan pitch plant,anthalium or anticellium or anthyllium (ciii, 6 drugs); oetum; roots with nogrowth above the surface of the earth; chickling vetch, aracos; candryala,hypochoeris, caucalis, anthriscum, chervil (also called goat's beard),maiden-flower or white blossom or marjoram or partridge-plant or wall-plant (civ,8 drugs), nightshade or strychnos or halicacabus or calitha or dorycnion ormad-plant or surplus or sinew-plant or lack-wit or moly (cv, 8 drugs), wildpulse (cvi, 6 drugs), chick-pea, acynopus, rock-plant; non-flowering plants,plants perpetually in flower; safflower, 4 kinds (cvii, 3 drugs). (liv-viii)Plants of the prickly kind (erynge thistle, licorice root, land caltrop,rest-harrow, pheos or stoebe, horse-beam, nettle, 4 kinds, dead-nettle,scorpion-grass, acorna or murder-thistle, whitethorn, copper-wort, safflower,many-thorn, donkey-box, helxine, edible thistle, carline thistle, tetralix heath(thorny mastix, cactus, pternica, pappum, artichoke). (lix) Plants classed bystalks: hartshorn, alkanet, chamomile, phyllanthes, crepis, lotus. (lx) Plantsdistinguished by leaves: evergreens; plants flowering in sections; heliotrope,whose use for drugs will be stated in the Book. (lxi-v) Ear-bearing classes:stanyops, fox-tail, stelephuros, or quail-plant or plantain, thryallis,partridge-wort, bird's milk; plants of twelve-month growth, plants floweringfrom top, ditto from bottom; internal-sprouting burdock, Opus-plantmaking root from leaf; iasione, chondrilla, year-long flowering bitter-plant. (lxvi)Plants producing flower before stalk, stalk before flowers, thrice-flowering. (ixvii-lxxi)Gladiolus, 8 drugs; eorydalis; aspbodel or royal spear-grass (asphodel-stalk orbulb); rush, 6 kinds, 4 drugs; cyperus, 4 drugs, cyperis, cypira, holoschoenos.(lxxii) Drugs from scented rush or teuehites 10. (lxxviii-lxxxii) Drugs fromhazelwort 8, drugs from Gallic nard 8, drugs from 'phu' grass 4; Syriansaffron-leas, 2 drugs, (cviii) pesoluta, 1 drug. (cix) Translation of Greekterms for weights and measures.Total, 730 drugs, investigations andobservations.

Authorities:Cato the ex-Censor,MarcusVarro, Masurius,Antias,Caepio,Vestinus, VibiusRufinus,Hyginus, PomponiusMela, PompeiusLenaeus, CorneliusCelsus, CalpurniusBassus, GaiusValgius, LiciniusMacer, SextiusNiger's Greek treatise, JuliusBassus's ditto, AntoniusCastor.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus,Democritus,Orpheus,Pythagoras, Mago,Menander'sThings serviceable for life,Nicander,Homer,Hesiod,Musaeus,Sophocles,Anaxilaus.Medical writers: MnesitheusOn Wreaths,Callimachus ditto, Phardas the natural scientist,Simus,Timaristus,Hippocrates,Chrysippus,Diodes,Ophion,Heradides,Hicesius,Dionysius,Apollodorus of Citium,Apollodorus of Tarentum,Praxagoras,Plistonicus,Medius,Dieuches,Cleophantus,Phllistio,Asclepias,Crateuas, PetroniusDiodotus,Iollas,Frasistratus, DiagorasAndreas,Mnesides,Epicharmus,Damio,Dalio,Sosimenes,Tlepolemus,Mctrodorus,Solon,Lycus,Olympias of Thebes,Philinus,Petrichus,Miecio,Glaueias,Xenocrates.

Book XXII. Contents: the importance of herbs. (i-vi) That nationsuse herbs because of their beauty; herbs used to dye clothes; dye made ofvegetable oil, ditto; tufts of sacred grass, sacred branches andthe ritual of demanding redress; wreath of grass, its rarity, its onlyrecipients, the only centurion recipient. (vii) Drugs made from the remainingsorts of wreaths. (viii-xlv) Erynge or eryngion or hundred-heads, 30; acanosthistle, 1 sweet-root or licorice, 15; mouth-heal, 1.: caltrop, 2 kinds, 12drugs; stoebe or pheos; horse-beam, 2 kinds, 2 drugs; nettle, 61; dead-nettle 7;scorpion-plant, 2 kinds, 1 drug; pellitory or phyllos or sciatiëa-plant orpolygonaton, 4; helxine, 12; pellitory or maiden-herb or iron-wort (the same aspitcher-polish or astericum) 11; chamaeleon-plant or canine thistle or ulophytumor cynozo]on, 2 kinds, 12 drugs (gum mastic); hartshorn, alkanet, 14;bastard-bugloss or echis or doris, 3; donkey-lip or archebius or donkey-hoof orrhexia or euchrysa, 30; the plant whose roots make dye; chamomile or whiteanthemis or earth-apple. or fennel-flower, 3 kinds, 11 drugs; lotus grass, 4;lotometra, 2; heliotrope or turnsole or wartwort, 12; heliotrope or three-berryor scorpion's tail, 14; adiantum or maiden-hair or tnichomanes or many-hair orsaxifrage, 2 kinds, 28 drugs, rootless stem; bitter lettuce 1, corydalis 1;asphodel 51; orach 14; bear's breech or lad's love or black-leaf 5; hare's ear5, cow-nettle 1; wild parsnip 9; chervil 9; southern chevnil 2; bind-weed 4;caucalis 12; bur-parsley 11; sillybus thistle; cardoon or meadow thistle 5;sow-thistle, 2 kinds, 15 drugs; chondrilla 3. (xlvi) Mushrooms: peculiarity intheir mode of reproduction. (xlvii-ix) Toadstools: signs of poisonous kinds; 9drugs obtained from these; silphium 7; assafoetida plant 39. (l-lv) Bee-glue 5,honey 16, hydromel 18; reason for influence of diet on character; mead 6honey-must, 3; wax, 8. (lvi) Warning against doctors' mixtures. (lvii-lxxvi).Drugs from various grains: common wheat 1, wheat 11, chaff 2, emmer 1, bran 1,arinca, rye-water 2; corresponding varieties of flour; 29 drugs; pearl-barley8; fine flour, pulse 1, paper flour 1; alica 6; millet 6; Italian millet 4;sesame 7; near-sesame 3, hellebore 3; barley 9, wild barley (Greek 'Phoenicianbarley') 1; pearl-barley 4; starch 8; oats 1; bread 21; bean 16; lentil 17;marsh-bean 3; elelisphacon or fragrant moss (sage) 13; chick-pea and smallchickpea 23; bitter vetch 20; lupine 35; winter-cress or erysimum (Gallic'vela') 15; clary 6. (lxxvii-lxxx) Darnel 5, millet grass 1, oats 1, choke-weedor broom-rape 1. (lxxxi f.) Protection against maggots in vegetables. Foam frombeer.Total 906 drugs, investigations and observations.

Book XXIII. Contents: drugs obtained from cultivated trees: (ii-xxii)from vines 20; vine-leaves 7; tendrils 7; juice of unripe grape 14; wild vine21; fresh grapes; varieties of stored grapes, 11 drugs; vine-shoots 1;grape-stones 6; grape-skins 8; treacle-grape 4; dried grape or raisin 14; wildraisin or staves-acre or taminia or phlegm-heal 12; claret-vine or wild vine 12;salicastrum wild vine 12; white grape or ampelos leuke or staphyle or whitebryony or psilothrum or archezostis or cedrostis or madon 31; black grape orbryony or Chiron's plant or gynacanthe or apronia 35; must 15; Falernian 6,Alban 2, Surrentine 3; Setine 1, Statane 1, Signine 1; other wines 64.(xxiii-vi) observations about wines 61; what invalids to be given them, and whenand how; observations on these points 91. (xxvii-xxxiii) Vinegar 28, squillvinegar17, vinegar-honey 7, must 7, wine lees 12, vinegar lees 17, must lees 4.(xxxiv-xxxix) Olive leaves 23; olive flowers 4, olive berries 6, white olives 4,black olives 3; olive lees 21, wild olive leaves 16, oil of unripe olives 3.(xl-l) Wild olive oil 8; castor oil 16; almond oil 16; bay oil 9; myrtle oil 20;oil of dwarf myrtle or prickly myrtle (butcher's room), of cypress, of citrus,nut-oil, Cnidian oil, mastic oil, oil of behen-nut, cyprus oil and cyprus flower6; oil of must 1; of balsam 5; of betel 5, of henbane 2, of lupine 1, ofnarcissus 1, of radish 5, of sesame 3, of lily-seed 1, oil of Selga 1, ofIguvium 1; of olive-honey 2, of pitch 2. (li-liii) Palm-oil 9, palm-oil of behen-nut3, of fir 17. (liv-lxxxiii) Drugs from flower, leaves, fruit, branches, bark,sap, wood, root, ash, of the different sorts of tree; observations as toapple-trees 6, as to quinces 22, as to soapworts 1, sweet apples 6, crab apples4, citron apples 5, pomegranates 26; lip-salve 14; pomegranate blossom 8, wildpomegranate blossom 12. (lxii-lxix) Observations on pear trees, 13, on figs 111,on wild figs 42; erineus grass 3, plums 4, peaches 2, wild plums 2; tree lichen(lxx-lxxv) Mulberries 39; lip-salve or windpipe salve or all-heal 4; cherries5, medlars 2, serviceberries 2, pine-cones 13, almonds 29. (lxvi-lxxix) Greeknuts 1, walnuts 24 (antidote); filberts 3, pistachios 8, chestnuts 5, caroes 5,cornel-cherry 1, arbutuses. (lxxx-lxxxiii) Bay-trees 69. myrtles 60,myrtle-berry wine 13, Prickly myrtle or ground-myrtle or butcher's broom 6.Total 1418 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities: GaiusValgius,PompeiusLenaeus, SextinsNiger's Greek writings, JuliusBassus's ditto, AntoniusCastor, MarcusVarro, CorneliusCelsus,Fabianus.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus,Democritus,Orpheus,Pythagoras, Mago,Menander'sThings serviceable for life,Nicander,Homer,Hesiod,Musaeus,Sophocles,Anaxilaus.Medical writers: Mnesitheus,Callimachus,Phanias'sNatural Science, Timaristus,Simus,Hippocrates,Chrysippus,Diodes,Ophion, Heracides, Hicesius, Dionysius, Apollodorus of Citium, Apollodorus ofTarentum,Praxagoras, Plistonicus,Medius, Dieuches, Cleophantes, Philistion, Asclepiades, Crateuas,Petronius Diodotus, Iollas, Erasistratus,Diagoras, Andreas, Mnesides, Epieharmus, Damion,Dalion, Sosimenes, Tlepolemus, Metrodorus,Solon, Lyeus, Olympias of Thebes, Philinus,Petrichus, Miccio, Glaucias, Xenocrates.

Book XXIV. Contents: Drugs obtained from forest trees: (ii-ix) Egyptianwater-lily 6, acorns 13, holm-oak berry 3, oak-apple 23, mistletoe 11, acorns ofglandiferous trees 1, Turkey oak 8, cork 2, beech 4. (x-xix) Cypress 23, cedar13, cedar-berry 10, galbanum 23, gum-tree 24, styrax gum-tree 10, bear's-foot17, sphagnus or sphaeus or moss 5, turpentine 6, pitch-pine 8. (xx-xxix)Ground-pine 10, pityusa 6, resin 22, pitch 34, cedar-resin oil or twice-boiledpitch 16, earth-pitch 2, wax-pitch 1, pitch-pine 1, mastic-tree 22, plane 25.(xxx-xxxix) Beech 5, maple 1, poplar 8, elm 16, lime 5, elder 15, juniper 21,willow 14, Amerian apple 1, chaste-tree 33, heath 1. (xl-xlix) Broom 5, myrice,also called tamarisk 3, golden-rod 1, brya 29, brook-willow 3, privet 8, alder1, ivies 39, cisthus 5, reddish-ivy 2, ground-ivy 2, yew 3, clematis 3. (l-lix)Reed 18, papyrus reed 3, ebony 5, rhododendron 1, sumach 2 kinds, 8 drugs(mouth-heal), red sumach 9, madder 11, madwort 2, radicula or soapwort 13,dog's-bane 2, rosemary 18. (lx-lxix) Rosemary capsule 6, sabine grass 7, savin-tree2, brookweed 2, cummin 11, Arabian thorn 4, white-thorn 2, bear's-foot 1, acacia18, rosewood or erysisceptrum or adipsatheum or diaxylon 8. (lxx-lxxix)Barberry-bush 2, pyracanthus 1, Christ's-thorn 10, holly 10, yew 1, blackberries51 (mouth-heal), dog-rose 3, Ida bramble 1; buckthorn 2 kinds, 5 drugs; Lyciumthorn 18, Persian gum 2, oporice 2. (lxxx-lxxxix) Germander or dwarf oak orchamaerops or Teucrian plant 16; dwarf laurel 5, dwarf olive 6, dwarf fig8, ground ivy 1, chamaeleuce or colt's-foot or farfugium 1, ground larch 5,ground cypress 2. field-garlic 6, horsemint 1, wild basil or cleopicetum orzopyrontium or ocimoides 3, knotweed clematis 3. clematis or aetis or cimoides.(xl-xlviii) Egyptian clematis or laurel clematis or polygonoides 2, wake-robin13, tarragon 2, dragon-root 3, milfoil or varrow 7, bastard-bunion 4,sweet-cicely or myrra or myriza 7, oenobreche 3. (xcix-cii) Sorcery from herbs:coracesia and calicia; Minyad or Corinthian herb 1, aproxis (Pythagoreanteachings as to recurrent diseases), aglaophotis or marble-quarry plant.Achaemenis or horse's-mane, theombrotion or semnion, uncrushable herb,Ariana plant, theronarca. Ethiopian plant or herb of Meroe, ophiusa, sea-ray orriver-flash, theangelis, gelotophyllis, hestiateris or protomedia or casignetesor Dionysonymphas, helianthis or heliocallis, hermesiades, aeschynomenes,erocis, oenetheris, anacampseros. (ciii-cix) Eriphia, wool grass 1, milk-wort1, soldier-grass 1, stratiotes 5, statue's head grass 1,river grass 1, tongue grass 1, sieve grass 1. (cx-cxx)Dung-hill grass 1, dog's water grass 1, rodarum 3, French everlasting 2, Venus'scomb 1, exedum, southern-wood 2, goose-grass 1, dog-bur 2, hart-wort or syreon3, couch-grass 17, lady's finger 5, Greek hay or fenugreek, our silicia, 31.Total: 1176 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities: Gaius Valgius,Pompeius Lenaeus, Sextius Niger's Greek writings, Julius Bassos's,ditto,Antonius Castor, Cornelius Celsus.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus,Apollodorus, Democritus, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Mago, Menander'sThings serviceable for life, Nicander, Homer, Hesiod, Musaeus, Sophocles,Anaxilaus.Medical writers: Mnesitheus, Callimachus, Phanias the scientific writer,Timaristus, Simus, Hippocrates, Chrysippus,Diodes, Ophion, Heradides, Hicesius, Dionysius, Apollodorus of Citium,Apollodorus of Tarentuxn, Praxagoras, Plistonicus, Mcdius, Dieuches, Cleophantus,Philistio, Asclepiades, Cratcuas, Petronius Diodotus, Iollas, Erasistratus,Diagoras, Andreas, Mnesides, Epicharmus, Damion, Sosimenes, Tlepolemus,Metrodorus, Solon, Lycus, Olympias of Thebes, Phulinus, Petrichus, Miccio,Glaucias, Xenocrates.

BookXXV. Contents: the natures of self-grown plants; value of plants. (i-vi)Origin of their use; Latin writers on uses of plants; when this knowledgereached the Romans; first Greek writers on the subject; herbal remedies, whycomparatively little used; remarkable discoveries of plants. Dog-rose, 2 drugs,tarragon 1, water-clock 5. (vii-ix) The greatest pain. Discoverers of famousplants. Moly 3, shooting star 1, peony or pentorobus or glycysides 1, varieties of all-healAsclepion 2, Heraclion 3, Chironion 4, Centaurion or Pharnacion 3,iron-wort Heraclion 4, hyoscyamos or Apollo-plant or henbane, 2 kinds, 3 drugs;linozostis or maiden-hair or grass of Hermes or grass of Mercury, 2 kinds, 22drugs; Achilles star-wort or all-heal of Heracles, our milfoil or king's-broom,6 kinds, 3 drugs. (xx-xxix) Teucer's grass or hermione or spleenwort 2;Melampodium or hellebore, our veratrum 3 kinds, method of gathering, method oftesting; drugs from black hellebore 24, how taken; ditto with whitehellebore; drugs from the latter 23; to what patients not to be given:observations in regard to each kind 88. Grass of Mithridates 2, scordotis orwater-germander 4, Polemonia or Philetaeria or thousand-virtues 6, Eupatoria 1.(xxx-xlii) Centaury or grass of Chiron 20, lesser centaury or libadion, ourearth-gall (fumitory) 22, triorchis centaury 2, Clymenos 2, gentian 13,Lysimachia 8, Artemisia or maiden-herb or magwort or ambrosia 5, water-lily orrod of Heracles or rhopalon or mallos, 2 kinds, 14 drugs; Euphorbia .2 kinds, 4drugs; plantain 2 kinds, 46 drugs; bugloss 3; hound's-tongue 3; ox-eye or cachla1. (xliii-ix) Plants discovered by various races: Scythian grass 3, mare's-grass3, styptic plant 2, cestros or psychotrophon, our Vettonica or betony, 48;Cantabrian bindweed 2, lung-wort 1, candy-tuft 7. (l-liii) Plants found fromanimals: swallow-wort 6, dog's-grass 1, dittany 8, sham-dittany or horehound.Localities where herbs most potent. Milk drunk for herbal contents in Arcady. (liv-lix)Aristolochia or clematis or Cretan plant or plistolochia or many-rooted lochia,our earth-bane, 22; agrimony 4, tinder-fungus 33; viper's-bugloss 3kinds, 2 drugs; holy-wort or dove-wort, our vervain, 2 kinds 10 drugs;moth-mullein 11, molemony 1; pentapetes or pentaphyllon or chamaezelon, ourcinquefoil, 33 drugs; bur-weed 1; wild carrot, 4 kinds, 18 drugs; theronarca 2;brown mullein or arcion 8; cyclamen, our mole-hill plant, 12; ivy-flowercyclamen 4; ground-ivy cyclamen 3. (lxx-xc) Sulphurwort 28, dwarf elder 6;phlomos, our mullein 15; phlornides 2, phlomis or wild lychnis or thryallis;thelyphonon or scorpion-grass (aconite) 1; phrynion or neuras or poterion 1;water-plantain or damnsoniurn or lyron 17; vervain 6; antirrhinum or anarrhinumor wild lychnis 3; euplia 1; pericarpum, 2 kinds; 2 drugs; Hercules water-lily2; marsh crowfoot 1; colt's-foot or lion-wort 3; hair-dye plant 1; hyssop 10;satyrion 4; gladiolus or sword-lily 4; flea-bane or dog-wort or gold garlic orSicilian grass or dog-fly 16; thryselinon 1. (xci-cv) Eye-salves: pimpernel orchickweed, our cat's-eye, 2 kinds, 3 drugs; aegilops 2, mandragora or Circe'sherb or nightshade or white mandrake, 2 kinds, 24 drugs; hemlock 13; wildseafennel 1, leadwort 1; 'dwarfed smoke,' our chickenfeet (fumitory) 1;bush-smoke 3; acoron or sweetflag 14; navelwort, 2 kinds 61 drugs; greaterlivefor-ever or ox-eye or zoophthalmon or love-charm or gutter-leek or immortalor care-free, our great houseleek or eye or little finger, 31 drugs; lesserlive-for-ever or erithales or trithales or erysithales, our aye-green orstonecrop, 32 drugs; wild purslane, our decoy-bird 32. (cvi-x) Erigeron orpappos or groundsel, our old-man, 8; ephemeron 2; Venus's-lip 1, frog-weed, ourranunculus or buttercup, 4 kinds, 14 drugs; mouth-heal, 2 kinds. Total 1292drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Gaius Valgius, PompeiusLenaens, Sextius Niger's Greek writings,Julius Bassus's ditto, Antonius Castor, Cornelius Celsus, Fabianus.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus,Apollodorus, Democritus, Juba, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Mago, Menander'sThings serviceable for life, Nicander, Homer, Hesiod, Musaeus, Sophocles,Xanthus, Anaxilaus.Medical writers: Mnesitheus, Callimachns, Phanias the naturalscientist, Timaristus, Simus, Hippocrates, Chrysippus, Diodes, Ophion,Heraclides, Hicesins, Dionysius, Apollodorus of Citium, Apollodorus of Tarentum,Praxagoras, Plistonicus, Medius, Dieuches, Cleophantus, Philistion, Asclepias,Crateuas, Petronius Diodotus, Iollas, Erasistratus, Diagoras, Andreas, Mnesides,Epicharmus, Damion, Sosimenes, Tlepolemus, Metrodorus, Solon, Lycus, Olympias ofThebes, Philinus, Petrichus, Miccio, Glaucias, Xenocrates.

Book XXVI. Contents: the remaining drugs by classes. (i) New diseases.(ii-vi) Ringwormwhen first occurring in Italy; carbuncle ditto;elephantiasis ditto; colic ditto. (vii-ix) The new medicine; thephysician Asclepias; reason for alteration of the old medicine; refutation ofMagi. (x-xix) Lichen, 2 kinds, 5 drugs, Proserpinaca 1, ox-eye daisy 2,condurdum 1, bechfon or arcion or chamaeleuce, our white colt's-foot, 3; bechion,our sage, 4; molon or syron, balsam-shrub 3. (xx-xxix) Horse-tail or anabasis 3,geum 3, tripolion 3, amaranth. malundrum 2, chalcetum 2, molemonium 1; comfreyor black bryony 5, wall germander 1, French lavender 1, Spanish tragacanth 6.(xxx-xxxix) Ladanum 8; horehound or bastard dittany 1, cisthus-parasite ororobethron, 2 kinds, 8 drugs; layer or sion 2; pond-weed 8, statice 3;horn-weed 2, lentopodion or leuceoron or doribethron or thorybethron; hare'sfoot 3; thyme-flower or hippopheos 8; devil's-bit 4; polypody 3; scanimony 8;stake-spurge. (xl-xlvi) Myrtle-spurge or nut-spurge 21, sea-spurge or thymalis4, heliotrope spurge 18, cyparissias-spurge 18, broadleaved spurge or corymbitesor almond-spurge 3; tree-spurge or cobius or small-leaved spurge 18;sciatica-spurge or wild radish 2. (l-lix) Sea-fennel 11, sea-fennel kernel,pitch-plant 2, musk-ivy 2, portulaca 1, hypericon or ground-pine or corisson 9,ground-pine seed or hypericon 10, hair-dye plant 1, perpressa 1, marigold 1,chamomile 1, smallage 1, Fulvius-grass, groin-grass or argemo. (lx-lxix)Clirvsippus-grass 1, orchis or Serapia 5, ragwort 3, red ragwort 4, lappagobinor mollugo 1, prickly bur 1, phvcos, our seaweed, 3 kinds, 5 drugs; cattle-bur;crane's bill or geranium or myrtis, 3 kinds, 6 drugs; donkey-hunt orrefreshment-plant 3, (lxxiii) Danewort or dwarf-elder, ground Dane-wort. (lxxxiii-xciii)Horsetail or ephedron or anabasis, our horse-hair, 3 kinds, 18 drugs;stephanomeis; erysithales l, polycnemon 1, arsenogonon 1, thelygonon 1, mastos1, ophrys. Total, 1019 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Marcus Varro, Gaius Valgius,Pornpeius Lenaeus, Sextius Niger's Greek writings,Julius Bassus's ditto,Antonius Castor, Cornelius Celsus.Foreign Authorities:Theophrastus,Apollodorus, Democritus, Juba, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Mago, Menander'sThings serviceable for life, Nicander, Homer, Hesiod, Musaeus, Sophocles,Xanthus, Anaxilaus.Medical writers: Mnesitheus, Callimachus, Phanias the naturalphilosopher, Timaristus, Simus, Hippocrates, Chrysippus, Diodes, Ophion,Heraclides, Hicesius, Dionysius, Apollodorus of Citium, Apollodorus ofTarentum, Praxagoras, Plistonicus, Medius, Dieuches, Cleophantus, Philistion,Asclepiades, Crateuas, Petronius Diodotus, Iollas, Erasistratus, Diagoras,Andreas, Mnesides, Epicharmus, Damion, Sosimenes, Tlepolemus, Metrodorus, Solon,Lycus, Olympias of Thebes, Philinus, Petrichus, Miccio, Glaucias, Xenocrates.

Book XXVII. Contents: the remaining kinds of plants, drugs derived fromthem. (ii-x) Monk's-hood or lady-killer or cammoron or choke-leopard orscorpion, 4 drugs; Aetbiopic sage 4; never-grow-old 4; aloe 29; alcea-mallow 1;herb terrible 1; chickweed for the same uses as helxine 5; androsaces 6;man's-blood or St. John's-wort 6. (xi-xx) Ambrosia or mug-wort or Artemisia 3,rest-harrow or ononis 5, bean-trefoil or pain-killer 3, no-name 2, cleavers orgrape-fruit or goose-grass 4, bear-weed or bear-ward 5, miltwort or spleenwort2, swallowwort 2, aster or star-wort 3, St. John's wort and ascyroides 3.(xxi-xxx) Chick-pea 3, alcibium 1, alectoros Iophos, our cock's-comb 2, comfrey,our rock wallwort 14, red seaweed 1, herb Christopher 1, wild vine 4; wormwood,4 kinds, 48 drugs; sea-wormwood or seriphum; horehound or black chives 3.(xxxi-xl) Mugwort or ambrosia or Artemisia 1, brabyla 1; sea bryon 5, hare's-ear1, catanance 1, cemos 1, calyx 3, calyx or strangle-plant or rhinoclia 2, herbof Circe 3, cirsion thistle 1; crataegonon, 3 kinds, 8 drugs; (xli-l)crocodile plant 2, hound's-cod or orchis 4, garden orach, 2 kinds, 3 drugs,earth-bond 2, nightshade or strumus or strychnos 6, salve-herb 2, Cnidus berry2, teasel 3, oak-wing 2, drabe 1, elatine 2. (li-lx) Harts-tongue, called inLatin break-stone, 4; epicactis or belleborine 2, epimedion 3, nine-leaf 3,fern. 2 kinds called by the Greeks 'feather-fern' or blachnon, also femalefeather or bride's-feather, 11; ox-thigh; dead-nettle or galeobdoIon or galion6; owl-plant 1; celandine 3 (pillar-plant, 2 drugs) glycysis or peony orpentorobon 20. (lxi-lxx) Cotton-grass or cudweed 6, hairy teasel 1, mouse-barleyor aristis, black centaury, white plantain 3, hippophaeston 8, butcher's broom1, humble-plant, grass of Ida 4, isopvron or phasiolon 2. (lxxi-Ixxx) Wolf's-milk 2, lion's-leaf (others call it 'rhapeion') 2, alkanet 2,lithospermon or exonychon or diospyron or grass of Hercules 2, stone-crop 1,arrow-poison 1, spotted dead-nettle or mesoleucium or leucas 3, St. Mary'sthistle 5; medion 3, mouse-ear or forget-me-not 3. (lxxxi-xc) Mouse-hunter 1,nyma 1. water-snake 1, toothwort 1, othonna 1, onosma 1, St. Mary's thistle 5,goose-foot 4, wood sorrel 2, many-flowered crowfoot or frogwort 3. (xci-c)Knot-grass or polygonatum or sea-grass or carcinothron or clema or bayleaf (thesame as bloodweed or orbs) 4 kinds, 40 drugs; succory 12, peplis or syce ormeconion or foam-poppy 3, honeysuckle 5, hatchet-vetch 1, milkwort 1, tragacanthor frog-cup or tendon-plant 4; anthericum or spider-root or whitethorn 4;groundsel 1; phyllon 1. (ci-cx) Phellandrion 2, canary-grass 2, many-root 5,Proserpinaca 5, rhecoma 36, reseda 2, French lavender 3, nightshade, Greekstrychnon, 2; common alexanders 32, sinon 2, purslane 4. (cxi-cxvii) Mad-locks5, meadow-rue 1, thlaspi or Persian mustard 4, herb of Trachis 1, tragonis orgoatwort 1, goat-grass or scorpion-grass 4, goat's-beard or come 1. (cxviii-cxx)Length of life of herbs; means of increasing the potency of each kind. Differentnational maladies. Total, 602 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Gaius Valgius, PompeiusLenaeus, Greek works of Sextius Niger, ditto ofJulius Bassus, Antonius Castor, CorneliusCclsus.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus, Apollodorus, Democritus, Aristogiton, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Mago,Menander'sThings serviceable for life, Nicander.Medical writers: Mnesitheus, Callimachus, Timaristus, Simus,Hippocrates, Chrysippus, Diodes, Ophion, Heraclides, Hicesius, Dionysius,Apollodorus of Citium, Apollodorus of Tarcntum, Praxagoras, Plistonicus, Medius,Dieuches, Cleophantus, Philistiou, Asclepiades, Crateuas, Petronius Diodotus,Iollas, Erasistratus, Diagoras, Andreas, Mnesides, Epicharmus, Damion,Sosimenes, Tlcpolemus, Metrodorus, Solon, Lycus, Olympias of Thebes, Philinus,Petrichus, Miccio, Glaucia, Xenocrates.

Book XXVIII. Contents: drugs obtained from animals. (iii) Whether thereis any healing power in spoken charms. (iv-v) Portents ratified and rejected.(vi-xix) Remedies obtained from the human body; against magicians; 226 drugs andobservations derived from an adult male, 8 from a boy; (xx-xxiii) 61 from awoman; (xxiv-xxxi) from foreign animals,elephant 8, lion 10, camel 10, hyena79, crocodile 19, crocodile's excrement 11, chameleon 15, lizard 4,hippopotamus 7, lynx 5. (xxxiii-xli) Drugs obtained: 1 equally from wild animalsand tame animals of the same kind; milk, modes of using and remarks as to, 54;cheeses 12; butter 25; sour milk 1; fat, modes of using and observations as to,52; suet; marrow; gall; blood. (xlii-lxxx) Special drugs derived from particularanimals arranged according to diseases; from the boar 12, pig 60, stag 3, wolf27, bear 24, wild ass 12, ass 76, ass's foal 3, wild horse 11, foal's rennet 1,horse 42, mare's milk cheese 1, wild oxen 2, ox 81, bull 53, calf 59, hare 64,fox 20, badger 2, cat 5, she-goat 116, he-goat 31, kid 21. (lxxi) On testingbull-glue, and 7 drugs from it. Total 1682 drugs, investigations andobservations.

Authorities: MarcusVarro, Lucius Piso,Antias, Verrius, Fabianus, Cato the ex-Censor, Servius Sulpicius, Licinius,Macer, Celsus, Masurius, Greek works ofSextius Niger, Bythus of Durazzo, medical works ofRabirius, Ofilius and Granius.Foreign authorities:Democritus, Apolloniusalias the Mouse, Meletus, Artemon, Sextilius Antaeus, Homer, Theophrastus, Lysimachus, Attalus, Xenocrates, Orpheus writer ofldiopkye,Archelaus ditto,Demetrius, Sotira, Lais, Elephantis, Salpe,Olympias of Thebes, Diotimus of Thebes, Jollas, Audreas, Marcio of Smyrna,medical works ofAeseliines, Hippocrates,Aristotle, medical works of Hicetidasand Apelles, Hesiod, Bialcon, Caecilius, Bion'sOn Potencies, Anaxilaus, King Juba.

Book XXIX. Contents: drugs obtained from animals. (i-viii) Originof medicine;Hippocrates; firstemployment of clinic medicine, first employment of embrocations;Chrysippus the physician,Erasistratus; experimental medicine;Hierophulus; remaining famousphysicians; how often the system of medicine has altered; the first physician atRome, name and date; judgement of Romans as to ancient physicians; defects ofmedicine. (ix-xiii) Cures from wools 35 and in the next book 25, making 60; fromwool-washings 32, next book 20, making 52; from eggs 22, next book 43, making65; meaning of 'fattened' eggs; how to make eggs all yoke; snakes' eggs; how tomake Commagene-cure; drugs from it 4, and in next book 5, making 9. (xiv-xl)Remedies from roaming or wild animals; ram 5 and next book 7 = 12, sheep 2 andnext book 15 = 17, mules 1 and next book 5 = 6, horses 1 and next book 3 = 4, dog16 and next book 41 = 57, mad dog 3 and next book 5 = 7, ichneumon 1, mouse 14and next book 28 = 42, pygmymouse 4 and next book 1 = 5, dormouse 2 and nextbook 6 = 8, shrewmouse 1 and next book 2 = 3, weasel 19 and next book 25 = 44,gecko 4 and next book 12 = 16, hedgehog 5 and next book 13 = 18, porcupine 1 andnext book 2 = 3, lizard 13 and next book 30 = 43, salamander 1 and next book 3 =4, snail 27 and next book 19 = 46, asp 1 and next book 3 = 4, basilisk 4, serpent 4and next book 6 10, viper 14 and next book 21 = 35 (xxi, salt antidote forviper-bite; xxxviii, adder-ash drug) snake 8 and next book 27 = 35, water-serpent1, ox-snake 4 and next book 3 = 7, water-snake 1 and next book 2 = 3, the otherserpents Sand next book 7 = 15, scorpion 4 and next book 2 = 6, spiders andpoison-spiders, 12 kinds, drugs from these 9 and next book 27 = 36, cricket orbull-beetle 1 and next book 7 = 8, scolopendra or multipede or millepede orcentipede or woodlouse or catkin 1 and next book 20 = 21 (xvii, admiration ofnature who produces nothing useless), slug 1 and next book 3 = 4, caterpillar 1and next book 2 = 3, earth-worm 2 and next book 20 = 22, tree-worm I and nextbook 4 = 5; from birdseagle 4 and next book 3 = 7, vulture 9 and next book 7 =16, cock 21 and next book 35 = 56, hen 10 and next book 22 = 32, goose 7 andnext book 15 = 22, swan 1 and next book 5 = 6 (xiii manufacture of bird'slard); raven 2 and next book 4 = 6, crow 1 and next book 2 = 3, hawk 2 and nextbook 2 = 4, kite 2 and next book 6 = 8, goshawk 2, stork 2 and next book 1 = 3,duck 2 and next book 4 = 6, partridge 6 and next book 11 = 17, dove 7 and nextbook 25 = 32, pigeon 2 and next hook 14 = 16, Mars's woodpecker 1, turtle-dove 4and next book 5 = 9, swallow 9 and next book 24 = 33, night-owl 4 and next book5 = 9, screech-owl 1 and next book 1 = 2, horned owl 2 and next book 5 = 7, bat4 and next book 9 = 13, bees 5 and next book 7 = 12, cow-fly 3 and next book 3 =6, pine-grub 2 and next book 4 = 6, (xvii that the beneficence of nature hasplaced powerful remedies even in disgusting animals), hectic 1 and next book 7 =8, cockroach 4 and next book 13 =17. (xxx) The genus Spanish flydrugs fromthese 5 and next book 11 = 16, bug 9 and next book 5 = 14, house-fly 7 and nextbook 5 = 12, locusts 4 and next book 3 = 7, wingless locust 1, ants 3 and nextbook 5 = 8.Total 621 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Marcus Varro, Lucius Piso,Verrius Flaccus, Antias, Nigidius, Cassius Hemina, Cicero, Plautus, Celsus,Sextius Niger (Greek works of),Caecilius the medical writer,MetellusScipio, the poet Ovid, Liciuius Macer.Foreign authorities: Palaephatus, Homer, Aristotle, Orpheus,Democritus, Anaxilaus.Medical writers: Botrys, Apollodorus, Archedemus, Aristogencs,Xenocrates, Democrates, Diodorus, Chrysippus, Philip, Orus, Nicander, Apolloniusof Pitane.

Book XXX. Contents: drugs obtained from animals (concluded). (i-vii)Origin of magicdate and place of its commencement, by whom practised; whethercarried on in Italy. Human sacrifice, when first prohibited by the senate; theDruids of the Gauls; kinds of magic; magicians' view as to moles; 5 drugs.(viii-liii) Remaining drugs, arranged according to diseases, found in animalsnot classed as tame or wild: cattle 2 and in last book 15 = 17, ram 7 and inlast book 5 = 12, wool 25 and in last book 35 = 60, wool-washings 20 and in lastbook 32 = 52, mules 5 and in last book 1 = 6, horses 3 and in last book 1 = 4;dog 41 and in last book 16 = 57, mad dog 2 and in last book 3 = 5, ferret 1,mouse 28 and in last book 14 = 62, shrewmouse 1 and in last book 4 = 5, dormouse6 and in last book 2 = 8, shrewmouse 2 and in last book 1 = 3, weasel 25 and inlast book 19 = 44, newt 12 and in last book 4 = 16, hedgehog 13 and in last book5 = 18, porcupine 2 and in last book 1 = 3, lizard 30 and in last book 13 = 43,salamander 3 and in last book 1 4, snail 19 and in last book 27 = 46 (xliii thedrug everlasting), viper 3 and in last book 1 = 4, snake 6 and in last book 4 =10, viper 21 and in last book 14 = 35, serpent 27 and in last book 8 = 35, bova3 and in last book 4 = 7, water snake 2 and in last book 1 = 3, Libyan snake 3,remaining serpents 7 and in last book 8 = 15, scorpion 2 and in last book 9 =36, cricket 3, phryganion 1, scolopendra or multipede or millepede or centipedeor woodlouse or catkin 20 and in last book 1 = 21 (admiration for nature whoproduces nothing useless), slug 3 and in last book 1 = 4, caterpillar 2 and inlast book 1 = 3, earthworm 20 and in last book 2 = 22, tree-worm 4 and in lastbook 1 = 5, grass-worm 8, herpes 1, tick 3; from birds, eagle 3 and in last book4 = 7, vulture 7 and eggs 43 and in last book 22 = 65, Syrian cock 5 and in lastbook 4 = 9, swan 5 and in last book 1 = 6, otis 2, raven 4 and in last book 2 =6, crow 2 and in last book 1 = 3, hawk 2 and in last book 2 = 4, kite 6 in lastbook 2 = 8, crane 1, stork 1 and in last book 2 = 3, ibis 3, little heron 1,duck 4 and in last book 2 = 6, diver 2, partridge 11 and in last book 6 = 17,dove 14 and in last book 2 16, crested lark 4, cuckoo 1, Mars's woodpecker 1,turtledove 5 and in last book 4 = 9, thrush 3, blackbird 1, swallow 24 and inlast book 9 = 33, night-owl 5 and in last book 4 = 9, screech-owl 1 and in lastbook 1 2, hoopoe 1, horned owl 5 and in last book 2 = 7, sparrow 5, galgulus 2,bat 9 and in last hook 4 13, tree cricket 1, bees 7 and in last book 5 = 12,wasps 2, cow-fly 3 and in last book 3 = 6, pine-grub 4 and in last book 2 = 6(that the beneficence of nature has placed powerful remedies even in disgustinganimals), beetle 7 and in last book 1 = 8, cockroaches 13 and in last book 4 =17; the genus Spanish flydrugs from these 11 and in last book 5 = 16, bug 5 andin last book 9 = 14, house-fly 5 and in last book 7 = 12, locusts 3 and in lastbook 4 = 7, ants 5 and in last book 3 = 8.Total 854 drugs, investigations andobservations.

Authorities:Marcus Varro, Nigidius, Marcus Cicero, SextiusNiger (Greek works of ),Licinius Macer.Foreign authorities: Eudoxus, Aristotle,Hermippus, Homer, Apion, Orpheus, Democritus, Anaxilaus.Medicalwriters: Botrys, Apollodorus, Menander,Archidemus, Aristogenes, Xenocrates,Diodorus, Chrysippus, Pbilippus, Orus, Nicander, Apollonius of Pitane.

Book XXXI. Contents: drugs obtained from aquatic animals. (i) Remarkablefacts as to waters. (ii) Differences in waters. (iii-xvi) Medicinal properties:266 observations; what sorts of waters are good for the eyes, what sorts producefertility, what sorts cure insanity, what sorts gall-stone, what sorts wounds,what sorts protect the embryo, what sorts remove tetter, which make dye forwools, which for human beings, which produce memory, which forgetfulness, whichkeenness of sense, which slowness, which a musical voice, which dislikeof wine, which intoxication, which fill the place of oil, which are salt andbitter; springs discharging rocks, springs that cause laughter or weeping,springs said to cure love. (xvii) Water keeping hot for three days after beingdrawn. (xviii-xx) Remarkable waters: waters in which all objects sink, in whichno objects; waters that kill, poisonous fishes; waters that turn into stone, orproduce stones. (xxi-iii) Health-giving property of waters; impurities ofwaters; mode of testing waters. (xxiv f.) The Marcian Spring, the Maiden Spring.(xxvi-ix) Method of finding water; signs of sprints; .differences of watersaccording to kinds of earth; variation of springs with the seasons. (xxx).Historical account of springs suddenly arising or stopping. (xxxi) Method ofcarrying water in pipes. (xxxii f.) Medicinal waters, mode of employing, forwhat kinds of illnesses; ditto sea-water, 29 kinds. Benefits of a voyage,5. (xxxiv-vi) Sea-water at places inland, 1 method of producing, sea-water-honey1, water-honey 1. (xxxvii f.) Remedy against foreign waters; 6 drugs from moss;drugs from sands. (xxxix-xlv) Salt, kinds of, preparations and drugs from, 204observations; historical importance of salt 120; froth of salt; flower of salt20; brine 2; fish-sauce 15; pickle 15; fish-brine 8; nature of salt. (xlvi f.)Native soda, kinds of, preparations and drugs from221 observations; sponges,92 drugs from and observationsTotal 924 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Marcus Varro, Cassius ofParma, Cicero, Mucianus, Caelius, Celsus, Trogus, Ovid, Polybius, Sornatius.Foreign authorities:Callimachus, Ctesias, Eudicus, Theophrastus, Eudoxus, Theopompus, Polyclitus, Juba, Lycus,Apion, Epigenes, Pelops, Apelles, Democritus, Thrasyllus, Nicander, comedies ofMenander, Attalus, Sallustius, Dionysius, Andreas, Niceratus, Hippocrates,Anaxilaus.

Book XXXII. Contentsdrugs from aquatic animals. (i-iv) Nature's supremeforce in antipathy. The sucking-fish, 2 cases; the electric ray, 7 cases; thesea-hare, 5 cases; marvels of the Red Sea. (v-ix) Intellect of fishes;remarkable properties of fishes; places where oracles are given from fishes,where fishes eat out of the hand, where they recognize the voice, where they arebitter, where salt, where sweet, where not dumb; Their sympathy and alsoantipathy for localities. (x) Sea-fish when first used by the Roman nation. KingNuma's regulation as to fish. (xi) Coral, drugs from and observations as to, 66.(xii) Discord between marine animals: sting-ray 9, dog-fish, mullet 15.(xiii-xx) Amphibious animals: beaver-castors, drugs from and observations as to,56; tortoise, drugs and observations 66; gilt-bream 4, star-fish 7, sea-snake 3,salt fish 25, sardines 1, tunnies, sea-frog 6, river-frog 52, bramble-toad;observations about them 32; water-snake 6, river-crabs 14, sea-crabs 7,river-snails 7, crow-fish 4, pig-fish 2, sea-calf 10, lamprey 1, sea-horse 9,sea-urchins 11. (xxi-xxx) Shellfish: kinds, observations and drugs 1; purple dye9; seaweed 2, sea-mouse 2, sea-scorpion 12, leeches 6, purple-fishes 13, mussels5, fishes' fat 2, callyonymi 3, crow-fish's gall 1, cuttle-fish 24, husosturgeon 5, batia 1, bacchus or myxon 2, sea-lice 2, sea-bitch 4, seal 1,dolphin 9, sea-snail or murex 3, sea-foam 7, tunny 5, maena 13, scolopendra 2,lizard 1, conchis 1, sheat-flsh 15, sea-snail or longniussel 6, sponge 5. (xxxi-lii)Sea-cabbage 1, myax mussel 25, sea-mussels 8, giant mussels 1, seriphus fish 2,sea-mullet 2, sole-fish 1, turbot 1, blendia 1, sea-nettle 7, sea-lung 6,scallops 4; from the water-snake 4, from the water-serpent 1, mullet 1, from theyoung tunny 4, grayling 1, perch 4, from the skate 3, zmarides 3, conger 1,beaver 4, moss 1, haddock 1, phager 1, from the whale 1, polypus 1, shad 1,blue-fish I, rudd 1, sea-grape 1, eel 1, river-horse 1, crocodile 1, adarca orsea-foam 3, rush 8. (liii) Names of all animals living in the sea 176.Total:990 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Licinius Macer, TrebiusNiger, Sextius Niger (Greek writings of), the poetOvid, Cassius Hemina, Maecenas, Iacchus,Sornatius.Foreign authorities:Juba, Andreas, Salpes, Apion, Pelops, Apelles, Thrasyllus, Nicander.

Book XXXIII. Contents: the properties of the metals. (ii-xii) Gold, whatfirst caused it to be valued; origin of gold rings; limited amount of gold amongthe ancients; the equestrian order, its right of wearing gold rings; its panelsof judges; how often the title 'equestrian order' altered; gold and silvermilitary gifts; gold wreath. When first bestowed; other uses of gold, its use bywomen. (xiii-xxv) Gold coinage; date of earliest coins, copper, silver, gold;method of using copper before introduction of stamping; highest money rating atfirst census; how often and at what dates value of copper and stamped coinageraised; the lust for gold; largest owners of silver and gold; date of earliestemployment of silver ornaments in the arena, and on the stage; dates of largestaccumulations of gold and silver in the national treasury; date of earliestgilded ceilings; reasons for special value of gold; method of gilding; discoveryof gold; orpiment; synthetic amber; earliest gold statues; 8 drugs from gold.(xxvi-ix) malachite, method of employing it in painting; 7 drugs frommalachite; goldsmith's malachite or mountain-green. (xxx) Remarkable naturalfacts as to the welding of metals and as to metal manufactures. (xxxi-v) Silver;quicksilver; antimony or stibis or alabaster or larbasis or platyopathalmus,drugs made of, 7; silver slag, drugs made of, 6; foam of silver, drugs made of,7. (xxxvi-xli) Minimum, reverence for among the ancients; discovery and sourceof; cinnabar, method of using in medicine and in painting; kinds of red-lead;method of use in medicine and painting; watersilver. (xliii f.) Gilding ofsilver; touchstones for gold. (xliv-lv) Silver, its kinds and methods oftesting; mirrors; Egyptian silver; immoderate wealth; who were the richestpeople; when did the Roman nation begin to squander money; luxury in silvervessels sparing use of silver in antiquity, instances of; date of earliest useof silver inlay on couches, of silver vessels of excessive size, of traysinlayed with silver, of making drums; excessive prices for silver; silverstatuary ; famous works of art and artists in silver. (lvi-lviii) Of yellowochre, who first used for painting and how. Steel blue; drugs made from,2.Total 288 drugs, investigations and observations.

Authorities: theEmperor Domitian,Junius Gracchanus, Lucius Piso, Marcus Varro, Corviuus, Pomponius Atticus,Licinius Calvus, Cornelius Nepos, Mneianus, Boeehus, Fetialis, Fenestella,Valerius Maximus, Julius Bassus, Greek medical writings of,Sextius Niger, ditto.Foreignauthorities:Theophrastus, Democritus,Juba, the historian Timaeus'sMineralDrugs,Heraclides, Andreas, Diagoras,Botrys, Archedemus, Dionysius, Aristogenes, Demodes, Mnesides, Attaius themedical writer,Xenocrates ditto,Theomnestus Nymphodorus, Iollas, Apohlodorus, Pasiteles'sMasterpieces,AntigonusOn Graving, Menaechmus ditto, Xenocrates ditto,Duris ditto, MenanderOnGravers,Heliodorus'sVotive Offerings ofAthens, Metrodorus ofScepsis.

Book XXXIV. Contents: (i) Copper metals. (ii-x) Kinds ofcopper--Corinthian, Delian, Aeginetan. On bronze dining-couches; on candelabra;on temple decorations of bronze; first bronze image of a god made at Rome; onthe origin of statues and the reverence paid to them. (x-xix) Statues, theirkinds and shapes. Ancient statues dressed in toga without tunic; the firststatues at Rome, the first erected by the state, the first erected on a column;ship's beaks, when added; first foreigners to whom statues erected by the stateat Rome; first women to whom statues so erected; first equestrian statue erectedby the state at Rome; date of removal from public places of all statues erectedby private donors; first statue publicly erected by foreigners; existence ofsculptors from early times even in Italy; excessive prices for statues; the mostcelebrated colossal statues in the city; 366 famous instances of bronze statuesand sculptors in bronze. (xx-xxix) Different kinds of bronze and alloy;gold-bronze, Capuan bronze; preservation of bronze; cadmia, 15 drugs made from;melted bronze, 10 medicinal products of; copper slag, copper blisters, copperscales, copper flakes, 47 drugs from these; copper rust, 18 drugs from;eye-salve; worm-eaten bronze, 18 drugs from; copper ore, 7 drugs from;itch-salve. (xxx-xxxviii) Ink-stone, 3 drugs from; copperas, 14 drugs from;copperas water or shoe-maker's blacking, 16 drugs from; pompholyx, slag, 6 drugsfrom these; slag-ashes, 15 kinds; skin-detergent; diphryx; the Servilianfamily's magic sixpence. (xxxix-xlvi) Iron mines; iron statues; chased iron;different kinds of iron; live iron; the tempering of iron; remedies for rust; 7drugs from iron; 14 drugs from rust; 17 drugs from iron scale; wet plaster.(xlvii-lvi) Lead mines; white lead; silverlead, stannum, black lead; 15 drugsfrom lead; 15 drugs from lead slag; dross from lead; inolybdaena, 15 drugsfrom; sugar of lead or cerussa, 6 dmgs from; sandaraeh, 11 drugs from;arsenic.Total, 257 drugs, including remedies for dog-bite, for the head,fox-mange, eyes, ears, nostrils, ailments of the mouth, leprosy, gums, teeth,uvula, phlegm, throat, tonsils, quinsy, cough, vomiting, chest, stomaoh, asthma,pains in the side, spleen, stomach, straining, dysentery, the seat, the privateparts, blood-stanching, gout, dropsy, ulcers, 26 wounds, pus, bones, whitlows,erysipelas, haemorrhoids, ulcers, callus, pimples, mange, scars, infants,ailments of women, depilatory, sex restraint, for the voice, against attacks offrenzyTotal, 915 facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities:Lucius Piso, Antias,Verrius, Marcus Varro, Cornelius Nepos, Rufus Messala, the poet Marsus, Bocchus,Julius Bassus's Greek treatise on medicine,Sextius Niger's ditto,Fabius Vestalis.Foreign authorities:Democritus, Metrodorns of Scepsis, Menaechmus'sArt of Graving,Xenocrates ditto, Antigonus ditto,Duris ditto, Heliodorus'sVotive Offerings of Athens, Pasiteles'sMiasterpieces,Timaeus'sMineral Drugs, Nymphodorus, Iollas, Apollodorus, Andreas,Heraclides, Diagoras, Botrys, Archedemus, Dionysius, Aristogenes, Democles,Mnesides, Xenocrates son of Zeno, Theomnestus.

Book XXXV. Contents: (i-x) Praise of painting. Praise of sculpture.Shields with sculptured figures, when first instituted; when first set up inpublic; when in private houses. The commencement of painting; pictures inmonochrome; the first painters. Antiquity of paintings in Italy. Roman painters.Paintingwhen first esteemed at Rome, and for what reasons, who first exhibitedpaintings of their victories. Foreign pictures, when first valued at Rome. (xi)Method of painting. (xii-xxx) Non-mineral pigments. Artificial colours; redochre, 11 drugs from it; red chalk; Lemnian earth, 9 drugs from it; Egyptianearth; yellow ochre; 3 drugs from red ochre; gold size; Paraetonium white;Melian white; 6 drugs from it; burnt white-lead; earth of Eretria, 6 drugs fromit; sandarach; vermilion; Syrian; black ink; dark purple ink; indigo, 4 drugsfrom it; ultramarine, 1 drug from it; Appian green; signet-ring white.(xxxi-iii) Colours that cannot be painted on a damp surface. Colours used bypainters of early dates. When battles of gladiators were first painted andexhibited. (xxxiv-xli) The antiquity of painting; 405 celebrated cases ofpaintings and artists; earliest painting competition; painters that used thebrush; how to check the song of birds; what painters used encaustic or waxes orgraver or brush; inventors of successive improvements in painting the mostdifficult thing in painting; kinds of painting; first painter of panelledceilings; vaulted roofs, when first painted; remarkable prices for pictures; thetalent. (xliii-xlvi) The first discoveries of modelling; who first took a mouldof a face; 14 celebrated cases of artists in modelling; works in pottery; Segniplaster. (xlvii-lix) Varieties of earth: Pozzuoli dust and other kinds of earthused for concrete; walls cast in moulds; brickwork and employment of brick;brimstone and its kinds; 14 drugs; bitumen and its kinds; 27 drugs; alum and itskinds; 38 drugs therefrom; Samian earth; 3 drugs therefrom; Eretrian earth, itskinds; on washing earth to make a drug; Chian earth; 3 drugs therefrom; earth ofSelinunte; 3 drugs therefrom; potters' clay; 9 drugs therefrom; vine-earth; 4drugs therefrom; chalks for use in connexion with clothes; earth of Kimolo; 9drugs therefrom; earth of Sardis, of Umbria, rock; rotten-stone; what people andwhose freedmen are excessively powerful; Galatian earth, Kalibian earth,Balearic earth, Iviza earth; 4 drugs from these.Total 956 drugs,investigations and observations.

Authorities: the orator Messala, Messalasenior, Fenestella. Atticus, Marcus Varro, Verrius, Cornelius Nepos, Deculo,Mucianus, Melissus, Vitruvius, Cassius Severus, Longulanus, Fabius VestalisOn Painting.Foreign authorities; Pasiteles, Apelles, Melanthius, Asclepiodorus,Euphranor, Parrhasius, Heliodorus'sVotive offerings of Athens, Metrodorus'sScience of Architecture,Democritus, Theophrastus, the philologist Apion'sMineral Drugs, Nymphodorus, Iollas, Apollodorus, Andreas,Heraclides, Diagoras, Botrys, Archedemus, Dionysius, Aristogenes, Democles,Mnesides, Xenocrates son of Zeno, Theomnestus.

Book XXXVI. Contents: the natures of stones. (i-xi) Luxury in use ofmarbles; first owner of foreign marble pillars at Rome; first exhibitorof marble in public works; first distinguished sculptors in marble, and theirdates; (ix the Mausoleum of Caria); 225 famous works and artists in marble; dateof first employment of marbles in buildings; what people first cut marbles, andat what date; who first used marble wall-panelling at Rome; at which periods didthe various marbles come into use at Rome; method of cutting marble; sandsemployed in marble-cutting; Naxian marble, Armenian marble, marbles ofAlexandria. (xii f.) Onyx, alabaster; 6 drugs therefrom; Parian marble, coralmarble, Alabanda stone, Theban stone, Syene granite. (xiv f.) Obelisks: obeliskin Campus Martius serving as gnomon. (xvi-xxiii) Remarkable structures invarious countries; Egyptian Sphinx, pyramids; Pharos lighthouse; labyrinths;hanging gardens, hanging town; temple of Diana at Ephesus; remarkable facts asto other temples; runaway stone; sevenfold echo; buildings constructed withoutclamps. (xxiv) Eighteen remarkable works at Rome. (xxv-xxx) Magnetic stone: 3drugs therefrom; Syros stone; flesh-eating or Assos stone, 10 drugs therefrom;Chermtes marble; tufa; bone-stones, palm-branch stones, Taenarus stones, Corastones, black marbles; millstones; pyritis, 7 drugs therefrom. (xxxi-xl)Oyster-shell stone, 4 drugs therefrom; asbestos, 2 drugs therefrom; earthstone,3 drugs therefrom; honey-stone; 6 drugs therefrom; jet, 6 drugs therefrom;sponge-stone, 2 drugs therefrom; Phrygian stone; bloodstone, 5 drugs therefrom;schistose, 7 drugs therefrom; androdarnas bloodstone, 3 drugs therefrom;Arabian stone; minium bloodstone or liverstone, anthracite; eagle-stone,Taphiusian stone, callimus; Samos stone, 8 drugs therefrom.(xli-l) Arab stone; 6 drugs therefrom; pumicestone, 9 drugs therefrom; medicinaland other mortars; Etesius stone, hailstone stone; Siphnos stone; softstones; muscovy-stone; selenite; whetstones; tufas; flints, nature of; otherbuilding stones. (li-lix) Kinds of building; cisterns; lime; kinds of sand;mixtures of sand and lime; faults in building; stuccos; pillars; kinds ofpillars; 5 drugs from chalk; lime-cement; white lime plaster. (lx-lxx)Pavements: the Tesselated Hall; first pavement at Rome; terrace pavements;pavements in the Greek mode; date of first mosaic pavement; date of first glassceilings; origin of glass; its kinds and mode of manufacture; obsidian panes;remarkable uses of fire; 3 drugs from fire and ash; marvels of thehearth.Total: 89 drugs from these materials, 3 for serpents, animals' bites,for poisons, for the head, eyes, eyelid sores, teeth, tooth-powders, throat,scrofula, stomach, liver, phlegm, testicles, bladder, stone, tumours, piles,gout, remedy for bleeding, for vomiting blood, dislocation, eases of insanity,of lethargy, of epilepsy, of melancholy, of giddiness, ulcers, caustic andsurgical treatment of wounds, sprains, bruises, moles burns, consumption, thebreasts, diseases of women, carbuncles, plague.Full total: 434 facts,investigations and observations.

Authorities:Marcus Varro, Gaius Galba, Cincius, Mucianus,Cornelius Nepos, Lucius Piso, Quintus Tubero, Fabius Vestalis, Annius Fetialis,Fabianus, Seneca, Cato the Censor, Vitruvius.Foreign authorities:Theophrastus, Pasiteles, King Juba, Nicander,Sotaeus, Sudines, Alexander the Learned, Apion Plistonicus, Duris, Herodotus,Euhemerus, Aristagoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus, Butoridas, Antisthenes,Demetrius, Demoteles, Lyceas.

Book XXXVII. Contents: (i-x) Origin of gems: the tyrantPolycrates's jewel;Pyrrhus's jewel; the best engravers;famous specimens of engraving; the first collection of signet-rings at Rome;jewels carried in the triumph ofPompeythe Great; murrine vases, date of first importation; extravagance connectedwith; their nature; nature of rock-crystal, drug from it; extravagance in use ofrock crystal. (xi-xx) Amber, erroneous statements about; kinds of amber, drugsfrom these; tourmaline, 2 drugs; diamond or ananeite, 6 kinds of diamonds, 2drugs; emeralds, 12 kinds, their blemishes; the gem tanos; malachite; beryls,their 8 kinds, their blemishes. (xxi-xxx) Opals, their 7 kinds, their blemishes,tests of opals; sardonyx, its kinds, its blemishes; onyx, its kinds; carbuneles,their 12 kinds, their blemishes and tests; coal-carbuncle; sandastros orGaramantitis or sandacitis; sandaresus; lychnis, its 4 kinds; Carthaginianstone. (xxxi-xl) Carnelian, its 5 kinds; chrysolite, its 2 kinds; turquoise;leek-green stone, its 3 kinds; Nile-stone; malachite; jasper, its 4 kinds, theirblemishes; lapis lazuli, its kinds; sapphire; amethyst, its 4 kinds; socondion,sapenos, pharanitis, Venus's eyelid or love-returned or lad's-love. (xli-l)Hyacinth; chrysolite, its 7 kinds; golden-amber; chrysolite, its 4 kinds;golden ehrysolite; xuthis; lad's-love or sangenos or tenites; eat's-eye;adularia, astriotes, astolon. (li-lx) St. John's bread, its 4 kinds; baetvlos;rainbow-stone; holy-stone; agates, their kinds; crystalline quartz, drugstherefrom; alabaster-stone, drugs therefrom; cock-stones, androdamas,silverstone, charm-coral, chalcedony, scented amber, asbestos-stone, aspisatis,atizoe, turquoise, amphidanes or chrysocolla, Aphrodisiaca, apsyctos,little-gypsy; acorn-stone, frog-stone, taptes, cat's eye, helus, baroptenus orbaripe, grape-stone, lock-of-hair-stone, cow's-heart, thunder-stone, boloe,cadmitis, turquoise, smoke-stone, Cappadocian stone, turquoise-stone,catochitis, catoptritis, cepitis or cepolatitis, brick-stone, cinaedias (kindsof), wax-stone, top-stone, hair-stone, coral-agate, coral-stone, crateritis,crocallis, cyitis, brazen-voice, swallow-stones, tortoise-stones,tortoise-shell-stone, greenstone, Choaspes-stone, gold-gleam, golden-topaz,cepionides, Daphne-stone, diadochos, diphyes, Dionysus-stone, snake-stone,heart-stone or enariste, enorchis, exhebenus, erythallis, erotylos oramphicomos or stone of remembrance, eumeces, eumithres, eupetalos, eureos,Eurotas-stone, eusebes, epimelas; milk-stone, milky-stone or white-earth-stoneor white graphite or cloud-stone, Galician-stone, gassinades, tongue-stone,Gorgon-stone, goniaea, striped-jasper, Vulcan-stone, Mercury's privates,sixty-colonr-stone, hawk-stone, hammitis, ammonite, hormiscion, hyenastone,menion bloodstone or yellow-stone. (lxi-lx) Ida's fingers, ieterias, Jove-stoneor dew-stone, Indian stone, violet-stone, scale-stone, Lesbian stone, white-eve,white-spot, myrrh-colour, emerald, Lipari-stone, lysimachos, white gold,Memnonstone, Persian stone, poppy-stone, mithrnx, morochthos, mormorion orpromnium or Alexandria stone, myrrh-stone, wart-stone, myrrh-stone,white-centre, black-centre, stone of Nasamon, fawn-stone, Nipparena, egg-stone,rain-stone or storm-stone, ass's-heart, mountain-stone or star-stone, hornstoneor chalcedony, oyster-stone, ophicardelos, obsidian, all-colours, all-seeds,love-all or all-love, Black Sea stone, 4 kinds, flame-stone or gold-stone,purple-stone, sea-weed-stone, white-ring, Paeanite or gaeanita, sun-stone,green-stone, Samotliracian stone, lizard-stone, flesh-stone, moon-stone,iron-stone, variegated iron-stone, sponge-stone, bream-stone, Syrtian stone,reed-stone, tricolor, thelyrrizos, thelycardios or mucul, Thracian-stone (3kinds), ash-stone, tecolithos, love-locks, Veii-stone, zathene, zmilampis,zoraniscaea. (lxxi-lxxvii) Liver-stone, soapstone, Adad's-kidney, Adad's-eye,Adad's-finger, three-eyed-stone, crab-stone, adder-stone, scorpion-stone,wrasse-stone, triglitis, goat's-eye, sow's-eye, crane-stone, eagle-stone,ant-stone, beetle-stone, wolf's-eye, peacock-stone, timiclonia; gold-sand-stone,millet-stone, oak-stone, ivy stone, narcissus-stone, bean-stone, pvren,purple-stone, hail-stone, pyritis, striped-stone, lightning-stone, flame-stone,coal-stone, enygros, hairy-stone, lion-stone, leopard-stone, dew-stone,honey-colour-stone, honey-yellow-stone, greystone, spartopolia, rose-stone,honey-stone, copper-stone, fig-stone, ringlet-stone, ivory-marble, anancitis,synochitis, tree-stone, snail-shell. Shape of precious stones; method oftesting; natural properties compared in various countries; products compared inrespect of price.Total, 1300 facts, investigations and observations.

Authorities: Marcus Varro,Records of Triumphs, Maecenas, Iacchus, Cornelius Bocchus.Foreign authorities: King Juba, Xenocrates son of Zeno, Sudines, Aeschylus, Philoxenus, Euripides, Nicander, Satyrus, Theophrastus, Chares, Philemon, Demostratus, Zenothemis, Metrodorus, Sotacus, Pytheas, Timaeus of Sicily, Nicias, Theochrestus, Asaruba, Mnaseas, Theomenes, Ctesias, Mithridates, Sophocles, King Archelaus, Callistratus, Democritus, Ismenias, Olympicus, Alexander the Learned, Apion, Orus, Zoroaster, Zachalias.

I. THE world and thiswhatever other name men have chosen to designatethe sky whose vaulted roof encircles the universe, is fitly believed tobe a deity, eternal, immeasurable, a being that never began to exist and neverwill perish. What is outside it does not concern men to explore and is notwithin the grasp of the human mind to guess. It is sacred, eternal,immeasurable, wholly within the whole, nay rather itself the whole, finite andresembling the infinite certain of all things and resembling the uncertain,holding in its embrace all things that are without and within, at once the workof nature and nature herself.

That certain persons have studied, and have dared to publish, its dimensions, ismere madness; and again that others, taking or receiving occasion from theformer, have taught the existence of a countless number of worlds, involving thebelief in as many systems of nature, or, if a single nature embraces all theworlds, nevertheless the same number of suns, moons and other immeasurable andinnumerable heavenly bodies, as already in a single world; just as if owing toour craving for some End the same problem would not always encounter us at thetermination of this process of thought, or as if, assuming it possible toattribute this infinity of nature to the artificer of the universe, that sameproperty would not he easier to understand in a single world, especially onethat is so vast a structure. It is madness, downright madness, to go out of thatworld, and to investigate what lies outside it just as if the whole of what iswithin it were already clearly known; as though, forsooth, the measure ofanything could be taken by him that knows not the measure of himself, or as ifthe mind of man could see things that the world itself does not contain.

II. Its shape has the rounded appearance of a perfect sphere. This isshown first of all by the name of `orb' which is bestowedupon it by the general consent of mankind. It is also shown by the evidence ofthe facts: not only does such a figure in all its parts converge upon itself;not only must it sustain itself, enclosing and holding itself together withoutthe need of any fastenings, and without experiencing an end or a beginning atany part of itself; not only is that shape the one best fitted for the motionwith which, as will shortly appear, it must repeatedly revolve, but our eyesightalso confirms this belief, because the firmament presents the aspect of aconcave hemisphere equidistant in every direction, which would be impossible inthe case of any other figure.

III. The world thus shaped then is not atrest but eternally revolves with indescribable velocity, each revolutionoccupying the space of 24 hours: the rising and setting of the sun have leftthis not doubtful. Whether the sound of this vast mass whirling in unceasingrotation is of enormous volume and consequently beyond the capacity of our earsto perceive, for my own part I cannot easily sayany more in fact than whetherthis is true of the tinkling of the stars that travel round with it, revolvingin their own orbits; or whether it emits a sweet harmonious music that is beyondbelief charming. To us who live within it the world glides silently alike by dayand night. Stamped upon it are countless figures of animals and objects of allkindsit is not the case, as has been stated by very famous authors, that itsstructure has an even surface of unbroken smoothness, like that which we observein birds' eggs: this is proved by the evidence of the facts, since from seeds ofall these objects, falling from the sky in countless numbers, particularly inthe sea, and usually mixed together, monstrous shapes are generated; and also bythe testimony of sightin one place the figure of a bear, in another of a bull,in another a wain, in another a letter of the alphabet, the middle of the circleacross the pole being more radiant.

For my own part I am also influenced by the agreement of the nations. The Greekshave designated the world by a word that means 'ornament,' and we have given itthe name ofmundus because of its perfect finish and grace! As for ourwordcaelum, it undoubtedly has the signification 'engraved,' as isexplained byMarcus Varro. Furtherassistance is contributed by its orderly structure, the circle called the Zodiacbeing marked out into the likenesses of twelve animals; and also by the uniformregularity in so many centuries of the sun's progress through these signs.

IV. As regards the elements also I observe that they are accepted asbeing four in number: topmost the element of fire, source of yonder eyes of allthose blazing stars; next the vapour which the Greeks and our own nation call bythe same name, airthis is the principle of life, and penetrates all theuniverse and is intertwined with the whole; suspended by its force in the centreof space is poised the earth, and with it the fourth element, that of thewaters. Thus the mutual embrace of the unlike results in an interlacing, thelight substances being prevented by the heavy ones from flying up, while on thecontrary the heavy substances are held from crashing down by the upward tendencyof the light ones. In this way owing to an equal urge in opposite directions theelements remain stationary, each in its own place, bound together by theunresting revolution of the world itself; and with this always running back toits starting-point, the earth is the lowest and central object in the whole, andstays suspended at the pivot of the universe and also balancing the bodies towhich its suspension is due; thus being alone motionless with the universerevolving round her she both hangs attached to them all and at the same time isthat on which they all rest. Upheld by the same vapour between earth and heaven,at definite spaces apart, hang the seven stars which owing to their motion wecall 'planets,' although no stars wander less than they do. In the midst ofthese moves the sun, whose magnitude and power are the greatest, and who is theruler not only of the seasons and of the lands; but even of the stars themselvesand of the heaven. Taking into account all that he effects, we must believe himto be the soul, or more precisely the mind, of the whole world, the supremeruling principle and divinity of nature. He furnishes the world with light andremoves darkness, he obscures and he illumines the rest of the stars, heregulates in accord with nature's precedent the changes of the seasons and thecontinuous rebirth of the year, he dissipates the gloom of heaven and evencalms the storm-clouds of the mind of man, he lends his light to the rest of thestars also; he is glorious and pre-eminent, all-seeing and even all-hearingthisI observe thatHomer the prince ofliterature held to be true in the case of the sun alone.

V. For this reason I deem it a mark of human weakness to seek todiscover the shape and form of God. Whoever God isprovided there is a Godandin whatever region he is, he consists wholly of sense, sight and hearing, wholly of soul, wholly of mind, wholly of himself. To believe in gods withoutnumber, and gods corresponding to men's vices as well as to their virtues, likethe Goddesses of Modesty, Concord, Intelligence, Hope, Honour, Mercy andFaithor else, asDemocritus held, only two, Punishment and Reward, reaches an even greater height of folly.Frail, toiling mortality, remembering its own weakness, has divided such deitiesinto groups, so as to worship in sections, each the deity he is most in need of.Consequently different races have different names for the deities, and we findcountless deities in the same races, even those of the lower world beingclassified into groups, and diseases and also many forms of plague, in ournervous anxiety to get them placated. Because of this there is actually a Templeof Fever consecrated by the nation on the Palatine Hill, and one of Bereavementat the Temple of the Household Deities, and an Altar of Misfortune on the Esquiline. For this reason we can infer a larger population of celestials thanof human beings, as individuals also make an equal number of gods on their own,by adopting their own private Junos and Genii; while certain nations haveanimals, even some loathsome ones, for gods, and many things still moredisgraceful to tell ofswearing by rotten articles of food and other things ofthat sort. To believe even in marriages taking place between gods, withoutanybody all through the long ages of time being born as a result of them, andthat some are always old and grey, others youths and boys, and gods with duskycomplexions, winged, lame, born from eggs, living and dying on alternatedaysthis almost ranks with the mad fancies of children; but it passes allbounds of shamelessness to invent acts of adultery taking place between the godsthemselves, followed by altercation and enmity, and the existence of deities oftheft and of crime. For mortal to aid mortalthis is god; and this is the roadto eternal glory: by this road went our Roman chieftains, by this road nowproceeds with heavenward step, escorted by his children, the greatest ruler ofall time, His Majesty Vespasian, coming to the succour of an exhausted world. Toenrol such men among the deities is the most ancient method of paying themgratitude for their benefactions. In fact the names of the other gods, and alsoof the stars that I have mentioned above, originated from the services of men:at all events who would not admit that it is the interpretation of men'scharacters that prompts them to call each other Jupiter or Mercury or othernames, and that originates the nomenclature of heaven? That that supreme being,whatever it be, pays heed to man's affairs is a ridiculous notion. Can webelieve that it would not be defiled by so gloomy and so multifarious a duty?Can we doubt it? It is scarcely pertinent to determine which is more profitablefor the human race, when some men pay no regard to the gods at all and theregard paid by others is of a shameful nature: they serve as the lackeys offoreign ritual, and they carry gods on their fingers; also theypass sentence of punishment upon the monsters they worship, and devise elaborateviands for them; they subject themselves to awful tyrannies, so as to find norepose even in sleep; they do not decide on marriage or having a family orindeed anything else except by the command of sacrifices; others cheat in thevery Capitol and swear false oaths by Jupiter who wields the thunderboltsandthese indeed make a profit out of their crimes, whereas the others are penalizedby their religious observances.

Nevertheless mortality has rendered our guesses about God even more obscure byinventing for itself a deity intermediate between these twoconceptions. Everywhere in the whole world at every hour by all men's voicesFortune alone is invoked and named, alone accused, alone impeached, alonepondered, alone applauded, alone rebuked and visited with reproaches; deemedvolatile and indeed by most men blind as well, wayward, inconstant, uncertain,fickle in her favours and favouring the unworthy. To her is debited all that isspent and credited all that is received, she alone fills both pages in the wholeof mortals' account; and we are so much at the mercy of chance that Chanceherself, by whom God is proved uncertain, takes the place of God. Another set ofpeople banishes fortune also, and attributes events to its star and to the lawsof birth, holding that for all men that ever are to be God's decree has beenenacted once for all, while for the rest of time leisure has been vouchsafed toHim. This belief begins to take root, and the learned and unlearned mob alike gomarching on towards it at the double: witness the warnings drawn from lightning,the forecasts made by oracles, the prophecies of augurs, and even inconsiderabletriflesa sneeze, a stumblecounted as omens. His late Majesty put abroad astory that on the day on which he was almost overthrown by a mutiny in the armyhe had put his left boot on the wrong foot. This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality, so that among these things but one thing is in the leastcertainthat nothing certain exists, and that nothing is more pitiable, or more presnmptuous, than man! inasmuch as with the rest of living creatures theirsole anxiety is for the means of life, in which nature's bounty of itselfsuffices, the one blessing indeed that is actually preferable to every otherbeing the fact that they do not think about glory, money, ambition, and aboveall death.

But it agrees with life's experience to believe that in these matters the godsexercise an interest in human affairs; and that punishment for wickedness,though sometimes tardy, as God is occupied in so vast a mass of things, yet isnever frustrated; and that man was not born God's next of kin for the purpose ofapproximating to the beasts in vileness. But the chief consolations for nature'simperfection in the case of man are that not even for God are all thingspossiblefor he cannot, even if he wishes, commit suicide, the supreme boon thathe has bestowed on man among all the penalties of life, nor bestow eternity onmortals or recall the deceased, nor cause a man that has lived not to have livedor one that has held high office not to have held itand that he has no powerover what is past save to forget it, and (to link our fellowship with God bymeans of frivolous arguments as well) that he cannot cause twice ten not to betwenty, or do many things on similar lines: which facts unquestionablydemonstrate the power of nature, and prove that it is this that we mean by theword 'God.' It will not have been irrelevant to have diverged to these topics,which have already been widely disseminated because of the unceasing enquiryinto the nature of God.

VI. Let us return from these questions to the remaining facts of nature.We have stated that the stars are attached to the firmament, not assigned toeach of us in the way in which the vulgar believe, and dealt out to mortals witha degree of radiance proportionate to the lot of each, the brightest stars tothe rich, the smaller ones to the poor, the dim to those who are wornout; they do not each rise with their own human being, nor indicate by theirfall that someone's life is being extinguished. There is no such close alliancebetween us and the sky that the radiance of the stars there also shares our fateof mortality. When the stars are believed to fall, what happens is thatowing to their being overfed with a draught of liquid they give back the surpluswith a fiery flash, just as with us also we see this occur with a stream of oilwhen lamps are lit. But the heavenly bodies have a nature that is eternaltheyinterweave the world and are blended with its weft; yet their potency has apowerful influence on the earth, indeed it is owing to the effects that theyproduce and to their brilliance and magnitude that it has been possible for themto become known with such a degree of precision, as we shall show in the properplace. Also the system of the revolutions of the sky will be more appropriatelystated when we deal with geography, since it is entirely related to the earth;only we must not postpone the discoveries that have been made as to the zodiac.Tradition says that Anaximander ofMiletus in the fifty-eighth Olympiad was the first person to discover the obliquity of the zodiac, that is, to open the portals of science; and that nextCleostratus explained the signs in it,beginning with the Ram and the Archer; the firmament itself having beenexplained long before by Atlas.

Let us now leave the frame of the world itself and treat the remaining bodiessituated between the sky and the earth. The following points are certain: (1)The star called Saturn's is the highest and consequently looks the smallest andrevolves in the largest orbit, returning in thirty years at the shortest to itsinitial station. (2) The motions of all the planets, and among them the sun andmoon, follow a course contrary to that of the world, namely to the left,the world always running to the right. (3) Although they are borne on by it andcarried westward with an unceasing revolution of immeasurable velocity,nevertheless they travel with an opposite motion along their respective tracks.(4) Thus it comes about that the air is not massed in a dull lethargic ball byrevolving in the same direction because of the eternal rotation of the world,but is scattered into separate portions by the opposite impact of the stars. (5)Saturn is of a cold and frozen nature. The orbit of Jupiter is much below it andtherefore revolves much faster, completing one rotation every twelve years. Thethird star is Mars, called by some Hercules; owing to the proximity of the sunit has a fiery glow; it revolves once in about two years, and consequently,owing to its excessive heat and Saturn's frost, Jupiter being situated betweenthem combines the influence of each and is rendered healthy. (6) Next, the sun'scourse is divided into 360 parts, but in order that an observation taken of theshadows that it casts may come round to the starting-point, five and a quarterdays per annum are added; consequently to every fourth a year anintercalary day is added to make our chronology tally with the course of thesun.

Below the sun revolves a very large star named Venus, which varies its coursealternately, and whose alternative names in themselves indicate its rivalry withthe sun and moonwhen in advance and rising before dawn it receives the name ofLucifer, as being another sun and bringing the dawn, whereas when itshines after sunset it is named Vesper, as prolonging the daylight, or as beinga deputy for the moon. This property of Venus was first discovered byPythagoras of Samos about the 42ndOlympiad, [612-609 BC] 142 years after the foundation of Rome. Further itsurpasses all the other stars in magnitude, and is so brilliant that alone amongstars it casts a shadow by its rays. Consequently there is a great competitionto give it a name, some having called it Juno, others Isis, others theMother of the Gods. Its influence is the cause of the birth of all things uponearth; at both of its risings it scatters a genital dew with which it not onlyfills the conceptive organs of the earth but also stimulates those of allanimals. It completes the circuit of the zodiac every 348 days, and according toTimaeus is never more than 46 degreesdistant from the sun. The star next to Venus is Mercury, by some called Apollo;it has a similar orbit, but is by no means similar in magnitude or power. Ittravels in a lower circle, with a revolution nine days quicker, shiningsometimes before sunrise and sometimes after sunset, but according toCidenas andSosigenes never more than 22 degreesaway from the sun. Consequently the course of these stars also is peculiar, andnot shared by those above-mentioned: those are often observed to be a quarter ora third of the heaven away from the sun and travelling against the sun, and theyall have other larger circuits of full revolution, the specification of whichbelongs to the theory of the Great Years.

But the wonder of everyone is vanquished by the last star, the one most familiarto the earth, and devised by nature to serve as a remedy for the shadows ofdarknessthe moon. By the riddle of her transformations she has racked the witsof observers, who are ashamed that the star which is nearest should be the oneabout which we know least--always waxing or waning, and now curved into the hornsof a sickle, now just halved in size, now rounded into a circle; spotted andthen suddenly shining clear; vast and full-orbed, and then all of a sudden notthere at all; at one time shining all night and at another rising late and for apart of the day augmenting the light of the sun, eclipsed and neverthelessvisible during the eclipse, invisible at the end of the month when she is notbelieved to be in trouble; again at one time low down and at another up aloft,and not even this in a uniform way, but sometimes raised to the sky andsometimes touching the mountain-tops, now borne up to the North and now carrieddown to the South. The first human being to observe all these facts about herwas Endymionwhich accounts for the traditional story of his love for her. Weforsooth feel no gratitude towards those whose assiduous toil has given usillumination on the subject of this luminary, while owing to a curious diseaseof the human mind we are pleased to enshrine in history records of bloodshed andslaughter, so that persons ignorant of the facts of the world may be acquaintedwith the crimes of mankind.

The moon then is nearest to the pole, and therefore has the smallest orbit,completing the same distance every 27⅓ days that Saturn the highest star covers,as we have said, in 30 years. Then she lingers two days in conjunction with thesun, and after the 30th day at latest sets out again on the same coursebeingperhaps our teacher as to all the facts that it has been possible to observe inthe heavens; (1) that the year is to be divided into twelve monthly spaces,because she herself that number of times follows the sun in his return to hisstarting point; (2) that she is governed by the sun's radiance as are the restof the stars, as in fact she shines with a light entirely borrowed from him,like the light which we see flickering reflected in water; (3) thatconsequently she only causes water to evaporate with a rather gentle andimperfect force, and indeed increases its quantity, whereas the sun's rays dryit up; (4) also that the reason why she is seen to vary in her light is that sheis full only when opposite to the sun, and on the remaining days shows as muchlight from herself to the earth as she herself conceives from the sun; though(5) she is indeed invisible when in conjunction with the sun, because beingturned towards him she gives back the entire draught of light to the source fromwhich she receives it; (6) but that the stars are undoubtedly nourished by themoisture of the earth, since she is sometimes seen spotted in half her orb,clearly because she has not yet got sufficient strength to go on drinkingherspots being merely dirt from the earth taken up with the moisture; (7) but thather eclipses and those of the sun, the most marvellous and indeedportentous occurrence in the whole of our observation of nature, serve asindications of their dimensions and shadow.

VII. It is in fact obvious that the sun is hidden by the passage acrossit of the moon, and the moon by the interposition of the earth, and that theyretaliate on one another, the same rays of the sun being taken away from theearth by the moon intervening and from the moon by the earth: at the transit ofthe former a sudden shadow passes over the earth, and in return the shadow ofthe latter dims the heavenly body (the moon), and the darkness is merely theearth's shadow, but the shape of the shadow is conical, resembling aspinning-top upside down, as it impinges only with its point and does not gobeyond the altitude of the moon, because no other star is obscured in the sameway, and a conical figure always tapers off into a point: that shadows are madeto disappear by distance is proved when birds fly to extreme heights.Consequently the frontier between the moon and the other heavenly bodies is atthe point where the air ends and the aether begins. All the space above the moonis clear and filled with continual light, but to us the stars are visiblethrough the night in the same way as other lights in shadows. And these are thereasons why the moon wanes in the night-time; but both of her wanings areirregular and not monthly, because of the slant of the zodiac and the widelyvarying curves of the moon's course, as has been stated, the motion of theheavenly bodies not always tallying in minute fractional quantities.

VIII. This theory leads mortal minds upward to heaven, and discloses totheir observation from that height, as it were, the greatness of the threegreatest parts of the universe; clearly it would not be possible for the wholeof the sun to be eclipsed from the earth by the passage of the moon between themif the earth were larger than the moon. The vast size of the sun will be shownwith the more certainty from the two bodies, so that there is no need toinvestigate its size by the evidence of the eyes and by logical inference,arguing that it is immeasurably large for the following reasons: (1) the shadowthat it throws of rows of trees along the balks of fields are at equal distancesapart for ever so many miles, just as if over the whole space the sun were inthe centre; (2) during the equinoxes it reaches the vertical simultaneously forall the inhabitants of the southern region; (3) the shadows of the people livinground the Tropic of Cancer fall northward at midday but westward at sunrise,which could not happen unless the sun were much larger than the earth; (4) whenit is rising its breadth exceeds Mount Ida, overlapping it widely right andleftand that though it is separated from it by so great a distance.

The eclipse of the moon supplies indubitable proof of the size of the sun, justas the sun itself when it suffers eclipse proves the smallness of the earth. Forshadows are of three shapes, and it is clear that, if the solid object thatthrows a shadow is equal in area to the shaft of light, the shadow projected isshaped like a pillar and is of infinite length, but if the solid body is largerthan the light, the shadow has the shape of an upright spinning-top, so that itis narrowest at the bottom, and infinite in length as in the former case, whileif the solid is smaller than the light the result is the figure of a conenarrowing down to end in a point, and this is the nature of the shadow observedduring an eclipse of the moon; hence it is proved without any furtherpossibility of doubt remaining that the sun exceeds the earth's size. Indeed,this is also proved by the silent testimony of nature herself; for why in thedivision of the turns of the year does the winter sun retire, so as to refreshthe earth with the darkness of the nights? when otherwise it wouldunquestionably scorch up the earth, and even as it is does so in a certain part,so great is its magnitude.

IX. The first person indeed of Roman nationality who published anexplanation of both kinds of eclipse was Sulpicius Gallusthe colleague in the consulship ofMarcus Marcellus, but at the timemilitary tribunewho delivered the army from fear when on the day before thedefeat a of KingPerseus by Paulus he was brought before an assemblyby the commander-in chief to foretell an eclipse; and later also by writing atreatise. The original discovery was made in Greece byThales of Miletus, who in the fourthyear of the 48th Olympiad (585 BC.) foretold the eclipse of the sun thatoccurred in the reign ofAlyattes, inthe 170th year after the foundation of Rome. After their time the courses ofboth stars for 600 years were prophesied byHipparchus, whose work embraced the calendar of the nations and thesituations of places and aspects of the peopleshis method being, on theevidence of his contemporaries none other than full partnership in the designsof nature. O mighty heroes, of loftier than mortal estate, who have discoveredthe law of those great divinities and released the miserable mind of man fromfear, mortality dreading as it did in eclipses of the stars crimes or death ofsome sort (those sublime singers, the bardsStesichorus andPindar, clearlyfelt this fear owing to an eclipse of the sun), or in the dying of the mooninferring that she was poisoned and consequently coming to her aid with a noisyclattering of cymbals (this alarm caused the Atheman generalNicias, in his ignorance of the cause,to be afraid to lead his fleet out of harbour, so destroying the Athenians'resources: all hail to your genius, ye that interpret the heavens and grasp thefacts of nature, discoverers of a theory whereby you have vanquished gods andmen! for who beholding these truths and the regularity of the stars' periods oftrouble (for so it has pleased you to call them), would not forgive his owndestiny for the generation of mortals?

Now I will briefly and summarily touch on facts that are admitted about the samematters, giving an account of them only at necessary points and in a cursorymanner, because such theorizing does not form part of the task that I have setin hand, and also it is less surprising that explanations cannot be produced forall the facts than that agreement has been reached on some of them.

X. It is certain that eclipses recur in cycles of 223 monthseclipses ofthe sun only when the moon is in her last or first phase (this is called their'conjunction'), eclipses of the moon only at full moonand always within theperiod of their last occurrence; but that yearly at fixed days and hourseclipses of either star occur below the earth, and that even when they occurabove the earth they are not visible everywhere, sometimes owing to clouds, moreoften because the earth's globe stands in the way of the world's curvature. Lessthan 200 years ago the penetration of Hipparchus discovered that an eclipse of the moon also sometimes occursfour months after the one before and an eclipse of the sun six months, and thatthe latter when above earth is hidden twice in thirty days, but that thiseclipse is visible to different nations, andthe most remarkablefeatures of this remarkable occurrencethat when it comes about that the moon isobscured by the shadow of the earth, this sometimes happens to it from the westside and sometimes from the east; and he also discovered for what exact reason,although the shadow causing the eclipse must from sunrise onward be below theearth, it happened once in the past that the moon was eclipsed in the west whileboth luminaries were visible above the earth. For the eclipse of both sun andmoon within 15 days of each other has occurred even in our time, in the year ofthe third consulship of the elder EmperorVespasian and the second consulship of the younger.

XI. It is unquestionable that the moon's horns are always turned awayfrom the sun, and that when waxing she faces east and when waning west; and thatthe moon shines 47½ minutes longer daily from the day after new moon to full and47½ minutes less daily to her wane, while within 14 degrees of the sun she isalways invisible. This fact proves that the planets are of greater magnitudethan the moon, since these occasionally become unble even on reaching 7 degrees'distance; but their altitude makes them appear smaller, just as the sun'sradiance makes the fixed stars invisible in daytime, although they are shiningas much as in the night, which becomes manifest at a solar eclipse and also whenthe star is reflected in a very deep well.

XII. The three planets whose positions we have stated to be above the suntravel with the sun when they set and are never more than 11 degrees separatefrom the sun at dawn when they rise. Afterwards they retire from contact withhis rays, and make their morning or 'first' stations in a triangle 120 degreesaway, and subsequently their evening risings opposite 180 degrees away, andagain approaching from the other side, make their evening or 'second' stations120 degrees away, till the sun overtaking them at 12 degrees obscures themthisis called their evening setting. The planet Mars being nearer feels the sun'srays even from its quadrature, at an angle of 90 degrees, which has given tohis motion after each rising the name of 'first' or 'second ninety-degree.' Atthe same time Mars remains stationary in the signs of the zodiac for periods ofsix months (otherwise having a two-mouth period), whereas Jupiter and Saturnspend less than four months in each station. The two lower planets (Mercury andVenus) are similarly obscured at their evening conjunction, and when left by the sun make their morning rising the same number of degrees away, and from thefurther limits of their distance follow the sun and when they have overtaken himare hidden in their morning setting and pass away. Then they rise in theevening at the same distance apart, as far as the limits we have stated. Fromthese they pass backward to the sun, and disappear in their evening setting. Theplanet Venus actually makes two stations, morning and evening, after each rise,from the furthest limits of her distance. Mercury's stations have too short aperiod to be perceptible.

XIII. This is the system of the shining and occultation of the planets:it is more complicated from their motion and involves many remarkable facts,inasmuch as they change their magnitude and their colours, and both approach theNorth and retire towards the South, and suddenly are seen closer to the earth orto the sky. And although our account of these matters will differ in many pointsfrom that of our predecessors, we confess that credit for these points also mustbe given to those who first demonstrated the methods of investigating them: onlynobody must abandon the hope that the generations are constantly makingprogress.

All these occurrences are due to a plurality of causes. The first is the factorof the circles which in the case of the stars the Greeks designateapsidesor arcs (it will be necessary to employ Greek terms). Each planet has itsown circle, and these are not the same as those of the firmament, since theearth between the two vertices, named in Greek poles, is the centre ofthe sky, and also of the zodiac, which is situated on a slant between the poles.[All these facts are always established beyond doubt by the method ofcompasses.] Therefore the special arc of each is drawn from a different centre,and consequently they have different orbits and dissimilar motions, because theinner arcs must necessarily be shorter.

It follows that the points of the arcs highestabove the centre of the earth are: in the case of Saturn in Scorpio, in that ofJupiter in Virgo, of Mars in Leo, of the sun in the Twins, of Venus in theArcher, of Mercury in Capricorn, of the moon in the Bull, at the middle of each,and the points lowest and nearest to the centre of the earth are opposite. Theresult of this is that they appear to move slower and to be smaller when theyare travelling at the highest point of their circuit, but to be larger andtravel faster when they have come nearer to the earth, not because they actuallyaccelerate or reduce their natural motions, which are fixed and individual tothem, but because lines drawn from the top of the arc to the centre necessarilyconverge like the spokes of a wheel, and the same motion at one time isperceived as faster and at another slower according to its distance from thecentre.

Another reason of their elevations is because they have the points of their arcshighest from their centre in different signsSaturn in the 20th degree of theScales, Jupiter in the 15th of the Crab, Mars in the 28th of Capricorn, the sunin the 29th of the Ram, Venus in the 27th of the Fishes, Mercury in the 15th ofVirgo, the moon in the 4th of the Bull.

A third explanation of their altitudes is explained by the dimensions of thefirmament, not that of a circle, the eye judging them to rise or to sink throughthe depth of the air.

Linked with this is the cause of the latitudes of the zodiac and of itsobliquity. The stars we have mentioned travel through the zodiac, and the onlyhabitable part of the earth is what lies beneath itall the other parts towardsthe poles are frost-bound. Only the planet Venus goes two degrees outside thezodiac; this is understood to be the reason that causes some animals to be borneven in the desert places of the world. The moon also wanders through the wholeof its breadth, but without going at all outside it. The planet Mercury divergesvery widely from these, but without wandering over more than 6 of the 12 degreesof latitude of the zodiac, and these 6 not uniformly but two in the middle ofthe zodiac, four above it and two below it. Then the sun travels unevenly in themiddle of the zodiac between the two halves with a wavy serpentine course, theplanet Mars over 4 degrees in the middle, Jupiter one in the middle and twoabove it, Saturn two like the sun. This will be the principle of the latitudesof the planets when setting towards the South or rising towards the North. Mostpeople have supposed that with this system agrees also the third mentionedabove, that of their rising from the earth to the sky, and that this ascent alsois made simultaneously; but this is a mistake. To refute them it is necessary todevelop an extremely abstruse argument that embraces all the causes mentioned.

It is agreed that the planets are nearest to the earth in both altitude and latitude at their evening setting, and that their morning risings occur at the beginning of both altitude and latitude, while their stations occur in the middle sections of the altitudes, called 'ecliptics.' It is similarly admittedthat their velocity increases as long as they are in the neighbourhood of theearth and decreases when they withdraw from it to a height: this theory isspecially supported by the apogees of the moon. It is equally undoubted that thethree higher ones moreover increase their motion in their morning risings anddiminish it from their first (morning) stations to their second (evening)stations. In view of these facts it will be evident that the latitudes areascended from their morning rising, because in that state their accelerationfirst begins to diminish, but in their first stations their altitude also isascended, since then the numbers first begin to be reduced and the stars beginto recede. The reason for this must especially be given. When struck in thedegree that we stated and by a triangular ray of the sun they are prevented frompursuing a straight course, and are lifted upward by the fiery force. Thiscannot be directly perceived by our sight, and therefore they are thought to bestationary, which has given rise to the term 'station.' Then the violent forceof the same ray advances and compels them by the impact of the heat to retire.This occurs much more at their evening rising, when they are driven out to thetop of their apsides by the full opposing force of the sun, and appear verysmall because they are at the distance of their greatest altitude and are movingwith their smallest velocitywhich is proportionately smaller when this occursin the highest signs of their apsides. From their evening rise their altitude isdescended with a velocity now decelerating less and less, but not acceleratingbefore their second stations, when their altitude also is descended, the raypassing above them from the other side and pressing them down again to the earthwith the same force as that with which it had raised them to the sky from theformer triangle. So much difference does it make whether the rays come frombelow or from above, and the same things occur far more in the evening setting.

This is the theory of the higher stars; that of the rest is more difficult andhas been explained by nobody before ourselves.

XIV. First therefore let us state the reason why Venus never departsmore than 46 degrees and Mercury never more than 23 degrees from the sun, andwhy they often retire and return towards the sun within those limits. As situatedbelow the sun both have arcs that are the opposite of those of the otherplanets, and as much of their circle is below the earth as that of the planetsmentioned before is above it; and they cannot be further from it than they arebecause the curve of their arcs does not allow greater elongation there;consequently the edges of their arcs put a limit on a similar principle foreach, and compensate for the dimensions of their longitude by the enlargement oftheir latitude. But, it will be objected, why do they not reach 46 and 23degrees always? As a matter of fact they do, but the explanation escapes thetheorists. For it is manifest that even their arcs alter, because they nevercross the sun; accordingly when the edges have fallen on one side or the otherinto the actual degree of the sun, then the stars also are understood to havereached their longest distances, but when the edges are short of that, theythemselves too are compelled to return with proportionately greater velocity,since with each of them that is always the extreme limit.

This also explains the contrary principle of their motions. For the higherplanets travel most quickly in their evening setting, whereas these travel mostslowly, and the former are farthest from the earth when their pace is slowestbut the latter are highest when their pace is quickestthe reason being thatwith the latter the circumference of the circle accelerates their pace in thesame manner as proximity to the centre does in the case of the former; theformer begin to decelerate from their morning setting, but the latter toaccelerate. The former travel backward from their morning to their eveningstation, the planet Venus from her evening to her morning station. But shebegins to climb her latitude after her morning rise, but after her morningstation to ascend her altitude and follow the sun, being swiftest and highest ather morning setting; whereas she begins to descend in latitude and decelerateafter her evening rising, and to turn back and simultaneously to descend inaltitude after her evening station; on the other hand the planet Mercury beginsto climb in both ways after his morning rising, but after his evening rising todescend in latitude, and following the sun at an interval of 15 degrees hestands motionless for almost four days. Afterwards he descends from his altitudeand proceeds back from his evening setting to his morning rise. And only thisplanet and the moon set in as many days as they have risen in; Venus ascends in15 times as many days as she sets in, while Saturn and Jupiter descend in twiceas many, and Mars in actually four times as many. So great is the variety ofnature; but the reason is evidentbodies that strain up into the heat of the sunalso have difficulty in descending.

XV. Many more facts can be produced about these mysteries of nature andthe laws that she obeysfor example, in the case of the planet Mars (whosecourse it is very difficult to observe) that it never makes its station withJupiter at an angle of 120º, and very seldom with Jupiter separated 60º (whichamounts to 1/6th of the celestial sphere), and never makes itsrises simultaneously with Jupiter except in two signs only, Cancer and Leo,whereas the planet Mercury rarely makes its evening rises in Pisces, and mostfrequently in Virgo, its morning rises in Libra, and also its morning rises inAquarius, very rarely in Leo; it does not make its return in Taurus and inGemini, and not below the 25th degree in Cancer; Gemini is the only sign inwhich the moon makes conjunction with the sun twice, Sagittarius the only one inwhich she does not meet him at all, Aries the only one in which the old moon andthe new moon are visible on the same day or night (and this too it has happenedto few mortals to see, hence Lynceus'sreputation for keen sight); the longest period of invisibility for the planetsSaturn and Mars is 170 days, for Jupiter 36 days; the shortest periods for allthese are 10 days less; Venus's period is 69 days or at shortest 52, Mercury's13 or at longest 17.

XVI. The colours of the planets vary with their altitudes, inasmuch asthey are assimilated to the stars into whose atmosphere they come in rising, andthe circuit of another's path modifies their colour in either direction as theyapproach, a colder circuit to pallor, a hotter one to redness, a windy one to aleaden colour, the sun and the intersection of its orbit with theirs, and alsothe extremities of their paths, changing them to black darkness. It is true thateach has its own special hueSaturn white, Jupiter transparent, Mars fiery,Lucifer bright white, Vesper glaring, Mercury radiant, the moon soft, the sunwhen rising glowing and afterwards radiant; with these being causally connectedalso the appearance of the fixed stars. For at one time there is a dense crowdof stars in the sky round the circle of the half-moon, a fine night giving thema gentle radiance, but at another time they are scarce, so that we wonder attheir flight, when the full moon hides them or when the rays of the sun or theplanets above-mentioned dim our sight. But the moon herself also is undoubtedlysensitive to the variations of the strength of impact of the rays of the sun, asmoreover the curve of the earth dulls their impact, except when the impact ofthe rays meets at a right angle. And so the moon is at half in the sun'squadrature, and curved in a hollow circle in its trinal aspect, but waxes tofull at the sun's opposition, and then waning exhibits the same configurationsat corresponding intervals, on the same principle as the three planets above thesun.

XVII. The sun itself has four differences, as there are two equinoxes,in spring and autumn, when it coincides with the centre of the earth atthe eighth degree of Aries and Libra, and two changes of its course, in theeighth degree of Capricorn at midwinter when the days begin to lengthen and inthe same degree of Cancer at the summer solstice. The variation is due to theslant of the zodiac, as at every moment an equal part of the firmament is aboveand below the earth; but the planets that follow a straight path at their risingkeep their light for a longer tract and those that follow a slanting path passin a swifter period.

XVIII. Most men are not acquainted with a truth known to the founders ofthe science from their arduous study of the heavens, that what when they fall toearth are termed thunderbolts are the fires of the three upper planets,particularly those of Jupiter, which is in the middle positionpossibly becauseit voids in this way the charge of excessive moisture from the upper circle (ofSaturn) and of excessive heat from the circle below (of Mars); and that this isthe origin of the myth that thunderbolts are the javelins hurled by Jupiter.Consequently heavenly fire is spit forth by the planet as crackling charcoalflies from a burning log, bringing prophecies with it, as even the part ofhimself that he discards does not cease to function in its divine tasks. Andthis is accompanied by a very great disturbance of the air, because moisturecollected causes an overflow, or because it is disturbed by the birth-pangs soto speak of the planet in travail.

XIX. Many people have also tried to discover the distances of theplanets from the earth, and have given out that the distance of the sunfrom the moon is 19 times that of the moon itself from the earth. Thepenetrating genius ofPythagoras,however, inferred that the distance of the moon from the earth was 15,750 miles,and that of the sun from the moon twice that figure, and of the sun from thetwelve signs of the Zodiac three times. Our fellow-countryman Sulpicius Gallus also held this view.

XX. But occasionallyPythagorasdraws on the theory of music, and designates the distance between the earth andthe moon as a whole tone, that between the moon and Mercury a semitone, betweenMercury and Venus the same, between her and the sun a tone and a half, betweenthe sun and Mars a tone (the same as the distance between the earth and themoon), between Mars and Jupiter half a tone, between Jupiter and Saturn half atone, between Saturn and the zodiac a tone and a half: the seven tones thusproducing the so-called diapason, a universal harmony; in this Saturnmoves in the Dorian mode, Jupiter in the Phrygian, and similarly with the otherplanetsa refinement more entertaining than convincing.

XXI. A stade is equivalent to 125 Roman paces, that is 625 feet.Posidonius holds that mists and windsand clouds reach to a height of not less than 5 miles from the earth, but thatfrom that point the air is clear and liquid and perfectly luminous, but that thedistance between the cloudy air and the moon is 250,000 miles and between themoon and the sun 625,000 miles, it being due to this distance that the sun'svast magnitude does not burn up the earth. The majority of writers, however,have stated that the clouds rise to a height of 111 miles. These figures arereally unascertained and impossible to disentangle, but it is proper to put themforward became they have been put forward already, although they are matters inwhich the method of geometrical inference, which never misleads, is the onlymethod that it is possible not to reject, were anybody desirous of pursuing suchquestions more deeply, and with the intention of establishing not precisemeasurement (for to aspire to that would mark an almost insane absorption instudy) but merely a conjectural calculation. For since it appears from the sun'srevolution that the circle through which its orb travels extends nearly 366degrees, and since the diameter of a circle always measures a little less than ⅓+ 1/21 of the circumference, it appears that, as half thecircle is subtracted by the interposition of the earth at the centre, themeasure of the sun's altitude comprises abouttth of this conjecturallyestimated immense space of the solar circle round the earth, and the moon'saltitudetth, since the moon runs in a circuit that is much shorter than thesun's; so that it comes between the sun and the earth. It is marvellous to whatlength the depravity of man's intellect will go when lured on by some triflingsuccess, in the way in which reason furnishes impudence with its opportunity inthe case of the calculations above stated. And when they have dared to guessthe distances of the sun from the earth they apply the same figures to the sky,on the ground that the sun is at its centre, with the consequence that they haveat their finger's ends the dimensions of the world also. For they argue that thecircumference of a circle is us times its diameter, as though the measure of theheavens were merely regulated from a plumb-line! The Egyptian calculationpublished by Petosiris andNechepsos infers that one degree of thelunar circle measures (as has been said) just over 4⅛ miles at the least, onedegree of the widest circle, Saturn's, twice that size, and one of the sun'scircle, which we stated to be in the middle, the mean between the other two.This computation is a most shameful business, since the addition of the distanceof the zodiac itself to the circle of Saturn produces a multiple that is evenbeyond reckoning.

XXII. A few facts about the world remain. There are also starsthat suddenly come to birth in the heaven itself; of these there are severalkinds. The Greeks call them 'comets,' in our language 'long-haired stars,'because they have a blood-red shock of what looks like shaggy hair at their top.The Greeks also give the name of 'bearded stars' to those from whose lower partspreads a mane resembling a long beard. 'Javelin-stars' quiver like a dart;these are a very terrible portent. To this class belongs the comet about whichTitus Imperator Caesar in his 5thconsulship wrote an account in his famous poem, that being its latest appearancedown to the present day. The same stars when shorter and sloping to a point havebeen called 'Daggers'; these are the palest of all in colour, and have a gleamlike the flash of a sword, and no rays, which even the Quoit-star, whichresembles its name in appearance but is in colour like amber, emits in scatteredform from its edge. The 'Tub-star' presents the shape of a cask, with a smokylight all round it. The 'Horned star' has the shape of a horn, like the one thatappeared when Greece fought the decisive battle of Salamis. The 'Torch-star'resembles glowing torches, the 'Horse-star horses' manes in very rapid motionand revolving in a circle. There also occurs a shining comet whose silverytresses glow so brightly that it is scarcely possible to look at it, and whichdisplays within it a shape in the likeness of a man's countenance. There alsooccur 'Goat comets,' enringed with a sort of cloud resembling tufts of hair.Once hitherto it has happened that a 'Mane-shaped' comet changed into a spear;this was in the 108th [348-345 BC] Olympiad, AUC 408 [346 BC]. The shortestperiod of visibility on record for a comet is 7 days, the longest 80.

XXIII. Some comets move, like the planets, but others are fixed andstationary, almost all of them towards the due North, not in any particular partof it, though chiefly in the luminous region called the Milky Way.Aristotle also records that several maybe seen at the same timea fact not observed by anyone else, as far as I amawareand that this signifies severe winds or heat. Comets also occur in thewinter months and at the south pole, but comets in the south have no rays. Aterrible comet was seen by the people of Ethiopia and Egypt, to whichTyphon the king of that period gave hisname; it had a fiery appearance and was twisted like a coil, and it was verygrim to behold: it was not really a star so much as what might be called a ballof fire. Planets and all other stars also occasionally have spreading hair. Butsometimes there is a comet in the western sky, usually a terrifying star and noteasily expiated: for instance, during the civil disorder in the consulship of Octavius, and again during the warbetweenPompey andCaesar, or in our day about the time ofthe poisoning which secured the bequest of the empire byClaudius Caesar toDomitius Nero, and thereafter duringNero's principate shining almostcontinuously and with a terrible glare. People think that it matters in whatdirection a comet darts, what star's strength it borrows, what shapes itresembles, and in what places it shines; that if it resembles a pair of flutes.It is a portent for the art of music, in the private parts of the constellationsit portends immorality, if it forms an equilateral triangle or a rectangularquadrilateral in relation to certain positions of the fixed stars, it portendsmen of genius and a revival of learning, in the head of the Northern or theSouthern Serpent it brings poisonings.

The only place in the whole world where a comet is the object of worship is atemple at Rome. His late MajestyAugustushad deemed this comet very propitious to himself; as it had appeared at thebeginning of his rule, at some games which, not long after the decease of hisfatherCaesar, as a member of thecollege founded by him he was celebrating in honour of Mother Venus. In fact hemade public the joy that it gave him in these words: 'On the very days of myGames a comet was visible for seven days in the northern part of the sky. It wasrising about an hour before sunset, and was a bright star, visible from alllands. The common people believed that this star signified the soul ofCaesar received among the spirits of theimmortal gods, and on this account the emblem of a star was added to the bust ofCaesar that we shortly afterwardsdedicated in the forum.' This was his public utterance, but privately herejoiced because he interpreted the comet as having been born for his own sakeand as containing his own birth within it; and, to confess the truth, it didhave a health-giving influence over the world.

Some persons think that even comets are everlasting, and travel in a specialcircuit of their own, but are not visible except when the sun leaves them; thereare others, however, who hold that they spring into existence out of chancemoisture and fiery force, and consequently are dissolved.

XXIV.Hipparchusbefore-mentioned, who can never be sufficiently praised, no one having done moreto prove that man is related to the stars and that our souls are a part ofheaven, detected a new star that came into existence during his lifetime; themovement of this star in its line of radiance led him to wonder whether this wasa frequent occurrence, whether the stars that we think to be fixed are also inmotion; and consequently he did a bold thing, That would be reprehensible evenfor Godhe dared to schedule the stars for posterity, and tick off the heavenlybodies by name in a list, devising machinery by means of which to indicatetheir several positions and magnitudes, in order that from that time onward itmight be possible easily to discern not only whether stars perish and are born,but whether some are in transit and in motion, and also whether they increaseand decrease in magnitudethus bequeathing the heavens as a legacy to allmankind, supposing anybody had been found to claim that inheritance!

XXV. There are also meteoric lights that are only seen when falling, forinstance one that ran across the sky at midday in full view of the public when Germanicus Caesar was giving agladiatorial show. Of these there are two kinds: one sort are calledlampades, which means torches, the other bolides (missiles),that isthe sort that appeared at the time of the disasters of Modena. The differencebetween them is that 'torches' make long tracks, with their front part glowing,whereas a 'boils' glows throughout its length, and traces a longer path.

XXVI. Other similar meteoric lights are 'beams.' in Greekdokoi,for example one that appeared when the Spartans were defeated at sea and lostthe empire of Greece. There also occurs a yawning of the actual sky, calledchasma,

XXVII and also something that looks like blood, and a fire that fallsfrom it to the earththe most alarming possible cause of terror to mankind; ashappened in the third year [349BC] of the 107th Olympiad, when KingPhilip was throwing Greece intodisturbance. My own view is that these occurrences take place at fixed datesowing to natural forces, like all other events, and not, as most people think,from the variety of causes invented by the cleverness of human intellects; it istrue that they were the harbingers of enormous misfortunes, but I hold thatthose did not happen because the marvellous occurrences took place but thatthese took place because the misfortunes were going to occur, only the reasonfor their occurrence is concealed by their rarity, and consequently is notunderstood as are the risings and setting of the planets described above andmany other phenomena.

XXVIII. Stars are also seen throughout thedaytime in company with the sun, usually actually surrounding the sun's orblike wreaths made of ears of corn and rings of changing colourfor instance,whenAugustus Caesar in early manhoodentered the city after the death of his father to assume his mighty surname.Similar haloes occur round the moon and round The principal fixed stars.

XXIX. A bow appeared round the sun in theconsulship of Lucius Opimius andQuintus Fabius, a hoop in that ofGaius Porcius andManius Acilius, and a red ring in thatofLucius Julius andPublius Rutilius.

XXX. Portentousand protracted eclipses of the sun occur, such as the one after the murder ofCaesar the dictator and during the Antonine war which caused almost a whole year's continuous gloom.

XXXI. Again, several suns are seen at once, neither above nor below thereal sun but at an angle with it, never alongside of nor opposite to the earth,and not at night but either at sunrise or at sunset. It is also reported thatonce several suns were seen at midday at the Bosphorus, and that these lastedfrom dawn till sunset. In former times three suns have often been seen at once,for example in the consulships ofSpuriusPostumius andQuintus Mucius, ofQuintus Marcius andMarcus Porcius, ofMarcus Antonius andPublius Dolabella, and ofMarcus Lepidus and LuciusPlancus; and our generation saw this during the principate of his lateMajestyClaudius, in his consulship,whenCornelius Orfitus was hiscolleague. It is not stated that more than three suns at a time haveever been seen hitherto.

XXXII. Also three moons have appeared at once, for instance in theconsulship of Gnaeus Domitius andGaius Fannius.

XXXIII. A light from the sky by night, the phenomenon usually called'night-suns,' was seen in the consulship of Gaius Caecilius andGnaeus Papiriusand often on other occasions causing apparent daylight in the night.

XXXIV. In the consulship of LuciusValerius andGaius Marius aburning shield scattering sparks ran across the sky at sunset from west to east.

XXXV. In the consulship of GnaeusOctavius andGaius Scriboniusa spark was seen to fall from a star and increase in size as it approached theearth, and after becoming as large as the moon it diffused a sort of cloudydaylight, and then returning to the sky changed into a torch; this is the onlyrecord of this occurring. It was seen by the proconsul Silanus and his suite.

XXXVI. Also stars appear to shoot to and fro; and this invariablyportends the rise of a fierce hurricane from the same quarter.

XXXVII. Stars also come into existence at sea on land. I have seen aradiance of star-like appearance clinging to the javelins of soldiers on sentryduty at night in front of the rampart; and on a voyage stars alight on the yardsand other parts of the ship, with a sound resembling a voice, hopping from perchto perch in the manner of birds. These when they come singly are disastrouslyheavy and wreck ships, and if they fall into the hold burn them up. If there aretwo of them, they denote safety and portend a successful voyage; and theirapproach is said to put to flight the terrible star called Helena: for thisreason they are called Castor and Pollux, and people pray to them as gods foraid at sea. They also shine round men's heads at evening time; this is a greatportent. All these things admit of no certain explanation; they are hidden awayin the grandeur of nature.

XXXVIII. So much as to the world itself and the stars. Now the remainingnoteworthy facts as to the heavens: for the name 'heaven' was also given by ourancestors to this which is otherwise designated 'air'the whole of thatapparently empty space which pours forth this breath of life. This region belowthe moon, and a long way below it (as I notice is almost universally agreed),blends together an unlimited quantity from the upper element of air and anunlimited quantity of terrestrial vapour, being a combination of both orders.From it come clouds, thunder-claps and also thunderbolts, hail, frost, rain,storms and whirlwinds; from it come most of mortals' misfortunes, and thewarfare between the elements of nature. The force of the stars presses downterrestrial objects that strive to move towards the sky, and also draws toitself things that lack spontaneous levitation. Rain falls, clouds rise, riversdry up, hailstorms sweep down; rays scorch, and impinging from every side onthe earth in the middle of the world, then are broken and recoil and carry withthem the moisture they have drunk up. Steam falls from on high and again returnson high. Empty winds sweep down, and then go back again with their plunder. Somany living creatures draw their breath from the upper air; but the airstrives in the opposite direction, and the earth pours back breath to the sky asif to a vacuum. Thus as nature swings to and fro like a kind of sling, discordis kindled by the velocity of the world's motion. Nor is the battle allowed tostand still, but is continually carried up and whirled round, displaying in animmense globe that encircles the world the causes of things, continuallyoverspreading another and another heaven interwoven with the clouds. This is therealm of the winds. consequently their nature is here pre-eminent, and almostincludes all the rest of the phenomena caused by the air, as most men attributethe hurling of thunderbolts and lightning to the winds' violence, and indeedhold that the cause of the rain of stones that sometimes occurs is that thestones are caught up by the wind; and likewise many other things. On thisaccount more facts have to be set out at the same time.

XXXIX. Storms and rain obviously have some regular causes, but some thatare accidental, or at all events not hitherto explained. For who can doubt thatsummer and winter and the yearly vicissitudes observed in the seasons are causedby the motion of the heavenly bodies? Therefore as the nature of the sun isunderstood to control the year's seasons, so each of the other stars also has aforce of its own that creates effects corresponding to its particular nature.Some are productive of moisture dissolved into liquid, others of moisturehardened into frost or coagulated into snow or frozen into hail, others of ablast of air, others of warmth or heat, others of dew, others of cold. But itmust not be thought that the stars are of the size that they appear to thesight, since the consideration of their immense altitude proves that none ofthem is smaller than the moon. Consequently each of them exercises its ownnature in its own motion, a fact which the transits of Saturn in particular makeclear by their storms of rain. Nor does this power belong to the moving starsonly, but also to many those that are fixed to the sky, whenever they areimpelled forward by the approach of the planets or goaded on by the impact oftheir rays, as we observe occurring in the case of the Little Pigs, the Greekname for which is consequently the Hyades, a word denoting rain. Indeed somestars move of themselves and at fixed timescompare the rising of the Kids. Butthe rising of the constellation Arcturus is almost always accompanied by ahail-storm.

XL. For who is not aware that the heat of the sun increases at the risingof the Lesser Dog-star, whose effects are felt on earth very widely? At its risethe seas are rough, wine in the cellars ripples in waves, pools of water arestirred. There is a wild animal in Egypt called the gazelle that according tothe natives stands facing this dog-star at its rise, and gazing at it as if inworship, after first giving a sneeze. It is indeed beyond doubt that dogsthroughout the whole of that period are specially liable to rabies.

XLI. Moreover also the parts of some constellations have an influence oftheir ownfor instance at the autumnal equinox and at midwinter, when we learnby the storms that the sun is completing its orbit; and not only by falls ofrain and storms, but by many things that happen to our bodies and to the fields.Some men are paralysed by a star, others suffer periodic disturbances of thestomach or sinews or bead or mind. The olive and white poplar and willowturn round their leaves at the solstice. Fleabane hung up in the house to dryflowers exactly on midwinter day, and inflated skins burst. This may surpriseone who does not notice in daily experience that one plant, called heliotrope,always looks towards the sun as it passes and at every hour of the day turnswith it, even when it is obscured by a cloud. Indeed persistent research hasdiscovered that the influence of the moon causes the shells of oysters, cocklesand all shell-fish to grow larger and again smaller in bulk, and moreover thatthe phases of the moon affect the tissues of the shrewmouse, and that thesmallest animal, the ant, is sensitive to the influence of the planet and at thetime of the new moon is always slack. This makes ignorance all the moredisgraceful to man, especially as he admits that with some cattle diseases ofthe eyes increase and diminish with the moon. His excuse is the heaven'svastness, being divided at an enormous height into 72 signs, that is, shapes ofthings or of animals into which the learned have mapped out the sky. In themthey have indeed noted 1600 stars as being specially remarkable for theirinfluence or their appearance, for instance the seven which they have named thePleiades in the tail of the Bull and the Little Pigs in his forehead, and Bootesthe star that follows the Seven Plough-oxen.

XLII. I would not deny that rain and wind can arise from other causesthan these; it is certain that the earth exhales a damp mist and at other timesa smoky one due to vapour, and that clouds are formed out of moisture rising toa height or air condensed into moisture. Their density and bulk are conjecturedwith certain inference from the fact that they obscure the sun, which isotherwise visible even to those diving into water to whatever depth.

XLIII. Consequently I would not go against the view that it is alsopossible for the fires of stars to fall fromabove into the clouds (as we often see happen. in fine weather, and the impactof these fires unquestionably shakes the air since even weapons when flung makea hissing noise); and that when they reach the cloud, a hissing steam isproduced, just as when red-hot iron is plunged into water, and a coil of smokewhirls up. And I agree that these produce storms, and if there is wind or steamstruggling in the cloud, it gives out claps of thunder, if it bursts out onfire, flashes of lightning, if it forces its way on a longer track,heat-lightning. The latter cleaves the cloud, the flashes burst through it, andthunderclaps are the blows of the fires colliding, causing fiery cracks at onceto flash out in the clouds. It is also possible for breath emerging from theearth, when pressed down by the counter-impact of the stars, to be checked by acloud and so cause thunder, nature choking down the sound while the strugglegoes on but the crash sounding when the breath bursts out, as when a skin isstretched by being blown into. It is also possible for this breath, whatever itis, to be set on fire by the friction during its headlong progress. It is alsopossible for it to be struck out by the impact of the clouds, as by that of two stones, with heat-lightning flashing out like sparks. But all these occurrencesare accidentalthey cause mere senseless and ineffectual thunder-claps, as theircoming obeys no principle of naturethey merely cleave mountains and seas, andall their other blows are ineffectual; but the former are prophetical and sentfrom on high, they come by fixed causes and from their own stars.

XLIV. Similarly I am not prepared to deny that it is possible for windsor rather gusts of air to be produced also by a dry and parched breath from theearth, and also possible when bodies of water breathe out a vapour that isneither condensed into mist or solidified into clouds; and also they may becaused by the driving force of the sun, because wind is understood to be nothingelse than a wave of air; and in more ways as well. For we see winds arising bothfrom rivers and bays and from the sea even when calm, and others, calledaltani, arising from the land; the latter when they come back again from thesea are called turning winds, but if they go on, offshore winds.

The windings of mountains and their clustered peaks and ridges curved in anelbow or broken off into shoulders, and the hollow recesses of valleys, cleavingwith their irregular contours the air that is consequently reflected from them(a phenomenon that in many place causes words spoken to be endlessly echoed)are productive of winds. So again are caverns, like the one with an enormousgaping mouth on the coast of Dalmatia, from which, if you throw some lightobject into it, even in calm weather a gust like a whirlwind bursts out; thename of the place is Senta. Also it is said that in the province of Cyrenaicathere is a certain cliff, sacred to the South wind, which it is sacrilege forthe hand of man to touch, the South wind immediately causing a sandstorm. Evenmanufactured vessels in many houses if shut up in the dark have peculiarexhalations. Thus there must be some cause for this.

XLV. But there is a great difference between a gust of air and a wind.The latter, regular and blowing steadily, and felt not by some particular tractonly but by whole countries, and not being breezes nor tempests but windseventheir name being a masculine word--whether they are caused by the continuousmotion of the world and the impact of the stars travelling in the oppositedirection or whether wind is the famous `breath' that generates the universe byfluctuating to and fro as in a sort of womb, or air whipped by the irregularimpact of the planets and the non-uniform emission of their rays, or whetherthey issue forth from these nearer stars which are their own or fall from thosestars which are fixed in the heavenit is manifest that the winds too obey a lawof nature that is not unknown, even if not yet fully known.

More than twenty Greek authors of the past have published observations aboutthese subjects. This makes me all the more surprised that, although when theworld was at variance, and split up into kingdoms, that is, sundered limb fromlimb, so many people devoted themselves to these abstruse researches; especiallywhen wars surrounded them and hosts were untrustworthy, and also when rumours ofpirates, the foes of all mankind, terrified intending travellersso thatnow-a-days a person may learn some facts about his own region from the notebooks of people who have never been there more truly than from the knowledge ofthe nativesyet now in these glad times of peace under an emperor who sodelights in productions of literature and science, no addition whatever is beingmade to knowledge by means of original research, and in fact even thediscoveries of our predecessors are not being thoroughly studied. The rewardswere not greater when the ample successes were spread out over made thediscoveries in question with no other many students, and in fact the majority ofthese reward at all save the consciousness of benefiting posterity. Age hasovertaken the characters of mankind, not their revenues, and now that every seahas been opened up and every coast offers hospitable landing, an immensemultitude goes on voyagesbut their object is profit not knowledge; and intheir blind engrossment with avarice they do not reflect that knowledge is amore reliable means even of making profit. Consequently in view of thesethousands of persons who go on voyages I will give a more detailed account ofthe winds than is perhaps suited to the task I have set in hand.

XLVI. The ancients noticed four winds in all, corresponding to the fourquarters of the world (this is the reason why evenHomer mentions no more)a dull-wittedsystem, as it was soon afterwards considered; the following age added eightthissystem on the other hand was too subtle and meticulous. Their successorsadopted a compromise, adding to the short list four winds from the long one.There are consequently two winds in each of the four quarters of the heaven: Subsolanns blowing from the equinoctial sunrise (E.) and Vulturnus from thewinter sunrise (S.E.)the former designated by the Greeks Apeliotes, the latterBurns; Auster from the sun at midday (S.) and Afriens from the winter sunset(S.W.)named in Greek Notus and Libs; Favonius from the equinoctial sunset (W.),Corus from the sunset at the solstice (N.W.)these the Greeks call Zephyr and Argestes; Septentrio from the North and Aquilo between him and sunrise at thesolstice (N.E.)called in Greek Aparctias and Boreas. The more numerous schemehad inserted four between these: Thrascias (N.N.W.) in the space betweenSeptentrio (N.) and the sunset at the solstice (N.W.) and also Caecias (E.N.E.)in the space between Aquilo (N.E.) and the equinoctial sunrise (B.) on the sideof the sunrise at the solstice, and Phoenix (S.S.E.) in the space between wintersunrise (S.E.) and midday (S.), and also between Libs (S.W.) and Notus (S.) thecombination of the two, Libonotus (S.S.W.), midway between midday (S.) andwinter sunset (S.W.). Nor is this the end, inasmuch as others have also addedone named Meses between Boreas (N.E.) and Caecias (E.N.E.), and Euronotusbetween Eurus (S.E.) and Notus (S.). There are also certain winds peculiar toparticular races, which do not go outside a special region,e.g. the Athenianshave Sciron, slightly diverging from Argestes (N.W.), a name unknown to the restof Greeceelsewhere the same breeze is called Olympias: customarily all thesenames are taken to denote Argestni. Some people call Caecias (E.N.E.)Hellespontias, and others have other variants for these names. Similarly in theprovince of Narbonne the most famous of the winds is Circius (W.N.W.), which isinferior to none other at all in force and which usually carries a vessel rightacross the Ligurian Sea to Ostia; the same wind is not only unknown in theremaining quarters of the sky, but it does not even touch Vienne, a city of thesame province, a few miles before reaching which this mighty wind is checked bythe obstacle of a moderate ridge of hills. Fabianus asserts that South windsalso do not penetrate Egyptwhich reveals the law of nature that even windshave their prescribed limits as well as seasons.

XLVII. Accordingly the spring opens the seas to voyagers; at itsbeginning the West winds soften the wintry heaven, when the sun occupies the25th degree of Aquarius; the date of this is Feb. 8. This also practicallyapplies to all the winds whose positions I shall give afterwards, although everyleap-year they come a day earlier, but they keep the regular rule in the periodthat follows. Certain persons give the name Chelidonias to the West wind on the19th February, owing to the appearance of the swallow, but some call itOrnithias, from the arrival of the birds on the 71st day after the shortest day,when it blows for nine days. Opposite to the West wind is the wind that we havecalled Subsolanus (E.). The rise of the Pleiades in the same degrees of Taurus onMay 10 brings summer; it is a period of South wind, Auster, the opposite ofSeptentrio. But in the hottest period of summer the Dog-star rises, when the sunis entering the first degree of Leothis day is July 17. The Dog-star's rise ispreceded for about eight days by North-east winds: these are called theForerunners. But two days after his rising the North-east winds begin again, andcontinue blowing steadily for 30 days; these are called Etesian or Annual winds.They are believed to be softened by the sun's warmth being reinforced by theheat of the star; and they are the most regular of any of the winds. They arefollowed in turn by South winds, continuing to the rise of Areturus, whichoccurs 40 days before the autumnal equinox. With the equinox begins theNorth-west wind; this, the opposite of Volturnus, marks the beginning of autumn.About 44 days after the autumnal equinox the setting of the Pleiades marks thebeginning of winter, which it is customary to date on November 11; this is theperiod of the winter Aquilo, which is very unlike the summer one mentionedabove; it is opposite to the South-west wind. But for six days before theshortest day and six days after it the sea calms down for the breeding of thehalcyons from which these days derive their name. The rest of the time there iswintry weather. However, not even the fury of the storms closes the sea; piratesfirst compelled men by the threat of death to rush into death and venture on thewinter seas, but now avarice exercises the same compulsion.

XLVIII. The actually coldest winds are those that we have stated to blowfrom the North, and their neighbour Corus (N.W.); these check the other windsand also drive away the clouds. The Southwest and especially the South are forItaly the damp winds; it is said that on the Black Sea the East-north-east alsoattracts clouds. The North-west and South-east are dry, except when they arefalling. The North-east and North are snow winds; the North brings hailstorms,and so does the North-west. The South wind is hot, the South-east and West warm;the latter are also drier than the East wind, and in general all the northerlyand westerly winds are drier than the southerly and easterly. The healthiest ofall is the North wind; the South is harmful, and more so when dry, perhapsbecause when damp it is colder; living creatures are believed to be less hungrywhen it is blowing. Etesian winds usually cease at night and rise at eighto'clock in the morning; in Spain and Asia they are East winds, on the Black SeaNorth, and in other regions South. But they also begin to blow at midwinter thenthey are called the Bird-winds), but more gently and only for a few days. Twowinds also change their nature with their geographical position: the South windin Africa is fine and the North-east cloudy. All the winds blow in their ownturns, usually the one opposite to the one that ceases beginning. When thosenext to the ones falling rise, they go round from left to right a like the sun.The fourth moon usually decides about the course of the winds for the month.Vessels by means of slacking sheets can sail in contrary directions with thesame winds, so that collisions occur, usually at night, between ships onopposite tacks. The South wind causes larger waves than the Northeast becausethe former being below blows from the bottom of the sea but the latter from thetop; consequently earthquakes following South winds are specially destructive.The South wind is more violent at night and the North-east wind in the day-time;and easterly winds continue longer than westerly. North winds usually stop afterblowing an odd number of days, an observation that holds good in many otherdepartments of nature also: this is why the odd numbers are thought to bemasculine. The sun both increases and reduces the force of the windthe formerwhen rising and setting, the latter at midday in summer seasons; consequentlythe winds are usually lulled at midday or midnight, because either excessivecold or excessive heat makes them slack. Also winds are lulled by rain; but theyare most to be expected from quarters where the clouds have broken, revealing aclear sky.

Eudoxus however thinks that (if wechoose to study the minimal circuits) there is a regular recurrence of allphenomenanot only of winds but largely of other sorts of bad weather as wellinfour-yearly periods, and that the period always begins in a leap-year at therising of Sirius.

XLIX. Now as to sudden blasts, which arise as has been said fromexhalations of the earth, and fall back again to the earth drawing over it anenvelope of cloud; these occur in a variety of forms. The fact is that theironrush is quite irregular, like that of mountain torrents (as we have pointedout is the view of certain persons), and they give forth thunder and lightning.If travelling with a heavier momentum they burst a great gap in a dry cloud,they produce a storm called by the Greeks a cloudburst; but if they break outfrom a downward curve of cloud with a more limited rotation, they cause a whirlunaccompanied by fireI mean by lightningthat is called a typhoon, whichdenotes a whirling cloudburst. This brings down with it a portion of heat tornfrom a cloud, which it turns and whirls round, increasing its own downwardvelocity by its weight, and shifting from place to place with a rapid whirl; itis specially disastrous to navigators, as it twists round and shatters not onlythe yards, but the vessels themselves, leaving only the slender remedy ofpouring out vinegar in advance of its approach, vinegar being a very coldsubstance. The same whirlwind when beaten back by its very impact snatchesthings up and carries them back with it to the sky, sucking them high aloft.

L. But if it bursts out of a larger cavern of downward pressing cloud butnot so wide a one as in the case of a storm, and is accompanied by acrashing noise, this is what they call a whirlwind, which overthrows everythingin its neighbourhood. When the same rages hotter and with a fiery flow,it is called arester, as while sweeping away the things it comes incontact with it also scorches them up. But a typhoon does not occur with anortherly wind, nor a cloudburst with snow or when snow is lying. If it flaredup as soon as it burst the cloud, and had fire in it, did not catch fireafterwards, it is a thunderbolt. It differs from a fiery pillar in the way inwhich a flame differs from a fire: a fiery pillar spreads out its blast widely,whereas a thunderbolt masses together its onrush. On the other hand a tornadodiffers from a whirlwind by returning, and as a whiz differs from a crash; astorm is different from either in its extentit is caused by the scatteringrather than the bursting of a cloud. There also occurs a darkness caused by acloud shaped like a wild monsterthis is direful to sailors. There is also whatis called a column, when densified and stiffened moisture raises itself aloft;in the same class also is a waterspout, when a cloud draws up water like a pipe.

LI. Thunderbolts are rare in winter and in summer, fromopposite causes. In winter, owing to the thicker envelope of cloud, the air isrendered extremely dense, and all the earth's exhalation being stiff and coldextinguishes whatever fiery vapour it receives. This reason renders Scyrthia andthe frozen regions round it immune from the fall of thunderbolts, whileconversely the excessive heat does the same for Egypt, inasmuch as the hot anddry exhalations from the earth condense very rarely, and only form thin andfeeble clouds. But in spring and autumn thunderbolts are more frequent, theirsummer and winter causes being combined in each of those seasons; this explainswhy they are frequent in Italy, where the milder winter and stormy summer makethe air more mobile, and it is always somewhat vernal or autumnal. Also in theparts of Italy that slope down from the north towards the warmth,such as the district of Rome and the Campagna, lightning occurs in winter justas in summer, which does not happen in any other locality.

LII. Of thunderbolts themselves several varieties are reported. Thosethat come with a dry flash do not cause a fire but an explosion. The smoky onesdo not burn but blacken. There is a third sort, called 'bright thunderbolts,' ofan extremely remarkable nature; this kind drains casks dry without damagingtheir lids and without leaving any other trace, and melts gold and copper andsilver in their bags without singeing the bags themselves at all, and evenwithout melting the wax seal.Marcia, alady of high station at Rome, was struck by lightning when enceinte, andthough the child was killed, she herself survived without being otherwiseinjured. Among the portents in connexion with Catiline, a town-councillor of Pompei namedMarcus Herennius was struck by lightningon a fine day.

LIII. The Tuscan writers hold the view that there are nine gods who sendthunderbolts, and that these are of eleven kinds, because Jupiter hurls threevarieties. Only two of these deities have been retained by the Romans, whoattribute thunderbolts in the daytime to Jupiter and those in the night toSummanus, the latter being naturally rare because the sky at night is colder.Tuscany believes that some also burst out of the ground, which it calls 'lowbolts,' and that these are rendered exceptionally direful and accursed by the season of winter, though all the bolts that they believe of earthly origin arenot the ordinary ones and do not come from the stars but from the nearer andmore disordered element: a clear proof of this being that all those coming from the upper heaven deliver slanting blows, whereas these which theycall earthly strike straight. And those that fall from the nearer elements aresupposed to come out of the earth because they leave no traces as a result oftheir rebound, although that is the principle not of a downward blow but of aslanting one. Those who pursue these enquiries with more subtlety think thatthese bolts come from the planet Saturn, just as the inflammatory ones come fromMars, as, for instance, when Bolsena, the richest town in Tuscany, was entirelyburnt up by a thunderbolt. Also the first ones that occur after a man sets uphouse for himself are called 'family meteors,' as foretelling his fortune forthe whole of his life. However, people think that private meteors, except thosethat occur either at a man's first marriage or on his birthday, do not prophecybeyond ten years, nor public ones beyond the 30th year, except those occurringat the colonization of a town.

LIV. Historical record also exists of thunderbolts being either caused byor vouchsafed in answer to certain rites and prayers. There is an old story ofthe latter in Tuscany, when the portent which they called Olta came to the cityof Bolsena, when its territory had been devastated; it was sent in answer to theprayer of its kingPorsina. Also beforehis time, as is recorded on the reliable authority ofLucius Piso in hisAnnals I, this was frequentlypractised by Numa, though whenTullus Hostilius copied him withincorrect ritual he was struck by lightning. We also have groves and altars andrites, and among the other Jupiters, the Stayers and Thunderers and Receivers ofOfferings, tradition gives us Jupiter the Invoked. On this matter the opinion ofmankind varies, in correspondence with our individual dispositions. It takes abold man to believe that Nature obeys the behests of ritual, and equally ittakes a dull man to deny that ritual has beneficent powers, when knowledge hasmade such progress even in the interpretation of thunderbolts that it canprophecy that others will come on a fixed day, and whether they will destroy aprevious one or other previous ones that are concealed: this progress has beenmade by public and private experiments in both fields. In consequence althoughsuch indications are certain in some cases but doubtful in others, and approvedto some persons but in the view of others to be condemned, in accordance withNature's will and pleasure, we for our part are not going to leave out the restof the things worth recording in this department.

LV. It is certain that when thunder and lightning occur simultaneously,the flash is seen before the thunderclap is heard (this not being surprising, aslight travels more swiftly than sound); but that Nature so regulates the strokeof a thunderbolt and the sound of the thunder that they occur together, althoughthe sound is caused by the bolt starting, not striking; moreover that thecurrent of air travels faster than the bolt, and that consequently the objectalways is shaken and feels the blast before it is struck; and that nobody hithas ever seen the lightning or heard the thunder in advance. Flashes on the leftare considered lucky, because the sun rises on the left-hand side of thefirmament; and their approach is not so visible as their return, whether afterthe blow a fire springs from it or the breath returns when its work is done orits fire used up.

In making these observations the Tuscans divided the heaven into sixteen parts:the first quarter is from the North to the equinoctial sunrise (East), thesecond to the South, the third to the equinoctial sunset (West), and the fourthoccupies the remaining space extending from West to North; these quarters theysubdivided into four parts each, of which they called the eight starting fromthe East the left-hand regions and the eight opposite ones the right-hand. Ofthese the most formidable are those lying between West and North. Hence the lineof approach and the line of retirement of thunderbolts is of very greatimportance. It is best for them to return to parts in the region of sunrise.Accordingly it will be a portent of supreme happiness when they come from thefirst part of the sky and retire to the same parta sign that history records tohave been vouchsafed to the dictatorSulla;but all the others are less fortunate or actually direful, in accordance withthe division of the actual firmament where they occur. Some people think itwrong to give or to listen to reports of thunderbolts, except if they are toldto a guest or a parent.

The great folly of paying attention to these occurrences was discovered whenthe Temple of Juno at Rome was struck by lightning in the time ofScaurus, who was afterwards head of the state.

Lightning unaccompanied by thunder occurs more often by night than in thedaytime. Man is the one creature that is not always killed when struckallothers are killed on the spot; nature doubtless bestows this honour on manbecause so many animals surpass him in strength. All things (when struck) fallin the opposite direction to the flash. A man does not die unless the force ofthe blow turns him right round. Men struck from above collapse. A man struckwhile awake is found with his eyes shut; while asleep, with them open. It is notlawful to cremate a man who loses his life in this manner; religious traditionprescribes burial. No living creature can be burnt by lightning without beingkilled. The temperature of the wound of those struck is lower than that of therest of the body.

LVI. Among things that grow in the ground, it does not strike a laurelbush. It never penetrates more than five feet into the earth; consequently whenin fear of lightning men think caves of greater depth are the safest, or else atent made of the skin of the creatures called sea-calves, because that aloneamong marine animals lightning does not strike, just as it does not strike theeagle among birds; this is why the eagle is represented as armed with athunderbolt as a weapon. In Italy in the time of the Caesarian war people ceasedto build towers between Terracina and the Temple of Feronia, as every towerthere was destroyed by lightning.

LVII. Besides these events in the lowersky, it is entered in the records that in the consulship ofManius Acilius andGaius Porcius it rained milk and blood,and that frequently on other occasions there it has rained flesh, for instancein the consulship ofPublius VolumniusandServius Sulpicius, and that none ofthe flesh left unplundered by birds of prey went bad; and similarly that itrained iron in the district of Lucania the year beforeMarcus Crassus was killed a bythe Parthians and with him all the Lucanian soldiers, of whom there was a largecontingent in his army; the shape of the iron that fell resembled sponges;the augurs prophesied wounds from above. But in the consulshipLucius Paullus andGaius Marcellus it rained wool in thevicinity of Compsa Castle, near whichTitusAnnius Milo was killed a year later. It is recorded in the annals of thatyear that while Milo was pleading a case in court it rained baked bricks.

LVIII. We are told that during the wars with the Cimbri a noise ofclanging armour and the sounding of a trumpet were heard from the sky, and thatthe same thing has happened frequently both before then and later. In the thirdconsulship of Marius the inhabitants of Ameria and Tuder [Todi] saw thespectacle of heavenly armies advancing from the East and the West to meet inbattle, those from the West being routed. It has often been seen, and is not atall surprising, that the sky itself catches fire when the clouds have been seton fire by an exceptionally large flame.

LIX. The Greeks tell the story thatAnaxagoras of Clazomenae in the 2nd year [467 BC] of the 78th Olympiadwas enabled by his knowledge of astronomical literature to prophecy that in acertain number of days a rock would fall from the sun; and that this occurred inthe daytime in the Goat's River district of Thrace (the stone is still shownitis of the size of a wagon-load and brown in colour), a comet also blazing in thenights at the time. If anyone believes in the fact of this prophecy, thatinvolves his allowing that the divining powers ofAnaxagoras covered a greater marvel, andthat our understanding of the physical universe is annihilated and everythingthrown into confusion if it is believed either that the sun is itself a stone orever had a stone inside it. But it will not be doubted that stones do frequentlyfall. A stone is worshipped for this reason even at the present day in theexercising ground at Abydosone of moderate size, it is true, but which the sameAnaxagoras is said to have prophesied as going to fall in the middle of thecountry. There is also one that is worshipped at Cassandria, the place that hasbeen given the name ofpotidaea, and where a colony was settled on account ofthis occurrence. I myself saw one that had recently come down in the territoryof the Vocontii.

LX. The common occurrences that we call rainbows have nothingmiraculous or portentous about them, for they do not reliably portend even rainor fine weather. The obvious explanation of them is that a ray of the sunstriking a hollow cloud has its point repelled and is reflected back to the sun,and that the diversified colouring is due to the mixture of clouds, fires andair. Rainbows certainly do not occur except opposite to the sun, and neverexcept in semi-circular shape, and not at night time, although Aristotle doesstate that a rainbow has been sometimes seen at night, though he also admitsthat it cannot happen except on the 14th day of the lunar month. Rainbows inwinter occur chiefly when the day is drawing in after the autumnal equinox; whenthe day draws out again after the vernal equinox they do not occur, nor in thelongest days about the solstice, but they occur frequently in midwinter;also they are high in the sky when the sun is low and low when it is high; andsmaller but of wider breadth at sunrise or sunset, and narrow but of largecircumference at midday. In summer they are not seen during midday, but afterthe autumn equinox they are seen at any hour; and never more than two are seenat once.

LXI. I observe that the facts as to the other phenomena of the same kindare generally familiar:viz., that hail is produced from frozen rain and snowfrom the same fluid less solidly condensed, but hoar frost from cold dew; thatsnow fall during winter but not hail; and hail itself falls more often in thedaytime than at night, and melts much faster than snow; that mists do not occurin summer nor in extremely cold weather, nor dew in frosty or very hot or windyweather, and only on fine nights; that liquid is reduced in bulk by freezing,and when ice is thawed the bulk produced is not the same; that variations ofcolour and shape are seen in the clouds in proportion as the fire mingled withthem gains the upper hand or is defeated;

LXII. and moreover that particular places have particular specialqualities: the nights of Africa are dewy in summer, in Italy rainbows are seenevery day at Locri and at the Veine Lake, at Rhodes and Syracuse there is neversuch a thick curtain of cloud that the sun is not visible at some hour of theday. Such special features will be more suitably related in their places.

LXIII. Next comes the earth, the one division of the natural world onwhich for its merits we have bestowed the venerable title of mother. Shebelongs to men as the sky belongs to God: she receives us at birth, and gives usnurture after birth, and when once brought forth she upholds us always, and atthe last when we have now been disinherited by the rest of nature she embracesus in her bosom and at that very time gives us her maternal shelter; sanctifiedby no service more than that whereby she makes us also sacred, even bearing ourmonuments and epitaphs and prolonging our name and extending our memory againstthe shortness of time; whose divinity is the last which in anger we invoke tolie heavy on those who are now no more, as though we did not know that she isthe only element that is never wroth with man. Water rises in mist, freezes intohail, swells in waves, falls headlong in torrents; air becomes thick with cloudsand rages with storms; but earth is kind and gentle and indulgent, ever ahandmaid in the service of mortals, producing under our compulsion, orlavishing of her own accord, what scents and savours, what juices, what surfacesfor the touch, what colours! how honestly she repays the interest lent her! whatproduce she fosters for our benefit! since for living creatures that arenoxious the breath of life is to blameshe is compelled to receive them whentheir seed is sown and to maintain them when they have been born; but their harmlies in the evils of those that generate them. When a serpent has stung a manshe harbours it no more, and she exacts retribution even on theaccount of the helpless; she produces medicinal herbs, and is ever fertile forman's benefit; nay, even poisons she may be thought to have invented out ofcompassion for us, lest, when we were weary of life, hunger, the death mostalien to earth's beneficence, should consume us with slow decay, lest precipicesshould scatter in fragments our lacerated body, lest departure it is seeking;lest if we sought death in the deep our burial should serve for fodder;lest the torture of the steel should cleave our body. So is it! in mercy did shegenerate the potion whereof the easiest draughtas men drink when thirstygiftsmight painlessly just blot us out, without injury to the body or loss of blood,in such wise that when dead no birds nor beasts should touch us, and one thathad perished for himself should be preserved for the earth. Let us own thetruth: what earth has produced as a cure for our ills, we have made into adeadly poison; why, do we not also put her indispensable gift of iron to asimilar use? Nor yet should we have any right to complain even if she hadengendered poison to serve the purpose of crime. In fact in regard to one ofnature's elements we have no gratitude. For what luxuries and for whatoutrageous uses does she not subserve mankind? She is flung into the sea, or dugaway to allow us to let in the channels. Water, iron, wood, fire, stone, growingcrops, are employed to torture her at all hours, and much more to make herminister to our luxuries than our sustenance. Yet in order to make thesufferings inflicted on her surface and mere outer skin seem endurable, we probeher entrails, digging into her veins of gold and silver and mines of copper andlead; we actually drive shafts down into the depth to search for gems andcertain tiny stones; we drag out her entrails, we seek a jewel merely to be wornupon a finger! How many hands are worn away with toil that a single knuckle mayshine resplendent! If any beings of the nether world existed, assuredly eventhey would have been dug up ere now by the burrowings of avarice and luxury. Andcan we wonder if earth has also generated some creatures for our harm? since thewild animals, I well believe, are her guardians, and protect her fromsacrilegious hands; do not serpents infest our mines, do we not handle veins ofgold mingled with the roots of poison? Yet that shows the goddess all the kindertowards us, because all these avenues from which wealth issues lead but to crimeand slaughter and warfare, and her whom we besprinkle with our blood we coverwith unburied bones, over which nevertheless, when at length our madness hasbeen finally discharged, she draws herself as a veil, and hides even the crimesof mortals.

I would reckon this too among the crimes of our ingratitude, that we areignorant of her nature.

LXIV. But her shape is the first fact about which men's judgement agrees.We do undoubtedly speak of the earth's sphere, and admit that the globe is shutin between poles. Nor yet in fact do all these lofty mountains and widelyspreading plains comprise the outline of a perfect sphere, but a figure whosecircuit would produce a perfect sphere if the ends of all the lines wereenclosed in a circumference. This is the consequence of the very nature ofthings, it is not due to the same causes as those we have adduced in thecase of the heaven; for in the heaven the convex hollow converges on itself andfrom all sides rests upon its pivot, the earth, whereas the earth being a soliddense mass rises like an object swelling, and expands outward. The worldconverges to its centre, whereas the earth radiates outward from its centre, theceaseless revolution of the world around her forcing her immense globe into theshape of a sphere.

LXV. Here there is a mighty battle between learning on one side and thecommon herd on the other: the theory being that human beings are distributed allround the earth and stand with their feet pointing towards each other, and thatthe top of the sky is alike for them all and the earth trodden under foot at thecentre in the same way from any direction, while ordinary people enquire why thepersons on the opposite side don't fall offjust as if it were not reasonablethat the people on the other side wonder that we do not fall off. There is anintermediate theory that is acceptable even to the unlearned crowdthat theearth is of the shape of an irregular globe, resembling a pine cone, yetnevertheless is inhabited all round. But what is the good of this theory whenthere arises another marvel, that the earth herself hangs suspended and does notfall and carry us with it? As if forsooth there were any doubt about the forceof breath, especially when shut up inside the world, or as if it were possiblefor the earth to fall when nature opposes, and denies it any place to fall toFor just as the sole abode of fires is in the element of fire, and of waters inwater, and of breath in breath, so earth, barred out by all the other elements,has no place except in itself. Yet it is surprising that with this vast levelexpanse of sea and plains the resulting formation is a globe. This view has thesupport ofDicaearchus, a savantof the first rank, who with the support of royal patrons took the measurement ofmountains, and published that the highest of them was Pelion, with an altitudeof 1250 paces [above 6000 feet] inferring that this was no portion of theearth's general sphericity. To me this seems a questionable guess, asI know that some peaks of the Alps rise to a great height, not less than 50,000paces.

But what the crowd most debates is if it must believe that theconformation of the waters also rises in a curve. Nevertheless nothing else inthe natural world is more visibly manifest. For (1) hanging drops of liquidalways take the shape of small round globes; (2) when dropped on dust or placedon the downy surface of leaves they are seen to be absolutely spherical; (3) ingoblets when filled the surface curves upward most at the centre, though owingto the transparency of the liquid and its fluidity tending to find its own levelthis is more easily discovered by theory than by observation; and (4) a stillmore remarkable fact is that when a very little additional liquid is poured intoa cup that has already been filled the surplus overflows, but the oppositehappens when weighty solids, often as many as 20 coins, are put into it,presumably because these pass inside the liquid and raise its surface to a peak,whereas liquids poured on to the upward curving surface slip off. (5) The samecause explains why the land is not visible from the deck of a ship when in sightfrom the masthead; and why as a vessel passes far into the distance, if someshining object is tied to the top of the mast it appears slowly to sink andfinally it is hidden from sight. Lastly (6) what other conformation could havecaused the ocean, which we acknowledge to be at the extreme outside, to cohereand not fall away, if there is no boundary beyond to enclose it? The veryquestion as to how, although the sea is globular in shape, its edge does notfall away, itself ranks with the marvellous. On the other side the Greekinvestigators, greatly to their delight and to their glory, prove by subtlemathematical reasoning that it cannot possibly be the case that the seas arereally flat and have the shape that they appear to have. For, they argue, whileit is the ease that water travels downward from an elevation, and this is itsadmitted nature, and nobody doubts that the water on any coast has reached thefarthest point allowed by the slope of the earth, it is manifest beyond doubtthat the lower an object is the nearer it is to the centre of the earth, andthat all the lines drawn from the centre to the nearest bodies of water areshorter than those drawn from the edge of these waters to the farthest point inthe sea: it therefore follows that all the water from every direction convergestowards the centre, this pressure inward being the cause of its not falling off.

LXVI. The reason for this formation must bethought to be the inability of earth when absolutely dry to cohere of itself andwithout moisture, and of water in its turn to remain still without being held upby earth; the intention of the Artificer of nature must have been to unite earthand water in a mutual embrace, earth opening her bosom and water penetratingher entire frame by means of a network of veins radiating within and without,above and below, the water bursting out even at the tops of mountain ridges, towhich it is driven and squeezed out by the weight of the earth, and spurts outlike a jet of water from a pipe, and is so far from being in danger of fallingdown that it leaps upward to all the loftiest elevations. This theory showsclearly why the seas do not increase in bulk with the daily accession of so manyrivers. The consequence is that the earth at every point of its globe isencircled and engirdled by sea flowing round it, and this does not needtheoretical investigation, but has already been ascertained by experience.

LXVII. Today the whole of the West is navigated from Cadiz and theStraits of Gibraltar all round Spain and France. But the larger part of theNorthern Ocean was explored under the patronage of his late MajestyAugustus, when a fleet sailed roundGermany to the promontory of the Cimbri, and thence seeing a vast sea in frontof them or learning of it by report, reached the region of Scythia andlocalities numb with excessive moisture. On this account it is extremelyimprobable that there is no sea in those parts, as there is a superabundance ofthe moist element there. But next, on the Eastward side, the whole quarter underthe same star stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Caspian Sea was navigatedthroughout by the Macedonian forces in the reigns ofSeleucus andAntiochus, who desired that it should becalled bothSeleucis andAntiochis after themselves. And manycoasts of Ocean round the Caspian have been explored, and very nearly the wholeof the North has been completely traversed from one side to the other bygalleys, so that similarly also there is now overwhelming proof, leaving no roomfor conjecture, of the existence of the Maeotic Marsh, whether it be a gulf ofthat Ocean, as I notice many have believed, or an overflow from it from which itis separated off by a narrow space. On the other side of Cadiz, from the sameWestern point, a great part of the Southern gulf is navigated today in thecircuit of Mauretania. Indeed the greater part of itAlexander the Great's eastern conquestsalso explored as far as the Arabian gulf; in which, whenAugustus's sonGaius Caesar was operating there,it is said that figureheads of ships from Spanish wrecks were identified. Alsowhen the power of Carthage flourished,Hannosailed round from Cadiz to the extremity of Arabia and published a memoir of hisvoyage, as didHimileo when despatchedat the same date to explore the outer coasts of Europe. Moreover we have it onthe authority ofCornelius Nepos that acertain contemporary of his namedEudoxuswhen flying from KingLathyrus emergedfrom the Arabian Gulf and sailed right round to Cadiz; and much before himCaelius Antipater states that he hadseen someone who had gone on a trading voyage from Spain to Ethiopia.Nepos also records as to the northerncircuit thatQuintus Metellus Celer,colleague of Afranius in the consulshiphut at the time pro-consul of Gaul, received from the King of the Swabians apresent of some Indians, who on a trade voyage had been carried off their courseby storms to Germany. Thus there are seas encircling the globe on every side anddividing it in two, so robbing us of half the world since there is no regionaffording a passage from there to here or from here to there. This reflexionserves to expose the vanity of mortals, and appears to demand that I shoulddisplay to the eye and exhibit the extent of this whole indefinite region inwhich men severally find no satisfaction.

LXVIII. In the first place it is apparently reckoned as forming one halfof the globejust as if no part were cut off for the ocean itself, whichsurrounding and encircling the whole of it, and pouring forth and reabsorbingthe waters and pasturing and all the moisture that goes to form theclouds, the stars themselves with all their numbers and their mighty size, canbe supposed to occupy a spaceof what extent, pray? The freehold owned by thatmighty climatic mass is bound to be enormouswithout limit! Add that of what isleft more than half is taken by the sky. For this has five divisions calledzones, and all that lies beneath the two outermost zones that surround the polesat either endboth the pole named from the Seven Oxen and the one opposite to itcalled after Austeris all crushed under cruel frost and everlasting cold. Inboth regions perpetual mist prevails, and a light that the invisibility of themilder stars renders niggardly and that is only white with hoarfrost. But themiddle portion of the lands, where the sun's orbit is, is scorched by its flamesand burnt up by the proximity of its heat: this is the torrid zone. There areonly two temperate zones between the torrid one and the frozen ones, and thesehave no communication with each other because of the fiery heat of the heavenlybody.

Thus the sky has stolen three quarters of the earth. The extent of the trespassof ocean is unascertained; but even the one portion left to us suffers perhapsan even greater loss, inasmuch as the same ocean, spreading out, as we shalldescribe, into a number of bays, advances with its threatening roar soclose to the inner seas that there is only a distance of 115 miles between theArabian Gulf and the Egyptian Sea and of 375 between the Caspian and the BlackSear; and also with its inner channels through so many seas whereby it sundersAfrica, Europe and Asia, it occupieswhat area of the land? Calculate moreoverthe dimensions of all those rivers and vast swamps, add also the lakes andpools, and next the ridges too that rise into the heaven and are precipitouseven to the eye, next the forests and steep glens, and the deserts and areas fora thousand reasons left deserted; subtract all these portions from the earth orrather from this pinprick, as the majority of thinkers have taught, in theworld--for in the whole universe the earth is nothing else: and this is thesubstance of our glory, this is its habitation, here it is that we fillpositions of power and covet wealth, and throw mankind into an uproar, andlaunch even civil wars and slaughter one another to make the land more spacious!And to pass over the collective insanities of the nations, this is the land inwhich we expel the tenants next to us and add a spade-full of turf to our ownestate by stealing from our neighbour'sto the end that he who has marked outhis acres most widen and banished his neighbours beyond all record may rejoicein owning--how small a fraction of the earth's surface? or, when he hasstretched his boundaries to the full measure of his avarice, may stillretainwhat portion, pray, of his estate when he is dead?

LXIX. That the earth is at the centre of the universe is proved byirrefragable arguments, but the clearest is the equal hours of day and night atthe equinox. For if the earth were not at the centre, it can be realized that itcould not have the days and nights equal; and binoculars confirm this verypowerfully, since at the season of the equinox sunrise and sunset are seen onthe same line, whereas sunrise at midsummer and sunset at midwinter fall on aline of their own. These things could not occur without the earth's beingsituated at the centre.

LXX. But the three circles intertwined between the zones aforesaidare the cause of the differences of the seasons: the Tropic of Cancer on theside of the highest part of the zodiac to the northward of us, and opposite toit the Tropic of Capricorn towards the other pole, and also the equator thatruns in the middle circuit of the zodiac.

LXXI. The cause of the remaining facts that surprise us is found in the shape of the earth itself, which together with the waters also the same arguments prove to resemble a globe. For this is undoubtedly the cause why for us the stars of the northern region never set and their opposites of the southern region never rise, while on the contrary these northern stars are not visible to the antipodes, as the curve of the earth's globe bars our view of the tracts between. Cave-dweller Country [Abyssinia/Somaliland] and Egypt which is adjacent to it do not see the Great and Little Bear, and Italy does not see Canopus and the constellation called Berenice's Hair, also the one that in thereign of his late MajestyAugustusreceived the name of Caesar's Throne, constellations that are conspicuous there.And so clearly does the rising vault curve over that to observers at AlexandriaCanopus appears to be elevated nearly a quarter of one sign above the earth,whereas from Rhodes it seems practically to graze the earth itself, and on theBlack Sea, where the North Stars are at their highest, it is not visible at all.Also Canopus is hidden from Rhodes, and still more from Alexandria; in Arabia inNovember it is hidden during the first quarter of the night and shows itself inthe second; at Meroe it appears a little in the evening at midsummer and a fewdays before the rising of Areturus is seen at daybreak. These phenomena aremost clearly disclosed by the voyages of those at sea, the sea sloping upward inthe direction of some and downward in the direction of others, and the starsthat were hidden behind the curve of the ball suddenly becoming visible as itwere rising out of the sea. For it is not the fact, as some have said, that theworld rises up at this higher poleor else these stars would be visibleeverywhere; but these stars are believed to be higher the nearer people are tothem, while they seem low to those far away, and just as at present this poleseems lofty to those situated on the declivity, so when people pass across toyonder downward slope of the earth those stars rise while the ones that herewere high sink, which could not happen except with the conformation of a ball.

LXXII.Consequently inhabitants of the East do not perceive evening eclipses of the sunand moon, nor do those dwelling in the West see morning eclipses, while thelatter see eclipses at midday later than we do. The victory ofAlexander the Great is said to havecaused an eclipse of the moon at Arbela at 8 p.m. while the same eclipse inSicily was when the moon was just rising. An eclipse of the sun that occurred onApril 30 in the consulship [59 AD] ofVipstanusandFonteius a few years ago was visiblein Campania between 1 and 2 p.m. but was reported byCorbulo commanding in Armenia asobserved between 4 and 5: this was because the curve of the globe discloses andhides different phenomena for different localities. If the earth were flat, allwould be visible to all alike at the same time; also the nights would not varyin length, because corresponding periods of 12 hours would be visible equally toothers than those at the equator, periods that as it is do not exactlycorrespond in every region alike.

LXXIII. Consequently also although night and day are the same thing allover the world, it is not night and day at the same time all over the world,the intervention of the globe bringing night or its revolution day. This hasbeen discovered by many experimentsthat ofHannibal's towers in Africa and Spain, and in Asia when piratical alarmsprompted the precaution of watchtowers of the same sort, warning fires lit onwhich at noon were often ascertained to have been seen by the people farthest tothe rear at 9 p.m.Alexander abovementioned had a runner named Philonideswho did the 1200 stades from Sicyou to Elis in 9 hours from sunrise and tooktill 9 p.m. for the return journey, although the way is downhill; this occurredrepeatedly. The reason was that going his way lay with the sun but returning hewas passing the sun as it met him travelling in the opposite direction. For thisreason ships sailing westward beat even in the shortest day the distances theysail in the nights, because they are going with the actual sun.

LXXIV.Travellers' sundials are not the same for reference everywhere, because theshadows thrown by the sun as they alter alter the readings at every 300 or atfarthest 500 stades. Consequently in Egypt at midday on the day of the equinoxthe shadow of the pin or 'gnomon' measures a little more than half the length ofthe gnomon itself, whereas in the city of Rome the shadow is 1/9th shorter thanthe gnomon, at the town of Ancona 1/35th longer, and in the district of Italycalled Venezia the shadow is equal to the gnomon, at the same hours.

LXXV. Similarly it is reported that at the town of Syene, 5000stades South of Alexandria, at noon in midsummer no shadow is cast, and that ina well made for the sake of testing this the light reaches to the bottom,clearly showing that the sun is vertically above that place at the time; andthis is stated in the writings ofOnesicritusalso to occur at the same time in India South of the river Hypasis. It is alsostated that in the Cave-dwellers' city of Berenice, and 4820 stades away at thetown of Ptolemais in the same tribe, which was founded on the shore of the RedSea for the earliest elephant hunts, the same thing occurs 45 days before and 45days after midsummer, and during that period of 90 days the shadows are thrownsouthward. Again in Meroethis is an inhabited island in the river Nile 5000 stades from Syene, and is the capital of the Aethiopian racethe shadowsdisappear twice a year, when the sun is in the 18th degree of Taurus and in the14th of Leo. There is a mountain named Maleus in the Indian tribe of the Oretes,near which shadows are thrown southward in summer and northward in winter; thenorthern constellation is visible there on only 15 nights. Also in India at thewell-known port of Patala the sun rises on the right and shadows fall southward.It was noticed when Alexander was staying at this place that the Great andLittle Bears were visible only in the early part of the night.Alexander's guideOnesicritus wrote that thisconstellation is not visible at the places in India where there are no shadows,and that these places are called Shadeless, and no reckoning is kept of thehours there.

LXXVI. But according toEratosthenesin the whole of Cave-dweller Country on 90 days once a year shadows fall thewrong way.

LXXVII. Thus it comes about that owing to the varied lengthening ofdaylight the longest day covers 12 8/9 equinoctial hours at Meroe, but 14 hoursat Alexandria, 15 in Italy, and 17 in Britain, where the light nights in summersubstantiate what theory compels us to believe, that, as on summer days the sunapproaches nearer to the top of the world, owing to a narrow circuit of lightthe underlying parts of the earth have continuous days for 6 months at a time,and continuous nights when the sun has withdrawn in the opposite directiontowards winter.Pytheas of Marseilleswrites that this occurs in the island of Thule, 6 days' voyage N. from Britain,and some declare it also to occur in the Isle of Anglesea, which is about 200miles from the British town of Colchester.

LXXVIII. This theory of shadows and the science called gnomonics wasdiscovered byAnaximenes of Miletus, thepupil ofAnaximander of whom we havespoken; he first exhibited at Sparta the time-piece they call 'Hunt-the-Shadow.'

LXXIX. The actual period of a day has been differently kept by differentpeople: the Babylonians count the period between two sunrises, the Atheniansthat between two sunsets, the Umbrians from midday to midday, the common peopleeverywhere from dawn to dark, the Roman priests and the authorities who fixedthe official day, and also the Egyptians andHipparchus, the period from midnight to midnight. But it is obvious thatthe breaks in daylight between sunset and sunrise are smaller near the solsticethan at the equinoxes, because the position of the zodiac is more slantingaround its middle points but straighter near the solstice.

LXXX. We must deal next with the results connected with these heavenlycauses. For it is beyond question that the Ethiopians are burnt by the heat ofthe heavenly body near them, and are born with a scorched appearance, with curlybeard and hair, and that in the opposite region of the world the races havewhite frosty skins, with yellow hair that hangs straight; while the latter arefierce owing to the rigidity of their climate but the former wise because of themobility of theirs; and their legs themselves prove that with the former thejuice is called away into the upper portions of the body by the nature of heat,while with the latter it is driven down to the lower parts by falling moisture;in the latter country dangerous wild beasts are found, in the former a greatvariety of animals and especially of birds; but in both regions men's stature ishigh, owing in the former to the pressure of the fires and in the latter to thenourishing effect of the damp; whereas in the middle of the earth, owing to ahealthy blending of both elements, there are tracts that are fertile for allsorts of produce, and men are of medium bodily stature, with a marked blendingeven in the matter of complexion; customs are gentle, senses clear, intellectsfertile and able to grasp the whole of nature; and they also have governments,which the outer races never have possessed, any more than they have ever beensubject to the central races, being quite detached and solitary on account ofthe savagery of the nature that broods over those regions.

LXXXI. The theory of the Babylonians deems that even earthquakes andfissures in the ground are caused by the force of the stars that is the cause ofall other phenomena, but only by that of those three stars to which they assignthunderbolts; and that they occur when these are travelling with the sun or arein agreement with him, and particularly about the quadratures of the world. Onthis subject a remarkable and immortal inspiration is attributed (if we canbelieve it) to the natural philosopherAnaximander of Miletus, who is said to have warned the Spartans to becareful of their city and buildings, because an earthquake was impending; andsubsequently the whole of their city collapsed, and also a large part of Mount Taygetus projecting in the shape of a ship's stern broke off and crashing downon it added to the catastrophe. Also another conjecture is attributed toPherecydes the teacher ofPythagoras, this also inspired: he issaid to have foretold to his fellow-citizens an earthquake, of which he hadobtained a premonition in drawing water from a well. Assuming the truth of thesestories, how far pray can such men even in their lifetime be thought to differfrom a god? And though these matters may be left to the estimation of individualjudgment; I think it indubitable that their cause is to be attributed to thewinds; for tremors of the earth never occur except when the sea is calm and thesky so till that birds are unable to soar because all the Breath that carriesthem has been withdrawn; and never except after wind, doubtless because then theblast has been shut up in the veins and hidden bob lows of the sky. And atrembling in the earth is not different from a thunderclap in a cloud, and afissure is no different from when an imprisoned current of air by struggling andstriving to go forth to freedom causes a flash of lightning to burst out.

LXXXII. Consequently earthquakes occur in a variety of ways, and causeremarkable consequences, in some places overthrowing walls, in others drawingthem down into a gaping cleft, in others thrusting up masses of rock, inothers sending out rivers and sometimes even fires or hot springs, in othersdiverting the course of rivers. They are however preceded or accompanied by aterrible sound, that sometimes resembles a rumble, sometimes the lowing ofcattle or the shouts of human beings or the clash of weapons struck together,according to the nature of the material that receives the shock and the shape ofthe caverns or burrows through which it passes, proceeding with smaller volumein a narrow channel but with a harsh noise in channels that bend, echoing inhard channels, bubbling in damp ones, forming waves in stagnant ones, ragingagainst solid ones. Accordingly even without any movement occurring a sound issometimes emitted. And sometimes the earth is not shaken in a simple manner buttrembles and vibrates. Also the gap sometimes remains open, showing the objectsthat it has sucked in, while sometimes it hides them by closing its mouth anddrawing soil over it again in such a way as to leave no traces; it being usuallycities that are engulfed, and a tract of farmland swallowed, although seaboarddistricts are most subject to earthquakes, and also mountainous regions are notfree from disaster of the kind: I have ascertained that tremors have somewhatfrequently occurred in the Alps and Apennines.

Earthquakes are more frequent in autumn and spring, as is lightning.Consequently the Gallic provinces and Egypt suffer very little from them, as inthe latter the summer is the cause that prevents them and in the former thewinter. Similarly they are more frequent by night than in the daytime. Theseverest earthquakes occur in the morning and the evening, but they are frequentnear dawn and in the daytime about noon. They also occur at an eclipse of thesun or moon, since then storms are lulled, but particularly when heat followsrain or rain heat.

LXXXIII. Sailors at sea can also anticipate an earthquake and forecast itwith certainty when a sudden wave swells up without there being a wind, or ashock shakes the vessel. Even in ships posts begin to tremble just as they do inbuildings, and foretell an earthquake by rattling; nay more, birds of timidkinds perch on the rigging. There is also a sign in the sky: when an earthquakeis impending, either in the daytime or a little after sunset, in fine weather,it is preceded by a thin streak of cloud stretching over a wide space.

LXXXIV. Another sign is when the water in wells is muddier and has asomewhat foul smell, just as in wells there is also a remedy for earthquake suchas frequently caves too afford, as they supply an outlet for the confinedbreath. This is noticed in whole towns: buildings pierced by frequent conduitsfor drainage are less shaken, and also among these the ones erected over vaultsare much saferas is noticed in Italy at Naples, the solidly built portion ofthe city being specially liable to collapses of this nature. The safest parts ofbuildings are arches, also angles of walls, and posts, which swing back intoposition with each alternate thrust; and walls built of clay bricks suffer lessdamage from being shaken. There is also a great difference in the actual kind ofmovement, as the earth shakes in several ways; there is least danger when itquivers with a trembling rattle of the buildings, and when it rises in a swelland settles back again, with an alternating motion; also no harm is done whenbuildings collide and ram against each other, as the one motion counteracts theother. A waving bend and a sort of billowy fluctuation is dangerous, or when thewhole movement drives in one direction. Earthquakes stop when the wind has foundan outlet, or else, if they go on, they do not stop before forty days, andusually even longer, some in fact having gone on for one or two years' time.

LXXXV. I find in the books of the lore of Tuscany that once a vast andportentous earthquake occurred in the district of Modena; this was during theconsulship ofLucius Marcius andSextus Julius. Two mountains rantogether with a mighty crash, leaping forward and then retiring with flames andsmoke rising between them to the sky; this took place in the daytime, and waswatched from the Aemilian road by a large crowd of Knights of Rome with theirretinues and passers by. The shock brought down all the country houses, and agreat many animals in the buildings were killed. It was in the year before theAllies' War, which was perhaps more disastrous to the land of Italy than thecivil wars. Our generation also experienced a not less marvellous manifestationin the last year of the EmperorNero, aswe have set forth in our history of his principate: meadows and olive trees witha public road running between then got over to the opposite sides of the road;this took place in the Marrucinian territory, on the lands ofVettius Marcellus, Knight of Rome,Nero's estate-manager.

LXXXVI. Earthquakes are accompanied by inundations of the sea, which ispresumably caused to flood the land by the same current of air, or drawn intothe bosom of the earth as it subsides. The greatest earthquake in human memoryoccurred whenTiberius Caesar wasemperor, twelve Asiatic cities being overthrown in one night; the most numerousseries of shocks was during the Punic War, when reports reached Rome offifty-seven in a single year; it was the year when a violent earthquakeoccurring during an action between the Carthaginian and Roman armies at LakeTrasimene was not noticed by the combatants on either side. Nor yet is thedisaster a simple one, nor does the danger consist only in the earthquakeitself, but equally or more in the fact that it is a portent; the city of Romewas never shaken without this being a premonition of something about to happen.

LXXXVII. The cause of the birth of new lands is the same, when that samebreath although powerful enough to cause an upheaval of the soil has not beenable to force an exit. For lands are born not only through the conveyance ofsoil by streams (as the Echinades Islands when heaped up from the river Achelousand the greater part of Egypt from the Nilethe crossing from the island of Pharos to the coast, if we believeHomer,having formerly taken twenty-four hours) or by the retirement of the sea as oncetook place at Circei; such a retirement is also recorded to have occurred to adistance of 10,000 paces in the harbour of Ambracia, and to a distance of 5,000at the Athenian port of Piraeus; and at Ephesus, where once the sea used to washup to the temple of Diana. At all events if we believeHerodotus, there was seaabove Memphis as far as the mountains of Ethiopia and also towards the plains ofArabia, and sea round Ilium, and over the whole territory of Teuthras and wherethe Maeander has spread prairie-land.

LXXXVIII. New lands are also formed in another way, and suddenlyemerge in a different sea, nature as it were balancing accounts with herself andrestoring in another place what an earthquake has engulfed.

LXXXIX. The famous islands of Delos and Rhodes are recorded in history ashaving been born from the sea long ago, and subsequently smaller ones, Anaphebeyond Melos, Neae between Lemnos and the Dardanelles, Halone between Lebedosand Teos, Thera and Therasia among the Cyclades in the 4th year of the145th Olympiad; also in the same group Hiera, which is the same as Automate, 130years later; and 2 stades from Hiera, Thia 110 years later, in our age, on July8 in the year of the consulship ofMarcusJunius Silanus andLucius Balbus.

Before our time also among the Aeolian Islands near Italy, as well as nearCrete, there emerged from the sea one island 2500 paces long, with hot springs,and another in the 3rd year [126 BC] of Olympiad 163 in the bay ofTuscany, this one burning with a violent blast of air; and it is recorded that agreat quantity of fish were floating round it, and that people who ate of themimmediately expired. So also the Monkey Islands are said to have risen in thebay of Campania, and later one among them, Mount Epopos, is said to havesuddenly shot up a great flame and then to have been levelled with the surfaceof the plain. In the same plain also a town was sucked down into the depths, andanother earthquake caused a swamp to emerge, and another overturned mountainsand threw up the island of Procida.

XC. For another way also in which nature has made islands is when shetore Sicily away from Italy, Cyprus from Syria, Euboea from Boeotia, land.Atalantes and Macrias from Enboea, Besbicus from Bithynia, Leucosia from theSirens' Cape.

XCI. Again she has taken islands away from the sea and joined them to the landAntissato Lesbos, Zephyrius to Halicarnassus, Aethusa to Myndus, Dromiscosand Pernes to Miletus, Narthecusa to Cape Parthenius. Hybanda, once an Ionianisland, is now 25 miles distant from the sea, Ephesus has Syria as part of themainland, and its neighbour Magnesia the Derasides and Sapphonia. Epidaurus andOricum have ceased to be islands.

XCII. Cases of land entirely stolen away by the first of all (if weacceptPlato's story [Tim.24 E]), the vast area covered by the Atlantic, and next, in the inlandseas also, the areas that we see submerged at the present day, Acarnania coveredby the Ambracian Gulf, Achaea by the Gulf of Corinth, Europe and Asia by the Seaof Marmora and the Black Sea. Also the sea has made the channels of Leucas,Antirrhium, the Dardanclles and the two Bospori.

XCIII. And to pass over bays and marshes, the earth is eaten up byherself. She has devoured the highest mountain in Caria, Cibotus,together with the town of that name, Sipylus in Magnesia, and previously thevery celebrated city in the same place that used to be called Tantalis, theterritories of Galene and Galame in Phoenicia with the cities themselves, andthe loftiest mountain range in Ethiopia, Phegiumjust as if the coasts also didnot treacherously encroach!

XCIV. The Black Sea has stolen Pyrra and Antissa in the neighbourhood ofLake Maeotis, the Gulf of Corinth Helice and Bura, traces of which are visibleat the bottom of the water. The sea suddenly snatched away more than 30,000paces together with most of the human beings from the Island of Ceos, and halfthe city of Tyndaris in Sicily, and all the gap in the coast of Italy, andsimilarly Eleusis in Boeotia.

XCV. For let earthquakes not be mentioned, and every case where at leastthe tombs of cities survive, and at the same time let us tell of the marvels ofthe earth rather than the crimes of nature. And, I will swear, not eventhe heavenly phenomena could have been more difficult to recount: the wealth ofmines so varied, so opulent, so prolific, brought to the surface in so manyages, although every day all over the world so much devastation is wrought byfires, collapse of buildings, shipwrecks, wars, frauds, and so great is theconsumption of luxury and of the multitudes of mankind; such a variety ofpatterned gems, such many-coloured markings in stones, and among them thebrilliance of a certain stone a that only allows actual daylight to penetratethrough it; the profusion of medicinal springs; the flames of fire flickering upin so many places, unceasing for so many centuries; the lethal breaths eitheremitted from chasms or due to the mere formation of the ground, in some placesfatal only to birds, as in the region of Soracte near Rome, in others to allliving creatures except man, and sometimes to man also, as in theterritory of Sinuessa and of Pozzuolithe places called breathing holes, or byother people jaws of hellditches that exhale a deadly breath; also the placenear the Temple of Mephitis at Ampsanctus in the Hirpinian district, on enteringwhich people die; likewise the hole at Hierapolis in Asia, harmless only to thepriest of the Great Mother; elsewhere prophetic caves, those intoxicated bywhose exhalations foretell the future, as at the very famous oracle at Delphi.In these matters what other explanation could any mortal man adduce save thatthey are caused by the divine power of that nature which is diffused throughoutthe universe, repeatedly bursting out in different ways?

XCVI. In some places, the earth trembles when trodden on--for instance inthe Gabii district not from the city of Rome about 200 acres shake when horsemengallop over them, and similarly in the Reate district. Certain islands arealways afloat, as in the districts of Caecubum and of Reate mentioned above and Modena and Statonium, and in Lake Vadimo, the dense wood near the springs ofCutilia which is never to be seen in the same place by day and by night, theislands in Lydia named the Reed Islands which are not only driven by the winds,but can be punted in any direction at pleasure with poles, and so served torescue a number of the citizens in the Mithridatic war. There are also smallislands at Nymphaeum called the Dancing Islands, because they move to thefoot-beats of persons keeping time with the chanting of a choral song. On thegreat lake of Tarqainii in Italy two islands float about carrying woods, theiroutline as the winds drive them forward now forming the shape of a triangle andnow of a circle, but never a square.

XCVII. Paphos possesses a famous shrine of Venus on a certain court inwhich rain does not fall, and the same in the case round an image of Minerva atthe town of Nea in the Troad; in the same town also sacrifices left over do notgo bad.

XCVIII. Near thetown of Harpasa in Asia stands a jagged rock that can be moved with one finger,but that also resists a push made with the whole body. On the peninsula of Tanriin the state of Parasinum there is some earth which heals all wounds. But in theneighbourhood of Assos in the Troad a stone is produced that causes all bodiesto waste away; it is called the Flesh-eater. There are two mountains near theriver Indus, the nature of one of which is to hold all iron and that of theother to reject it; consequently if a man has nails in his shoes, on one of themountains at each step he is unable to tear his foot away from the ground and onthe other he cannot set it down on the ground. It is recorded that at Locri andCroton there has never been a plague or earthquake, and that in Lycia anearthquake is always followed by forty days' fine weather. Corn sown in the Arpidistrict does not come up, and at Mncian Altars in the district of Veil and atTuscumin and in the Ciminian Forest there are places where stakes driven intothe ground cannot be pulled out. Hay grown in the Crustninium district isnoxious on the spot but healthy when conveyed elsewhere.

XCIX. About the nature of bodies of water a great deal has been said. Butthe rise and fall of the tides of the sea is extremely mysterious, at allevents in its irregularity; however the cause lies in the sun and moon. Betweentwo risings of the moon there are two high and two low tides every 24 hours, thetide first swelling as the world moves upward with the moon, then falling as itslopes from the midday summit of the sky towards sunset, and again coming in asafter sunset the world goes below the earth to the lowest parts of the heavenand approaches the regions opposite to the meridian, and from that point suckingback until it rises again; and never flowing back at the same time as the daybefore, just as if gasping for breath as the greedy star draws the seas with itat a draught and constantly rises from another point than the day before; yetreturning at equal intervals and in every six hours, not of each day or night orplace but equinoctial hours, so that the tidal periods are not equal by thespace of ordinary hours whenever the tides occupy larger measures of eitherdiurnal or nocturnal hours, and only equal everywhere at the equinox.It is a vast and illuminating proof, and one of even divine utterance, thatthose are dull of wit who deny that the same stars pass below the earth and riseup again, and that they present a similar appearance to the lands and indeed tothe whole of nature in the same processes of rising and setting, the course orother operation of a star being manifest beneath the earth in just the same wayas when it is travelling past our eyes.

Moreover, the lunar difference is manifold, and to begin with, its period isseven days: inasmuch as the tides, which are moderate from new moon tohalf-moon, therefrom rise higher and at full moon are at their maximum; afterthat they relax, at the seventh day being equal to what they were at first; andthey increase again when the moon divides on the other side, at the union of themoon with the sun being equal to what they were at full moon. When the moon isnorthward and retiring further from the earth the tides are gentler than whenshe has swerved towards the south and exerts her force at a nearer angle. Atevery eighth year the tides are brought back at the hundredth circuit of themoon to the beginnings of their motion and to corresponding stages of increase.They make all these increases owing to the yearly influences of the sun,swelling most at the two equinoxes and more at the autumn than the spring one,but empty at midwinter and more so at midsummer. Nevertheless this does notoccur at the exact points of time I have specified, but a few days after, justas it is not at full or new moon but afterwards, and not immediately when theworld shows or hides the moon or slopes it in the middle quarter, but about twoequinoctial hours later, the effect of all the occurrences in the sky reachingthe earth more slowly than the sight of them, as is the case with lightning,thunder and thunderbolts.

But all the tides cover and lay bare greater spaces in the ocean than in therest of the sea, whether because it is more furious when moved in its entiretythan when in part, or because the open extent feels the force of the star whenit marches untrammelled with more effect, whereas narrow spaces hinder the force,which is the reason why neither lakes nor rivers have tides like the ocean (Pytheasof Marseilles states that north of Britain the tides rise 120 ft.) But also themore inland seas are shut in by land like the water in a harbour; yet a more untrammelled expanse is subject to the tidal sway, inasmuch as there are severalinstances of people making the crossing from Italy to Utica in two days in acalm sea and with no wind in the sails when a strong tide was running. But thesemotions are observed more round the coasts than in the deep sea, since in thebody too the extremities are more sensitive to the pulse of the veins, that isof the breath. But in most estuaries owing to the different risings of the starsin each region the tides occur irregularly, varying in time though not inmethod, as for instance in the Syrtes.

C. And nevertheless some tides have a special nature, for instance thechannel at Taormina that ebbs and flows more frequently, and the one at Euboeathat has seven tides in twenty-four hours. The tide at Buboea stops three timesa month, on the seventh, eighth and ninth day after the new moon. At Cadiz thespring nearest the shrine of Hercules, which is enclosed like a well, sometimesrises and sinks with the ocean and sometimes does both at the contrary periods;a second spring in the same place agrees with the motions of the ocean.

There is a town on thebanks of the Guadalquivir whose wells sink when the tide rises and rise when itfalls, remaining stationary in the intervening periods. At Seville there is onewell in the actual town that has the same nature, though all the others are asusual. The Black Sea always flows out into the Sea of Marmorathe tide neversets inward into the Black Sea.

CI. All seas excrete refuse at high tide, some also periodically. In theneighbourhood of Messina and Mylae scum resembling dung is spat out on to theshore, which is the origin of the story that this is the place where the Oxen ofthe Sun are stalled. To this (so that I may leave out nothing that is within myknowledge)Aristotle adds that no animaldies except when the tide is ebbing. This has been widely noticed in the GallicOcean, and has been found to hold good at all events in the case of man.

CII. This is the source of the true conjecture that the moon is rightlybelieved to be the star of the breath, and that it is this star thatsaturates the earth and fills bodies by its approach and empties them by itsdeparture; and that consequently shells increase in size as the moon waxes, andthat its breath is specially felt by bloodless creatures, but also the bloodeven of human beings increases and diminishes with its light; and that alsoleaves and herbage (as will be stated in the proper place) are sensitive to it,the same force penetrating into all things.

CIII. Consequently liquid is dried by the heat of the sun, and we aretaught that this is the male star, which scorches and sucks up everything; andthat in this way the flavour of salt is boiled into the wide expanse of the sea,either because the sweet and liquid, which is easily attracted by fiery force,is drawn out of it, but all the harsher and denser portion is left (this beingwhy in a calm sea the water at a depth is sweeter than that at the top, thisbeing the truer explanation of its harsh flavour, rather than because the sea isthe cease1ess perspiration of the land), or because a great deal of warmth fromthe dry is mixed with it, or because the nature of the earth stains the watersas if they were drugged. One instance is that whenDionysius the tyrant of Sicily wasexpelled from that position, he encountered the portent that on one day thesea-water in the harbour became fresh water.

CIV. The moon on the contrary is said to be a feminine and soft star, andto disengage moisture at night and attract, not remove it. The proof given forthis is that the moon by her aspect melts the bodies of wild animals that havebeen killed and causes them to putrefy, and that when people are fast asleep sherecalls the torpor and collects it into the head, and thaws ice, and unstiffenseverything with moistening breath: thus (it is said) nature's alternations areheld in balance, and there is always a supply, some of the stars drawing theelements together while others scatter them. But the nutriment of the moon isstated to be contained in bodies of fresh water as that of the sun is inseawater.

CV. According to the account of Fabianus, the deepest sea has a depth ofnearly two miles. Others report an immense depth of water (called the Black SeaDeeps) off the coast of the Coraxi tribe on the Black Sea, about 37 miles fromland, where soundings have never reached bottom.

CVI. This is rendered more remarkable by springs of fresh water bubblingout as if from pipes on the seashore. In fact the nature of water also is notdeficient in marvels. Patches of fresh water float on the surface of the sea,being doubtless lighter. Consequently also seawater being of a heavier naturegives more support to objects floating upon it. But some fresh waters too floaton the surface of others; cases are the river carried on the surface of Lake Fucino, the Adde on the Lake of Como, the Ticino on Maggiore, the Mincio onGarda, the Ohio on Lago d'Iseo, the Ithone on the Lake of Geneva (the last northof the Alps, but all the rest in Italy), after a passing visit that covers manymiles carrying out their own waters only and no larger quantity than theyintroduced. This has also been stated in the case of the river Orontes in Syriaand many others. But some rivers so hate the sea that they actually flowunderneath the bottom of it, for instance the spring Arethusa at Syracuse, inwhich things emerge that have been thrown into the Alpheus which flowsthrough Olympia and reaches the coast in the Peloponnese. Instances of riversthat flow under ground and come to the surface again are the Lycus in Asia, theErasmus in the Argolid and the Tigris in Mesopotamia; and obj ects thrown intothe Spring of Aesculapius at Athens are given back again in Phaleron Harbour.Also a river that goes underground in the Plain of Atinas comes out 20 milesfurther on, as also does the Timavus in the district of Aquileia. In LakeAsphaltis in Judea, which produces bitumen, nothing can sink, and also in theAretissa in Greater Armenia; the latter indeed is a nitrous lake that supportsfish. A lake near the town of Manduria in the Salentine district is full to thebrim, and is not reduced when water is drawn out of it nor increased when wateris poured into it. In the river of the Cicones and in the Veline Lake ofPicenum, wood thrown into the water gets covered with a film of stone, and inthe river Surius in Colchis this goes so far that the stone in most cases iscovered with bark still lasting. Similarly in the Sele beyondSorrento not only twigs but also leaves immersed in the river become petrified,though apart from this its water is healthy to drink. Rock forms in the outletof the marsh at Rieti, and olive trees and green bushes grow in the Red Sea.

But the nature of a great many springs is of remarkably high temperature, andthis is found even on the ridges of the Alps, and actually in the sea, forinstance in the Gulf of Baiae between Italy and the Island of Ischia, and in theriver Garigliano and many others. In fact fresh water may be drawn from the seain a great many places, as at the Swallow Islands and at Aradus and in the Gulfof Cadiz. Green grass grows in the hot springs of Padua, frogs in those of Pisa,fishes at Vetulonia in Tuscany near the sea. A river in the district of Casinocalled the Bubbling Water is cold, and is fuller in summer; water voles are bornin it, as they are in the Stymphalis of Arcadia. The Fountain of Jupiter atDodona, though it is cold and puts out torches dipped in it, sets them alight ifthey are brought near to it when they are out. The same spring always stopsflowing at noon, on account of which it is called the Wait-a-bit; later it risesagain and towards midnight flows abundantly, thereafter gradually ceasing again.A cold spring in Illyria sets fire to clothes spread out above it. The swamp ofJupiter Ammon is cold by day and hot at night. A spring in the Cave-dwellers'territory called the Fountain of the Sun is sweet and very cold at midday, butthen gradually warming, towards the middle of the night it becomes spoilt owingto its heat and bitter taste. The source of the Po always dries up at midday insummer as if taking a siesta. A spring on the island of Tenedos after midsummeralways overflows from 9 to 12 p.m.; and the spring Inopus on the island of Delossinks or rises in the same way as the Nile and at the same times. On a smallisland in the sea at the mouth of the river Timavus there are hot springs thatgrow larger and smaller with the rise and fall of the tide. In the Pitinodistrict across the Apennines the river Novanus is always hot at midsummer anddried up at midwinter. In the district of Falerii all the water makes oxen thatdrink it white. The Blackwater in Boeotia makes sheep black, the Cephisusflowing from the same lake makes them white, the Peneus again makes them black,and the river Xanthus at Ilium red, which gives the river its name. Marespastured on the plains watered by the river Astaces on the Black Sea suckletheir foals with black milk. The spring called Neminie in the district of Reaterises now in one place and now in another, indicating a change in the price ofcorn. A spring in the harbour at Brindisi always supplies pure water formariners. The slightly acid spring called Lyncestis makes men tipsy, like wine;the same occurs in Paplilagonia and in the territory of Cales.

It is accredited by theMucianus who was three times consul thatthe water flowing from a spring in the temple of Father Liber on the island ofAndros always has the flavour of wine on January 5th: the dayis called God's Gift Day. To drink of the Styx near Nonacris in Arcady causesdeath on the spot, although the river is not peculiar in smell or colour;similarly three springs on Mount Liberosus in Taurica irremediably butpainlessly cause death. In the territory of Carrina in Spain there are twoadjacent springs of which one rejects all objects and the other sucks them down;another in the same nation makes all the fish in it look of a golden colour,although except when in that water there is nothing peculiar about them. In thedistrict by the Lake of Como a copious spring always swells up and sinks backagain every hour. A hot spring on the island of Cydonea off Lesbos flows only inthe springtime. Lake Sannaus in Asia is dyed by the wormwood springing up roundit. In the cave of Apollo of Claros at Colophon there is a pool a draught fromwhich causes marvellous oracular utterances to be produced, though the life ofthe drinkers is shortened. Even our generation has seen rivers flow backward atNero's last moments, as we have recordedin our history of that Emperor.

Again everybody isaware that all springs are colder in summer than in winter, as well as of thefollowing miracles of nature that bronze and lead sink when in mass form, butfloat when flattened out into sheets; that among objects of the same weight somefloat, and others sink; that heavy bodies are more easily moved in water; thatstone from Scyros in however large a mass floats, and the same stone broken intosmall pieces sinks; that bodies recently dead sink to the bottom but rise whenthey begin to swell; that empty vessels cannot be drawn out of the water moreeasily than full ones; that rain water is more useful than other water forsalt-works, and that fresh water has to be mixed with sea water for the salt tohe deposited; that sea water freezes more slowly, and boils more quickly; thatthe sea is warmer in winter and salted in autumn; that all sea water is madesmooth by oil, and so divers sprinkle oil from their mouth because it calms therough element and carries light down with them; that on the high sea no snowfalls; that though all water travels downward, springs leap upwards, and springsrise even at the roots of Etna, which is so hot that it belches out sands in aball of flame over a space of 50 to 100 miles at a time.

CVII. (For wemust also report some marvels connected with fire, the fourth element of nature,but first those arising from water.)

CVIII. In Samosata the capital of Commagene there is a marsh thatproduces an inflammable mud called mineral pitch. When this touches anythingsolid it sticks to it; also when people touch it, it actuallyfollows them as they try to get away from it. By these means they defended thecity walls when attacked by Lucullus: the troops kept getting burnt by their ownweapons. Water merely makes it burn more fiercely; experiments have shown thatit can only be put out by earth.

CIX. Naphtha is of a similar naturethis is the name of a substance thatflows out like liquid bitumen in the neighbourhood of Babylon and the parts of Parthia near Astacus. Naphtha has a close affinity with fire, which leaps to itat once when it sees it in any direction. This is how Medea in the legend burnther rival, whose wreath caught fire after she had gone up to the altar to offersacrifice.

CX. But among mountain marvelsEtna always glows at night, and suppliesits fires with fuel sufficient for a vast period, though in winter cloaked withsnow and covering its output of ashes with hoar frost. Nor does nature's wrathemploy Mount Etna only to threaten the lands with conflagration. Mount Chimaerain the country of Phaselis is on fire, and indeed burns with a flame that doesnot die by day or night;Ctesias ofCnidos states that water increases its fire but earth or dung puts it out. Alsothe Mountains of Hephaestus in Lycia flare up when touched with a flaming torch,and so violently that even the stones of the rivers and the sands actually underwater glow; and rain only serves to feed this fire. They say that if somebodylights a stick at it and draws a furrow with the stick, streams of fire followit. At Cophantium in Bactria a coil of flame blazes in the night, and the samein Media and in Sittacene the frontier of Persia: indeed at the White Tower atSusa it does so from fifteen smoke-holes, from the largest in the daytime also.The Babylonian Plain sends a blaze out of a sort of fishpool an acre in extent;also near Monnt Hesperius in Ethiopia the plains shine at night hke stars.Likewise in the territory of Megalopolis: for if that agreeable Bowl ofNymphaeus, which does not scorch the foliage of the thick wood above it andthough near a cold stream is always glowing hot, ceases to flow, it portendshorrors to its neighbours in the town of Apollonia, asTheopompus has recorded. It is augmentedby rain, and sends forth asphalt to mingle with that unappetizing stream, whicheven without this is more liquid than ordinary asphalt. But who would besurprised by these things? During the Allies' War Holy Island and Lipari amongthe Aeolian Islands near Italy burnt in mid sea for several days, as did the seaitself, till a deputation from the senate performed a propitiatoryceremony. Nevertheless the largest volcanic blaze is that of the ridge inEthiopia called the Gods' Carriage, which discharges flames that glow with trulysolar heat.

In so many places and by so many fires does nature burn the countries of theearth.

CXI. Moreover, as this one element has a fertile principle that engendersitself and grows out of the smallest sparks, what must be expected to happen infuture among all these funeral pyres of the earth? What is the natural principlethat pastures a most voracious appetite on the whole world while itselfunimpaired? Add thereto the innumerable stars and the mighty sun, add the firesof man's making and also those implanted in the nature of stone and of timberrubbing against itself, and again the fire of clouds, and the sources ofthunderboltsand doubtless all marvels will be surpassed by the fact that therehas ever been a single day on which there has not been a universalconflagration, when also hollow mirrors facing the sun's rays set things alightmore easily than any other fire. What of the countless small but naturaleruptions of fire? In the river Nymphaeus a flame comes out of a rock that iskindled by rain; also one comes out at the Scantian Springs, not a strong one,it is true, as it passes away, and not lasting long on any substance which ittouchesan ash tree shading this fiery spring is everlastingly green; one comesout in the district of Modena on the days appointed as sacred to Vulcan. It isfound in the authorities that in the fields lying under Arezzo if charcoal isdropped on the ground, the earth is set on fire; that in the Sabine and Sidicinedistrict a stone flames up when oiled; that in the Sallentine town of Egnatia,if wood is put on a certain sacred rock, a flame at once shoots up; that asheson the altar of Juno at Lacinium, which stands in the open air, remainsmotionless when stormy winds sweep over it in every direction. Moreover, it isrecorded that sudden fires arise both in pools of water and in bodies, evenhuman bodies:Valerius Antias tells thatthe whole of Lake Trasimene once was on fire; that whenServius Tullius was a boy a flameflashed out from his head while he was asleep; and that a similar flame burnt onLucius Marcius in Spain when he wasmaking a speech after the death of the Scipios and exhorting the soldiers torevenge. Later we shall give more instances, and more in detail; for at thepresent we are displaying a sort of medley of marvels of all the elements. Butleaving the interpretation of nature our mind hastens to lead the reader'sattention by the hand on a tour of the whole world.

CXII. Our own portion of the earth, which is my subject, swims as it werein the ocean by which, as we have said, it is surrounded; its longest extent isfrom East to West, i.e. from India to the Pillars consecrated toHercules at Cadiz, a distance of 8,568 miles according to Artemidorus, but 9,818 according toIsidore.Artemidorus adds in addition from Cadizround Cape St. Vincent to Cape Finisterre the longest projection of the coast ofSpain, 890½ miles. The measurement runs by a double route; from the river Gangesand its mouth where it flows into the Eastern Ocean, through India and Parthyeneto the Syrian city of Meriandrus situated on the Gulf of Scanderoon 5,215, fromthere by the shortest sea-route to the Island of Cyprus, from Patara in Lycia toRhodes, to the island of Astypalaea in the Carpathian Sea, to Taenarus inLaconia, Lilybaeum in Sicily, Caralis in Sardinia, 213, thence to Cadiz 1,250,the total distance from the Eastern Sea making 8,568. Another route, which ismore certain, extends mainly overland from the Ganges to the river Euphrates5,169, thence to Mazaca in Cappadocia 244, thence through Phrygin and Caria toEphesus 499, from Ephesus across the Aegean Sea to Delos 200, to the Isthmus202½, thence by land and the Alcyonian Sea and the Gulf of Corinth to Patras inthe Peloponnese 102½, to Leucas 87½, to Corfu ditto, to Acroceraunia 82½, toBrindisi 87½, to Rome 360, across the Alps to the village of Suze 518, throughFrance to the Pyrenees at Granada 456, to the Ocean and the coast of Spain 832,across to Cadiz 7½which figures by Artemidorus's calculation make 8,995 miles.

But the breadth of the earth from the south point to the north is calculated byIsidorus as less by about one half,5,462 miles, showing how much the heat has abstracted on one side and the coldon the other. As a matter of fact I do not think that there is this reduction inthe earth, or that it is not the shape of a globe, but that theuninhabitable parts on either side have not been explored. This measurement runsfrom the coast of the Ethiopic Ocean, where habitation just begins, to Meroe 705miles, thence to Alexandria, 1,250, Rhodes 584, Cnidus 86½, Cos 25, Samos 100,Chios 94, Mitylene 65, Tenedos 49, Cape Sigeum 12½, Bosphorus 312½, CapeCarambis 350, mouth of Lake Maeotis 312½, mouth of the Don 266,a route that bycutting down the crossings can be shortened. From the mouth of the Don to theCanopic mouth of the Nile the most careful authorities have made the distance2,110 miles. Artemidorus thought thatthe regions beyond had not been explored, though admitting that the tribes ofthe Sarmatae dwell round the Don to the northward. Isidorus added 1,250 miles right on toThule, which is a purely conjectural estimate. I understand that the territoryof the Sarmatae is known to an extent not less than the limit just stated. Andfrom another aspect, how large is the space bound to be that is large enough tohold innumerable races that are continually migrating? This makes me think thatthere is an uninhabitable region beyond of much wider extent; for I am informedthat beyond Germany also there are vast islands that were discovered not longago.

These are the facts that I consider worth recording in regard to the earth'slength and breadth. Its total circumference was given byBratosthenes (an expert in everyrefinement of learning, but on this point assuredly an outstanding authorityInotice that he is universally accepted) as 252,000 stades, a measurement that byRoman reckoning makes 31,500 milesan audacious venture, but achieved by suchsubtle reasoning that one is ashamed to be sceptical. Hipparchus, who in his refutation ofEratosthenes and also in all the rest ofhis researches is remarkable, adds a little less than 26,000 stades.

Dionysodorus (for I will not withholdthis outstanding instance of Greek folly) has a different creed. He belonged to Melos, and was a celebrated geometrician; his old age came to its term in his native place; his female relations who were his heirs escorted his obsequies. Itis said that while these women on the following days were carrying out the duerites they found in the tomb a letter signed with his name and addressed tothose on earth, which stated that he had passed from his tomb to the bottom ofthe earth and that it was a distance of 42,000 stades. Geometricians wereforthcoming who construed this to mean that the letter had been sent from thecentre of the earth's globe, which was the longest space downward from thesurface and was also the centre of the sphere. From this the calculationfollowed that led them to pronounce the circumference of the globe to be 252,000stades.

CXIII. To this measurement the principle of uniformity, which leads to the conclusion that the nature of things is self-consistent, adds 12,000 stades, making the earth the 1/96th part of the whole world.

I. SO much as to the situation and themarvels of land and water and of the stars, and the plan and dimensions of theuniverse.

Now to describe its parts, although this also isconsidered an endless task, not lightly undertaken without some adversecriticism, though in no field does enquiry more fairly claim indulgence, onlygranting it to be by no means wonderful that one born a human being should notpossess all human knowledge. For this reason I shall not follow any singleauthority, but such as I shall judge most reliable in their several departments,since I have found it a characteristic common to virtually all of them that eachgave the most careful description of the particular region in which hepersonally was writing. Accordingly I shall neither blame nor criticise anyone.The bare names of places will be set down, and with the greatest brevityavailable, their celebrity and its reasons being deferred to their propersections; for my topic now is the world as a whole. Therefore I should like itto be understood that I specify the bare names of the places without theirrecord, as they were in the beginning before they had achieved any history, andthat though their names are mentioned, it is only as forming a portion of theworld and of the natural universe.

The whole circuit of the earth is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia andAfrica. The starting point is in the west, at the Straits of Gibraltar,where the Atlantic Ocean bursts in and spreads out into the inland seas.On the right as you enter from the ocean is Africa and on the left Europe, withAsia between them; the boundaries are the river Don and the river Nile. Theocean straits mentioned are fifteen miles long and five miles broad, from thevillage of Mellaria in Spain to the White Cape in Africa, as given byTurranius Gracilis, a native of theneighbourhood whileLivy andCornelius Nepos state the breadth at thenarrowest point as seven miles and at the widest as ten miles: so narrow is themouth through which pours so boundless an expanse of water. Nor is it of anygreat depth, so as to lessen the marvel, for recurring streaks of whiteningshoal-water terrify passing keels, and consequently many have called this placethe threshold of the Mediterranean. At the narrowest part of the Straits standmountains on either side, enclosing the channel, Ximiera in Africa and Gibraltarin Europe; these were the limits of the labours of Hercules, and consequentlythe inhabitants call them the Pillars of that deity, and believe that he cut thechannel through them and thereby let in the sea which had hitherto been shutout, so altering the face of nature.

To begin then with Europe, nurse of the race that has conquered all thenations, and by far the loveliest portion of the earth, which mostauthorities, not without reason, have reckoned to be not a third part but ahalf of the world, dividing the whole circle into two portions by a line drawnfrom the river Don to the Straits of Gibraltar. The ocean, pouring the Atlanticsea through the passage I have described, and in its eager progress overwhelmingall the lands that shrank in awe before its coming, washes also those that offerresistance with a winding and broken coastline: Europe especially it hollowsout with a succession of bays, but into four chief gulfs, of which the firstbends in a vast curve from the Rock of Gibraltar, which, as I have said, is theextremity of Spain, right to Locri on Cape Spartivento.

The first land situated on this gulf is called Further Spain or Baetica, andthen, from the frontier at Mujacar, Hither Spain or the Department ofTarragon, extending to the chain of the Pyrenees. Further Spain is dividedlengthwise into two provinces, Lusitania extending along the north side ofBaetica and separated from it by the river Anas. This rises in Hither Spain, inthe territory of Laminium and now spreading out into meres, now contracting intonarrows, or burrowing entirely underground and gaily emerging again severaltimes over, discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean. The Department ofTarragon adjoin the Pyrenees, running down along the whole of one side of thechain and also extending across from the Iberian Sea to the Gallic Ocean, and isseparated from Baetica and Lusitania by Mount Solorius and by the ranges of theOretani and Carpentani and of the Astures.

Baetica, named after the river Baetis which divides it in two, stands firstamong the whole of the provinces in the richness of its cultivation and in asort of peculiar fertility and brilliance of vegetation. It comprises fourjurisdictions, those of Cadiz, Cordova, Ecija and Seville. Its towns number inall 175, of which 9 are colonies, 10 municipalities of Roman citizens, 27 townsgranted early Latin rights, 6 free towns, 3 bound by treaty to Rome and 120paying tribute. Worthy of mention in this district, or easily expressed inLatin, are: on the ocean coast beginning at the river Guadiana, the townOssonoba, surnamed Aestuaria, at the confluence of the Luxia and the Urium; theHareni Mountains; the river Guadalquivir; the winding bay of the Coast of Curum,opposite to which is Cadiz, to be described among the islands; thePromontory of Juno; Port Vaesippo; the town of Baelo; Mellaria, the straitentering from the Atlantic; Carteia, called by the Greeks Tartesos; Gibraltar.Next, on the coast inside the straits, are: the town of Barbesula with itsriver; ditto Salduba; the town of Suel; Malaga with its river, one of the treatytowns. Then comes Maenuba with its river; Firmum Julium sumamed Sexum; Sel;Abdara; Murgi, which is the boundary of Baetica. The whole of this coast wasthought byMarcus Agrippa to be ofCarthaginian origin; but beyond the Guadiana and facing the Atlantic Ocean isthe territory of the Bastuli and Turduli.Marcus Varro records that the whole of Spain was penetrated by invasionsof Hiberi, Persians, Phoenicians, Celts and Carthaginians; for he says that itwas the sport (lusus) of Father Liber, or the frenzy (λύσσα) ofthose who revelled with him, that gave its name to Lusitania, and that Pan wasthe governor of the whole of it. The stories related of Hercules, Pyreneor Saturn I regard as absolutely mythical.

The Guadalquivir rises in the province of Tarragon, not at the town of Mentesa,as some authorities have said, but in the Tugiensian Forest bordered by theriver Segura that waters the territory of Cartagena; at Lorea itavoids the Sepolero de Scipion and, turning westward, makes for theAtlantic Ocean, giving its name to the province; it is first ofmoderate size, but it receives many tributaries, from which it takes their gloryas well as their waters. It first enters Baetica at Ossigetania, gliding gentlyin a picturesque channel past a series of towns situated on both its banks.

Between this river and the Ocean coast the most famous places inland are: Segidasurnamed Augurina; Julia or Fidentia; Urgao or Alba; Ebura or Cerialis; Iliberrior Liberini; Ilipula or Lans; Artigi or Julienses; Vesci or Faventia; Singili,Ategua, Arialdunum, Agla Minor, Baebro, Castra Vinaria, Cisimbrium, New Hippo,Illurco, Osea, Oscua, Sucaelo, Unditannm, Old Tucciall of which are places inthat part of Bastetania which stretches towards the sea. In thejurisdiction of Cordova in the neighbourhood of the actual river are Ossigi surnamed Latonium, Iliturgi or Forum Julium, Ipra, Isturgi orTrintuphale, Sucia, and 17 miles inland Obulco or Pontificense, then Ripa, Epora(a treaty town), Sacili Martialium, Onuba, and on the right bank the colony ofCordova surnamed Patricia. At this point the Guadalquivir first becomesnavigable, and there are the towns of Carbula and Detunda, theriver Xenil flowing into the Guadalquivir on the same side.

The towns of the jurisdiction of Hispalis are Celti, Axati, Arua, Canama, Evia,Ilipa surnamed Ilpa Italiea; on the left bank is the colony Ilispal surnamedRomulensis, while on the opposite side are the towns Osset surnamed JuliaConstantia, Vergentum or Juli Genius, Orippo, Caura, Siarum, and the riverMaenuba, a tributary of the Guadalquivir on its right. Between the estuaries ofthe Guadalquivir are the towns of Nabrissa, surnamed Veneria, and Colobana, withtwo colonies, Hasta, which is called Itegia, and inland Asido, which is calledCaesarina.

The river Xenil, joining the Guadalquivir at the place in the list alreadymentioned, washes the colony of Astigi, surnamed Augusta Firma, from which pointit becomes navigable. The other colonies in this jurisdiction exempt fromtribute are Tucci, surnamed Augusta Gemella, Iptuci or Virtus Julia, Ucubi orClaritas Julia, Urso or Genetiva Urbanorum; and among these once was Munda,which was taken with the younger Pompey. The free towns are Old Astigi andOstippo, with the tributary towns of Callet, Callicula, Castra Gemina, IlipulaMinor, Marruca, Sacrana, Obulcula, Oningis, Sabora and Ventippo. At no greatdistance, on the Maenuba, another navigable river, are the settlements ofOlontigi, Laelia and Lastigi.

The region stretching from the Guadalquivir to the river Guadiana beyond theplaces already mentioned is called Baeturia, and is divided into two parts andthe same number of races, the Celtici bordering on Lusitania, of thejurisdiction of Seville, and the Turduli, who dwell on the borders of Lusitaniaand the Tarragon territory, but are in the jurisdiction of Cordova. That theCeltici came from the Celtiberi in Lusitania is proved by their religion, theirlanguage, and the names of their towns, which in Baetica are distinguished bysurnames: Seria has the additional name of Fama Julia, Nertobriga that ofConcordia Julia, Segida that of Restituta Julia, Ugultunia that of ContributaJulia (in which now is also included the town of Curiga), Lacimurga that ofConstantia Julia, and Stereses the surname of Fortunales and Callenses that ofAeneanici. Besides these places there are in Celtica Acinipo, Arunda, Arunci,Turobriga, Lastigi, Salpesa, Saepone, Serippo. The other part of Baeturia, whichwe have said belongs to the Turduli and to the jurisdiction of Cordova, containsthe not undistinguished towns of Arsa, Mellaria, Mirobriga Regina, Sosintigi andSisapo. To the jurisdiction of Cadiz belong Regina, with Roman citizens, LaepiaRegia with Latin citizens, Carisa surnamed Aurelia, Urgia surnamed CastrumJulium, and also Caesaris Salutariensis; the tributary towns of Besaro, Beippo,Barbesula, Blacippo, Baesippo, Callet, Cappacum, Oleastro, Iptuci, Ibrona,Lascuta, Saguntia, Saudo, Usaepo.

The total length ofBaetica according to Marcus Agrippa is 475 miles, and its breadth 258 miles, butthis was when its bounds extended as far as Cartagena: such extensionscomparatively often give rise to great errors in the measurements of distances,as they sometimes cause alterations in the boundary of provinces and sometimesan increase or reduction of the mileage of roads. During so long a period oftime the seas have been encroaching on the land or the shores have been movingforward, and rivers have formed curves or have straightened out their windings.Moreover different persons take different starting-points for their measurementsand follow different lines; and the consequence is that no two authoritiesagree.

II. At present the length of Baetica from the frontier of the town ofCazlona to Cadiz is 250 miles, and from the sea-front of Murgi 25 miles more;its breadth from Carteia along the coast to the Guadiana is 234 miles.Agrippa was a very painstaking man, andalso a very careful geographer; who therefore could believe that when intendingto set before the eyes of Rome a survey of the world he made a mistake, and withhim the late lamentedAugustus? for itwasAugustus who completed the porticocontaining a plan of the world that had been begun by his sister in accordancewith the design and memoranda ofMarcus Agrippa.

III. The old shape of Hither Spain has been considerably altered, as hasbeen that of several provinces, in as much asPompey the Great on his trophies which he set up in the Pyreneestestified that he had brought into subjection 876 towns between the Alps and theborders of Further Spain. Today the whole province is divided into sevenjurisdictions, namely those of Cartagena, Tarragon, Saragossa, Clunia, Astorga,Lugo, Braga. In addition there are the islands which will be mentionedseparately, but the province itself contains, besides 293 states dependent onothers, 189 towns, of which 12 are colonies, 13 are towns of Roman citizens, 18have the old Latin rights, one is a treaty town and 135 are tributary.

The first people, onthe coast, are the Bastuli, and after them in the following order proceedinginland come the Mentesani, the Bretani, the Carpetani on the Tagus, and next tothem the Vaccaei, the Vettones and the Celtiberian Arevaci. The towns nearestthe coast are Urci and Barea that belongs to Baetica, then the district ofBastitania, next after which comes Contestania and the colony of New Carthage,from the promontory of which, called the Cape of Saturn, the crossing toCaesarea, a city of Mauretania, is 197 miles. There remain to be mentioned onthe coast the river Tader and the tax-free colony of Ilici, from which theIlicitan Gulf takes its name; to this colony the Icositani are subordinate. Nextcome Lucentum, with Latin rights, Dianium, a tributary town, the river Sucro andin former days a town of the same name, forming the boundary of Contestania. Thedistrict of Metania comes next, with a lovely expanse of lake in front of it,and reaching back to Celtiberia. The colony of Valencia three miles from thesea, the river Turium, Saguntum, also three miles from the sea, a town withRoman citizenship, famous for its loyalty, and the river Udiva. The district ofthe Ilergaones, the river Ebro, rich in ship-borne trade, rising in the districtof the Cantabri not far from the town of Juliobrica, with a course of 450 miles,for 260 of which from the town of Vareia it is navigable for ships, and becauseof it the Greeks have called the whole of Spain by the name of Iberia. Next thedistrict of Cessetania, the river Subi, the colony Tarragon, which was foundedby the Scipios, as Cartagena was by the Carthaginians. The district of theIlergetes comes next, the town of Subur and the river Rubricatum, after whichbegin the Lacetani and the Indigetes. After them in the following orderproceeding inland from the foot of the Pyrenees are the Ausetani, the Jacetani,the Cerretani along the Pyrenees, and then the Vaseones. On the coast is thecolony of Lareclonia, surnamed Faventia, the Roman towns of Badalona and Iluro,the River Arnuni, Blandae, the river Alba, Amporias, one part of which isinhabited by the original natives and the other by Greeks descended from thePhocaeans, and the river Ticer. From it Cabo de Cruz on the other side of thepromontory is 40 miles distant.

We will now take the jurisdictions in order and give noteworthy facts about themin addition to those mentioned above. Forty-two peoples are subject to thejurisdiction of the courts of Tarragona; of them the best known arewith therights of Roman citizens, the people of Tortosa and the Bisgargitani; with Latinrights, the Ausetani, the Cerretani surnamed Juliani, and those surnamedAugustani, the Edetani, Gerundenses, Gessorienses, and Teari or Julienses;tributaries, the Aquicaldenses, Aesonenses and Baeculonenses.

Caesaraugusta, a colony that pays no taxes, iswashed by the river Ebro; its site was once occupied by a town called Salduba,belonging to the district of Edetania. It is the centre for 55 peoples; of thesewith the rights of Roman citizens are the Bilbilitani, the Celsenses (once acolony), the Calagurritani (surnamed Nasici), the Ilerdenses belonging to therace of the Surdaones next to the river Sicoris, the Oscenses of the district ofSuessetania, and the Turiassonenses; with the old Latin rights are theCascantenses, Ergavicenses, Graceurritani, Leonicenses and Osieerdenses; boundby treaty are the Tarracenses; tributary are the Arcobrigenses, Andelonenses,Aracelitani, Bursaonenses, Calagurritani surnamed Fibularenses, Conplutenses,Carenses, Cincienses, Cortonenses, Damanitani, Ispallenses, Ilursenses,Iluberitani, Jacetani, Libienses, Pompelonenses and Segienses.

At Cartagena assemble sixty-five peoples, not includinginhabitants of islands: from the colony of Accitana Gemellensis and fromLibisosana named Foroaugustana, to both of which Italic rights have been given,from the colony of Salaria; townsmen with the rights of old Latium, theCastulonenses, also called Caesarii Iuvenales, the Saetabitani or Augustani, andthe Valerienses. Of the tributary peoples the best known are the Alabanenses,Bastitani, Consaburrenses, Dianenses, Egelestani, Iloreitani, Laminitani,Mentesani or Oretani, Mentesani or Bastuli, the Oretani surnamed Germani, andthe people of Segobriga, capital of Celtiberia, the people of Toletum on theTagus, the capital of Carpetania, and then the Viatienses and the Virgilienses.

To the jurisdiction of Corunna the Varduli bring fourteen peoples, ofwhom we would mention only the Alabanenses, and the Turmogidi bring four,including the Segisamonenses and the Segisamajulieuses. To the same jurisdictiongo the Carietes and the Vennenses with five states, of whom the Velienses formone. Thither too go the Pelendones of the Celtiberians with four peoples, ofwhom the Numantines were once famous, as among the seventeen states of theVaccaei were the Intercatienses, Palantini, Lacobrigenses and Caucenses. Thenamong the Cantabriei, seven peoples, one state only, Juliobriga, need bementioned, and Tritimn and Virovesea among the ten states of the Autrigones.The Arevaei got their name from the river Areva; to them belong six towns,Secontia and Uxama, common names in other regions, also Segovia and NovaAugusta, with Hermes and Corunna itself, the end of Celtiberia. The rest of thecountry stretches towards the ocean, and here are the Varduli of those alreadymentioned and the Cantabri.

Adjoining these are twenty-two peoples of theAstures, divided into the Augustani and the Trammontani, with the splendid cityof Asturiea; these include the Gigurri, Peseii, Lancienses and Zoelae. The totalnumber of the population amounts to 240,000 free persons.

The jurisdiction of Lucus contains 15 peoples, unimportant and bearingoutlandish names, excepting the Celtici and Lemavi, but with a free populationamounting to about 166,000.

In a similar way the twenty-four states of Braga contain 286,000 persons,of whom besides the Bracari themselves may be mentioned, without wearying thereader, the Biballi, Coelerni, Callaeci, Equaesi, Limici and Querquerni.

The length of Hither Spain from the Pyrenees to the frontier of Cazlona is 607miles, and a little more along the coast; its breadth from Tarragon to the shoreof Olarson is 307 miles, starting from the foot of the Pyrenees, where thecountry forms the shape of a wedge between the two seas; then gradually itwidens out, and where it touches Further Spain it adds more than as much againto its breadth.

Nearly the whole of Spain is covered with mines oflead, iron, copper, silver and gold, Hither Spain with muscovite mines also;Baetica abounds in cinnabar as well. There are besides quarries of marble. HisMajesty the Emperor Vespasian bestowed the rights of Latium on the whole ofSpain when it had been storm-tossed by civil disorders. The frontier between theSpanish and the Gallic provinces is formed by the mountains of the Pyrenees,with headlands projecting into the two seas on either side.

IV. The part of the Gauls washed by the Mediterranean is entitled theprovince of Narbonne, having previously had the name of Bracata. It is dividedfrom Italy by the river Var, and by the ranges of the Alps, a very secureprotection for the Roman Empire, and from the rest of Gaul on the north by theCevennes and Jura mountains. Its agriculture, the high repute of its men andmanners and the vastness of its wealth make it the equal of any otherprovince: it is, in a word, not so much a province as a part of Italy. On thecoast there is the district of the Sordones, and more inland that of theConsuarani; the rivers are the Tech and the Verdouble, and the towns Elne, themere shadow of what was once a mighty city, and Castel Roussillon, which hasLatin rights. Then come the river Aude, which flows from the Pyrenees throughthe lake Rubrensis. Narbonne, a colony of the tenth legion twelve miles from thesea, and the rivers Ildrault and Lea. Apart from those mentioned there are butfew towns, owing to the marshes that fringe the coast. There is Agde, formerlybelonging to Marseilles, the district of the Volcae Tectosages, and the formersite of Rhoda, a colony of Rhodes, that has given its name to the Rhone, themost fertile river of the two Gauls, which rushes from the Alps though the Lakeof Geneva, bringing along the sluggish Saône and the Isère and Durance which areas rapid as itself. Of its mouths the two smaller are called Libica, one theSpanish, the other the Metapinian; the third and largest is the Massaliotic.Some authorities state that at the mouth of the Rhone there was once a towncalled Heraclea. Beyond are the canals leading out of the Rhone, famous as thework ofGaius Marius whose distinguishedname they bear, Lake Mastromela and the town of Maritima of the Avatici, andabove are the Stony Plains, where tradition says that Hercules fought battles,the district of the Anatilii, and inland those of the Dexivates and Cavares.Returning to the sea we have the districts of the Tricores and inland those ofthe Tritolli, Vocontii and Segovellauni, and after them the Allobroges. On thecoast is Marseilles, founded by the Greeks of Phocaea and now a confederatecity, then the promontory of Zao, the harbour of Citharista, the district of theCamactulici, then the Suelteri and above them the Verucini. On the coast too areAthenopolis of the Massilians, Fréjus, a colony of the eighth legion, calledPacensis and Classica, a river named Argenteus, the district of the Oxubii andLigauni, beyond whom come the Suebri, Quariates and Adunicates. On the coast isthe town of Antibes with Latin rights, the district of the Deciates and theriver Var, which rises in Mont Genis in the Alps.

The colonies in the interior are: Aries, the station of the sixth legion,Béziers of the seventh, Orange of the second, Valence in the territory of theCavares, and Vienne in that of the Allobroges. The towns with Latin rights areAix in the territory of the Salluvii, Mignon of the Cavares, Apt of theVulgientes, Pies of the Reii Apollinares,Alba of the Helvi, Augusta of the Tricastinf, Anatilia, Aetea, the Bormani, theComani, Cavaillon, Carcassonne of the Volcae Tectosages, Cessero, Carpentras ofthe Memini, the Caenicenses, the Camboleetri surnamed Atlantici, Forum Voconi,Glanum Libii, the Lutevani also called Foroneronienses, Nimes of the Arecomici,Pézenas, the Ruteni, the Samnagenses, the Tolosani of the Tectosages on theborder of Aquitania, the Tasgoduni, the Tarusconienses, theUmbranici, the two capitals of the confederate state of the Vocontii, Vasio andLucus Augusti; and also unimportant towns to the number of 19, as well as 24assigned to the people of Nimes. The Emperor Galba added to the list two peoplesdwelling in the Alps, the people of Avançon and the Bodiontici, whose town isDigne. According toAgrippa the lengthof the province of Narbonne is 370 miles and the breadth 248.

V. After this comes Italy, the first people of it being the Ligurians,after whom come Etruria, Umbria and Latium, where are the mouths of the Tiberand Rome, the capital of the world, sixteen miles from the sea. Afterwards comethe coast of the Volsci and of Campania, then of Picenum and Lucania and theBruttii, the southernmost point to which Italy juts out into the sea from thealmost crescent-shaped chain of the Alps. After the Bruttii comes the coast ofMagna Graecia, followed by the Sallentini, Paediculi, Apuli, Paeligni, Frentani,Marrueini, Vestini, Sabini, Picentes, Gauls, Umbrians, Tuscans, Venetians,Carni, Iapudes, Histri and Liburni. I am well aware that I may with justice beconsidered ungrateful and lazy if I describe in this casual and cursory manner aland which is at once the nursling and the mother of all other lands, chosen bythe providence of the gods to make heaven itself wore glorious, to unitescattered empires, to make manners gentle, to draw together in converse bycommunity of language the jarring and uncouth tongues of so many nations, togive mankind civilisation, and in a word to become throughout the world thesingle fatherland of all the races. But what am I to do? The great fame of allits placeswho could touch upon them alland the great renown of the variousthings and peoples in it give me pause. In that list even the city of Romealone, a countenance and one worthy of so glorious a neck, what elaboratedescription it merits! In what terms to describe the coast of Campania taken byitself, with its blissful and heavenly loveliness, so as to manifest ofthat there is one region where nature has been at work in her joyous mood! Andthen again all that invigorating healthfulness all the year round, the climateso temperate, the plains so fertile, the hills so sunny, the glades so secure,the groves so shady! Such wealth of various forests, the breezes from so manymountains, the great fertility of its corn and vines and olives, the gloriousfleeces of its sheep, the sturdy necks of its bulls, the many lakes, the richsupply of rivers and springs flowing over all its surface, its many seasand harbours and the bosom of its lands offering on all sides a welcome tocommerce, the country itself eagerly running out into the seas as it were to aidmankind. I do not speak of the character and customs of its people, its men, thenations that its language and its might have conquered. The Greeks themselves, apeople most prone to gushing self-praise, have pronounced sentence on the landby conferring on but a very small part of it the name of Great Greece! The truthis that in this part of my the heavenstouch upon particular points and only afew of the stars. I merely ask my readers to remember that I am hastening onfor the purpose of setting forth in detail all the contents of the entire world.

In shape, then, Italy much resembles an oak leaf, being far longer than it isbroad, bending towards the left at its top and ending in the shape of anAmazon's the projection in the centre being called Cocynthos, while it sends outtwo horns along bays of crescent shape, Leucopetra on the right and Lacinium onthe left. Its length extends for 1020 miles, beginning from Aosta atthe foot of the Alps and passing through Rome and Capua in a winding course tothe town of Reggio situated on its shoulder, where begins the curve, as it were,of the neck. The measure would be much greater if the line were carried on toLacinium, but with that bend the line would seem to diverge to one side. Thebreadth varies, being four hundred and ten miles between the rivers Var and Arsawhere they flow into the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, but about at themiddle, in the neighbourhood of the city of Rome, from the mouth of the riverPescara, which flows into the Adriatic Sea, to the mouths of the Tiber, itsbreadth is 136 miles, and a little less from Castrum Novum on the Adriatic Seato Palo on the Tuscan Sea, in no place exceeding a width of 200 miles. Thecircuit of the entire coast from the Var round to the Ama is 2049 miles. Itsdistances from the countries that surround it are as follows: from Istria andLiburnia in certain places 100 miles, from Epirus and Illyricum, 50 miles, fromAfrica, according toMarcus Varro, lessthan 200, from Sardinia 120, from Sicily 1½, from Corcyra less t.han 80, fromIssa 50. It stretches through the seas in a southerly direction, but a morecareful and accurate calculation would place it between due south and sunrise atmidwinter. We will now give an account of a circuit of Italy, and of itscities. Herein it is necessary to premise that we intend to follow the authorityof his late MajestyAugustus, and toadopt the division that he made of the whole of Italy into eleven regions, butto take them in the order that will be suggested by the coast-line, it beingindeed impossible, at all events in a very cursory account, to keep theneighbouring cities together; and so in going on to deal with the inlanddistricts we shall follow the Emperor's alphabetical arrangement, adopting theenumeration of the colonies that he set out in that list. Nor is it easy totrace their sites and origins, the Ligurian Ingauni, for examplenot to mentionthe other peopleshaving received grants of land on thirty occasions.

Therefore starting from the river Var we have Nice, founded by the peopleof Marseilles, the river Paghone, the Alps and the Alpine tribes with manynames, of which the chief is the Long-haired; Cimiez, the town of the state ofthe Vediantii, the port of Hercules of Monaco, and the Ligurian coast. Of theLigurians beyond the Alps the most famous are the Sallui, Deciates and Oxubi; onthis side, the Veneni, Turn, Soti, Vagienni, Statielli, Binbelli, Maielli,Cuburniates, Casmonates, Velleiates, and the tribes whose towns on the coast weshall mention next. The river Royas, the town of Ventimiglia, the river Merula,the town of Alhenga, the port of Vai or Savona, the river Bisagna, the town ofGenoa, the river Fertor, Porto Fino, Tigulia inland, Sestri di Levante, and theriver Magra, which is the boundary of Liguria. Behind all the above-mentionedlie the Apennines, the largest range of mountains in Italy, extending inan unbroken chain from the Alps to the Straits of Messina. On one side of therange, along the Po, the richest river of Italy, the whole country is studdedwith famous and flourishing towns: Libama, the colony of Dertona, Iria,Vardacas, Industria, Pollenza, Correa snrnamed Potentia, Forum Fulvi or Valenza,Augusta of the Bagienni, Mba Pompcia, Aste, Acqui. Under the partition ofAugustus this is the ninth region. Thecoast of Liguria extends 211 miles between the rivers Var and Magra.

The adjoining region is the seventh, in which is Etruria, beginning at the riverMagra, a district that has often changed its name. From it in ancient times theUmbri were driven out by the Pelasgi, and these by the Lydians, who after a kingof theirs were styled Tyrrheni, but later in the Greek language Tusci, fromtheir ritual of offering sacrifice. The first town in Etruria is Luni, famousfor its harbour; then the colony of Lucca, some way from the sea and nearer toPisa, between the rivers Auser and Arno, which owes its origin to thePelopidae or to the Greek tribe of the Teutani; then come the Marshes ofVolterra the river Cecina and Piombino, once the only Etruscan town on thecoast. After these is the river Prile, and then the navigable river Ombrone, atwhich begins the district of Umbria, the port of Telamone, Cosa of theVolcientes, founded by the Roman people, Graviscae, Castrum Novum, Pyrgi, theriver and the town of Caere, seven miles inland, called Agylla by the Pelasgianswho founded it, Alsium, Fregenae, and the river Tiber, 284 miles from the Magra.Inland are the colonies of Falisca, founded according toCato by the Argives and surnamed Faliscaof the Etruscans, Lucus Feroniae, Rusellana, Siena and Sutria. The remainingpeople are the Arretini Veteres, Arretini Fidentiores, ArretiniJulienses, Amitinenses, Aquenses surnamed Taurini, Blerani, Cortonenses,Capenates, Clusini Novi, Chisini Veteres, the Florentini on the bank of the Arnothat flows by, Faesulae, Ferentinum, Fescennia, Hortanurn, Herbanum, Nepi, NineVillages, the Claudian Prefecture of Foroclodiurn, Pistoriuni, Perugia, theSuanenses, the Saturnini formerly called the Aurini, the Subertani, Statonenses,Tarquinienses, Tuscanienses, Vetulonienses, Veientani, Vesentini, Volaterrani,the Volcentani surnamed Etrusci, and Volsinienses. In the same district theterritories of Crustumium and Caletra still keep the names of the ancient towns.

The Tiber, the former name of which was Thybris, and before that Albula, risesin about the middle of the Apennine chain in the territory of Arezzo. At firstit is a narrow stream, only navigable when its water is dammed by sluices andthen discharged, in the same way as its tributaries, the Tinia and the Chiana,the waters of which must be so collected for nine days, unless augmented byshowers of rain. But the Tiber, owing to its rugged and uneven channel, is evenso not navigable for a long distance, except for rafts, or rather logs of wood;in a course of 150 miles it divides Etruria from the Linibrians and Sabines,passing not far from Tifernum, Perugia and Ocriculum, and then, less than 16miles from Rome, separates the territory of Veii from that of Crustumium, andafterwards that of Fidenae and Latium from Vaticanurn. But below the confluenceof the Chiana from Arezzo it is augmented by forty-two tributaries, the chiefbeing the Nera and the Severone (which latter is itself navigable, and enclosesLatiurn in the rear), while it is equally increased by the aqueducts and thenumerous springs carried through to the city; and consequently it is navigablefor vessels of whatever size from the Mediterranean, and is a most tranquiltrafficker in the produce of all the earth, with perhaps more villas on itsbanks and overlooking it than all the other rivers in the whole world. And noriver is more circumscribed and shut in on either side; yet of itself it offersno resistance, though it is subject to frequent sudden floods, the inundationsbeing nowhere greater than in the city itself. But in truth it is looked uponrather as a prophet of warning, its rise being always construed rather as a callto religion than as a threat of disaster.

Old Latium has preserved the original limits, extending from the Tiber toCerceii, a distance of 50 miles; so exiguous at the beginning were the roots ofthe Empire. Its inhabitants have often changed: at various times it has beenoccupied by various peoplesthe Aborigines, the Pelasgi, the Arcades, theSiculi, the Aurunci, the Rutuli, and beyond Circello the Volsci, Osci andAusones, owing to which the name of Latium came to be extended as far as theriver Garigliano. To begin with there is Ostia, a colony founded by a Romanking, the town of Laurentum, the grove of Jupiter Indiges, the river Numicius,and Ardea, founded by Danaë the mother of Perseus. Then comes the site of whatwas once Aphrodisium, the colony of Antium, the river and island called Astura,the river Ninfa, the Roman Bulwarks, Circello, once an island surroundedby a boundless sea, if we are to believe Homer, but now surrounded by a plain.The facts that we are able to publish for the information of the world on thismatter are remarkable. Theophrastus, the first foreigner to write with specialcare about the Romansfor Theopompus, before whom nobody mentioned them, merelystates that Rome was taken by the Gauls, andClitarchus, the next after him, only that an embassy was sent toAlexanderTheophrastus,I say, relying on more than rumour, has actually given the measurement of theisland of Circello as 80 furlongs in the volume that he wrote in the archonshipofNicodorus at Athens, which was the440th year [314 BC] of our city. Whatever land therefore has been joined to theisland beyond the circumference of 10 miles was added to Italy after that year.Another marvel not far from Circello is the Pomptine Marsh, a place whichMucianus, who was three times consul,has reported to be the site of 24 cities. Then comes the river Aufentum, abovewhich is the town of Tarraeina, called Anxur in the dialect of the Volsci, andthe site of Amyclae, or Amynclae, the town destroyed by serpents, then the placecalled the Grottoes, Lake Fundanus, the port of Gaeta, the town of Formiae,called also Hormiae, the ancient abode, it has been thought, of theLaestrygones. Beyond this formerly stood the town of Pirae, and still existsthe colony of Minturnae, through which runs the river Liris, once called Clanis;and Sinuessa, the last town in the Extension of Latium, and stated by someauthorities to have been once styled Sinope.

Then comes the favoured country of Campania; in this valley begin thosevine-clad hills with their glorious wine and wassail, famous all the world over,and (as old writers have said) the scene of the severest competition betweenFather Liber and Ceres. From this point stretch the territories of Sezza andCaecubum, with which march the Falernian and those of Calvi. Then rise up MonteMassico, Monte Barbaro and the hills of Sorrento. Here spread the plains ofLeborium, where the spelt crop is sedulously tended to produce deliciousfrumity. These shores are watered by hot springs, and are noted beyond allothers throughout the whole of the sea for their famous shell and otherfish. Nowhere is there nobler olive oilanother competition to gratify man apleasure. Its occupants have been Oscans, Greeks, Umbrians, Tuscans andCampanians. On the coast are the river Saove, the town of Volturno with theriver of the same name, Liternum, the Chalcidian colony of Cumae, Miseno, theport of Baiae, Bacolo, the Lucrine lake, Lake Averno near which formerly stoodthe town of Cimmerium, then Pozzuoli, formerly called the Colony ofDicaearchus; after which come the plaimof Salpatara and the Lago di Fusaro near Comae. On the coast stands Naples,itself also a colony of the Chalcidians, named Parthenope from the tomb of oneof the Sirens, Herculaneum, Pompei with Mount Vesuvius in view not far off andwatered by the river Sarno, the Nucerian territory and nine miles from the seaNocera itself, and Sorrento with the promontory of Minerva that once was theabode of the Sirens. From this place the distance by sea from Cerceii is 78miles. This region, beginning from the Tiber, under the partition made byAugustus is regarded as the first regionof Italy.

Inland are the following colonies: Capua, so named from its forty miles of plain(campus), Aquino, Suessa, Venafro, Sora, Teano surnamed Sidicinum,and Nola; and the towns of Abellinum, Aricia, Alba Longa, the Acerrani, theAllifani, the Atinates, the Aletrinates, the Anagnini, the Atellani, theAefulani, the Arpinates, the Auximates, the Abellani, the Alfaterni (both thosethat take their surname from the Latin territory, and from the Hernican, andfrom the Labican), Bovillae, Caiatiae, Casinum, Calenum, Capitulum of theHernici, the Cereatini who have the surname of Mariani, the Corani descendedfrom the Trojan Dardanus, the Cubulterini, the Castrimoenienses, the Cingulani,the Fabienses on Mount Albanus, the Foropopulienses from the Falernian district,the Frusinates, the Ferentinates, the Freginates, the Old Fabraterni, the NewFubraterni, the Ficolenses, the Fregellani, Forum Appi, the Forentani, theGabini, the Interamnates Sucasini, also called the Lirenates, the Ilionenses,the Lanivini, the Norbani, the Nomentani, the Praenestini with their city oncecalled Stephane, the Privernates, the Setini, the Signini, the Suessulani, theTelesini, the Trebulani surnamed Ballienses, the Trebani, the Tusculani, theVerulani, the Veliterni, the Ulubrenses, the Urbanates; and besides all theseRome itself, whose other name it is held to be a sin to utter except at theceremonies of the mysteries, and whenValeriusSoranus divulged the secret religiously kept for the weal of the state,he soon paid the penalty. It seems pertinent to add at this point aninstance of old religion established especially to inculcate this silence: thegoddess Angerona, to whom sacrifice is offered on December 21, is represented inher statue with a sealed bandage over her mouth.

Romulus left Rome possessing three or, to accept the statement of theauthorities putting the number highest, four gates. The area surrounded by itswalls at the time of the principate and censorship of the Vespasians, in the826th [73 AD] of its foundation, measured 13 miles and 200 yards incircumference, embracing seven hills. It is itself divided into fourteenregions, with 265 crossways with their guardian Lares. If a straight line isdrawn from the milestone standing at the head of the Roman Forum to each of thegates, which today number thirty-seven (provided that the Twelve Gates becounted only as one each and the seven of the old gates that exist no longer beomitted), the result is a total of 20 miles 765 yards in a straight line. Butthe total length of all the ways through the districts from the same milestoneto the extreme edge of the buildings, taking in the Praetorians' Camp, amountsto a little more than 60 miles. If one were further to take into account theheight of the buildings, a very fair estimate would be formed, that would bringus to admit that there has been no city in the whole world that could becompared to Rome in magnitude. On the east it is bounded by the Dyke ofTarquinius Superbus, a work among the leading wonders of the world, for he madeit as high as the walls where the approach was flat and the city lay most opento attack. In other directions it had the protection of lofty walls or else ofprecipitous hills, except for the fact that the increasing spread of buildingshas added a number of cities to it.

The first region formerly included the following celebrated towns ofLatium besides those mentioned: Satricum, Pometia, Scaptia, Politorium, Tellena,Tifata, Caenina, Ficana, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullum, Corniculum, Satuxniaon the site of the present Rome, Antipolis, which today is Janiculum and a partof Rome, Antemnae, Camerium, Collatia, Amitinum, Norbe, Sulmo; and together withthese the Alban peoples who were accustomed to receive flesh on the Alban Hill,namely the Albani, Aesolani, Accienses, Abolani, Bubetani, Bolani, Cusuetani,Coriolani, Fidenates, Foreti, Hortenses, Latinienses, Longulani, Manates,Macrales, Munienses, Numinienses, Olliculani, Octulani, Pedani, Polluscini,Querquetulani, Sicani, Sisolemes, Tolerienses, Tutienses, Vimitellari,Velienses, Venetulani, Vitellenses. Thus 53 peoples of Old Latium have perishedwithout leaving a trace.

In the Campanian territory the town of Stabiae existed right down toApril 29 in the consulship ofGnaeus PompeiusandLucius Cato, whenLieutenant-General Lucius Sulla in theAllies' War destroyed the place that has now been reduced to a farmhouse. Herealso was Taurania, which has now perished; and the remains of Casilinum are inprocess of disappearance. Furthermore,Antiasrecords that the Latin town of Apiolae was captured by KingLucius Tarquinius, who used the spoilsof it to begin building the Capitol. The 30 miles of Picentine territory betweenthe district of Sorrento and the river Silaro belonged to the Etruscans; it sinsfamous for the temple of Argive Juno founded by Jason. Further inland wasPicentia, a town of Salerno.

At the Silaro begins the third region, the Lucanian and Bruttian territory; inthis too there have been frequent changes of population. It has been occupied byPelasgi, Oenotri, Itali, Morgetes, Siculi, and mostly by peoples of Greece, andmost recently by the Lucani, Samnite in origin, whose leader was Lucius. Thetown of Paestum (called Posidonia by the Greeks), the bay of Paestum, the townof Thea, now Velia, Cape Palinuro, from which across the bay that here stretchesinland the distance to the Royal Pillara is 100 miles. Next is the river Melpes,the town of Buxentum (the Greek name of which is Pyxus) and the river Laustherewas once a town also of the same name. Here begins the coast of the Bruttii,with the town of Blanda, the river Baletum, the port of Parthenius, founded bythe Phocians, the Bay of Vibo, the site of Clampetia, the town of Tempsa (theGreek name of which is Temese), and Terina, founded by the people of Croton, andthe extensive Bay of Terina; and inland the town of Cosenza. On a peninsula isthe river Acheron, which gives its name to the township of the Acherontians;Hippo, which we now call Vibo Valentia; the Port of Hercules, the riverMetaurus, the town of Tauroentum, the Port of Orestes, and Medma; the town ofScyllaeum and the river Crataeis, known in legend as the Mother of Scylla; thenthe Royal Pillar, the Straits of Messina and the two opposing headlands, Caenuson the Italian and Pelorum on the Sicilian side, the distance betweenthem being 1½ miles; Reggio is 11½ miles away. Next comes the Apennine forest ofSila, and the promontory of Leucopetra 15 miles from it, and Epizephyrian Locri(called after the promontory of Zephyrium) 51 miles; it is 303 miles from theriver Silaro. And this rounds off the first gulf of Europe.

The names of the seas that it contains are as follows: that from which it makesits entrance is the Atlantic, or as others call it, the Great Sea; the strait bywhich it enters is called by the Greeks Porthmos and by us the Straits of Cadiz;after it has entered, as far as it washes the coast of the Spains it is calledthe Spanish Sea, or by others the Iberian or the Balearic Sea; then the GallicSea as far as the Province of Narbonne, and afterwards the Ligurian Sea; fromthat point to the Island of Sicily the Tuscan Sea, which some of the Greeks callthe Southern Sea and others the Tyrrhenian, but most of our own people the LowerSea. Beyond Sicily, as far as the south-eastern point of Italy Polybius calls itthe Ausonian Sea, but Eratosthenes calls all the part between the ocean inletand Sardinia the Sardoan Sea, from Sardinia to Sicily the Tyrrheuian, fromSicily to Crete the Sicilian, and beyond Crete the Cretan.

The first of all the islands scattered over these seas are called with theGreeks the Pityussae, from the pine trees that grow on them; each of theseislands is now named Ebusus and in treaty with Rome, the channel between thembeing narrow. Their area is 46 miles, and their distance from Denia 871 miles,which is the distance by land from Denia to New Carthage, while at the samedistance from the Pityussac out to sea are the two Balearic islands, andopposite the River Xucar lies Colubraria. The Balearic islands, formidable inwarfare with the sling have been designated by the Greeks the Gymnasiae. Thelarger island, Majorca, is 100 miles in length and 475 in circumference. Itcontains towns of Roman citizen colonists, Palma and Pollenza, towns with Latinrights, Sineu and Tucis; a treaty town of the Bocchi, no longer existing. Thesmaller island, Minorca, is 30 miles away from Majorca; its length is 40 milesand its circumference 150; it contains the states of Iamo, Sanisera and PortMahon. Twelve miles out to sea from Majorca is Cabrera, treacherous forshipwrecks, and right off the city of Palma lie the Malgrates and Dragonera andthe small island of El Torre.

The soil of Iviza drives away snakes, but that of Colubraria breeds snakes, andconsequently that land is dangerous to all people except those who bring earthfrom Iviza; the Greeks called it Snake Island. Iviza does not breed rabbitseither, which ravage the crops of the Balearics. The sea is full of shoals, andthere are about twenty other small islands; off the coast of Gaul at the mouthof the Rhone is Metina, and then the island named Brescon, and the three whichthe neighbouring people of Marseilles call the Row of Islands because of theirarrangement, their Greek names being First Island, Middle Island, also calledPomponiana, and the third Hypaea; next to these are Iturium, Phoenica, Lero, andopposite Antibes Lerina, on which according to local tradition there was once atown called Berconum.

VI. In the Ligurian Sea, but adjoining the Tuscan, is the island ofCorsica, the Greek name of which is Cyrnos it lies in a line from north tosouth, and is 150 miles long and at most points 50 miles broad: itscircumference measures 325 miles; it is 62 a miles from the Shallows ofVolterra. It contains 32 states, and the colonies of Mariana founded byGaius Marius and Aleria founded bySulla when Dictator. Nearer the mainlandis Oglasa, and inside that, and 60 miles from Corsica, Pianosa, so named fromits appearance, as it is level with the sea and consequently treacherous tovessels. Then La Gorgona, a larger island, and Capraia, the Greek name of whichis Aegilion, and also Giglio and Gianuto, in Greek Artemisia, both opposite thecoast at Cosa, and Barpana, Menaria, Columbaria, Venaria, Elba with its ironmines, an island 100 miles round and 10 miles from Populonium, called by theGreeks Aethalia; the distance between Elba and Pianosa is 28 miles. After thesebeyond the mouths of the Tiber and off the coast of Antium is Astura, thenPalmarola, Senone, and opposite to Formiae Ponza. In the gulf of Pozzuoli arePandateria, Prochyta (so called not afterAeneas's nurse but because it was formed of soil deposited by the currentfrom Aenaria), Aenaria (named from having given anchorage to the fleet of Aeneasbut called Inarime inHomer) andPithecusa (named not from its multitude of monkeys, as some people havesupposed, but from its pottery factories). Between Posilippo and Naples isMegaris; then, 8 miles from Sorrento, Capri, celebrated for the EmperorTiberius's castlethe island is 11 milesround; Leucothea; and out of sight, being on the edge of the African Sea,Sardinia, which is less than 8 miles from the end of Corsica, and moreover thechannel is narrowed by the small islands called the Rabbit Warrens, and also bythe islands of Caprera, and Fossa, from which comes the Greek name of theStraits themselves, Taphros.

VII. The east coast of Sardinia is 188 miles long, the west coast175, the south coast 77 and the north coast 125; its circumference is 565 miles;and at Cape Carbonara its distance from Africa is 200 miles and from Cadiz 1400.It also has two islands off Capo IFalcone called the Islands of Hercules, oneoff La Puuta dell'Alga called Santo Antiocho, and one off Cape Carbonara calledColtelalzo. Near it some authorities also place the island sof Berelis, Callodesand the one called the Baths of Hera. The best-known peoples in Sardinia are theIlienses, Balari, Corsi (who occupy 18 towns), Sulcitani, Valentini,Neapolitani, Vitenses, Caralitani (who have the Roman citizenship), and theNorenses; and one colony called At Libiso's Tower. Sardinia itself was called byTimaeus Sandaliotis, from the similarity of its shape to the sole of a shoe, andby Myrsilus Ichnusa, from its resemblance to a footprint. Opposite to the Bay ofPaestum is La Licosa, called after the Siren buried there; and opposite Veliaare Pontia and Isacia, both included under the one name of the Oenotrides, whichis evidence that Italy was once in the possession of the Oenotri; and oppositeto Vibo are the small islands called the Isles of Ithaca, from the watch-towerof Ulysses that stands there.

VIII. But before all the islands of the Mediterranean in renown standsSicily, called byThucydides Sicania and by a good many authors Triuacria or Trinacia from its triangularshape. The measurement of its circumference, according toAgrippa, is 528 miles. In former timesit was attached to the southern part of Italy, but later it was separated fromit by an overflow of the sea, forming a strait 15 miles long and 1½ miles wideat the Royal Pillar: this monument of the formation of the gap is the origin ofthe Greek name of the town situated on the Italian coast, Rhegium. In theseStraits is the rock of Scylla and also the whirlpool of Charybdis, bothnotoriously treacherous. Sicily itself is triangular in shape, its points beingthe promontory mentioned before named Pelorum, pointing towards Italy, oppositeScylla, Pachynum towards Greece, the Morea being 440 miles away, and Lilybaenmtowards Africa, at a distance of 150 miles from the Promontory of Mercuryand 190 from Gape Carbonara in Sardinia. The following are the distancesof these promontories from one another and the length of the coast lines: fromPelorum to Pachynum by land is 186 miles, from Pachynum to Lilybaeum 200 miles,and from Lilybacum to Pelorum 142 miles.

Sicily contains five colonies and sixty-three cities and states. Starting fromPelorum, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea is the town of Messina, whosedenizens called Mamertines have the Roman citizenship, the promontory ofTrapani, the colony of Taormina, formerly Naxos, the river Alcantara, and MountEtna with its wonderful displays of fire at night: the circuit of its cratermeasures 21 miles; the hot ashes reach as far as Taormina and Catania. and thenoise to Madonia and Monte di Mele. Then come the three Rocks of the Cyclopes,the Harbour of Ulysses, the colony of Catania, and the rivers Symaethum andTerias. Inland are the Laestrygonian Plains. Then there are the towns ofLentini, Megaris, the river Porcaro, the colony of Syracuse with the Spring ofAxethusa (although the territory of Syracuse is also supplied with water by thesprings of Temenitis, Archidemia, Magea, Cyane and Milichie), the harbour ofNaustathmus, the river Elorum, the promontory of Pachynum. On this side ofSicily are the river Hyrminus, the town of Camarina, the river Gelas; the townof Acragas, called Agrigentmn in our language; the colony of Thermae; the riversAchates, Mazara, Hypsa and Selinus; the town of Lilybacum and the promontory towhich it gives its name; Trapani, Mount Eryx, the towns of Palermo, Solunto,Himera with its river, Cephaloedis, Alintium, Agathyrnum; the colony of Tindari,the town of Melazzo, and the district of Pelorum from which we began.

In the interior the towns having Latin rights are those of theCenturipini, Netini and Segestani; tributaries are Asaro, Nicolosi, Argiro, theAcestaei, the Acrenses, the Bidini, the peoples of Cassaro, Trapani, Ergetium,Orchula, Bryn, Butella, Castro Giovanni, Gangi, Gela, Galata, Tisa, Hermae,Hybla, Nicosia, Pantalica, Ilerbitenses, Saleni, Aderno, Imacara, Ipana, Iato,Mistretta, Magella, Mandri, Modica, Mineo, Taormina, Noara, Petra,Colisano, Alicata, Semelita, Scheria, Selinunte, Symaethus, Talaria, Itandazza,Troccoli, Tyracinum and Zancle, a Messenian settlement on the Straits of Sicily.

The islands on the side towards Africa are Oozo, adjacent Malta (which is 87miles from Camerina and 113 from Lilybaeum), Pantellaria, Maretino, Limosa,Calata, Lampedosa, Aethusa (written by others Aegusa), Levanzo, Alicus (75 milesfrom Solunto), and Ustica opposite to Paropus. On the Italian side of Sicilyfacing the river Metaurus, at a distance of nearly 25 miles from Italy, are theseven islands called the Aeolian and also the Liparean: their Greek name is theHephaestiades, and the Roman Vulcan's Islands; they are called Aeolian from KingAeolus who reigned there in the Homericperiod.

IX. Lipari, with a town possessing rights of Roman citizenship, takes itsname from KingLiparus, who succeededAeolusit was previously called Milogonis or Meligunis; it is 25 miles from Italy, and its circumferencemeasures a little less than 5 miles. Between it and Sicily is another islandformerly called Therasia, and now Holy Island because it is sacred to Vulcan, onit being a hill that vomits out flames in the night. The third island isStromboli, six miles to the east of Lipari; here Aeolus reigned. It differs fromLipari only in the fact that its flame is more liquid; the local population arereported to be able to foretell from its smoke three days ahead what winds aregoing to blow, and this is the source of the belief that the winds obeyed theorders of Aeolus. The fourth of the islands, Didyme, is smaller than Lipari. Thefifth, Eriphusa, and the sixth, Phoenicusa, are left to provide pasture for theflocks of the neighbouring islands; the last and also the smallest is Euonymus.So far as to the first gulf of Europe.

X. At Locri begins the projection of Italy called Magna Graecia, retiringinto the three bays of the Ausonian Sea, so called from its firstinhabitants the Ausones. According toVarroits length is 86 miles, but most authorities have made it 75. On this coast arerivers beyond count; but the places worthy of mention, beginning at Locri, arethe Sagriano and the ruins of the town of Caulon, Monasteraci, Camp Consilinum,Punta di Stilo (thought by some to be the longest promontory in Italy), then thegulf and city of Squillace, called by the Athenians when founding it Scylletium.This part of the country is made into a peninsula by the Gulf of Santa Eufemiawhich runs up to it, and on it is the harbour called Hannibal's Camp. It is thenarrowest part of Italy, which is here 20 miles across, and consequently theelderDionysius wanted to cut a canalacross the peninsula in this place, and annex it to Sicily. The navigable riversin this district are the Corace, Alli, Simari, Crocchio and Tacina; it containsthe inland town of Strongolo, the range of Monte Monacello, and the promontoryof Lacinium, off the coast of which ten miles out lies the Island of the Sons ofZeus and another called Calypso's Island, which is thought to beHomer's island of Ogygia, and alsoTyris, Ernnusa and Meloessa. According toAgrippa the distance of the promontory of Lacinium from Caulon is 70miles.

XI. At the promontory of Lacinium begins the second Gulf of Europe; itcurves round in a large bay and ends in Acroceraunium, a promontory of Epirus;the distance from cape to cape is 75 miles. Here are the town of Crotona, theriver Neto, and the town of Turi between the river Crati and the river Sibari,on which once stood the city of the same name. Likewise Heraclea, once calledSins, lies between the Sins and the Aciris. Then the rivers Salandra andBassiento, and the town of Torre di Mare, at which the third region of Italyends. The only inland community of the Bruttii are the Aprustani, but in theinterior of Lucania are the Atinates, Bantini, Eburini, Grumentini, Potentini,Sontini, Sirini, Tergilani, Ursentini and Volcentani adjoining whom are theNumestrani. Moreover it is stated byCatothat the town of Thebes in Lucania has disappeared andTheopompus says that there was once acity of the Lucanians named Mardonia, in whichAlexander of Epirus died.

Adjoining this district is the second region of Italy, embracing the Hirpini,Calabria, Apulia and the Sallentini with the 250-mile bay named after theLaconian town of Taranto (this is situated in the Nipnermost recess of the bayand has had attached to it the sea-board colony that had settled there, and itis 136 miles distant from the promontory of Lacinium),throwing out Calabriawhich is opposite to Lacinium to form a peninsula. The Greeks called it Messapiafrom their leaderMessapus, andpreviously Peucetia fromPeucetius thebrother ofOenotrius, and it was in theSallentine territory.

The distance betweenthe two headlands is 100 miles; and the breadth of the peninsula overland fromTaranto to Brindisi is 35 miles, and considerably less if measured from the portof Sasine. The towns inland from Taranto are Uria, which has the surname ofMessapia to distinguish it from Uria in Apulia, and Sarmadium; on the coast areSenum and Gallipoli, the present Anxa, 75 miles from Taranto. Next, 33 milesfarther, the promontory called the Iapygian Point, where Italy projects farthestinto the sea. Nineteen miles from this point are the towns of Vaste and Otranto,at the boundary between the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic, where is the shortestcrossing to Greece, opposite to the town of Apollonia, separated by an arm ofthe sea not more than 50 miles wide. KingPyrrhus of Epirus first conceived theplan of carrying a causeway over this gap by throwing bridges across it, andafter himMarcus Varro had the same ideawhen commanding the fleets ofPompey inthe Pirate War; but both were prevented by other commitments. After Otrantocomes the deserted site of Soletum, then Fratuertium, the harbour of Taranto,the roadstead of Miltope, Lecce, Baleso, Cavallo, and then Brindisi, 50 milesfrom Otranto, one of the most famous places in Italy for its harbour and asoffering a more certain crossing albeit a longer one, ending at the city ofDurazzo in Illyria, a passage of 225 miles.

Adjacent to Brindisi is the territory of the Paediculi, whose twelve tribes werethe descendants of nine youths and nine maidens from the Illyrians. The towns ofthe Paediculi are Ruvo, Agnazzo and Ban; their rivers are the Iapyx, named fromthe son of Daedalus, the king who also gives his name to the lapygian Point, thePactius and the Aufidus, which runs down from the Hirpini mountains and pastCanossa.

Here begins Apulia, called Apulia of the Daunii, who were named aftertheir chief, the father-in-law ofDiomede;in Apulia is the town of Salpi, famous as the scene ofHannibal's amour with a courtezan,Sipontum, Uria, the river Cervaro marking the boundary of the Daunii, theharbour of Porto Greco, the promontory of Monte Gargano (the distance roundGargano from the promontory of Sallentinum or Iapygia being 234 miles), the portof Varano, the lake of Lesina, the river Frento which forms a harbour, Teanum oftile Apuli and Larinum of the Apuli, Cliternia, and the river Biferno, at whichbegins the district of the Frentani. Thus the Apulians comprise three differentraces: the Teani, so called from their chief, of Graian descent; the Lucanianswho were subdued byCalchas and whooccupied the places that now belong to the Atinates; and the Daunians,including, beside the places mentioned above, the colonies of Lucera and Venosaand the towns of Canossa and Arpa, formerly called Argos Hippium when founded byDiomede, and afterwards Argyripa. HereDiomede destroyed the tribes of theMonadi and Dardi and two cities whose names have passed into a proverbial joke,Apina and Trica. Besides these there are in the interior of the second regionone colony of the Hirpini formerly called Maleventum and now more auspiciously,by a change of name, Beneventum, the Ausculani, Aquiloni, Abellinates snrnamedProtropi, Compsani, Candini, Ligurians with the surnames Baebiani, Vescellani,Aeclani, Aletrini, Abellinates surnamed Marsi, Atrani, Aceani, Alfellani,Atinates, Arpani, Boreani, Collatini, Corinenscs, Cannae celebrated for theRoman defeat, Dirini, Forentani, Genusini, Herdonienses, Irini, Larinatessurnamed Frentani, the Merinates from Monte Gargano, Mateolani, Neretini,Natini, Rubustini, Silvini, Strapellini, Turnantini, Vibinates, Venusini,Ulurtini. Inland Calabrian peoples are the Aegetini, Apamestini, Argentini,Butuntinenses, Deciani, Grumbestini, Norbanenses, Palionenses, Stulnini andTutini; inland Sallentini are the Aletini, Basterbint Neretini, Uzentini andVeretini.

XII. There follows the fourth region, which includes the very bravestraces in Italy. On the coast, in the territory of the Frentani,after Tifernum are the river Trigno, affording a harbour, and the towns ofHistonium, Buca and Hortona and the river Aternus. Inward are the Anxanisurnamed Frentani, the Upper and Lower Caretini and the Lanuenses; and in theMarrucine territory Chieti; in the Paelignian, the people of Corfinium; Subequoand Sulmona; in the Marsian, those of Lanciano, Atina, Fucino, Lucca and Muria;in the Albensian region the town of Alba on Lake Fucino; in the Aequicuian,Cliternia and Carsoli; in the Vestinian, Sant Angelo, Pinna and Peituina,adjoining witch is Ofena South of the Mountain; in the region of the Samnites,who once were called Sabelli and by the Greeks Saunitae, the colony of OldBojano and the other Bojano that bears the name of the Eleventh Legion,Alfidena, Isernia, Fagifulani, Ficolea, Supino, and Terevento; in the Sabine,Amiternum, Correse, Market of Decius, New Market, Fidenae, Ferano, Noreia, LaMentana, Rieti, Trebula Mutuesca, Trebula Suffena, Tivoii, Tarano. In thisdistrict, of the tribes of the Aequicoli the Comini, Tadiates, Caedici andAlfaterni have disappeared. It is stated by Gellianus that a Marsian town of Arehippe, founded by the LydiancommanderMarsyas, has been submergedin Lake Fucino, and alsoValerian saysthat the town of the Vidicini in Picenum was destroyed by the Romans. TheSabines (according to some opinions called Sebini from their religious beliefsand ritual) live on the lush dewy hills by the Lakes of Velino.Those lakes drain into the river Nera, which from these derives the river Tiberwith its sulphurous waters, and they are replenished by the Avens which runsdown from Monte Fiscello near the Groves of Vacuna and Rieti and loses itself inthe lakes in question. In another direction the Teverone rising in Mount Trevidrains into the Tiber three lakes famous for their beauty, from which Subiacotakes its name. In the district of Rieti is the lake of Cutilia, which is saidbyMarcus Varro to be the central pointof Italy, and to contain a floating island. Below the Sabine territory liesLatium, on one side of it Picenum, and behind it Umbria, while the rangesof the Apennines fence it in on either side.

XIII. The fifth region is that of Picenum, which formerly was verydensely populated: 360,000 Picentines took the oath of allegiance to Rome. Theyderived their origin from the Sabines, who had made a vow to celebrate a HolySpring. The territory that they took possession of began at the riverAterno, where are now the district and colony of Adria, 6 miles from thesea. Here is the river Vomanus, the territories of Praetutia and Palma, also theNew Camp, the river Batinus, Tronto with its river, the only Liburniansettlement left in Italy, the river Albula, Tessuinum, and Helvinum where theregion of the Praetutii ends and that of Picenum begins; the town of Cupra,Porto di Fermo, and above it the colony of Ascoli, the most famous in Picenum.Inland is Novana, and on the coast Cluana, Poteatia, Numana founded by theSicilians, and Ancona, a colony founded by the same people on the promontory ofCunerus just at the elbow of the coast where it bends round, 183 miles fromMonte Gargano. Inland are Osimo, Beregra, Cingula, Cupra surnamed Montana,Falerona, Pausnla, Plalina, Iticinum, Septempedum, Tollentinum, Treia, and thepeople from Pollentia settled at Urbisaglia.

XIV. Adjoining to this will come the sixth region, embracing Umbria andthe Gallic territory this side Rimini. At Ancona begins the Gallic coast namedGallia Togata. The largest part of this district was occupied by Sicilians andLiburnians, especially the territories of Palma, Praetutia and Adria. They wereexpelled by the Umbrians, and these by Etruria, and Etruria by the Gauls. TheUmbrians are believed to be the oldest race of Italy, being thought to be thepeople designated as Ombrii by the Greeks on the ground of their having survivedthe rains after the flood. We find that 300 of their towns were conquered by theEtruscans. On this coast at the present time are the river Esino, Sinigagha,the river Meturo and the colonies of Fano and Pesaro with the river of the samename and inland those of Spello and Todi. Besides these there are the peoples ofAmelia, Attiglio, Assisi, Ama, Iesi, Camerino, Casuentillum, Carsulae; theDolatcs surnamed Sallentini; Foligno, Market of Flaminius, Market of Julius,surnamed Concupium, Market Brenta, Fossombrone, Gubbio, Terni on the Nera,Bevagna, Mevanio, Matilica, Narni (the town formerly called Nequinum); thepeople of Nocera surnamed Favonienses and those surnamed Camellani; Otricoli,Ostra; the Pitulani surnamed Pisuertes and others surnamed Mergentini; thePlestini; Sentinum, Sassina, Spoleto, Suasa, Sestino, Sigello, Tadina, Trevi,Tuficum, Tifernum on the Tiber, Tifernum on the Meturo; Vesinica, Urbino on theMeturo and Urbino of the Garden, Bettona, the Vindinates and the Visuentani.Peoples that have disappeared in this district are the Felighates and theinhabitants of Clusiolum above Interainna, and the Sarranates, together with thetowns of Acerrae surnamed Vafriae and Turocaelum surnamed Vettiolum; also theSolinates, Suriates, Falinates and Sappinates. There have also disappeared theArinates with the town of Crinivolum and the Usidicani and Plangenses, thePaesinates, the Caelestini. Ameria above-mentioned is stated byCato to have been founded 963 yearsbefore the war with Perseus.

XV. The boundaries of the eighth region are marked by Rimini, the Po andthe Apennines. On its coast are the river Conca, the colony of Rimini with therivers Ariminum and Aprusa, and the river Rubicon, once the frontierof Italy. Then there are the Savio, the Bevano and the Roneone; the Sabine townof Ravenna with the river Montone, and the Umbrian town of Butrium 105 milesfrom Ancona and not far from the sea. Inland are the colonies of Bologna (whichat the time when it was the chief place in Etruria was called Felsina),Brescello, Modena, Parrna, Piacenza, and the towns of Cesena, Quaderna,Fornocchia, Forli, Forli Piccolo, Bertinoro, Cornelius Market, Incino, Faenza,Fidentia, Otesini, Castel Bondino, Reggio named from Lepidus, Città di Sole,Groves of Gallius surnamed Aquinates, Tenedo, Villac in old days surnamedRegias, Urbana. Peoples no longer existing in this region are the Boiip said byCato to have comprised 112tribes, and also the Senones who captured Rome.

XVI. The source of the Po, which well deserves a visit, is a spring inthe heart of Monte Viso, an extremely lofty Alpine peak in the territory of theLigurian Vagienni; the stream burrows underground and emerges again in thedistrict of Vibius Market. It rivals all other rivers in celebrity; its Greekname was Eridanus, and it is famous as the scene of the punishment of Phaethon.The melting of the snows at the rising of the Dogstar causes it to swell involume; but though its flooding does more damage to the fields adjacent than tovessels, nevertheless it claims no part of its plunder for itself, and where itdeposits its spoil it bestows bounteous fertility. Its length from its source is300 miles, to which it adds 88 by its windings, and it not only receivesnavigable rivers from the Apennines and the Alps, but also immense lakes thatdischarge themselves into it, and it carries down to the Adriatic Sea as manyas 30 streams in all. Among these the best-known are: flowing from the Apenninerange, the Jactum, the Tanaro, the Trebbia (on which is Piacenza), the Taro, theEuza, the Secchia, the Panaro and the Reno; flowing from the Alps, the Stura,Orco, two Doras, Sesia, Ticino, Lambra, Adda, Oglio and Mincio. Nor does anyother river increase so much in volume in so short a distance; in fact, the vastbody of water drives it on and scoops out its bed with disaster to the land,although it is diverted into streams and canals between Ravenna and Altino overa length of 120 miles; nevertheless where it discharges its water more widelyit forms what are called the Seven Seas.

The Po is carried to Ravenna by the Canal of Augustus; this part of the river iscalled the Padusa, nearest to Ravenna forms the large basin called the Harbourof the Santerno; it was here thatClaudiusCaesar sailed out into the Adriatic, in what was a vast palace ratherthan a ship, when celebrating his triumph over Britain. This mouth was formerlycalled the Eridanus, and by others the Spineticus from the city of Spina thatformerly stood near it, and that was believed on the evidence of its treasuresdeposited at Delphi to have been a very powerful place; it was founded byDiomede. At this point the Po isaugmented by the river Santerno from the territory of Cornelius Market.

The next mouth to this is the Caprasian month, then that of Sagis, and thenVolane, formerly called Olane; all of these form the Flavian Canal, which wasfirst made from the Sagis by the Tuscans, thus discharging the flow of theriver across into the marshes of the Atriani called the Seven Seas, with thefamous harbour of the Tuscan town of Atria which formerly gave the name ofAtriatic to the sea now called the Adriatic. Next come the deep-water mouths ofCarbonaria and the Fosses of Philistina, called by others Tartarus, all of whichoriginate from the overflow of the Philistina Canal, with the addition of theAdige from the Trentino Alps and of the Bacchiglione from the district of Padua.A part of these streams also forms the neighbouring harbour of Brondolo, aslikewise that of Chioggia is formed by the Brenta and Brentella and the ClodianCanal. With these streams the Po unites and flows through them into the sea,according to most authorities forming between the Alps and the sea-coast thefigure of a triangle, like what is called the Delta formed by the Nile in Egypt;the triangle measures 250 miles in circumference. One is ashamed to borrow anaccount of Italy from the Greeks; nevertheless,Metrodorus of Scepsis says that the river has received the name of Padusbecause in the neighbourhood of its source there are a quantity of pine-trees ofthe kind called in the Gallic dialectpadi, while in fact the Ligurianname for the actual river is Bodincus, a word that means 'bottomless.' Thistheory is supported by the fact that the neighbouring town of Industria, wherethe river begins to be particularly deep, had the old name of Bodincomagum.

XVII. The eleventh region receives from the river the name of Transpadana; it is situated entirely inland, but the river carries to it on itsbounteous channel the products of all the seas. Its towns are Seluzzo and Susa,and the colony of Turin at the roots of the Alps (here the Po becomesnavigable), sprung from an ancient Ligurian stock, and next that of AostaPraetoria of the Salassi, near the twin gateways of the Alps, the Graian passand the Pennine, history says that the latter was the pass crossed by theCarthaginians and the former by Herculesand the town of Ivrea, founded by theRoman nation by order of theSibylline Booksthe name comes from the Gallic word for a man good at breaking horsesVercelli,the town of the Libicii, founded from the Sallui, and Novara founded fromVertamacon, a place belonging to the Vocontii and nowadays a village, not (asCato thinks) belonging to the Ligurians;from whom the Laevi and Manici founded Ticinum not far from the Po, just as theBoians, coming from the tribes across the Alps, founded Lodi and the InsubriansMilan. According toCato, Como, Bergamo,Incino and some surrounding peoples are of the Orumbivian stock, but heconfesses that he does not know the origin of that race; whereasCornelius Alexander states that itoriginated from Greece, arguing merely by the name, which he renders 'those whopass their lives in mountains.' In this locality a town of the Orumbivii namedParra, said byCato to be the originalhome of the people of Bergamo, has perished, its remains still showing its siteto have been more lofty than advantageous. Other commnnities that have perishedare the Caturiges, an exiled section of the Insubrians, and the above-mentionedSpina, and also the exceptionally wealthy town of Melpum, which is stated byCornelius Nepos to have been destroyedby the Insubrians, Boii and Senones on the day on whichCamillus took Veii.

XVIII. Next comes the tenth region of Italy, on the coast of the AdriaticSea. In it are Venetiay the river Silo that rises in the mountains of Treviso,the town of Altino, the river Liquenzo rising in the mountains of Oderzo, andthe port of the same name, the colony of Coneordia, the river and port of Rieti,the Greater and Lesser Tagliamento, the Stella, into which flows the Revonchi,the Aba, the Natisone, with the Torre that flows past the colony of Aquileiasituated 15 miles from the sea. This is the region of the Carni, and adjoiningit is that of the Iapudes, the river Timavo, Castel Duino, famous for its wine,the Gulf of Trieste, and the colony of the same name, 33 miles from Aqnileia.Six miles beyond Trieste is the river Formio, 189 miles from Ravenna, the oldfrontier of the enlarged Italy and now the boundary of Istria. It hasbeen stated by many authors, even including Nepos, who lived on the banks of thePo, that Istria takes its name from the stream called Ister flowing out of theriver Danube (which also has the name of Ister) into the Adriatic, opposite themouths of the Po, and that their currents, colliding from contrary directions,turn the intervening sea into a pool of fresh water; but these statements areerroneous, for no river flows out of the Danube into the Adriatic. I believethat they have been misled by the fact that the ship Argo came down a river intothe Adriatic not far from Trieste, but it has not hitherto been decided whatriver this was. More careful writers say that the Argo was portaged on men'sshoulders across the Alps, but that she had come up the Ister and then the Saveand then the Nauportus, a stream rising between Emona and the Alps, that has gotits name from this occurrence.

XIX. Istria projects in the form of a peninsula. Some authoritieshave given its breadth as 40 miles and its circuit as 125 miles, and the samedimensions for the adjoining territory of Liburnia and the Flanatic Gulf; othersmake it 225 miles, and others give the circuit of Liburnia as 180 miles. Somecarry Iapudia, at the back of Istria, as far as the Flanatic Gulf, a distance of130 miles, and then make the circuit of Liburnia 150 miles.Tuditanus, who conquered the Istrians,inscribed the following statement on his statue there: From Aquileia tothe river Keriko 2000 furlongs. Towns in Istria withthe Roman citizenship are Aegida, Parenzo and the colony of Pola, the presentPietas Julia, originally founded by the Colehians, and 105 miles from Trieste.Then comes the town of Nesactium and the river Arsa, now the frontier of Italy.The distance across from Ancona to Pola is 120 miles.

In the interior of the tenth region are the colonies of Cremona and Brescia inthe territory of the Cenomani, and Este in that of the Veneti, and the towns ofAsolo, Padua, Oderzo, Belluno, Vicenza and Mantua, the only remaining Tuscantown across the Po. According toCato,the Veneti are descended from a Trojan stock, and the Cenomani lived among theVolcae in the neighbourhood of Marseilles. There are also the Rhaetic towns ofFeltre, Trent and Berua, Verona which belongs to the Rhaeti and Euganei jointly,and Zuglio which belongs to the Carni; then peoples that we need not beconcerned to designate with more particularity, the Alutrenses, Asseriates,Flamonienses Vanienses and other Flamonienses surnamed Curici, the Forojuliensessurnamed Transpadani, Foretani, Nedinates, Quarqueni, Tarvisani, Togienses,Varvari. In this district there have disappeared, on the coast-line, Irrnene,Pellaon, Palsiciurn, Atina and Caelina belonging to the Veneti, Segesta and Ocrato the Carni, Noreia to the Taurisci. Also Lucius Piso states that a town 12miles from Aquileia was destroyed by Marcus Claudius Marcehlus, although againstthe wish of the Senate.

This region also contains eleven famous lakes and the rivers of which they arethe source, or which, in the case of those that after entering the lakes leavethem again, are augmented by themfor instance the Adda that flows through LakeComo, the Ticirio through Maggiore, the Mincio through Garda, the Seo throughthe Lago di Seo, and the Lambro through Lago di Pusiano--all of these streamsbeing tributaries of the Po.

The length of the Alps from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean is given byCaelius as 1000 miles;Timagenes puts it at 25 miles less.Their breadth is given byCornelius Neposas 100 miles, byLivy as 375 miles, butthey take their measurements at different points; for occasionally the Alpsexceed even 100 miles in breadth, where they divide Germany from Italy, while inthe remaining part they are as it were providentially narrow and do not cover 70miles. The breadth of Italy at the roots of the Alps, measured from the riverVar through Vado, the port of Savo, Turin, Como, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza,Oderzo, Aquileia, Trieste and Pola, to the river Arsa, amounts to 745 miles.

XX. The Alps are inhabited by a great many nations, but the notableones, between Pola and the district of Trieste, are the Fecusses, Subocrini,Catali and Menoucaleni, and next to the Carni the peoples formerly calledTaurisci and now Norici; adjoining these are the Raeti and Vindelici. All aredivided into a number of states. The Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscanrace driven out by the Gauls; their leader was named Raetus. Then, on the sideof the Alps towards Italy, are the Euganean races having the Latin rights, whosetowns listed byCato number 34. Amongthese are the Triumpilini, a people that sold themselves together with theirlands, and then the Camunni and a number of similar peoples, assigned to thejurisdiction of the neighbouring municipal towns.Cato before mentioned considers the Lepontii and Salassi to be of Tauriscan origin, but almost all other authorsgive a Greek interpretation to their name and believe that the Lepontii aredescended from companions of Hercules `left behind' because their limbs had beenfrostbitten in crossing the Alps; and that the inhabitants of the GraianAlps were also Grai from the same band, and that the Euganei were of speciallydistinguished family, and took their name from that fact; and that the head ofthese are the Stoeni. The Raetian tribes Vennones and Sarunetes live near thesources of the river Rhine, and the Lepontian tribe called the Uberi at thesource of the Rhone in the same district of the Alps. There are also othernative tribes that have received Latin rights; for instance, the Octodurensesand their neighbom the Centrones, the Cottian states and the Turi of Liguriandescent, the Ligurian Vagienni and those called the Mountain Ligurians, andseveral tribes of Long-haired Ligurians on the borders of the Ligurian Sea.

It seems not out of place to append here the inscription from the triumphal archerected in the Alps, which runs as follows:

This list does not include the 15 states of the Cottiani which had not shownhostility, nor those that were placed by the law ofPompeius under the jurisdiction of themunicipal towns.

This then is Italy, a land sacred to the gods, and these are the races and townsof its peoples. Moreover this is that Italy which, in the consulship of Lucius Aemilius Papas andGaius Atilius Regulus, on receipt ofnews of a rising in Gaul, single-handed and without any alien auxiliaries, andmoreover at that date without aid from Gaul north of the Po, equipped an army of80,000 horse and 700,000 foot. She is inferior to no country in abundance ofmineral products of every kind; but mining is prohibited by an old resolution ofthe Senate forbidding the exploitation of Italy.

XXI. The race of the Liburni stretches from the Arsa to the river Tityus.Sections of it were the Mentores, Himani, Eneheleae, Buni, and the people calledbyCallimachus the Peucetii, all of whomare now designated collectively by the one name of Illyrians. Few of the peoplesare worthy of mention, nor are their names easy to pronounce. To thejurisdiction of Scardona resort the Iapudes and the 14 communities of theLiburni, of which it may not be tedious to name the Lacinienses, Stulpini,Burnistae and Olbonenses. In this jurisdiction states having Italic rights arethe Alutae, the Flanates from whom the gulf takes its name, the Lopsi, theVarvarini, the Asseriates who are exempt from tribute, and of the islandsBerwitch and Karek. Moreover along the coast starting from Nesactium are Albona,Fianona, Tersaet, Segna, Lopsico, Ortoplinia, Viza, Argyruntum, Carin, Nona, thecity of the Pasini and the river Zermagna, at which Iapudia terminates. Theislands of the gulf with their towns are, besides the above specified,Absortium, Arba, Cherso, Gissa, Portunata. Again on the mainland is the colonyof Zara, 160 miles from Pola, and 30 miles from it the island of Mortero, and 18miles from it the mouth of the river Kerka.

XXII. At the city of Scardona on the Kerka, 12 miles from the sea,Liburnia ends and Dalmatia begins. Then comes the ancient region of theTariotares and the fortress of Tariona, the Promontory of Diomede, or as othersname it the Peninsula of Hyllis, measuring 100 miles round, Tragurium, a placepossessing Roman citizenship and famous for its marble, Siculi where the latelamentedClaudius sent a colony ofex-service men; and the colony of Spalato, 112 miles from Zara. Spalato is thecentre for jurisdiction of the Delmataei whose forces are divided into 342tithings, Deuri into 25 tithings, Ditiones into 239, Maezaei 269, Sardeates 52.In this district are Burnum, Andetrium and Tribulium, fortresses that are famousfor battles. Island peoples also belonging to the same jurisdiction are the Issaeans, Colentini, Separi and Epetini. After these come the fortresses ofPegunthim, Nareste and Onium, and the colony of Narenta, the seat of thethird centre, 85 miles from Spalato, situated on the river also called Narenta20 miles from the sea. According toMarcusVarro 89 states used to resort to it, but now nearly the only ones knownare the Cerauni with 24 tithings, the Daursi with 17, Desitiates 103, Docleates33, Deretini 14, Deraemestae 30, Dindari 33, Gunditiones 44, Melcumani 24,Naresi 102, Scirtari 72, Sicnlotae 24, and the Vardaei, once the ravagers ofItaly, with not more than 20 tithings. Besides these this district was occupiedby the Ozuaei, Partheni, Hemasini, Arthitae and Armistae. The colony ofEpidaurume is 100 miles distant from the river Naron. After Epidaurum come the following towns with Roman citizenshipRisine, Cattaro, Budua, Duleigno,formerly called Colchinium because it was founded by the Colehians; the riverDrino, and upon it Scutari, a town with the Roman citizenship, 18 miles from thesea; and also a number of Greek towns and also powerful cities of which thememory is fading away, this district having contained the Labeatae, Endirudini,Sasaei and Grabaei; and the Taulanti and the Pyraei, both properly styledIllyrians. The promontory of Nymphaeum on the coast still retains its name.Lissum, a town having the Roman citizenship, is 100 miles from Epidaurum.

XXIII. At Lissum begins the Province ofMacedonia. Its races are the Partheni and in their rear the Dassaretae. Themountains of Candavia are 78 miles from Durazzo, and on the coast is Denda, atown with Roman citizenship, the colony of Epidamnum which, on account of theill-omened sound of that name, has been renamed Dyrrachium by the Romans, theriver Aous, called by some Aeas, and the former Corinthian colony of Apollonia 4miles distant from the sea, in the territory of which is the famous Shrine ofthe Nymphs, with the neighbouring native tribes of the Amantes and Buliones.Actually on the coast is the town of Ericho, founded by the Colchians. Herebegins Epirus, with the Acroceraunian mountains, at which we fixed the boundaryof this Gulf of Europe. The distance between Ericho and Cape Leuca in Italy is80 miles.

XXIV. Behind the Carni and Iapudes, along the course of the mightyDanube, the Raetians are adjoined by the Norici; their towns are Wolk-Markt,Cilley, Lurnfelde, Innichen, Juvavum, Vienna, Clansen, Solfeld. Adjoining theNorici is Lake Peiso, and the Unoccupied Lands of the Boii, now howeverinhabited by the people of Sarvar, a colony of his late Majesty Claudius, andthe town of Sopron Julia.

XXV. Then come the acorn-producing lands of the province of Pannonia,where the chain of the Alps gradually becomes less formidable, and slopes to theright and left hand with gentle contours as it traverses the middle of Illyriafrom north to south. The part looking towards the Adriatic is called Dalmatiaand Illyria mentioned above, while 139 the part stretching northward isPannonia, terminating in that direction at the Danube. In it are the coloniesof Aemona and Siscia. Famous navigable rivers flowing into the Danube arethe Drave from Noricum, a rather violent stream, and the Save from the CarnianAlps which is more gentle, there being a space of 120 miles between them; theDrave flows through the Serretes, Sirapilli, Iasi and Andizetes; the Savethrough the Colapiani and Breuci. These are the principal peoples; and there arebesides the Arviates, Azali, Amantini, Belgites, Catari, Cornacates, IEravisci,Hercuniates, Latovici, Oseriates and Vareiani, and Mount Claudius, in front ofwhich are the Scordisei and behind it the Taurisci. In the Save is the island ofZagrabia, the largest known island formed by a river. Other noteworthy riversare the Culpa, which flows into the Save near Siscia, where its channel dividesand forms the island called Segestica, and another river the Bossut, flowinginto the Save at the town of Sirmich, the capital of the Sirmienses andAmantini. From Sirmich it is 45 miles to Tzeruinka, where the Save joins theDanube; tributaries flowing into the Danube higher up are the Walpo and theVerbas, themselves also not inconsiderable streams.

XXVI. Adjoining Pannonia is the province called Moesia, which runs withthe course of the Danube right down to the Black Sea, beginning at theconfluence of the Danube and the Save mentioned above. Moesia contains theDardani, Celegeri, Triballi, Timachi, Moesi, Thracians and Scythians adjacent tothe Black Sea. Its famous rivers are the Morava, Bek and Timoch rising in theterritory of the Dardani, the Iscar in Mount Rhodope and the Vid, Osma andJantra in Mount Haemus.

Illyria covers 325 miles in width at its widest point, and 530 miles inlength from the river Ama to the river Drin; its length from the Drin to thePromontory of Glossa is given byAgrippaas 175 miles, and the entire circuit of the Italian and Iulyrian Gulf as 1700miles. This gulf, delimited as we described it, contains two seas, in thefirst part the Ionian and more inland the Adriatic, called the Upper Sea.

There are no islands deserving mention in the Ausonian Sea besides those alreadyspecified, and only a few in the Ionianthose lying on the coast of Galabria offBrindisi and by their position forming a harbour, and Diomede's Island off thecoast of Apulia, marked by the monument ofDiomede, and another island of the same name but by some called Teutria.

On the coast of Illyricum is a cluster of more than 1000 islands, the sea beingof a shoaly nature and divided into a network of estuaries with narrow channels.The notable islands are those off the mouth of the Timavo, fed by hot springsthat rise with the tide of the sea; Cissa near the territory of the Histri; andPullaria and those called by the Greeks the Absyrtides, from Medea's brotherAbsyrtus who was killed there. Islandsnear these the Greeks have designated the Electrides, because amber, the Greekfor which is electrum, was said to be found there; this is a very clearproof of Greek unreliability, seeing that it has never been ascertained whichof the islands they mean. Opposite to the Zara are Lissa and the islands alreadymentioned; opposite the Liburni are several called the Crateae, and an equalnumber called the Liburnicae and Celadussae; opposite Surium Bavo and Brattia,the latter celebrated for its goats, Issa with the rights of Roman citizenshipand Pharia, on which there is a town. Twenty-five miles from Issa is the islandcalled Corcyra Melaena, with a town founded from Cnidos, and between CorcyraMelaena and Illyricum is Meleda, from which according toCallimachus Maltese terriers get theirname. Fifteen miles from Meleda are the seven Stag Islands,* and in the IonianSea twelve miles from Oricum is Sasena, notorious as a harbour for pirates.

I. THE third gulf of Europe begins at the Mountains of Khimarra and endsat the Dardaneiles. Its coast-line measures 1925 miles not including smallerbays. It contains Epirus, Acarnania, Aetolia, Phocis, Locris, Achaia,Messenia, Laconia, Argolis, Megaris, Attica and Boeotia; and again, on the sideof the other sea, Phocis and Locris before-mentioned and Doris, Phthiotis,Thessaly, Magnesia, Macedonia and Thrace. All the legendary lore of Greece andlikewise its glorious literature first shone forth from this gulf; andconsequently we will briefly dwell upon it.

Epirus in the wide sense of the term begins at the Mountains of Khimarra. Thepeoples that it contains are first the Chaones who give their name to Chaonia,and then the Thesproti and Antigonenses; then comes the place called withexhalations that are noxious to birds, the Cestrini, the Perrhaebi to whombelongs Mount Pindus, the Cassiopaei, the Dryopes, the Selloi, the Hellopes, theMolossi in whose territory is the temple of Zeus of Dodona, famous for itsoracle, and Mount Talarus, celebrated byTheopompus, with a hundred springs at its foot. Epirus proper stretchesto Magnesia and Macedonia, and has at its back the Dassaretae above mentioned, afree race, and then the savage tribe of the Dardani. On the left side of theDardani stretch the Triballi and the Moesic races, and joining them in front arethe Medi and the Denseletae, and joining these the Thracians who extend all theway to the Black Sea. Such is the girdle that walls in the lofty heights ofDespoto Dagh and then of the Great Balkan. On the coast of Epirus is thefortress of Khimarra on the Aeroceraunians, and below it the spring named theRoyal Water and the towns of Maeandria and Cestria, the Thesprotian riverThyamis, the colony of Butrinto, and the very celebrated Gulf of Arta, whoseinlet, half a mile wide, admits an extensive sheet of water, 37 miles long and15 miles broad. Into it discharges the river Acheron flowing from the AcherusianLake in Thesprotia, a course of 35 miles, and remarkable in the eyes of peoplewho admire all the achievements of their own race for its 1000-foot bridge. Onthe gulf lies the town of Ambracia, and there are the Molossian rivers Aphas andArta, the city of Anactoria and the place where Pandosia stood.

The towns of Acarnania, which was previouslycalled Curetis, are Heraclia, Echinus, and, on the actual coast, the colonyfounded byAugustus, Actium, with thefamous temple of Apollo, and the free city of Nicopolis. Passing from the Gulfof Ambracia into the Ionian Sea we come to the coast of Leucadia and CapoDucato, and then to the gulf and the actual peninsula of Leucadia, formerlycalled Neritis, which by the industry of its inhabitants was once cut off fromthe mainland and which has been restored to it by the mass of sand piled upagainst it by the violence of the winds; the place has a Greek name meaning'canalized,' and is 600 yards long. On the peninsula is the town of Leucas,formerly called Neritus. Then come the Acarnanian cities of Alyzia, Stratos, andArgos surnamed Amphilochian, and the river Achelous flowing from Mount Pindusand separating Acarnania from Aetolia; the continual deposits of earth that itbrings down are linking the island of Artemita to the main land.

II. The Aetolian peoples are the Athamanes, Tymphaei, Ephyri, Aenienses,Perrhaebi, Dolopes, Maraces and Atraces in whose district is the source of theriver Atrax that flows into the Ionian Sea. The towns of Aetolia are Calydon onthe river Evenus seven miles and a half from the sea, and then Macynia andMolycria, behind which are Mount Chalcis and Taphiassus. On the coast is thePromontory of Antirrhium, at which is the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, lessthan a mile broad, whose channel separates the Aetolians from the Morca. Thepromontory that juts out opposite is called Rhium. Aetolian towns on the Gulf ofCorinth are Lepanto, Eupalimna, and inland Pleuron and Halicarna. Notablemountains are Tomarus in the district of Dodona, Crania in Ambracia, Aracynthusin Acarnania, and Achaton, Panaetolium and Macynium in Aetolia.

III. Next to the Aetolians are the Locrians, surnamed Ozolae, who areexempt from tribute. Here are the town of Oeanthe, the harbour of ApolloPhaestius and the gulf of Salona; and inland the towns of Argyna, Eupalia,Phaestum and Calamisus. Beyond are the Cirrhaean Plains of Phocis, the town ofCirrha and the port of Chalaeon, seven miles inland from which is Delphi, a freetown at the foot of Mount Parnassus and the seat of the oracle of Apollo, themost famous in the world. Here are the Castalian Spring and the river Cephisusflowing past Delphi; it rises at the city of Lilaea. There was also formerly thetown of Crisa, and together with the people of Bulis there are Anticyra,Naulochus, Pyrrha, the tax-free town of Salona, Tithrone, Tithorea, Ambrysus andMirana, the district also called Daulis. Then right up the bay is the sea-boardcorner of Boeotia with the towns of Siphae and Thebes surnamed the Corsian, nearMount Helicon. The third town of Boeotia up from this sea is Pagae, from whichprojects the neck of the Morea.

IV. The Peloponnese, which was previously called Apia and Pelasgia, is apeninsula inferior in celebrity to no region of the earth. It lies between twoseas, the Aegean and the Ionian, and resembles in shape the leaf of a plane-treeon account of the angular indentations the circuit of its coast-line,according toIsidore, amounts to 563miles, and nearly as much again in addition, measuring the shores of the bays.The narrow neck of land from which it projects is called the Isthmus. At thisplace the two seas that have been mentioned encroach on opposite sides from thenorth and east and swallow up all the breadth of the peninsula at this point,until in consequence of the inroad of such large bodies of water in oppositedirections the coasts on either side have been eaten away so as to leave a spacebetween them of only five miles, with the result that the Morea is only attachedto Greece by a narrow neck of land. The inlets on either side are called theGulf of Lepanto and the Gulf of Egina, the former ending in Lecheae andthe latter in Cenchreae. The circuit of the Morca is a long and dangerous voyagefor vessels prohibited by their size from being carried across the isthmus ontrolleys, and consequently successive attempts were made by KingDemetrius,Caesar the dictator and the emperorsCaligula andNero, to dig a ship-canal through thenarrow partan undertaking which the end that befell them all proves tohave been an act of sacrilege! In the middle of this neck of land which we havecalled the Isthmus is the colony of Corinth, the former name of which was Ephyra; its habitations cling to the side of a hill, 7½ miles from the coast oneither side, and the top of its citadel, called the Corinthian Heights, on whichis the spring of Pirene, commands views of the two seas in opposite directions.The distance across the Isthmus from Leucas to Patras on the Gulf of Corinth is88 miles. The colony of Patras is situated on the longest projection of thePeloponnese opposite to Aetolia and the river Evenus, separated from them at theactual mouth of the gulf by a gap of less than a mile, as has been said; but inlength the Gulf of Corinth extends 85 miles from Patras to the Isthmus.

V. At the Isthmus begins the province named Achaia. It waspreviously called Aegialos on account of the cities situated in a row on itscoast. The first place there is Lecheae the port of Corinth, already mentioned,and then come Olyrus the fortress of the people of Trikala, and the towns ofHelice, and Bura, and those in which their inhabitants took refuge when theformer towns were swallowed up by the sea, namely Basilica, Palaeokastro,Vostitza and Artotina. Inland are Klenes and Hysiae. Then come the port ofTekieh and Rhium already described, the distance between which promontory andPatras which we have mentioned above is five miles; and then the place calledPherae. Of the nine mountains in Achaia the best known is Scioessa; and there isalso the spring of Cyrnothoe. Beyond Patras is the town of Kato-Achaia, thecolony of Dyme, the places called Buprasium and Llyrmine, the promontory of CapoPapa, the Bay of Cyllene, the promontory of Cape Tornese 5 miles from Cyllene,the fortress of Phlius, the district round which was calledAraethyrea byHomer and afterwardsAsopis.

Then begins the territory of the Eleans, who were formerly called the Epioi.Elis itself is in the interior, and 13 miles inland from Pilo is the shrine ofZeus of Olympus, which owing to the celebrity of its Games has taken possessionof the calendar of Greece; here once was the town of Pisa on the banks of theriver Thifla. On the coast are the promontory of Katakolo, the river Rufla,navigable for 6 miles, the towns of Aulon and Leprium, and the promontory ofPlatanodes, all these places lying westward. Southward are the Gulf ofCyparissus with the city of Cyparissus on its shore, which is 75 miles round,the towns of Pilo and Modon, the place called Helos, the promontory of CapoGallo, the Asinaean Gulf named from the town of Asine and the Coronaean namedfrom Corone; the list ends with the promontory of Cape Matapan. Here is theterritory of Messenia with its 18 mountains, and the river Pyrnatza; andinland, the city of Messene, Ithome, Oechalia, Sareni, Pteleon, Thryon, Dorionand Zancle, all of them celebrated at different periods. The gulf measures 80miles round and 30 miles across.

At Cape Matapan begins the territory of the free nation of Laconia, and theLaconian Gulf, which measures106 miles round and 38 miles across. The towns are Kimaros, Amyclae, Chitries,Levtros, and inland Sparta, Therapne, the sites of the former Cardamyle, Pitaneand Anthea, the place called Thyrea, Gerania, the mountain range of PenteDactyli, the river Niris, the Gulf of Scutari, the town of Psamathus, the Gulfof Gytheum called from the town of that name, from which is the safest crossingto the island of Crete. All these places are bounded by the promontory of CapoSant' Angelo.

The bay that comes next, extending to Capo Skyli, is called the Gulf of Nauplia;it is 50 miles across and 162 miles round. The towns on it are Boea,Epidaurus surnamed Limera, Zarax, and the port of Cyphanta. The rivers are theBanitza and the Kephalari, between which lies Argos surnamed Hippium, above theplace called Lerne, two miles from the sea, and nine miles further on Mycenaeand the traditional site of Tiryns and the place called Mantinea. The mountainsare Malvouni, Fuka, Asterion, Parparus and others numbering eleven; the springs,Niobe, Amymone and Psamathe.

From Capo Skyli to the Isthmus of Corinth is 80 miles. The towns are Hermione,Troezen, Coryphasium and Argos, sometimes called Inachian Argos and sometimesDipsian; then comes the harbour of Schoenitas, and the Saronic Gulf, formerlyencircled with oak woods from which it takes its name, this being the old Greekword for an oak. On it is the town of Epidaurus famous for its shrine ofAesculapius; the promontory of Capo Franco; the ports of Anthedus andBucephalus, and that of Cenchreae mentioned above, on the south side of theIsthmus, with the temple of Poseidon, famous for the Isthmian Games celebratedthere every four years.

So many are the bays that pierce the coast of the Peloponnese, and so many seashowl round it, inasmuch as it is invaded on the north by the Ionian Sea, lashedon the west by the Sicilian, and beset by the Cretan on the south, by the Aegeanon the south-east and on the north-east by the Myrtoan which starting at theGulf of Megara washes the whole coast of Attica.

VI. Most of the interior of the Peloponnese is occupied by Arcadia, whichon every side is remote from the sea; it was originally called Drymodes, andlater Pelasgis. Its towns are Psophis, Mantinea, Stymphalus, Tegea, AntigoneaOrchomenus, Pheneus, Pallantium (from which the Palatium at Rome gets its name),Megalopolis, Gortyna, Bucohum, Camion, Parrhasia, Thelpusa, Melaenae, Heraea,Pylae, Pallene, Agrae, Epium, Cynaethae, Lepreon in Arcadia, Parthenium, Alea,Methydrimn, Enispe, Macistum, Lampia, Clitorium and Cleonae. Between the lasttwo towns is the district of Nemea commonly called Bembinadia. The mountains inArcadia are Pholoe, with a town of the same name, Cyllene also with a town,Lycaeus on which is the shrine of Zeus Lycaeus, Maenalus, Artemisius,Parthenius, Lampeus, Nonacris, and also eight others of no note. The rivers arethe Landona flowing from the marshes of Fonia and the Dogana flowing down fromthe mountain of the same name into the Alpheus. The remaining states in Achaiadeserving of mention are those of the Alipheraei, Abeatae, Pyrgenses,Paroreatae, Paragenitae, Tortuni, Typanei, Thriusi and Tritienses. Freedom wasgiven to the whole of Achaia byDomitius Nero.The Peloponnese measures 190 miles across from Cape Malea to the town ofVostitza on the Gulf of Corinth, and in the other direction 125 miles from illsto Epidauros and 68 miles from Olympia through Arcadia to Argos. (The distancebetween Olympia and Pylos has been given already.) Nature has compensated forthe inroads of the sea by the mountainous character of the entire region, therebeing 76 peaks in all.

VII. At the narrow part of the Isthmus begins HelIas, called inour language Greece. In this the first region is Attica, named in antiquityActe. It touches the Isthmus with the part of it named Megaris, from Megara, thecolony on the opposite side of the Isthmus from Pagae. These two towns aresituated where the Peloponnese projects, and stand on either side of theIsthmus, as it were on the shoulders of Hellas, Pagae and also Aegosthena, beingassigned to the jurisdiction of Megara. On the coast are the harbour of PortoCocosi, the towns Leandra and Cremmyon, the Scironian Rocks six miles in length,Gerania, Megara and Levsina; formerly there were also Oenoe and Probalinthos.There now are the harbours of Piraeus and Phaleron, 55 miles from the Isthmus,and joined by wall to Athens 5 miles away. Athens is a free city, and requiresno further advertisement here as her celebrity is more than ample. In Attica arethe springs of Cephisia, Larine, and the Nine Wells of Callirrhoe, and themountains of Brilessus, Aegialeus, Icarius, Hymettus and Lycabettus; the placecalled Hissus; the promontories of Capo Colonna, 45 miles from Piraeus, andThoricos; the former towns of Potamos, Steria and Brauron, the village ofRhamnus, the place called Marathon, the Thriasian Plain, the town of Melita, andRopo on the border of Boeotia.

To Boeotia belong Anthedon, Onchestus, the freetown of Thespiae, Livadhia, and Thebes, surnamed Bueotian, which does not yieldeven to Athens in celebrity, and which is reputed to be the native place of twodeities, Liber and Hercules. The Muses also are assigned a birthplace in thegrove of Helicon. To this city of Thebes also are attributed the forest of Cithaeron and the river Ismenus. Besides these Boeotia contains the Springs ofOedipus and those of Psamathe, Dirce, Epicrane, Arethusa, Hippocrene, Aganippeand Gargaphie; and in addition to the mountains previously mentioned, Myealesus,Hadylius and Aeontius. The remaining towns between the Megarid and Thebes areEleutherae, Haliartus, Plataea, Pherae, Aspledon, Hyle, Thisbe, Erythrae,Glissa, Copae, Lamiae and Anichiae on the river Cephisus, Medeon, Phlygone,Acraephia, Coronea and Chaeronea. On the coast below Thebes are Ocalee, Heleon,Scolos, Sehoenos, Peteon, Hyrie, Mycalesos, Ireseum, Pteleon, Olyarum, TanagraFree State, and right in the channel of the Euripus, formed by the island ofEuboea lying opposite, Aulis famous for its spacious harbour. The Boeotians hadthe name of Hyantes in earlier days. Then come the Locri surnamed Epicnemidii,and formerly called Leleges, through whose territory the river Cephisus flowsdown to the sea; and the towns of Opus, which gives its name to the OpuntianBay, and Cynus. The only town of Phocis on the coast is Daphnus, but inland areLarisa, Elatea, and on the banks of the Cephisus, as we have said, Lilaea, and,facing Delphi, Cnemis and Hyampolis. Then there is the Locrian coast, on whichare Larumna and Thronium, near which the river Boagrius flows into the sea, andthe towns of Narycum, Alope and Scarphia. Afterwards comes the Malian Gulf namedfrom its inhabitants and on it are the towns of Halcyone, Aeconia and Phalara.

Then comes Doris, in which are Sperchios, Frineon, Boion, Pindus and Cytinum. Inthe rear of Doris is Mount Oeta.

There follows Haemonia, which has often changed its name, having beensuccessively called Pelasgis or Pelasgic Argos, and Hellas, Thessaly andDryopis, always taking its surname from its kings: it was the birthplace of theking namedGraecus from whom Greece isnamed, and of kingHellen from whom theHellenes get their name. These same people are called by three different namesinHomer, Myrmidons, Hellenes andAchaeans. The section of the Hellenes adjacent to Doris are named Phthiotae;their towns are Akhino and Heraclea, which takes the name of Trechin from thePass of Thermopylae four miles away in the gorge of the river Ellada. Here isMount Callidromus, and the notable towns are Hellas, Halos, Lamia, Phthia andArne.

VIII. The places in Thessaly are Orchomenus, formerly called theMinyan, and the town of Alimon, otherwise Holmon, Atrax, Palamna, the HyperianSpring, the towns of Pherae (behind which lies Pieria spreading in the directionof Macedonia), Larisa, Gomphi, Thessalian Thebes, Elm Wood, the Gulf of Volo,the town of Pagasa subsequently called Demetrias, Tricca, the Pharsalian Plainswith their free city, Crannon, Iletia. The mountains of Phthiotis are Nymphaeus,once so beautiful for its natural landscape gardening, Buzygaeus, Donaeoessa,Bromiaeus, Daphusa, Chimarone, Athamas, Stephane. In Thessaly there are 34, ofwhich the most famous are Cercetii, Pierian Olympus and Ossa, facing which arePindus and Othrys the abode of the Lapithaethese looking to the west; andlooking east is Pelion; all form a curve like a theatre, and in the hollow infront of them lie 75 cities. Thessaly contains the rivers Apidanus, Phoenix,Enipeus, Onochonus and Pamisus; the spring Messeis; Lake Boebeis; and before allalike in celebrity the river Peneus, rising close to Gomphi and flowing down awooded glen between Ossa and Olympus for 62½ miles, for half of which distanceit is navigable. Part of this course is called the Vale of Tempe, 5 miles longand nearly an acre and a half in breadth, with gently sloping hills risingbeyond human sight on either hand, while the valley between is verdant with agrove of trees. Along it glides the Peneus, glittering with pebbles and adornedwith grassy banks, melodious with the choral song of birds. Into it flows theriver Orcus, to which it gives no intimate welcome, but merely carries it for abrief space floating on its surface like a skin of oil, inHomer's phrase, and then rejects it,refusing to allow the punitive waters engendered for the service of the Furiesto mingle with its own silver flood.

IX. Adjoining Thessaly is Magnesia, to which belong the spring Libethra,the towns of Iolcus, Ormenium, Pyrrha, Methone and Olizon, Cape Sepias, thetowns of Castana and Spalathra, Cape Aeantium, the towns Meliboea, Ilhizus andErymnae, the mouth of the Peneus, the towns Homoliuin, Orthe, Iresiae, Pelinna,Thanmacie, Gyrton, Crannon, Acharne, Dotion, Mehte, Phylace and Potniae.

The total length of Epirus, Achaia, Attica and Thessaly is said to be 490 milesand the total breadth of 297 miles.

X. Next comes Macedonia, with 150 nations, and famous for two kings aand for its former world-wide empire; it was previously called Emathia. Itstretches westward to the races of Epirus, at the back of Magnesia and Thessaly,and on this side is exposed to the inroads of the Dardani, but its northern partis protected from the Triballi by Paeonia and Pelagonia. Its towns are Aegiae,the customary burial place of its kings, Beroea, and in the district calledPieria from the forest of that name, Aeginium. On the coast are Heraclea, theriver Platamona, the towns of Pydna and Olorus, and the river Vistritsa. Inlandare the Aloritae, Vallaei, Phylacaei, Cyrrestae and Tyrissaei, the colony ofPella, and the town of Stobi, which has the Roman citizenship. Then comeAntigonea, Europus on the river Axius, and the town of the same name throughwhich flows the Rhoedias, Scydra, Eordaea, Mieza and Gordyniae. Then on thecoast Ichnae and the river Axius. The neighbours of Macedonia on this frontierare the Dardani, Treres and Pieres, and after the river Axius come the Paeonianraces of the Paroraei, Eordenses, Almopi, Pelagones and Mygdones, and themountains of Rhodope, Scopius and Orbelus; then, in the fold of ground lying infront of them, the Arethusii, Antiochienses, Idomenenses, Doberi, Aestrienses,Allantenses, Audaristenses, Morylli, Garresci, Lyncestae, Othryonei, and thefree peoples of the Amantini and Orestae; the colonies Bullidenses and Dienses;the Xylopolitae, the free Scotussaei, Heraclea Sintica, the Tymphaei, theToronaei. On the Macedonian coast of the gulf are the town of Chalastra and,farther in, Pylorus, Lete, and at the centre of the curve of the coast the freecity of Saloniki (from there to Durazzo is 245 miles), Therme, and on the Gulfof Saloniki the towns of Dicaea, Palinandrea and Scione, Cape Paliuri, and thetowns of Pallene and Phlegra. The mountains in this district are Hypsizonus,Epitus, Algion and Elaeuonme; the towns are Nyssus, Phryxclon, Mendae, and onthe isthmus of Pallene what was formerly Potidaea but is now the colony ofCassandrea, Anthemus, Olophyxus, Mecyberna Bay, the towns of Miscella, Ampelos,Torone, Singos, Telos, and the canal, a mile and a half in length, by which thePersian kingXerxes cut off Mount Athosa from the mainland. The actual mountain projects from the level plain into thesea for a distance of 25 miles, and its circumference at its baseamounts to 150 miles. There was once a town on its summit called Acrathoon; thepresent towns on it are Uranopolis, Palaehorium, Thyssus, Cleonae, andApollonia, the inhabitants of which are called Macrobitc Then the town ofCassera, and the other side of the isthmus, Acanthus, Stagira, Sithone,Heraclea, and the district of Mygdonia lying below, in which at some distancefrom the sea are Apollonia and Arethtxsa, and on the coast again Posidium andthe bay with the town of Cermorus, the free city of Amphipolis, and the tribe ofthe Bisaltae. Then comes the river Struma which rises in Mount Haemus andforms the boundary of Macedonia; it is worth recording that it spreads out intoseven lakes before it proceeds on its course.

Such is Macedonia, which once won a worldwide empire, marched across Asia,Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt, Mount Taurus and the HinduKush, was lord over the Bactrians, Medes and Persians, owned the entire East,and even roamed in the tracks of Father Liber and of Hercules and conqueredIndia; and this also is the Macedonia 72 of whose cities our generalAemilius Paullus pillaged and sold in asingle day. So great the difference in her lot bestowed upon her by twoindividuals!

XI. Next comes Thrace, one of the most powerful nations of Europe,divided into fifty commands.

Of its peoples those whom weought not to omit to name are the Denseletae and the Medi, who live on the rightbank of the river Struma right up to the Bisaltae above mentioned, and theDigerri and the various sections of the Bessi on the left bank, as far as theriver Mesto that winds round the foot of Mount Pilat Tepeh, passing though theHaleti, Diobessi and Carbilesi, and then the Brysae, Sapaei and Odomanti. Therace of the Odrysae owns the source of the Maritza, on the banks of which livethe Cabyleti, Pyrogeri, Drugeri, Caenici, Hypsalti, Bent Corpi]li, Bottiaei andEdoni. In the same district are the Staletae, Priantae, Dolongae, Thyni, and theGreater Celaletae at the foot of the Great Balkan and the Lesser at the foot ofMount Rhodope. Between these tribes runs the river Maritza, and below Rhodope isthe town formerly called Poneropolis, then Philippopolis after its founder, andnow Trimontium from its site. To the summit of the Great Balkan is a journey ofsix miles. Its opposite side sloping down towards the Danube is inhabited by theMoesi, Getae, Aodi, Scaugdae and Clariae, and below them the Sarmatian Arraeicalled Areatae, and the Scythians, and round the shores of the Black Sea theMoriseni and the Sithoni, the ancestry of the poet Orpheus.

Thus Thrace is bounded by the Danube on the north, the Black Sea and Sea ofMarmara on the east, and the Aegean Sea on the south, on the coast of whichafter leaving the Struma we come to Apollonia, Osima, Kavallo and Batos. Inlandis the colony of Filiba, at a distance of 325 miles from Durazzo, Scotussa, thestate of Topiros, the mouth of the river Mestus, the mountain of Pilat Tepeh,Melenik, Agia Maria, the free city of Abdera, the Lagos Buru and the people ofthe Bistoni. Here once was the town of Tirida, formidable on account of thestables of the horses of Diomede; and there now are the towns of Dicaea andIsmaron, the place called Parthenion, Phalesina, Marogna formerly calledOrthagurea, Mount Serrium, Zone; and then the place called Doriscus, a plainlarge enough to hold 10,000 men, as it was in detachments of that number thatXerxes there counted his army; the month of the Maritza, the harbour of Stentor,the free town of Enos with the Funeral Mound of Polydorus, a district formerlybelonging to the Cicones. From Doriscus the coast makes a curve of 112 miles toLong Wall, round which flows the Black River that gives its name to the bay. Thetowns are Ipsala, Rodosto, Long Wall, so called because its fortificationsextend between the two seas, from the Sea of Marmara to the Gulf of Enos,cutting off the projecting Gallipoli Peninsula. For the other side of Thracebegins at the coast of the Black Sea where the Danube flows into it; and thisregion comprises its finest cities, Kostendsje, a colony from Miletus, Temesvarand Collat, formerly called Ccrbatis. It formerly had Heraclea and Bizone, whichwas swallowed up by an earthquake, and it still has the City of Dionysus,previously called Crunos, which is washed by the river Zyras. The whole of thisregion was occupied by the Scythian tribe called the Ploughmen, their townsbeing Aphrodisias, Libistus, Zygerc, Rhocobae, Eumenia, Parthenopolis andGerania, stated to have been the abode of the race of Pigmies: their name in thelocal dialect used to be Catizi, and there is a belief that they were drivenaway by cranes. On the coast after the City of Dionysus come the Milesian colonyof Varna, the river Daphne-Soul and the town of Four Roadsteads. The enormousridge of the Great Balkan projecting into the Black Sea formerly had on itssummit the town of Aristaeum, and on the coast now are Mission and Akiali on theformer site of Messa. The region of Astice had a town of Anthium, which is nowApollonia. The rivers are the Panisos, Iuras, Tearus, Orosines; thetowns Tiniada, Midjeh, Zagora (with its marsh now called Deultum), a colony ofveterans, and Phinopolis, near which are the Straits of Constantinople. From themouth of the Danube to the outlet of the Black Sea was reckoned as 552 miles,butAgrippa made it 60 miles more; andfrom that point to the wall above mentioned is 150 miles, and from there to theend of the Gallipoli Peninsula 126 miles.

On leaving the Dardanelles we come to the Bay of Casthenes, the Old Men'sHarbour and the other called the Women's Harbour, and the promontory of theGolden Horn, on which is the town of Byzantium,a a free state, formerly calledLygos; it is 711 miles from Durazzo, so great being the space of land betweenthe Adriatic and the Sea of Marmara. There are the rivers Bathynias and Pidarasor Athidas, and the towns of Selymbria and Perinthus which are connected withthe mainland by an isthmus 200 ft. wide. Inland are Vizia, a citadel of thekings of Thrace that is hated by swallows because of the outrage committed byTereus, the district of Caenica, thecolony of Flaviopolis on the site of the former town called Caela, and 50 milesfrom Vizia the colony of Apros, which is 189 miles distant from Philippi. On thecoast is the river Erkene, and once stood the town of Ganos; Lysimachea on theGallipoli Peninsula is also now becoming deserted. But at this point there isanother Isthmus which cut up marks similar narrows with the same name andis of about equal width; and in a not dissimilar manner two cities occupied theshores on either side, Pactye on the side of the Sea of Marmara and Cardia onthat of the Gulf of Enos, the latter city taking its name from the conformationof the place; both were subsequently united with the city of Lysimachea, fivemiles from Long Wall. On the Marmara side of Gallipoli Peninsula wereTiristasis, Crithotes and Cissa lying on the Goat's River; and there is nowResisthos, 22 miles from the colony of Apros, opposite to the colony of Parium.Also the Dardanelles, which as we have said divide Europe from Asia by aspace not quite a mile across, have four cities facing one another on theopposite sides, Gallipoli and Ialova in Europe and Lamsaki and Avido in Asia.Then on Gallipoli there is the promontory of Capo Helles opposite toJeni-Hisari, on the slanting side of which is the Bitch's Tomb (the name givento the funeral mound of Hecuba), the naval station of the Greeks in the Trojanwar, and a tower, the shrine of Protesilaus, and at the point of The peninsula,which is called Aeolium, the town of Elaeus. Then as you make for the Gulf ofEnos you have the harbours of Coelos and Panormus and Cardia above mentioned.

This rounds off the third Gulf of Europe. The mountains of Thrace, beside thosealready mentioned, are Edonus, Gygemeros, Meritus and Melamphyllus; the riversare the Bargus and the Syrmus, which fall into the Maritza. The length ofMacedonia, Thrace and the Hellespont has been mentioned previously (some make it720 miles); the breadth is 384 miles.

The Aegean Sea takes its name from an island, or more truly a rock suddenlyspringing out of the middle of the sea, between Tenos and Chios, named Aex fromits resemblance to a she-goatall being the Greek word for the animal. Insailing from Achaia to Antandro, this rock is sighted on the starboard side, andit is a sinister threat of disaster. One section of the Aegean is distinguishedas the Myrtoan Sea; it takes its name from the small island of Myrtos sighted asyou sail from Geraestus in the direction of Macedonia, not far from Carystus inEuboea. The Romans call all these seas by two names, the Macedonian Seawherever it touches Macedonia or Thraee and the Grecian Sea where it washes thecoast of Greece; while the Greeks divide the Ionian Sea too into the Sicilianand the Cretan, named from the islands, and also give the name of Icarian to thepart hetween Samos and Myconos, and the other Greek names are taken from thegulfs that we have mentioned.

XII. So much for the arrangement of the seas and the nations in the thirdGulf of Europe. The islands are as follows: opposite to Thesprotia, 12 milesfrom Buthrotus and also 50 from Acroceraunia, lies Corfu, with a city ofthe same name, a free state, and the town of Cassopo, and the temple of JupiterCassius; the island is 97 miles long. InHomerit has the names of Scheria and Phaeacia, and inCallimachus also that of Drepane.Several islands lie round it, especially Fano on the side towards Italy and Paxoand Antipaxo towards Leucadia, both 5 miles away from Corfu. Not far from these,lying off Corfu, are Ericusa, Marathe, Elaphusa, Malthace, Trachie, Pythionia,Ptychia and Tarachie, and off the promontory of Corfu called Capo Drasti therock into which (according to the story, which is due to the similarity ofshape) the ship of Ulysses was changed. Off Leucadia and Aetolia are a verylarge number, among which those called the Teleboides, and also by theirinhabitants the Taphiae, are Taphias, Carnos, Oxia, and Prinoessa; off Aetoliaare the Echinades, Aegialia, Cotonis, Thyatira, Geoaris, Dionysia, Cyrnns,Chalcis, Pinara, Nystrus. Off these out at sea lie Cephallenia and Zante, bothfree, Ithaca, Dulichium, Same, and Crocyle. Cephallenia, formerly called inGreek the Black Island, is 10 miles from Paxo, and measures 93 miles incircumference; Same has been demolished by the Romans, but still possessesthree towns. Between Same and the coast of Achaia lies Zante, distinguished byits fine town and remarkable for the fertility of its soil; it was at one timecalled Hyrie. It is 25 miles from the southern part of Cephallenia, and on it isthe celebrated mountain of Elatus. It measures 36 miles in circumference. At adistance of 15 miles from Zante is Ithaca, on which is Monte Stefano; its wholecircumference measures 25 miles. The distance from it to the Peloponnesianpromontory of Araxus is 15 miles. Off Ithaca in the open sea are Asteris andProte, and off Zante at a distance of 35 miles to the south-east are the twoStrophades, called by other people the Plotae. Off Cephallenia is Letoia, offPylos the three Sphageae and off Messene the three Oenussae.

In the Messenian Gulf are the three Thyrides, andin the Gulf of Laconia Teganissa, Cothon and Cerigo with the town of thatnamethe former name of this island was Porphyris; it lies 5 miles from CapeMalea, which is dangerous to circumnavigate because of the narrowness of thestrait. In the Gulf of Nauplia are Pityusa, Mine and Ephyre; opposite theterritory of Hermione Tricarenus, Aperopia, Colonis and Aristera; opposite thatof Troezen, Calauria half a mile away, Plateis, Belbina, Lasia and Baucidias;opposite Epidaurus, Cecryphalos and Pityonesus 6 miles from the mainland.Fifteen miles from Pityonesus is Aegina, a free state, which is 18 miles long asyou sail past it, and 20 miles distant from Piraeus, the port of Athens; itsname used to be Oenone. Off the promontory of Spiraeum lie Eleusa, Adendros, thetwo Craugiae, the two Caeciae and Selacosa; and Aspis 7 miles from Cenchreae andMethurides in the Bay of Megara 4 miles; while Aegila is 15 miles from Cytheraand 25 from the Cretan town of Phalasarna.

Crete itself stretches east and west with one side facing south and theother north; it is celebrated for the renown of its 100 cities.Dosiades held the view that it took itsname from the nymph Crete, daughter of Hesperis,Anaximander that it was named from theking of the Curetes,Philistides ofMallos and Crates that it was first called Aeria and then subsequently Curetis;its Greek appellation, 'the Island of the Blest,' is thought by some to be dueto the mildness of its climate. Its breadth nowhere exceeds 50 miles, its widestpart being about the middle; its length is fully 270 miles and itscircumference 589 miles; its longest side forms a curve towards the Cretan Seawhich takes its name from it, its easternmost projection, Cape Samonium,pointing towards Rhodes and its westernmost, the Ram's Forehead,towards Cyrene.

The important cities of Crete are Phalasarna, Elaea, Cisamon, Pergamum, Cydonia,Minoium, Apteron, Pantomatrium, Amphomala, Rhithymna, Panhormum, Cytaeum,Apoilonia, Matium, Heraclea, Miletos, Ampelos, Hierapytna, Lebena andHierapolis; and in the interior Gortyna, Phaestus, Cnossus, Polyrrhenum,Xlyrina, Lycastos, Rhamnus, Lyctus, Diuni, Asium, Pyloros, Rhytion, Elatos,Pherae, Holopyxos, Lasos, Eleuthernae, Therapnae, Marathusa, Gytisos, and about60 other towns of which only the memory exists. The mountains are Cadistus, Ida,Dictynna and Corycus. The distance of the island at its promontory called theRam's Forehead from the promontory of Cyrene named Phycus is statedbyAgrippa to be 125 miles, and atCadistus from Malea in the Morea 80; at the promontory of Samonium it is 60miles west of the island of Skarpanto, which lies between it and Rhodes.

The remaining islands lying round Crete are towards the Morea, the two calledCorycos and the two called Myla; on the north side having Crete on theright and opposite to Cydonea are Leuce and the two called Budroe, opposite toMatium is Dia, opposite to the promontory of Itanum are Onysia and Leuce, andopposite to Hierapytua Chrysa and Gaudos. In the same region are Ophiussa, Butoaand Rhamnus, and after rounding the Ram's Forehead the three called Acusagorus.Off the promontory of Samonium are the Phocoi, Platiae and Stirnides, andNaulochos, Harmedon and Zephyre.

Forming part of Hellas but still in the Aegean Seaare the Lichades, Searphia, Corese, Phocasia, and a number of others facingAttica that have no towns on them and are consequently unimportant. OppositeEleusis is the famous island of Salamis. In front of it is Psyttalea, and, at adistance of 5 miles from Sunium, Helene. Then at the same distance from Heleneis Ceos, called by some Romans Cea and by the Greeks also Hydrusa. This is anisland that has been torn away from Euboea; it was formerly 64 miles long, butmore recently about four-fifths of it lying in the direction of Boeotia has alsobeen swallowed up by the sea, leaving the towns of Iulis and Carthaea, whileCoresus and Grassy Island have disappeared.Varro states that this island used to export an exceptionally fine kindof cloth used for ladies' dresses.

Euboea itself also is sundered from Boeotia by so moderate a channel, theEuripus, that it is joined to the mainland by a bridge. At the south end it hastwo marked promontories, Capo Mandili pointing towards Attica and Kayo Dorotowards the Dardanelles; at the north it has Cape Lithadha. Its breadth nowhereexceeds 40 miles and nowhere contracts below two miles; its length stretchesalong the whole of Boeotia from Attica to Thessaly and measures 150 miles, while its circumference is 365 miles. At its south-easternmost point its distancefrom the Dardanelles is 225 miles. Its notable cities were formerly Pyrrha,Porthmos, Nesos, Germthos, Oreus, Dium, Aedepsos, Ocha and Oechalia; those nownoteworthy are Chalcis (opposite which on the mainland is Aulis), Geraestus,Eretria, Carystus, Oritanum and Artemisium, as well as the Spring of Arethusa,the river Lelantus and the warm springs known as the Hellopiae. Euboea is,however, still better known for the marble of Carystus. It used formerly to becalled Chalcodontis or according to Dionysius and Ephorus Macris, but Macraaccording toAristides, and according toCallidemus Chalcis, because copper wasfirst discovered there; according toMenaechmusits name was Abantias, while in poetry it is commonly called Asopis.

In the Myrtoan Sea besides Euboea are manyislands, the best known being Glauconnesus and the Aegila islands, and off CapoMandili the Cyclades, lying round Delos in a circle which has given them theirname. The first of these is Andro with a town of the same name, 10 miles fromMandili and 38 from Ceos. Myrsilus tells us that Ceos was once called Cauros,and later Antandros;Callimachus says ithad the name of Lasia, others Nonagria or Hydrusa or Epagris. Its circuitmeasures 93 miles. At a distance of a mile from Andros and 15 miles from Delosis Tino, with a city of the same name; this island is 15 miles in length.Aristotle says that owing to itsabundance of springs it once was called Hydrusa; others give its old name asOphiusa. The other islands are: Mykono, with Mount Two Breasts, 15 miles fromDelos; Siphnns, previously called Meropia and Ads, 28 miles round; Serpho 15miles round; Prepesinthus; Cythnos; and by far the most famous of the Cycladesand lying in the middle of them, Delos, celebrated for its temple of Apollo andfor its commerce. According to the story, Delos for a long time floated adrift;also it was the only island that down to the time ofMarcus Varro had never felt anearthquake shock;Mucianus howeverstates that it has suffered twice from earthquake.Aristotle has recorded that it owes itsname to its having suddenly appeared emerging from the water;Aglaosthenes, however, calls it the Isleof Cynthus, and others Quail Island, Star Island, Hare Island, Cloak Island, DogIsland, and Fiery Island because fire was first discovered there. It measuresfive miles in circumference. Its only eminence is Mount Cynthius.

Next to Delos is Rhene, whichAnticlides calls Celadusa, and alsoArtemites and Celadine; Syros, stated by old writers to measure 20 miles incircuit, but byMucianus 160 miles;Olearos; Páros, with the town of that name, 38 miles from Delos, famous for itsmarble, and originally called Platea and afterwards Minois. Seven and a halfmiles from Paros and 18 from Delos is Naxos with its town, which was calledStrongyle and then Dia and afterwards the Island of Dionysus because of thefertility of its vineyards, and by others Little Sicily or Callipolis. Itscircuit measures 75 miles and it is half as large again as Paros.

So far the islands are regarded as belonging to the Cyclades, but the remainderthat follow are called the Sporades. They are Helene, Phacusa, Nicasia,Schinusa, Pholegandros and 38 miles from Naxos and the same number of miles inlength, Icaros, which has given its name to the surrounding sea; it has twotowns, a third having disappeared; it was formerly called Doliche or LongIsland, also Fish Island. It lies 50 miles north-east of Delos and 35 miles fromSamos; between Euboea and Andros there is a channel 10 miles wide, and thedistance from Icaros to Geraestus is 112½ miles.

After these no regular order can be kept, so the remaining islands shall begiven in a group: Scyro; Nio, 18 miles from Naxos, venerable as the burial-placeofHomer, 22 miles long, previouslycalled Phoenice; Odia; Oletandros; Gioura, with a town of the same name, 15miles in circumference, 62 miles distant from Andros; 80 miles from Gionra,Syrnos; Cynethus; Telos, noted for its unguent, and called byCallimachus Agathusa; Donusa; Patmos, 30miles in circumference; the Corassiae, Lebitha, Lero, Zinari; Sikino, previouslyOenoe; Heraclia or Onus; Casos or Astrabe; Kimoli or Echinusa; Milo, with thetown of that name, called byAristidesMimblis, byAristotle Zephyria, byCallimachus, Mimallis and byHeraclides Siphis and Acytasthe mostcircular in shape of all the islands; Buporthmos; Machia; Hypere, formerlycalled Patage, or by others Platage, now Amorgo; Polyaegas; Sapyle; Santorin,called Fair Island when it first emerged from the water; Therasia subsequentlydetached from it, and Automate or Holy Island, which soon afterwards arosebetween the two, and Thia, which emerged near the same islands in our own day.The distance between Santorin and Nio is 25 miles.

There follow Lea, Ascania, Namphi, and Hippuris. Stampalia, a free state,measuring 88 miles in circumference, is 125 miles from Cadistus in Crete; Platea60 miles from Stampalia, and Caminia 38 miles from Platea; Azibintha, Lamse,Atragia, Pharmacusa, Thetaedia, Karki, Kalymni with its town, Coos, Eulimna, andat a distance of 25 miles from it Skarpanto, which has given its name to theCarpathian Sea? From there to Rhodes, a southwest course, is 50 miles; fromSkarpanto to Casus is 7 miles, from Casus to Cape Samonium in Crete 30. In theEuripus between Euboea and the mainland, almost at the first entrance, are thefour Petaliae Islands, and at its outlet Talanti. The Cyclades and the Sporadesare bounded on the east by the Asiatic coasts of the Icarian Sea, on the west bythe Attic coasts of the Myrtoan Sea, on the north by the Aegean Sea and on thesouth by the Cretan and Carpathian coasts; these islands occupy an area 700miles long and 200 miles broad.

Across the mouth of the Gulf of Volo lie Euthia, Trikeri, Skyro, previouslymentioned, and in fact the outermost of the Cyclades and Sporades, Gerontia andScandira; across the Gulf of Saloniki Lresia Solymnia, Eudemia and Nea, the lastan island sacred to Minerva; across the Gulf of Athos lie four islands, Piperiwith the town of that name and formerly called Evoenus, 9 miles off, Sciathos 15miles, and Embro with its town 88 miles; the distance between Embro and Mastusiaon the Gallipoli Peninsula is 22 miles. Embro is 62½ miles in circuit; it iswatered by the river Ilissus. Twenty-two miles from Embro is Stalimene, whichlies 87½ miles from Mount Athos; its circuit measures 115½ miles, and onit are the towns of Hephaestia and Myrinathe market place of the latter isreached by the shadow of Mount Athos at midsummer. Six miles from Staliniene isThasos, a free state, formerly called Aeria or Aethria; Abdera on the mainlandis 22 miles from Thasos, and Athos 621 miles, and the island of Samothrace, afree state, off the river Maritza, is the same distance from Thasos, 32 milesfrom Embro, 22½ from Stalimene, and 38 from the coast of Thrace; its circuitmeasures 35 miles, and on it rises Monte Nettuno, which is 10 miles high. Embrogives the worst anchorage for vessels of all the islands. It is mentioned byCallimachus under its ancient name ofDardania.

Between the Gallipoli peninsula and Samothrace, about 15 miles from each, is theisland of Skopelo, and beyond it are Gethone, Lamponia, Alopeconnesus,which is not far from Coelos the port of Gallipoli, and some others of noimportance. We may also specify the names of uninhabited islands in the Gulf sofar as we have been able to ascertain them: Avesticos, Sarnos, Cissyros,Charbrusa, Calathusa, Scyllia, Dialeon, Dictaea, Melanthia, Dracanon, Arconesus,Diethusa, Ascapos, Capheris, Mesate, Aeantion, Pateronnesus, Pateria, Calathe,Neriphus, Pelendos.

The fourth of the great Gulfs of Europe begins at the Dardanellesand ends at the entrance of the Sea of Azov. But in order more easily toindicate the divisions of the Black Sea we must give a brief description of itsshape as a whole. It is a vast body of water lying in front of Asia and shut outfrom Europe by the promontory of Gallipoli; but it forces aa entrance into theinterior by a narrow winding channel, and separates Europe from Asia, as hasbeen said, by a strait that is less than a mile wide. The first part of thenarrows is called the Dardanelles; here the Persian kingXerxes made the bridge of boats acrosswhich he led his army. From there a narrow channel 86 miles long extends to theAsiatic city of Priapus; it was here thatAlexander the Great crossed. From this point the water begins to widenout, and afterwards narrows again. The wide part is called the Sea of Marmaraand the narrows the Straits of Constantinople; at the point whereXerxes' fatherDarius conveyed his forces across bymeans of a bridge it is 500 yards wide, and its entire length from theDardanelles is 239 miles.

Then comes the vast extent of the Black Sea, formerly the Axenus, whichencroaches on a large area of the continent, and with a great bend of its coastscurves back into horns and from them stretches out on either side, producingexactly the shape of a Scythian bow. In the middle of the curve it isjoined by the mouth of the Sea of Azov; this aperture is called the Straits ofKertsch, and measures two and a half miles across. The distance in a straightline between the two straits, the Dardanelles and Kaffa, measures according toPolybius 500 miles. The wholecircumference of the Black Sea according toVarro and the old authorities generally is 2150 miles, butCornelius Nepos adds 350 miles, whileArtemidorus makes it 2119 miles,Agrippa 2540, andMucianus 2425. There is a similardifference of opinion as to the measurement of the European shore, some fixingit at 1479 miles and others at 1100.MarcusVarro gives the measurement as follows: from the mouth of the Black Seato Apollonia 1871 miles; from there to Coliat the same; to the month of theDanube 125; to the Dnieper 250; to the town of Cherronesus of the Heraeleotae375 miles; to Kertseh, by some called Bosporus, the last point on the coast ofEurope, 2121 milesthe total making 13371 miles.Agrippa makes it 540 miles from Istamboul to the river Danube and 635 miles from the Danube to Kertseh.

The actual Sea of Azov, which receives the Don flowing down from theItipaean Mountains, the river being the extreme boundary between Europe andAsia, is said to measure 1406, or according to other authorities 1125, miles incircumference. The distance in a straight line between the entrance of the Seaof Azov and the mouth of the Don is agreed to be 375 miles. The inhabitants ofthe coasts of this great Gulf as far as Istere have been mentioned in ouraccount of Thrace.

We then come to the mouths of the Danube. It risesin Germany in the range of Mount Abnoua, opposite to the Gallic town ofRanricum, and flows for a course of many miles beyond the Alps, and throughinnumerable tribes, under the name of Danube; then its volume of water increasesenormously and from the point where it first enters Illyria it is called theHister; after receiving 60 tributary rivers, nearly half of which are navigable,it is discharged into the Black Sea by six vast channels. The first of these isthe mouth of Piczina, close to the island of that name, at which the nearestchannel, called the Holy River, is swallowed up in a marsh 19 miles in extent.Opening from the same channel and above Istere spreads a lake measuring 63 milesround, named the Saltings. The second is called the Narakian Mouth; the third,next the island of Sarmatica, Fair Mouth; the fourth, False Mouth; then comesthe island of Mosquito Crossing, afterwards the North Mouth and the BarrenMouth. These mouths are each of them so large that for a distance of fortymiles, so it is said, the sea is overpowered and the water tastes fresh.

From this point all the races in general are Scythian, though various sectionshave occupied the lands adjacent to the coast, in one place the Getae, called bythe Romans Dacians, at another the Sarmatae, called by the Greeks Sauromatae,and the section of them called Waggon-dwellers or Aorsi, at another thebase-born Scythians, descended from slaves, or else the Cave-dwellers, and thenthe Alani and Rhoxolani. The higher parts between the Danube and the HercynianForest as far as the winter quarters of Pannonia at Carnuntum and the plains andlevel country of the German frontiers There are occupied by the SarmatianIazyges, while the Dacians whom they have driven out hold the mountains andforests as far as the river Theiss. From the river Maros, or else the Dora if itis that which separates them from the Suebi and the Kingdom of Vannius, theopposite side of the country is occupied by the Basternae and then other Germantribes.Agrippa describes the whole ofthis area from the Danube to the sea as being 1200 miles in length by 396 inbreadth, as far as the river Vistula in the direction of the Sarmatian desert.The name of Scythians has spread in every direction, as far as the Sarmatae andthe Germans, but this old designation has not continued for any except the mostoutlying sections of these races, living almost unknown to the rest of mankind.

After the Danube come the towns of Cremniscoi andAepolium, the Macrocremni Mountains, and the famous river Dniester, which givesits name to the town on the site which previously was called Ophiusa. A largeisland in the Dniester, inhabited by the Tyragetae, is 130 miles from the FalseMouth of the Danube. Then come the Axiacae named from the river Axiaces, andbeyond them the Crobyzi, the river Rhode, the Sangarian Gulf, the port ofOrdesus, and 120 miles from the Dniester the river Dnieper and the lake andtribe of the same name, and the town 15 miles inland from the sea, the old namesof which were Olbiopolis and Miletopolis. Returning to the coast, we come to thePort of the Achaeans and the Isle of Achilles, famous for the tomb of that hero,and 125 miles from it a peninsula stretching out at a slant in the shape of asword, and called the Racecourse of Achilles from having been his exercisingground; its length is given byAgrippaas 80 miles. The whole of this stretch is occupied by the Scythian Sardi andSiraci. Then there is a wooded region that has given its name to the Forest Seathat washes its coast; the inhabitants are called the tribe of the Indigenáe.Beyond is the river Somara, which forms the boundary between the Nomad andAgricultural tribes, and then the Acesinus. Some authorities say that belowOlbia the Somara flows into the Dnieper, but the more accurate make the Bug atributary of the Dnieperso erroneous it is to put the latter in a region ofAsia.

Here the sea runs in, forming a large gulf, until there is only a space of fivemiles separating it from the Sea of Azov, and it forms the coastline of vasttracts of land and numerous races; this is called the Gulf of Negropoli. Here isthe river Pacyris, the towns of Navarum and Carcine, and behind them Lake Buces,which discharges into the sea by an artificial channel. Lake Buces itself isshut off by a rocky ridge from the Bay of Coretus in the Sea of Azov. Into itrun the rivers Buces, Gerrhus and Bug, coming from different directions: for theGerrhus separates the Nomads and the Basilides, while the Bug flows through theNomads and Foresters and discharges by an artificially made channel into theBuces and by a natural channel into the Coretus: this region has the name ofScythia Sindica.

At the river Carcinites begins the Crimea, itself also formerly surrounded bythe sea where there are now low-lying stretches of land, though afterwards itrises in huge mountain ridges. The population includes 30 tribes; of these 23live in the interior, 6 towns are occupied by the Orgocyni, Characeni, Assyrani,Stactari, Acisalitae and Caliordi, and the Scythotauri occupy the actual ridge.On the west side they are adjoined by the New Peninsula and on the east by theSatauci Scythians. The towns on the coast after Carcine are Taphrae at theactual neck of the peninsula, and then the Heraclean Peninsula, a place on whichRome has recently bestowed freedom; it was formerly called Megarice, and is themost highly cultured community in all this region owing to its having preservedthe manners of Greece; it is encircled by a wall measuring five miles. Then comethe Virgin's Cape, Placia a city of the Tauri, the port of Balaklava, Ram's HeadCape, jutting out into the middle of the Black Sea opposite to Cape Kerempi inAsia with a space between them of 170 miles, which is chiefly the reason thatproduces the shape of a Scythian bow! After this come a number of harbours andlakes belonging to the Tauri. The town of Theodosia is 125 miles from Ram's Headand 165 from the Peninsula. Beyond it there were in former times the towns ofCytae, Zephyrium, Acrae, Nymphaeum and Dia; while by far the strongest of themall, the Milesian city of Kertsch, at the actual mouth of the Straits, stillstands; it is 84 miles from Theodosia and 4 miles, as we have said, from thetown of Cimmerium situated across the Straits--this is the width that hereseparates Asia from Europe, and even this can usually be crossed on foot whenthe Gulf is frozen over. On the Straits of Kertsch, the length of which is 12½miles, are the towns of Hermisium and Myrmecium, and inside the Straits is theisland of Alopece. The coast of the Sea of Azov, from the place called Taphraeat the end of the isthmus to the mouth of the Straits of Kertsch measuresaltogether 260 miles.

After Taphrae, the interior of the mainland is occupied by the Auchetai and theNeuroi, in whose territories respectively are the sources of the Bug and theDnieper, the Geloni, Thyssagetae, Budini, Basilidae and Agathyrsi, the last adark-haired people; above them are the Nomads and then the Cannibals, and afterLake Buces above the Sea of Azov the Sauromatae and Essedones. Along the coast,as far as the river Don, are the Maeotae from whom the sea receives its name,and last of all in the rear of the Maeotae are the Arimaspi. Then come theRipaean Mountains and the region called Pterophorus, because of the feather-likesnow continually falling there; it is a part of the world that lies under thecondemnation of nature and is plunged in dense darkness, and occupied only bythe work of frost and the chilly lurking-places of the north wind. Behind thesemountains and beyond the north wind there dwells (if we can believe it) a happyrace of people called the Hyperboreans, who live to extreme old age and arefamous for legendary marvels. Here are believed to be the hinges on which thefirmament turns and the extreme limits of the revolutions of the stars, with sixmonths' daylight and a single day of the sun in retirement, not as the ignoranthave said, from the spring equinox till autumn: for these people the sun risesonce in the year, at midsummer, and sets once, at midwinter. It is a genialregion, with a delightful climate and exempt from every harmful blast. The homesof the natives are the woods and groves; they worship the gods severally and incongregations; all discord and all sorrow is unknown. Death comes to them onlywhen, owing to satiety of life, after holding a banquet and anointing their oldage with luxury, they leap from a certain rock into the sea: this mode of burialis the most blissful. Some authorities have placed these people not in Europebut on the nearest part of the coasts of Asia, because there is a race therewith similar customs and a similar location, named the Attaci; others have putthem midway between the two suns, the sunsets of the antipodes and our sunrise,but this is quite impossible because of the enormous expanse of sea that comesbetween. Those who locate them merely in a region having six months of daylighthave recorded that they sow in the morning periods, reap at midday, pluck thefruit from the trees at sunset, and retire into caves for the night. Nor is itpossible to doubt about this race, as so many authorities state that theyregularly send the first fruits of their harvests to Delos as offerings toApollo, whom they specially worship. These offerings used to be brought byvirgins, who for many years were held in veneration and hospitably entertainedby the nations on the route, until because of a violation of good faith theyinstituted the custom of depositing their offerings at the nearest frontiers ofthe neighbouring people, and these of passing them on to their neighbours, andso till they finally reached Delos. Later this practice itself also passed outof use.

The territories of Sarmatia, Scythia and Taurica, and the whole region from theriver Dnieper are stated byMarcus Agrippato measure 980 miles in length and 716 in breadth; but for my own part Iconsider that in this part of the world estimates of measurement are uncertain.

But in conformity with the plan set out the remaining features of this gulf must be stated. Its seas we have specified.

XIII.In the Dardanelles there are no islands that deserve mention belonging toEurope. There are two in the Black Sea, 1½ miles from the European coast and 14miles from the mouth of the straits, the Fanari, called by others theSymplegades, these being the islands about which there is the tradition thatthey once clashed together: the story is due to the fact that they are separatedby so small a gap that by persons entering the Black Sea directly facing themthey were seen as two, and then when the line of sight became slightly obliquethey gave the appearance of coming together. On this side of the Danube there isone of the islands called Apollonia, 80 miles from the Thracian Bosphorus; fromthis islandMarcus Lucullus brought thestatue of Apollo of the Capitol. We have stated the places in the Delta of theDanube. Off the mouth of the Dnieper is the Island of Achilles mentioned above,which also has the Greek names of the White Island and Island of the Blest.Modern investigation shows the position of this island to be 140 miles from theDnieper, 120 from the Dniester, and 50 from the island of Peuce. It is about 10miles in circuit. The remaining islands in the Gulf of Carcinites areCephalonnesus, Spodusa and Macra. Before we leave the Black Sea, we must notomit the opinion held by many persons that all the waters of the Mediterraneanare derived from this source, and not from the Straits of Gibraltar; the reasonthat they give for this view is not an improbable one--viz, that the tide isalways flowing out of the Black Sea and never ebbing in the other direction.

Next we must leave the Black Sea to describe the outer regions of Europe, andcrossing the Ripaean Mountains must coast to the left along the shore of thenorthern ocean until we reach Cadiz. In this direction a number of islands arereported to exist that have no names, but according to the account ofTimaeus there is one named Baunonia,lying off Scythia, at a distance of a day's voyage from the coast, on the beachof which in spring time amber is cast up by the waves. The rest of these coastsare only known in detail by reports of doubtful authority. To the north is theocean; beyond the river Parapanisus where it washes the coast of ScythiaHecataeus calls it the Amalehian Sea, a name that in the language of thenatives means `frozen';Philemon saysthat the Cimbrian name for it is Morimarusa (that is, Dead Sea) from theParapanisus to Cape Rusbeae, and from that point onward the Cronian Sea.Xenophon of Lampsacus reports that threedays' sail from the Scythian coast there is an island of enormous size calledBalcia;Pytheas gives its name asBasilia. Also some islands called the Oeonae are reported of which theinhabitants live on birds' eggs and oats, and others on which people are bornwith horses' feet, which gives them their Greek name; there are others calledthe All-ears Islands in which the natives have very large ears covering thewhole of their bodies, which are otherwise left naked.

From this point more definite information begins to open up, beginning with therace of the Inguaeones, the first that we come to in Germany. Here there is anenormous mountain, the Saevo, as big as those of the Ilipaean range, which formsan enormous bay reaching to the Cimbrian promontory; it is named the CodanianGulf, and is studded with islands. The most famous of these is Scandinavia; itssize has not been ascertained, and so far as is known, only partof it is inhabited, its natives being the Hilleviones, who dwell in 500villages, and call their island a second world. Aeningia is thought to beequally big. Some authorities report that these regions as far as the riverVistula are inhabited by the Sarmati, Venedi, Sciri and Hirri, and that there isa gulf named Cylipenus, with the island of Latris at its mouth, and then anothergulf, that of Lagnus, at which is the frontier of the Cimbri. The Cimbrianpromontory projects a long way into the sea, forming a peninsula called Tastris.Then there are twenty-three islands known to the armed forces of Rome; the mostnoteworthy of these are Burcana, called by our people Bean Island from thequantity of wild beans growing there, and the island which by the soldiery iscalled Glass Island from its amber, but by the barbarians Austeravia, and alsoActania.

The whole of the seacoast as far as the German river Scheldt is inhabited byraces the extent of whose territories it is impossible to state, so unlimited isthe disagreement among the writers who report about them.

The Greek writers and some of our own have given the coast of Germany asmeasuring 2500 miles, while Agrippa makes the length of Germany including Raetia and Nonicum 686 miles and the breadth 248 miles,

XIV whereas the breadth of Raetia alone almost exceeds that figure;though to be sure it was only conquered about the time ofAgrippa's deathfor Germany was exploredmany years after, and that not fully. If one may be allowed to conjecture, thecoast will be found to be not much shorter than the Greek idea of it and thelength given byAgrippa.

There are five German races: the Vandals, who include the Burgodiones, Varinnae,Charini and Gutones; the second race the Inguaeones, including Cimbri, Teutoniand the tribes of the Chauci; nearest to the Rhine the Istiaeones, including theSicambri; inland the Hermiones, including the Suebi, Hermunduri, Chatti andCherusci; and the fifth section the Peucini, and the Basternae who march withthe Dacians above mentioned. Notable rivers that flow into the Ocean are theGuthalus, the Visculus or Vistula, the Elbe, the Weser, the Ems, the Rhine andthe Meuse. In the interior stretches the Hercinian range ofmountains, which is inferior to none in grandeur.

XV. In the Rhine itself, the most notable island is that of the Batavi and Cannenefates, which is almost a hundred miles in length, and othersare those of the Frisii, Chauci, Frisiavones, Sturii and Marsacii, which liebetween Briel and Vlieland. The latter give their names to the mouths into whichthe Rhine divides, discharging itself on the north into the lakes there and onthe west into the river Meuse, while at the middle mouth between these two itkeeps a small channel for its own name.

XVI. Opposite to this region lies the island of Britain, famous inthe Greek records and in our own; it lies to the north-west, facing, across awide channel, Germany, Gaul and Spain, countries which constitute by far thegreater part of Europe. It was itself named Albion, while all the islands aboutwhich we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britains. Its distance fromGesoriacum on the coast of the Morini tribe by the shortest passage is 50 miles.Its circumference is reported byPytheasandIsidorus to measure 4875 miles;nearly thirty years ago, its exploration was carried by the armed forces of Rometo a point not beyond the neighbourhood of the Caledonian Forest.Agrippa believes the length of theisland to be 800 miles and its breadth 300, and the breadth of Ireland the samebut its length 200 miles less. Ireland lies beyond Britain, the shortestcrossing being from the district of the Silures, a distance of 30 miles. Of theremaining islands it is said that none has a circumference of more than 125miles. There are the 40 Orkneys separated by narrow channels from each other,the 7 Shetlands, the 30 Hebrides, and between Ireland and Britain the Islands ofAnglesea, Man, Racklin, White-horn, Dalkey and Bardsey; south of Britain areSian and Ushant, and opposite, scattered about in the direction of the GermanSea, are the Glass Islands which the Greeks in more modern times have called theElectrides, from the Greek word for amber, which is produced there. The mostremote of all those recorded is Thule, in which as we have pointedout there are no nights at midsummer when the sun is passing through thesign of the Crab, and on the other hand no days at midwinter; indeed somewriters think this is the case for periods of six months at a time without abreak. The historianTimaeus says thereis an island named Mictis lying inward six days' sail from Britain where tin isfound, and to which the Britons cross in boats of osier covered with stitchedhides. Some writers speak of other islands as well, the Scandiae, Dumna, Bergos,and Berricep the largest of all, from which the crossing to Thule starts. Oneday's sail from Thule is the frozen ocean, called by some the Cronian Sea.

XVII. The whole of Gaul included under the general name ofLong-haired divides into three races of people, which are chiefly separated bythe rivers: from the Scheldt to the Seine is Belgic Gaul, from the Seine to theGaronne Celtic Gaul, also called Lyonese, and from the Garonne to the projectionof the Pyrenees Aquitanian Gaul, previously called Armorica.Agrippa reckoned the entire length ofthe coast at 1750 miles, and the dimensions of the Gauls between the Rhine andthe Pyrenees and the ocean and the mountains of the Cevennes and Jura, whichexclude the Narbonne division of Gaul, aslength 420 miles, breadth 318 miles.

The part beginning at the Scheldt is inhabited by the Texuandri, who haveseveral names, and then the Menapi, the Morini, the Oromarsaci adjacent to thecanton called Chersiacus, the Bretons, the Ambiani, the Bellovaci and the Bassi;and more in the interior the Catoslugi, Atrebates, Nervi (a free people),Veromandui, Suaeuconi, Suessiones (free), Ulmancctes (free), Tungri, Sunici,Frisiavones, Baetasi, Leuci (free), Treveri (formerly free), Lingones(federated), Remi (federated), Mediomatrici, Sequani, Raurici, Helveti; and theEquestrian and Rauric colonies. The races of Germany living on the banks of theRhine in the same province are the Nemetes, Triboci and Vangioncs, and among theUbii the Colony of Agrippina,a the Guberni, the Batavi and the people whom wehave already mentioned as dwelling on the islands of the Rhine.

XVIII. To Lyonese Gaul belong the Lexovii, Veliocasses, Galeti, Veneti,Abrincatui, Ossismi, the famous river Loire, and also the still more remarkablethat runs out into the ocean from the boundary of the Ossismi and measures 625miles round and 125 miles across at its neck. Beyond that neck are the Namnetes,and in the interior the Aedui (federated), Carnuteni (federated), Boii, Senones,Aulerci (both those named Eburovices and those named Cenomani), Neldi (free),Parisii, Tricasses, Andicavi, Viducasses, Bodiocasses, Venelli, Coriosvelites,Diablinti, Rhedones, Turones, Atesui, and Secusiani (free), in whose territoryis the colony of Lyons.

XIX. To Aquitanian Gaul belong the Ambilatri, Anagnutes,Pictones, Santoni (free), Bituriges, also named Vivisci (free), Aquitani (whogive their name to the province), Sediboviates; then the Convenae togetherforming one town, the Begerri, the Tarbelli Quattuorsignani, CocosatesSexsignani, Venami, Onobrisates, Belendi; the Pyrenean pass; and below theMonesi, Mountain Oscidates, Sybillates, Camponi, Bercorcates, Pinpedunni,Lassunni, Vellates, Toruates, Consoranni, Ausei, Elusates, Sottiates, Oscidatesof the Plain, Succasses, Latusates, Basaboiatcs, Vassei, Sennatcs and theCambolectri Agessinates. Joining on to the Pictones are the Bitnriges calledCubi (free), then the Lemovices, Arverni (free), Gabales, and again, marchingwith the province of Gallia Narbonensis, the Ruteni, Cadurci, Nitiobroges, andseparated by the river Tarn from the people of Toulouse, the Petrocori.

The seas round the coast are: as far as the Rhine the Northern ocean, betweenthe Rhine and the Seine the British Sea, and between the Seine and the Pyreneesthe Gallic Sea. There are a number of islands of the Veneti, both thosecalled the Veneticae and Oleron in the Gulf of Aquitania.

XX. At the promontory of the Pyrenees begins Spain, which isnarrower not only than Gaul but even than itself, as we have said, seeing howenormously it is pressed together on one side by the ocean and on the other bythe Iberian Sea. The actual chain of the Pyrenees, spreading from due east tosouthwest, makes the Spanish provinces shorter on the northern side than on thesouthern. On the nearest coast is situated Hither or Tarragonian Spain; alongthe sea-coast from the Pyrenees are the forest of the Vascones, Olarso, thetowns of the Varduli, Morogi, Menosca, Vesperies and the port of Amanum, thepresent site of the colony of Flaviobrica; then the district of the nine statesof the Cantabri, the river Sauga, the port of Victory of the Juliobricenses(from this place the sources of the Ebro are 40 miles distant), the port ofBlendium, the Orgenomesci (a branch of the Cantabrians), their port Vereasueca,the district of the Astures, the town of Noega, the Pesici on a peninsula; andthen, belonging to the jurisdiction of Lugo, starting from the river Navialbio,the Cibarci, the Egivarri surnamed Namarini, Jadovi, Arroni, Arrotrebae; theCeltic Promontory, the rivers Florius and Nelo, the Celts surnamed Neri, andabove them the Tamarci, on whose peninsula are the three Altars of Sestiusdedicated to Augustus, the Copori, the town of Noeta, the Celts surnamedPraestamarci, the Cileni. Of the islands must be specified Corticata and Aunios.After the Cileni, in the jurisdiction of the Bracae are the Helleni, the Groviand Tyde Castle, all people of Greek stock; the Dry Islands, the town ofAbobrica, the river Minho four miles wide at its mouth, the Leuni, the Seurbi,Augusta, a town belonging to the Bracae, above whom is Gallaecia; the Limiastream and the river Douro, one of the largest in Spain, which rises in thedistrict of the Pelendones and passing by Numantia then flows through theArevaci and Vaccaei, separating the Vettones from Asturia and the Gallaeci fromLusitania, and at this point also separating the Turduli from the Bracari. Thewhole of the district mentioned, from the Pyrenees onward, is full of mines ofgold, silver, iron, lead and tin.

XXI. From the Douro begins Lusitania: the old Turduli, thePaesuri, the river Vouga, the town of Talabrica, the town and river Agueda, thetowns of Coimbra, Leiria and Eboro di Alcobaza. Then there runs out into the seaa promontory shaped like a vast horn, called by some people Artabrum, by othersthe Great Cape, and by many Cape Lisbon after the town; this headland sharplydivides the land and sea and climate. This cape ends the side of Spain, andafter rounding it the front of Spain begins.

XXII. On one side of it is the north and the Gallic Ocean, and on theother the west and the Atlantic. The distance to which this promontory projectshas been given as 60 miles, and by others as 90 miles; the distance from here tothe Pyrenees many give as 1250 miles, and place here a race of Artabres, whichnever existed, the error being obvious; they have put here, with an alterationin the spelling of the name, the Arrotrebae, whom we spoke of before we came tothe Celtic Promontory.

Mistakes have also been made in regard to the important rivers. From the Minho,which we spoke of above, the distance to the Agueda according toVarro is 200 miles, though others placethe latter elsewhere and call it the Liniaea; in early times it was called theRiver of Forgetfulness, and a great many stories were told about it. Two hundredmiles from the Douro is the Tagus, the Mondego coming between them; the Tagus isfamous for its auriferous sands. At a distance of nearly 160 miles from theTagus is Cape St. Vincent, projecting from nearly the middle of the front ofSpain. The distance from Cape St. Vincent to the middle of the Pyrenees isstated byVarro to amount to 1400 miles;from St. Vincent to the Guadiana, which we Indicated as the boundary betweenLusitania and Baetica, he puts at 126 miles, the distance from the Guadiana toCadiz adding another 102 miles.

The peoples are the Celtici, the Turduli, and on the Tagus the Vettones; andbetween the Guadiana and Cape St. Vincent the Lusitanians. The notable towns onthe coast, beginning at the Tagus, are: Lisbon, famous for its mares whichconceive from the west wind; Alcazar do Sal, called the Imperial City; Santiagode Cacem; Cape St. Vincent, and the other promontory called the Wedge; and thetowns of Estombar, Tavira and Mertola.

The whole province is divided into three associations, centred at Merida, Bejaand Santarem. It consists of 45 peoples in all, among whom there are fivecolonies, one municipality of Roman citizens, three with the old Latin rightsand 36 that pay tribute. The colonies are Merida on the river Guadiana,Medellin, Beja, and Alcantara surnamed Caesarina (to this Trucillo and Caceresare assigned); and the fifth is that of Santarem, which is called the Garrisonof Julius. The municipality of Roman citizens is Lisbon, surnamed the Success ofJulius. The towns with the old Latin rights are Evora, which is also called theGenerosity of Julius, and Mertola and Alcazar do Sal which we have mentioned. Ofthe tributary towns that deserve mention, besides those already specified inthe list of names of those belonging to Baetica, are Augustobriga, Aemia,Arandita, Axabrica, Balsa, Caesarobrica, Capera, Coria, Colarna, Cibilita,Concordia, Elbocorium, Interamnimn, Lancia, Malabriga surnamed Celtic, Medubrigasurnamed Plumbaria, Ocelum, the Turduli also called Bardili, and the Tapori.

The dimensions of Lusitania combined with Astnria and Gallaecia are given byAgrippa as: length 540 miles, breadth536 miles. The provinces of Spain taken all together, measured from the twopromontories of the Pyrenees along the sea line, are estimated to cover by thecircumference of the whole coast 2924 miles, or by others 2600 miles.

Opposite to Celtiberia are a number of islands called by the Greeks the TinIslands in consequence of their abundance of that metal; and facing CapeFinisterre are the six Islands of the Gods, which some people have designatedthe Isles of Bliss. But immediately at the beginning of Baetica comes Cadiz, 25miles from the mouth of the Strait, an island according toPolybius's account measuring 12 miles inlength and 3 miles in breadth. Its distance from the mainland at the nearestpoint is less than 233 yards. but at other places it is more than 7 miles; thecircuit of the island is 15 miles. It has a town whose population have the Romancitizenship and are called Augustans, the title of their city being JuliaGaditana. On the side facing Spain at a distance of about 100 yards is anotherisland one mile long and one mile broad, on which the town of Cadiz waspreviously situated; Ephorus and Philistus call it Aphrodisias, but its nativename is the Isle call this island Erythea, andTimaeus andSilenus of Juno. Thelarger island according toTimaeus isknown as Potimusa from its wells, but our people call it Tartesos and the Punicname is Gadir, which is Carthaginian for a fence; it was called Erythea, becausethe original ancestors of the Carthaginians, the Tyrians, were said to have comefrom the Red Sea. This island is believed by some people to have been the homeof the Geryones whose cattle were carried off by Hercules; but others hold thatthat was another island, lying off Lusitania, and that an island there was oncecalled by the same name.

XXIII. Having completed the circuit of Europe we must now give itscomplete dimensions, in order that those who desire thisinformation may not be left at a loss. Its length from the Don to Cadiz is givenby Artemidorus and Isidorus as 7714 miles.Polybius stated the breadth of Europe from Italy to the ocean as 1150miles, but its exact magnitude had not been ascertained even in his day. Thelength of Italy itself up to the Alps is 1020 miles, as we stated; and from theAlps through Lyons to the in harbour of the Morini, the port on the Britishchannel, the line of measurement that Polybius appears to take, is 1169 miles,but a better ascertained measurement and a longer one is that starting alsofrom the Alps but going north-west through the Camp of the Legions in Germany tothe mouth of the Rhine1243 miles.

I. THE Greeks give to Africa the name of Libya, and they call thesea lying in front of it the Libyan Sea. It is bounded by Egypt. No other partof the earth has fewer bays or inlets in its coast, which stretches in a longslanting line from the west. The names of its peoples and towns are absolutelyunpronounceable except by the natives; and for the rest, they mostly reside infortresses.

The list of its countries begins with the two called Mauretania, which down tothe time of the emperorCaligula werekingdoms, but by his cruelty were divided into two provinces. The outermostpromontory projecting into the ocean is named by the Greeks Ampelusia. Beyondthe Straits of Gibraltar there were once the towns of Lissa and Cotte; but atthe present day there is only Tangier, which was originally founded byAntaeus and subsequently entitledTraducta Julia by the emperorClaudiuswhen he established a colony there. It is 30 miles distant from the town ofBaelon in Baetica, where the passage across is shortest. On the Atlantic coast25 miles from Tangier is Julia Constantia Zulil, a colony ofAugustus, which is exempt from thegovernment of the native kings and included under the jurisdiction of Baetica.Thirty-five miles from Zulil is Lixus, made a colony by the emperorClaudius, about which the mostmarvellous legends are told by the old writers: this was the site of the palaceofAntaeus and the scene of his combatwith Hercules, and here were the gardens of the Ladies of the West. As a matterof fact an arm of the sea stretches inland here with a winding channel which, aspeople nowadays explain the story, had some resemblance to a guardian serpent;it embraces within it an island which, although the neighbouring district isconsiderably elevated, is nevertheless the only portion not flooded by thetides. On the island there also rises an altar of Hercules, but of the famousgrove in the story that bore the golden fruit nothing else except some wildolive trees. No doubt less wonder may be felt at the portentous falsehoods ofGreece put about concerning these serpents and the river Lixus by people whoreflect that our own countrymen, and these quite recently, have reported littleless miraculous stories about the same matters, stating that this city isexceedingly powerful and greater than Great Carthage ever was, and moreoverthat it is situated in a line with Carthage and at an almost immeasurabledistance from Tangier, and all the other details swallowed so greedily byCornelius Nepos.

In the interior, 40 miles from Lixus, is another colony ofAugustus, Babba, called Julia. On ThePlains, and 75 miles further, a third, Banasa, which has the surname ofValentia. Thirty-five miles from Banasa is the town of Volubile, which is at thesame distance from the coasts of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. On theshore, 50 miles from Lixus, is the river Sebou, flowing by the colony of Banasa,a fine river available for navigation. The same number of miles from the Sebouis the town of Sallee, situated on the river of the same name; this town is onthe very edge of the desert, and is beset by herds of elephants, but much moreseriously harried by the Autololes tribe, through whose territory lies the roadto Mount Atlas, which is the subject of much the most marvellous stories of allthe mountains in Africa. It is reported to rise into the sky out of the middleof the sands, a rugged eminence covered with crags on the side facing towardsthe coast of the Ocean to which it has given its name, but shaded by dense woodsand watered by gushing springs on the side facing Africa, where fruits of allkinds spring up of their own accord with such luxuriance that pleasure neverlacks satisfaction. It is said that in the daytime none of its inhabitants areseen, and that all is silent with a terrifying silence like that of the desert,so that a speechless awe creeps into the hearts of those who approach it, andalso a dread of the peak that soars above the clouds and reaches theneighbourhood of the moon's orb; also that at night this peak flashes withfrequent fires and swarms with the wanton gambols of Goat-Pans and Satyrs, andechoes with the music of flutes and pipes and the sound of drums and cymbals.These stories have been published by celebrated authors, in addition to thelabours performed in this region by Hercules and Perseus. It is an immensedistance away, across unexplored country.

There were also once extant some notes of the Carthaginian commanderHanno, who at the most flourishingperiod of the Punic state was ordered to explore the circuit of Africa. It isHanno whom the majority of the Greek andRoman writers have followed in the accounts that they have published of a numberof cities founded by him there of which no memory or trace exists, not to speakof other fabulous stories.

Scipio Aemilianus, during his command inAfrica, placed a fleet of vessels at the service of the historianPolybius for the purpose of making avoyage of discovery in that part of the world. After sailing round the coast,Polybius reported that beyond MountAtlas in a westerly direction there are forests teeming with the wild animalsthat Africa engenders.Agrippa says thatto the river Anatis is a distance of 496 miles, and from the Anatisto Linus 205 miles; that Linus is 112 miles from the Straits of Gibraltar andthat then come the gulf called Sagigi Bay, the town on Cape Mulelacha, therivers Sebou and Sallee, the port of Mazagan 224 miles from Linus, then CapoBlanco, the port of Safi, the Gaetulian Free State, the river Tensift, theVelatiti and Masati tribes, the river Mogador, and the river Sous, in whichcrocodiles are found. Then, he states, a gulf 616 miles across is enclosed bythe promontory of the Atlas chain projecting westward, called Cape Ger. Afterthis the river Assa, beyond which is the Aethiopiau tribe of the Perorsi, and intheir rear the Pharusii. Adjoining these in the interior are the GaetulianDarae, and on the coast the Aethiopian Daratitae and the river Non, which isfull of crocodiles and hippopotamuses. From the Non runs a line of mountainsextending right to the peak of which the Greek name is, as we shall state, theChariot of the Gods. The distance from this peak to Cape Roxo he gives as avoyage of ten days and nights; and in the middle of this space he places MountAtlas, which all other authorities give as situated at the farthest point ofMauretania.

The first occasion on which the armed forces of Rome fought in Mauretania was inthe principate ofClaudius, when KingPtolemy had been put to death byCaligula and his freedmanAedemon was seeking to avenge him; andit is an accepted fact that our troops went as far as Mount Atlas in pursuit ofthe routed natives. And not only were the ex-consuls and generals drawn from thesenate who commanded in that campaign able to boast of having penetrated theAtlas range, but this distinction was also shared by the Knights of Rome whosubsequently governed the country. The province contains, as we have said,five Roman colonies, and, to judge by common report, the place might well bethought to be easily accessible; but upon trial this criterion is discovered tobe for the most part exceedingly fallacious, because persons of high position,although not inclined to search for the truth, are ashamed of ignorance andconsequently are not reluctant to tell falsehoods, as credulity is never moreeasily let down than when a false statement is attested by an authority ofweight. For my own part I am less surprised that some things are outside theknowledge of gentlemen of the equestrian order, some of whom indeed nowadaysactually get into the senate, than that anything should be unknown to luxury,which acts as an extremely great and powerful stimulus, inasmuch as forests areransacked for ivory and citrus-wood and all the rocks of Gaetulia explored forthe murex and for purple. The natives, however, inform us that on the coast 150miles from the Sallee is the River Asana, which is a tidal river but which isnotable for its harbour; and then the river which they call the Fat, and 200miles from it, after crossing a river named Ivor, the Diris rangethat is agreedto be the native name for the Atlas; and that in the neighbourhood are traces ofthe land having formerly been inhabitedremains of vineyards and palm-groves.

SuetoniusPaulinus, who was consul in our own times, was the first Roman commanderwho actually crossed the Atlas range and advanced a distance of many milesbeyond it. His report as to its remarkable altitude agrees with that of all theother authorities, but he also states that the regions at the base of the rangeare filled with dense and lofty forests of trees of an unknown kind, with verytall trunks remarkable for their glossy timber free from knots, and foliage likethat of the cypress except for its oppressive scent, the leaves being coveredwith a thin downy floss, so that with the aid of art a dress-material like thatobtained from the silk-worm can be made from them. The summit (the reportcontinued) is covered with deep snowdrifts even in summer. Ten days' marchbrought him to this point and beyond it to the river called the Ger, acrossdeserts covered with black dust occasionally broken by projections of rock thatlooked as if they had been burnt, a region rendered uninhabitable by its heat,although it was winter time when he explored it. He states that theneighbouring forests swarm with every kind of elephant and snake, and areinhabited by a tribe called the Canarii, owing to the fact that they have theirdiet in common with the canine race and share with it the flesh of wild animals.

It is well ascertained that the next people are the Aethiopian tribe called thePerorsi.Juba, the father ofPtolemy, who was the first ruler to holdsway over both the Mauretanias, and who is even more distinguished for hisrenown as a student than for his royal sovereignty, has published similar factsabout Mount Atlas, and has stated in addition that a plant grows there calledthe euphorbia, named after his doctor who discovered it; in a volume devotedsolely to the subject of this plant he sings the praises of its milkyjuice in very remarkable terms, stating it to be an aid to clear sightand an antidote against snakebite and poisons of all kinds.This is enough, ormore than enough, about Mount Atlas.

The province of Tangier is 170 miles in length. It contains the followingtribes: the Moors (from whom it takes its name of Mauretania), by manywriters called the Maurusii, were formerly the leading race, but they have beenthinned by wars and are now reduced to a few families. The next race to this waspreviously that of the. Masaesyli, but this has been wiped out in a similarmanner. The country is now occupied by the Gaetulian tribes, the Baniurae andthe Free State, by far the most powerful of them all, and the Nesimi, who wereformerly a section of the Autoteles, but have split off from them and formed aseparate tribe of their own in the direction of the Aethiopians. The provinceitself produces elephants in its mountainous district on the eastern side andalso on Mount Ceuta and the range of peaks called the Seven Brothers from theirsimilarity of height; these mountains join on to Mount Ceuta and overlook theStraits of Gibraltar. At the Seven Brothers begins the coast of theMediterranean, and next come the navigable river Bedia and the site of a formertown of the same name, the river Gomera, also navigable for vessels, the townand harbour of Safi, and the navigable river Maluia. Opposite to Malagain Spain is situated the town of Aresgol, the capital of King Syphax, where wereach the second Mauretania for these regions for a long time took the names oftheir kings. Further Mauretania being called the Land of Bogut and similarly thepresent Caesariensis the Land of Bocchus. After Aresgol come the port calledfrom its size Great Harbour, a town with Roman citizenship; the river Mulucha,the frontier between the Land of Bocchus and the Masaesyli; Quiza Xenitana ('Alienville'); Arzen, a town with Latin rights, three miles from the sea;Tenez, a colony of Augustus, where the Second Legion was settled, and Gunugu,likewise a colony of the same emperor and the settlement of a praetorian cohort;Cape Mestagan, and on it the famous town of Caasarea previously called Jol, thecapital of KingJuba, to which colonialrights were granted by his late MajestyClaudius; New Town, founded as a settlement of veteran troops, andTipasa, granted Latin rights by the same emperor's orders, and also Icosiumgiven the same privilege by the emperorVespasian; Rusguniae, a colony ofAugustus, Rusucurium, given the honour of citizenship byClaudius, Rusazus, a colony ofAugustus, Saldae, a colony of the same,Igilgili likewise; the town of Zucca, situated on the sea and the river Ampsaga.In the interior is the colony of Augusta, also called Sucehabar, and likewiseTubusuptu, the independent cities of Timici and Tigavae, the rivers Sardaval,Ayes and Nabar, the Macurebi tribe, the river Usar, and the Nababes tribe. Fromthe river Ampsaga to Caesarea is 322 miles. The length of the two Mauretanias is1038 miles and the breadth 467 miles.

II. At the river Ampsaga begins Numidia, a country rendered famous by thename of Masinissa. The Greeks called it Metagonitis, and they named its peoplethe Nomads, from their custom of frequently changing their pasturage, carryingtheirmaptdia, that is their homes, about the country on waggons. The towns areChollum and Sgigada, and in the interior about 48 miles from the latter thecolony of Cirta, called Cirta of the Sitianii and another colony further inland,Sicca, and the free town of King's Bulla. On the coast are Tagodet, King'sHippo, the river Mafragg, and the town of Tabraca, which has Roman citizenship.The boundary of Numidia is the river Zaina. The country produces nothingremarkable beside the Numidian marble and wild beasts.

III. Beyond the Zaina is the district of Zeugitana and the regionproperly to be called Africa. Three promontories run out into the sea, WhiteCape and then Cape Farina facing Sardinia and Cape Bon facing Sicily;these form two baysthe Bay of Hippo next the town called Hippo Dirutus, inGreek Diarrhytus, which name is due to its irrigation channels, and adjacent tothis, further from the coast, Theudalis, a town exempt from tribute; and thenCape Farina, and on the second bay Utica, which has the rights of Romancitizenship; it is famous as the scene of the death ofCato. Then there is the river Merjerdah,the place called the Camp of Cornelius, the colony of Carthage on thesite of Great Carthage, the colony of Maxula, the towns of Carpi, Misua andClypea, the last a free town on Cape Mercury, where are also the free townsKurbah and Nabal.

Then comes another section of Africa proper. The inhabitants of Byzacium arecalled Libyphoenicians, Byzacium being the name given to a region measuring 250miles round, a district of exceptional fertility, the soil paying the farmersinterest at the rate of a hundredfold. Here are the free towns of Lempta, Sousa,Monastir, Demas, and then Taineh, Ayes, Mahometa, Cabès and Sabart on the edgeof the Lesser Syrtis; from the Ampsaga to this point the length of Numidia andAfrica is 580 miles and the breadth so far as ascertained 200 miles. The partthat we have called Africa is divided into two provinces, the Old and the New;the division between these, as agreed between the youngerScipio and the Kings, is adyke running right through to the town of Taineh, which is 216 miles fromCarthage.

IV. The third gulf is divided into two bays, which are renderedformidable by the shallow tidal waters of the two Syrtes. The distance betweenthe nearest Syrtis, which is the smaller of the two, and Carthage is said byPolybius to be 300 miles; and he givesits width across as 100 miles and its circuit as 300 miles. There is howeveralso a way to it by land, that can be found by observation of the stars, acrossa desert abandoned to the sand and swarming with serpents. Next come forestsfilled with a multitude of wild beasts, and further inland desolate haunts ofelephants, and then a vast desert, and beyond it the Garamantes tribe, at adistance of twelve days' journey from Aujelah. Beyond these was formerly thePsylli tribe, and beyond them Lake Lynxama, surrounded by desert. Aulelah itselfis situated almost in the middle, at an equal distance on either side from theEthiopia that stretches westward and from the region lying between the twoSyrtes. But by the coast between the two Syrtes it is 250 miles; here arethe independent city of Oea, the river Cinyps and the district of that name, thetowns of Neapolis, Taphra, Habrotonum and the second Leptis, called GreatLeptis. Then comes the Greater Syrtis, measuring 625 miles round and 312 wide atthe entrance, near which dwells the race of the Cisippades. At the end of thisGulf was once the Coast of the Lotus-eaters, the people called by some theMachroae, extending to the Altars of the Philaenithese are formed of heaps ofsand. After these, not far from the shore of the mainland, there is a vast swampinto which flows the river Tritonis, the name of which it bears;Callimachus calls it the Lake of Pallas.He places it on the nearer side of the Lesser Syrtis, but many writers put itbetween the two Syrtes. The promontory shutting in the Greater. Syrtis iscalled Cape Trajuni; beyond it is the province of Cyrene.

Between the river Ampsaga and this boundary Africa contains 516 peoples thataccept allegiance to Rome. These include six colonies, Uthina and Thuburbi, inaddition to those already mentioned; 15 towns with Roman citizenship, amongwhich in the interior must be mentioned those of Absurae,

Abutucum, Aborium, Canopicum,Chimavis, Simittuum, Thunusidum, Thuburnicum, Thinidrumum, Tibiga, the twotowns called Ucita, the Greater and the Lesser, and Vaga; one town with Latinrights, Uzalita; one tributary town at the Camp of Cornelius; 30 free towns, ofwhich must be mentioned in the interior the towns of Acholhta, Accarita, Avina,Abzirita, Canopita, Mehzita, Matera, Salaphita, Tusdrita, Tiphica, Tunisa,Theuda, Tagesa, Tiga, Ulusubrita, a second Vaga, Viga and Zama. Of the remainingnumber most can rightly be entitled not merely cities but also tribes, forinstance the Natabudes, Capsitani, Musulami, Sabarbares, Massyli, Nicives,Vamacures, Cinithi, Musuni, Marchubi, and the whole of Gaetulia as far as theriver Quorra, which separates Africa from Ethiopia.

V. Notable places in the district of Cyrenaica (the Greek name of which is the Land of the Five Cities) are theOracle of Ammon, which is 400 miles from the city of Cyrene, the Fountain of theSun, and especially five cities, Benghazi, Arsinoe, Tolmeita, Marsa Sousah andCyrene itself. Benghazi is situated at the tip of the horn of the Syrtis; it wasformerly called the City of the Ladies of the West, mentioned above, as themyths of Greece is often change their locality; and in front of the town notfar away is the river Leton, with a sacred grove, reputed to be the site of thegardens of the Ladies of the West. Benghazi is 375 miles from Leptis; andArsinoe is 43 miles from Benghazi, commonly called Teuchira, and then 22 milesfurther Ptolemais, the old name of which was Barce; then 40 miles on the cape ofRas Sem projects into the Cretan Sea, 350 miles distant from Cape Matapan inLaconia and 225 miles from Crete itself. After the cape of Ras Sem is Cyrene, 11miles from the sea, from Ras Sem to the harbour of Cyrene being 24 miles and toRas El Tin 88 miles, from which it is 216 miles to the Canyon. The inhabitantsof this coast are the Marmaridae, reaching almost all the way from the region ofEl Bareton to the Greater Syrtis; after these are the Acrauceles and then on theedge of the Syrtis the Nasamones, formerly called by the Greeks Mesammones byreason of their locality, the word meaning `in the middle of the sands'. Theterritory of Cyrene for a breadth of 15 miles from the coast is thought to begood even for growing trees, but for the same space further inland to grow onlycorn, and afterwards over a strip 30 miles wide and 250 miles long nothing butsilphium.

After the Nasamones, we come to the dwellings ofthe Asbytae and Macae; and beyond them, twelve days' journey from the GreaterSyrtis, the Amantes. These also are surrounded by sands in the westerndirection, but nevertheless they find water without difficulty at a depth ofabout three feet, as the district receives the overflow of the waters ofMauretania. They build their houses of blocks of salt quarried out of theirmountains like stone. From these it is a journey of 7 days in a south-westerlyquarter to the Cave-dwellers, with whom our only intercourse is the trade in theprecious stone imported from Ethiopia which we call the carbuncle. Beforereaching them, in the direction of the African desert stated already to bebeyond the Lesser Syrtis, is Fezzan, where we have subjugated the Fezzan tribeand the cities of Mellulen and Zala, as well as Gadamez in the direction ofSabrata. After these a long range stretches from east to west which our peoplefrom its nature call the Black Mountain, as it has the appearance of havingsuffered from fire, or else of being scorched by the reflection of the sun.Beyond this mountain range is the desert, and then a town of the Garamantescalled Thelgae, and also Bedir (near which there is a spring of which the wateris boiling hot from midday to midnight and then freezing cold for the samenumber of hours until midday) and Garama, the celebrated capital of theGaramantes: all of which places have been subdued by the arms of Rome, beingconquered byCornelius Balbus, who wasgiven a triumphthe only foreigner ever so honouredand citizen rights, since,although a native of Cadiz, he together with his great-uncle, Balbus, waspresented with our citizenship. There is also this remarkable circumstance, thatour writers have handed down the names of the towns mentioned above as havingbeen taken by him, and have stated that in his own triumphal procession besideCydamum and Garama were carried the names and images of all the other races andcities, which went in this order: the town of Tibesti, the Niteris tribe, thetown of Milgis Gemella, the tribe or town of Febabo, the tribe of the Enipi, thetown of Thuben, the mountain known as the Black Mountain, the towns calledNitibrum and Rapsa, the Im-Zera tribe, the town of Om-El-Abid, the riverTessava, the town of Sava, the Tamiagi tribe, the town of Boin, the town ofWinega, the river Dasibari; then a series of towns, Baracum, Buluba, Alasit,Oalsa, Balla, Missolat, Cizania; and Mount Goriano, its effigy preceded by aninscription that it was a place where precious stones were produced.

Hitherto it has been impossible to open up theroad to the Garamantes country, because brigands of that race fill up the wellswith sandthese do not need to be dug very deep if you are aided by a knowledgeof the localities. In the last war waged with the people of Oea, at thebeginning of the principate ofVespasian,a short route of only four days was discovered, which is known as By the Head ofthe Rock. The last place in Cyrenaica is called the Canyon, a town and asuddenly descending valley. The length of Cyrenaic Africa from the Lesser Syrtisto this boundary is 1060 miles, and the breadth, so far as ascertained, 810miles.

VI. The district that follows is called Libya Mareotis; itborders upon Egypt. It is occupied by the Marmarides, the Adyrmachidae, and thenthe Mareotae. The distance between the Canyon and Paraetonium is 86 miles.Between them in the interior of this district is Apis, a place famous in theEgyptian religion. The distance from Apis to Paraetonium is 62½ miles, and fromParaetonium to Alexandria 200 miles. The district is 169 miles in breadth.Eratosthenes gives the distance by landfrom Cyrenae to Alexandria as 525 miles.Agrippa made the length of the whole of Africa from the Atlantic,including Lower Egypt, 300 miles;PolybiusandEratosthenes, who are deemedextremely careful writers, made the distance from the Ocean to Great Carthage1100 miles, and from Great Carthage to the nearest mouth of the Nile, Canopus,1628 miles;Isidorus makes the distancefrom Tangier to Canopus 3599 miles, butArtemidorus makes it 40 miles less thanIsidorus.

VII. These seas do not contain very many islands. The most famous is Zerba, 25 miles long and 22 miles broad, called byEratosthenes Lotus Eaters' Island. Ithas two towns, Meninx on the side of Africa and Thoar on the other side, theisland itself lying off the promontory on the right-hand side of the LesserSyrtis, at a distance of a mile and a half away. A hundred miles from Zerba andlying off the left-hand promontory is the island of Cercina, with the free cityof the same name; it is 25 miles long and measures half that distanceacross where it is widest, but not more than 5 miles across at its end; andjoined to it by a bridge is the extremely small island of Cercinitis,which looks towards Carthage. About 50 miles from these is Lopadusa, 6 mileslong; then come Gaulos and Galata, the soil of the latter having the property ofkilling scorpions, that pest of Africa. It is also said that scorpions cannotlive at Clupea, opposite to which lies Pantellaria with its town. Opposite theGulf of Carthage lie the two Aegimoeroi; but the Altars, which are more trulyrocks than islands, are chiefly between Sicily and Sardinia. Some authoritiesstate that even the Altars were formerly inhabited but that their level hassunk.

VIII. In the interior circuit of Africa towards the south and beyond the Gaetulians, after an inter- mediate strip of desert, the firstinhabitants of all are the Egyptian Libyans, and then the people called in Greekthe White Ethiopians. Beyond these are the Ethiopian clans of the Nigritae,named after the river which has been mentioned, the Pharusian Gymnetes, and thenbordering on the Ocean the Perorsi whom we have spoken of at the frontier ofMauretania. Eastward of all of these there are vast uninhabited regionsspreading as far as the Garamantes and Augilae and the Cave-dwellersthe mostreliable opinion being that of those who place two Ethiopias beyond the Africandesert, and especiallyHomer, who tellsus that the Ethiopians are divided into two sections, the eastward and thewestward.

The river Niger has the same nature as the Nile: it produces reedsand papyrus, and the same animals, and it rises at the same seasons of the year.Its source is between the Ethiopic tribes of the Tarraelii and the Oechalicae;the town of the latter is Magium. In the middle of the desert some place theAtlas tribe, and next to them the half-animal Goat-Pans and the Blemmyae andGamphasantes and Satyrs and Strapfoots.

The Atlas tribe have fallen below the level ofhuman civilization, if we can believe what is said; for they do not address oneanother by any names, and when they behold the rising and setting sun, theyutter awful curses against it as the cause of disaster to themselves and theirfields, and when they are asleep they do not have dreams like the rest ofmankind. The Cave-dwellers hollow out caverns, which are their dwellings; theylive on the flesh of snakes, and they have no voice, but only make squeakingnoises, being entirely devoid of intercourse by speech. The Garamantes do notpractise marriage but live with their women promiscuously. The Augilae onlyworship the powers of the lower world. The Gamphasantes go naked, do not engagein battle, and hold no intercourse with any foreigner. The Blemmyae are reportedto have no heads, their mouth and eyes being attached to their chests. TheSatyrs have nothing of ordinary humanity about them except human shape. The formof the Goat-Pans is that which is commonly shown in pictures of them. TheStrapfoots are people with feet like leather thongs, whose nature it is to crawlinstead of walking. The Pharusi, originally a Persian people, are said to haveaccompanied Hercules on his journey to the Ladies of the West. Nothing moreoccurs to us to record about Africa.

IX. Joining on to Africa is Asia, the extent of which from the Canopicmouth of the Nile to the mouth of the Black Sea is given by Timosthenes as 2638 miles;Eratosthenes gives the distance from themouth of the Black Sea to the mouth of the Sea of Azov as 1545 miles; andArtemidorus andIsidorus give the whole extent of Asiaincluding Egypt as far as the river Don as 5013¾ miles. It possesses severalseas, named after the tribes on their shores, for which reason they will bementioned together.

The inhabited country next to Africa is Egypt, which stretches southwardinto the interior to where the Ethiopians border it in the rear. The boundariesof its lower part are formed by the two branches of the Nile embracing it on theright and on the left, the Canopic mouth separating it from Africa and the Pelusiac from Asia, with a space of 170 miles between the two mouths. This hascaused some authorities to class Egypt as an island, because the Nile divides insuch a manner as to produce a piece of land shaped like a triangle; andconsequently many have called Egypt by the name of the Greek letter Delta. Thedistance from the point where the single channel first splits into branches tothe Canopic mouth is 146 miles and to the Pelusiac mouth 156 miles.

The uppermost part of Egypt, marching with Ethiopia, is called the Thebaid. Itis divided into prefectures of towns, called 'nomes'the Ombite, Apollonopolite,Hermonthite, Thinite, Phaturite, Coptite, Tentyrite, Diospolite, Antaeopolite,Aphroditopolite and Lycopolite nomes. The nomes belonging to the district inthe neighbourhood of Pelusium are the Pharbaethite, Bubastite, Sethroite andTanite. The remaining nomes are called the Arabic, Hammoniac (on the way to theoracle of Jupiter Ammon), Oxyrhynchite, Leontopolite, Athribite, Cynopolite,Hermopolite, Xoite, Mendesian, Sebennyte, Cabasite, Latopolite, Heliopolite,Vrosopite, Panopolite, Busirite, Onuphite, Saite, Ptenethus, Ptemphus,Naucratite, Metellite, Gynaecopolite, Menelaitethese forming the region ofAlexandria; and likewise Mareotis belonging to Libya. The Heracleopolite nome ison an island of the Nile measuring 50 miles long, on which is also the towncalled the City of Hercules. There are two nomes called the Arsinoite;these and the Memphite extend to the apex of the Delta, adjacent to which onthe side of Africa are the two Oasite nomes. Certain authorities alter some outof these names and substitute other nomes, for instance the Heropolite andCrocodilopolite. Between the Arsinoite and Memphite nomes there was once a lakemeasuring 250, or according to Mucianus's account 450, miles round, and 250 feetdeep, an artificial sheet of water, called the Lake of Moeris after the king whomade it. Its site is 62 miles from Memphis, the former citadel of the kings ofEgypt, and from Memphis it is 12 days' journey to the Oracle of Ammon and 15days' journey to the place where the Nile divides and forms what we have calledthe Delta.

X. The sources from which the Nile rises have not beenascertained, proceeding as it does through scorching deserts for an enormouslylong distance and only having been explored by unarmed investigators, withoutthe wars that have discovered all other countries; but so far as KingJuba was able to ascertain, it has itsorigin in a mountain of lower Mauretania not far from the Ocean, andimmediately forms a stagnant lake called Nilldes. Fish found in this lake arethe alabeta, coracinus and silurus; also a crocodile was brought from it byJuba to prove his theory, and placed asa votive offering in the temple of Isis at Caesarea, where it is on view today.Moreover it has been observed that the Nile rises in proportion to excessivefalls of snow or rain in Mauretania. Issuing from this lake the river disdainsto flow through arid deserts of sand, and for a distance of several days'journey it hides underground but afterwards it bursts out in another larger lakein the territory of the Masaesyles clan of Mauretania Caesariensis, and so tospeak makes a survey of the communities of mankind, proving its identity byhaving the same fauna. Sinking again into the sand of the desert it hides foranother space of 20 days' journey till it reaches the nearest Ethiopians, andwhen it has once more become aware of man's proximity it leaps out in afountain, probably the one called the Black Spring. From this point it forms theboundary line between Africa and Ethiopia, and though the riverside is notimmediately inhabited, it teems with wild beasts and animal life and producesforests; and where the river cuts through the middle of Ethiopia it has the nameof Astapus, which in the native language means water issuing from the shadesbelow. It strews about such a countless number of islands, and some of them ofsuch vast size, that in spite of its very rapid flow it nevertheless only fliespast them in a course of five days, and not shorter; while making the circuit ofthe most famous of these islands, Meroe, the left-hand channel is calledAstobores, that is 'branch of water coming out of the shades,' and theright-hand channel Astusapes, which means 'side branch.' It is not called Nileuntil its waters are again reconciled and have united in a single stream, andeven then for some miles it still has the name of Girls which it hadpreviously. Its name inHomer is Aegyptus over its whole course, and with other writers it is the Triton. Everynow and then it impinges on islands, which are so many incitements spurring itforward on its way, till finally it is shut in by mountains, its flow beingnowhere more rapid; and it is borne on with hurrying waters to the place inEthiopia called in Greek the Downcrash, where at its last cataract, owing to theenormous noise it seems not to run but to riot between the rocks that bar itsway. Afterwards it is gentle, the violence of its waters having been broken andsubdued, and also it is somewhat fatigued by the distance it has raced, and itbelches out, by many mouths it is true, into the Egyptian Sea. For a certainpart of the year however its volume greatly increases and it roams abroad overthe whole of Egypt and inundates the land with a fertilising flood.

Various explanations of this rising of the river have been given; but the mostprobable are either the backwash caused by what are called in Greek the AnnualWinds, which blow in the opposite direction to the current at thatperiod of the year, the sea outside being driven into the mouths of the river,or the summer rains of Ethiopia which are due to the same Annual Winds bringingclouds from the rest of the world to Egypt. The mathematicianTimaeus produced a very reconditetheorythat the source of the Nile is a spring called Phiala, and that the riverburies itself in burrows underground and breathes forth vapour owing to thesteaming hot rocks among which it hides itself; but that as the sun at theperiod in question comes nearer the river water is drawn out by the force of theheat and rises up and overflows, and withdraws itself to avoid being swallowedup. This, he says, begins to occur at the rising of the Dog-star, when the sun isentering the sign of the Lion, the sun standing in a vertical line above thespring, at which season in that region shadows entirely disappearthough thegeneral opinion on the contrary is that the flow of the Nile is more copiouswhen the sun is departing towards the north, which happens when it is in theCrab and the Lion, and that consequently the river is dried up less then; andagain when the sun returns to Capricorn and towards the south pole its watersare absorbed and its volume consequently reduced. But if anybody is inclined toaccept the possibility of Timaeus'sexplanation that the waters of the river are drawn out of the earth, there isthe fact that in these regions absence of shadows goes on continuously at thisseason. The Nile begins to rise at the next new moon after midsummer, the risebeing gradual and moderate while the sun is passing through the Crab and at itsgreatest height when it is in the Lion; and when in Virgo it begins to fall bythe same degrees as it rose. It subsides entirely within its banks, according tothe account given byHerodotus, on thehundredth day, when the sun is in the Scales. The view has been held that it isunlawful for kings or rulers to sail on the Nile when it is rising. Its degreesof increase are detected by means of wells marked with a scale. An average riseis one of 24 feet. A smaller volume of water does not irrigate all localities,and a larger one by retiring too slowly retards agriculture; and the latter usesup the time for sowing because of the moisture of the soil, while the formergives no time for sowing because the soil is parched. The province takes carefulnote of both extremes: in a rise of 18 feet it senses famine, and even at one of194 feet it begins to feel hungry, but 21 feet brings cheerfulness, 224 feetcomplete confidence and 24 feet delight. The largest rise up to date was one of27 feet in the principate ofClaudius,and the smallest 74 feet in the year of the war of Pharsalus, as if the riverwere attempting to avert the murder ofPompeyby a sort of portent. When the rise comes to a standstill, the floodgates areopened and irrigation begins; and each strip of land is sown as the floodrelinquishes it. It may be added that the Nile is the only river that emits noexhalations.

It first comes within the territory of Egypt at the Ethiopian frontier, atAssuanthat is the name of the peninsula a mile in circuit in which, on theArabian side, the Camp is situated and off which lie the four islands of Philae,600 miles from the place where the Nile splits into two channelsthe point atwhich, as we have said, the island called the Delta begins. This is the distancegiven by Artemidorus, who also statesthat the island formerly contained 250 towns;Juba, however, gives the distance as 400 miles. Aristocreon says that the distance fromElephantis to the sea is 750 milesElephantis is an inhabited island 4 milesbelow the last cataract and 16 above Assuan; it is the extreme limit ofnavigation in Egypt, being 585 miles from Alexandriaso far out in theircalculations have the above-named authors been. Elephantis is the point ofrendezvous for Ethiopian vessels, which are made collapsible for the purpose ofportage on reaching the cataracts.

XI. In addition to boasting its other glories of the citiespast Egypt can claim the distinction of having had Egypt in the reign of King Amasis 20,000 cities; and even now itcontains a very large number, although of no importance. However, the City ofApollo is notable, as is also the City of Leucothea and the Great City of Zeus,also called Thebes, renowned for the fame of its hundred gates, Coptos themarket near the Nile for Indian and Arabian merchandise, and also the Town ofVenus and the Town of Jove and Tentyris, below which is Abydos, famous for thepalace of Memnon and the temple of Osiris, in the interior of Libya 7½ milesfrom the river. Then Ptolemais and Panopolis and another Town of Venus, and onthe Libyan side Lycon, where the Province of Thebes is bounded by a mountainrange. Beyond this are the Towns of Mercury, and of the Alabastri, the Town ofDogs, and the Town of Hercules mentioned above. Then Arsinoe's Town and Memphisalready mentioned, between which and the Arsinoite district on the Libyan sideare the towers called pyramids, and on Lake Moeris the Labyrinth, in theconstruction of which no timber was used with the masonry, and the town of theCriali. There is one place besides in the interior and bordering on the Arabianfrontier which is of great renown; Heliopolis.

But justice requires that praise shall be bestowed on Alexandria, builtbyAlexander the Great on the coast ofthe Egyptian Sea on the side of Africa, 12 miles from the Canopic mouth andadjoining Lake Mariout; The site was previously named Rhacotes. It was laid outby the architectDinochares, who isfamous for his talent in a variety of ways; it covered an area spreading 15miles in the shape of a Macedonian soldier's cape, with indentations in itscircumference and projecting corners on the right and left side; while at thesame time a fifth of the site was devoted to the King's palace. Lake Mariout,which lies on the south side of the city, carries traffic from the interior bymeans of a canal from the Canopic mouth of the Nile; also it includes aconsiderable number of islands, being 30 miles across and 250 miles incircumference, according toClaudius Caesar.Others make it 40 schoeni [4 or 5 miles] long and reckon 150 miles, andthey give the same figure for the breadth.

There are also many considerable towns in the region of the lower parts of theNile, especially those that have given their names to the mouths of the flyer,thongh not all of these are named after townsfor we find that there are twelveof them, besides four more that the natives call 'false mouths'but the sevenbest known are the Canopic mouth nearest to Alexandria and then the Bolbitine,Sebennytic, Phatnitic, Mendesic, Tanitic, and last the Pelusiac.

Besides the towns that give their names to themouths there are Butos, Pharbaethos, Leontopolis, Athribis, the Town of Isis,Busiris, Cynopolis, Aphrodite's Town, Sais, and Naucratis, after which somepeople give the name of Naucratitic to the mouth called by others theHeracleotic, and mention it instead of the Canopic mouth which is next to it.

XII. Beyond the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile is Arabia, extending tothe Red Sea and to the Arabia known by the surname of Happy and famous for itsperfumes and its wealth. This bears the names of the Cattabanes, Esbonitae andScenitae tribes of Arabs; its soil is barren except where it adjoins thefrontier of Syria, and its only remarkable feature is the El Kas mountain. TheArabian tribe of the Canchlei adjoin those mentioned on the east and that of theCedrei on the south, and both of these in their turn adjoin the Nabataei. Thetwo gulfs of the Red Sea where it converges on Egypt are called the Gulf of Suezand the Gulf of Akaba; between the two towns of Akaba and Guzzah, which is onthe Mediterranean, there is a space of 150 miles.Agrippa says that the distance fromPelusium across the desert to the town of Ardscherud on the Red Sea is 125miles: so small a distance in that region separates two such different regionsof the world!

XIII. The next country on the coast is Syria, formerly thegreatest of lands. It had a great many divisions with different names, the partadjacent to Arabia being formerly called Palestine, and Judaea, and HollowSyria, then Phoenicia and the more inland part Damascena, and that still furthersouth Babylonia as well as Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and the Tigris,the district beyond Mount Taurus Sophene, that on this side of SopheneCommagene, that beyond Armenia Adiabene, which was previously called Assyria,and the part touching Cilicia Antiochia. Its length between Cilicia and Arabiais 470 miles and its breadth from Seleukeh Pieria to Bridgetown on the Euphrates175 miles. Those who divide the country into smaller parts hold the view thatPhoenicia is surrounded by Syria, and that the order isthe seacoast of Syria ofwhich Idumaea and Judaca are a part, then Phoenicia, then Syria. The whole ofthe sea lying off the coast is called the Phoenician Sea. The Phoenician raceitself has the great distinction of having invented the alphabet and thesciences of astronomy, navigation and strategy.

XLV. After Pelusium come the Camp of Chabrias, Mount El Kas the temple ofJupiter Casius, and the tomb ofPompeythe Great. At Ras Straki, 65 miles from Pelusium, is the frontier of Arabia.Then begins Idumaea, and Palestine at the point where the Serbonian Lake comesinto view. This lake is recorded by some writers as having measuxed 150 milesroundHerodotus gave it as reaching thefoot of Mount El Kas; but it is now an inconsiderable fen. There are the townsof El-Arish and inland Refah, Gaza and inland Anthedon, and Mount Argaris.Further along the coast is the region of Samaria, the free town Ascalon, Ashdod,the two towns named Iamnea, one of them inland; and the Phoenician city ofJoppa. This is said to have existed before the flood; it is situated on a hill,and in front of it is a rock on which they point out marks made by the chainswith which Andromeda was fettered; here there is a cult of the legendary goddessCeto. Next Apollonia, and the Tower of Strato, otherwise Caesarea, founded byKingHerod, but now the colony calledPrima Flavia established by the EmperorVespasian; this is the frontier of Palestine, 189 miles from the confinesof Arabia. After this comes Phoenicia, and inland Samaria; the towns areNaplous, formerly called Mamortha, Sebustieh on a mountain, and on a loftiermountain Gamala.

XV. Beyond Idumaea and Samaria stretches the wide expanse ofJudaea. The part of Judaea adjoining Syria is called Galilee, and that next toArabia and Egypt Peraea. Peraea is covered with rugged mountains, and isseparated from the other parts of Judaea by the river Jordan. The rest of Judaeais divided into ten Local Government Areas in the following order: the districtof Jericho, which has numerous palm-groves and springs of water, and those ofEmmaus, Lydda, Joppa, Accrabim, Juffia, Timnath-Serah, Bethlebaoth, the Hills,the district that formerly contained Jerusalem, by far the most famous city ofthe East and not of Judaea only, and Herodium with the celebrated town of thesame name.

The source of the river Jordan is the spring of Panias from which Caesareadescribed later takes its second name. It is a delightful stream, winding aboutso far as the conformation of the locality allows, and putting itself at theservice of the people who dwell on its banks, as though moving with reluctancetowards that gloomy lake, the Dead Sea, which ultimately swallows it up, itsmuch-praised waters mingling with the pestilential waters of the lake and beinglost. For this reason at the first opportunity afforded by the formation of thevalleys it widens out into a lake usually called the Sea of Gennesareth. This is16 miles long and 6 broad, and is skirted by the pleasant towns of Bethsaida andHippo on the east, El Kereh on the south (the name of which place some peoplealso give to the lake), and Tabariah with its salubrious hot springs on thewest. The only product of the Dead Sea is bitumen, the Greek word for whichgives it its Greek name, Asphaltites. The bodies of animals do not sink in itswaters, even bulls and camels floating; this has given rise to the report thatnothing at all can sink in it. It is more than 100 miles long, and fully 75miles broad at the broadest part but only 6 miles at the narrowest. On the eastit is faced by Arabia of the Nomads, and on the south by Machaerus, at one timenext to Jerusalem the most important fortress in Judaea. On the same side thereis a hot spring possessing medicinal value, the name of which, Callirrhoë,itself proclaims the celebrity of its waters.

On the west side of the Dead Sea, but out of rangeof the noxious exhalations of the coast, is the solitary tribe of the Essenes,which is remarkable beyond all the other tribes in the whole world, as it has nowomen and has renounced all sexual desire, has no money, and has only palm-treesfor company. Day by day the throng of refugees is recruited to an equal numberby numerous accessions of persons tired of life and driven thither by the wavesof fortune to adopt their manners. Thus through thousands of ages (incredible torelate) a race in which no one is born lives on for ever: so prolific for theiradvantage is other men's weariness of life!

Lying below the Essenes was formerly the town ofEngedi, second only to Jerusalem in the fertility of its land and in its grovesof palm-trees, but now like Jerusalem a heap of ashes. Next comes Masada, afortress on a rock, itself also not far from the Dead Sea. This is the limit ofJudaea.

XVI. Adjoining Judaea on the side of Syria is the region of Decapolis, socalled from the number of its towns, though not all writers keep to the sametowns in the list; most however include Damascus, with its fertile water-meadowsthat drain the river Chrysorrhoë, Philadelphia, Raphana (all these threewithdrawn towards Arabia), Scythopolis (formerly Nysa, after Father Liber'snurse, whom he buried there) where a colony of Scythians are settled; Gadara,past which flows the river Yarmak; Hippo mentioned already, Dion, Pella richwith its waters, Galasa, Canatha. Between and around these cities runtetrarchies, each of them equal to a kingdom, and they are incorporated intokingdomsTrachonitis, Panias (in which is Caesarea with the spring mentionedabove), Abila, Area, Ampeloessa and Gabe.

XVII. From this point we must go back to the coast and toPhoenicia. There was formerly a town called Crocodilon, and there is still ariver of that name; and the cities of Dora and Sycamini, of which only thememory exists. Then comes Cape Carmel, and on a mountain the town of the samename, formerly called Acbatana. Next are Getta, Geba, and the river Pacida orBelus, which covers its narrow bank with sand of a kind used for making glass;the river itself flows out of the marsh of Cendebia at the foot of Mount Carmel.Close to this river is Ptolemais, a colony of the EmperorClaudius, formerly called Acce; and thenthe town of Ach-Zib, and the White Cape. Next Tyre, once an islandseparated from the mainland by a very deep sea-channel 700 yards wide, but nowjoined to it by the works constructed byAlexander when besieging the place, and formerly famous as themother-city from which sprang the cities of Leptis, Utica and the great rival ofRome's empire in coveting world-sovereignty, Carthage, and also Cadiz, which shefounded outside the confines of the world; but the entire renown of Tyre nowconsists in a shell-fish and a purple dye! The circumference of the city,including Old Tyre on the coast, measures 19 miles, the actual town covering 2¾miles. Next are Zarephath and Bird-town, and the mother-city of Thebes inBoeotia, Sidon, where glass is made.

Behind Sidon begins Mount Lebanon, a chain extending as far as Zimyra in thedistrict called Hollow Syria, a distance of nearly 190 miles. FacingLebanon, with a valley between, stretches the equally long range ofCounter-Lebanon, which was formerly connected with Lebanon by a wall. BehindCounter-Lebanon inland is the region of the Ten Cities, and with it thetetrarchies already mentioned, and the whole of the wide expanse of Palestine;while on the coast, below Mount Lebanon, are the river Magoras, the colony ofBeyrout called Julia Felix, Lion's Town, the river Lycus, Palaebyblos, theriver Adonis, the towns of Jebeil, Batrun, Gazis, Trieris, Calamos; Tarablis,inhabited by people from Tyre, Sidon and Ruad; Ortosa, the river Eleutheros,the towns of Zimyra and Marathos; and facing them the seven-furlong town andisland of Ruad, 330 yards from the mainland; the region in which the mountainranges above mentioned terminate; and beyond some intervening plains MountBargylus.

XVIII. At this point Phoenicia ends and Syria begins again. There are thetowns of Tartus, Banias, Bolde and Djebeleh; the cape on which the freetown of Latakia is situated; and Dipolis, Heraclea, Charadrus and Posidium. Thenthe cape of Antiochian Syria, and inland the city of Antioch itself, which is afree town and is called 'Antioch Near Daphne,' and which is separated fromDaphne by the river Orontes; while on the cape is the free town of Seleukeh,called Pieria. Above Seleukeh is a mountain having the same name as the otherone, Casius, which is so extremely lofty that in the fourth quarter of the nightit commands a view of the sun rising through the darkness, so presentingto the observer if he merely turns round a view of day and night simultaneously.The winding route to the summit measures 19 miles, the perpendicular height ofthe mountain being 4 miles. On the coast is the river Orontes, which risesbetween Lebanon and Counter-Lebanon, near Baalbec. The towns are Rhosos,andbehind it the pass called the Gates Mount Taurus,and on the coast the town ofof Syria, in between the Rhosos Mountains and Myriandros, and Mount Alma-Dagh,on which is the town of Bomitae. This mountain separates Cilicia from Syria.

XIX. Now let us speak of the places inland. Hollow Syria contains thetown of Kulat el Mudik, separated by the river Marsyas from the tetrarchyof the Nosairis; Bambyx, which is also named the Holy City, but which theSyrians call Maboghere the monstrous goddess Atargatis, the Greek name for whomis Derceto, is worshipped; the place called Chalcis on Belus, which gives itsname to the region of Chalcidene, a most fertile part of Syria; and then,belonging to Cyrrestica, Cyrrus and the Gazetae, Gindareni and Gabeni; the twotetrarchies called Granucomatitae; the Hemeseni, the Hylatae, the Ituraei tribeand a branch of them called the Baethaemi; the Mariamnitani; the tetrarchycalled Mammisea; Paradise, Pagrae, Penelenitae; two places called Seleucia inaddition to the place of that name already mentioned, Seleucia on the Euphratesand Seleucia on Belus; and the Tardytenses. The remainder of Syria (exceptingthe parts that will be spoken of with the Euphrates) contains the Arbethusii,the Berocenses, the Epiphanenses on the Orontes, the Laodiceans on Lebanon, theLeucadii and the Larisaei, besides seventeen tetrarchies divided into kingdomsand bearing barbarian names.

XX. A description of the Euphrates also will come most suitably at thisplace. It rises in Caranitis, prefecture of Greater Armenia, as has been stated by two of the persons who have seen it nearest to its sourceDomitius Corbuloputting its source in Mount Aga and Licinius Mucianus at the roots of a mountainthe name of which he gives as Capotes, twelve miles above Zimara. Near itssource the river is called Pyxurates. Its course divides first the Derzeneregion of Armenia and then the Anaetic from Cappadocia. Dascusa is 75 miles fromZimara; and from Dascusa the river is navigable to Sartona, a distance of 50miles, to Mehtene in Cappadocia 24 miles, and to Elegea in Armenia 10 miles,receiving the tributary streams Lycus, Arsania and Arsanus. At Elegea itencounters Mount Taurus, which however does not bar its passage althoughforming an extremely powerful barrier 12 miles broad. The river is called theOmma where it forces its way into the range, and later, where it emerges, theEuphrates; beyond the range also it is full of rocks and has a violent current.From this point it forms the frontier between the district of Arabia called thecountry of the Orroei on the left and Commagene on the right, its breadth beingthree cables' length, although even where it forces its passage through theTaurus range it permits of a bridge. At Claudiopolis in Cappadocia it directsits course towards the west; and there for the first time in this combat MountTaurus carries the stream out of its course, and though conquered and cleft intwain gains the victory in another manner by breaking its career and forcing itto take a southerly direction. Thus this duel of nature becomes a drawn battle,the river reaching the goal of its choice but the mountain preventing it fromreaching it by the course of its choice. After passing the Cataracts the streamis again navigable; and 40 miles from this point is Samosata the capital ofCommagene.

XXI. Arabia above mentioned contains the towns Edessa, which wasformerly called Antiochia, Callirrhoe, named from its spring, and Carrhae,famous for the defeat ofCrassusthere. Adjoining it is the prefecture of Mesopotamia, which derives its originfrom the Assyrians and in which are the towns of Anthemusia and Nicephorium.Then comes the Arab tribe called the Praetavi, whose capital is Singara. BelowSamosata, on the Syrian side, the river Marsyas flows into the Euphrates. AtCingilla the territory of Commagene ends and state of the Imenei begins. Thetowns washed by the river are Epiphania and Antioch (called Antioch on theEuphrates), and also Bridgetown, 72 miles from Samosata, famous as a place wherethe Euphrates can be crossed, Apamea on the opposite bank being joined to it bya bridge constructed by Seleucus, the founder of both towns. The peoplecontiguous to Mesopotamia are called the Rhoali. In Syria are the town ofEuropus and the town formerly called Thapsacus and now Amphipolis, and an Arabtribe of Scenitae. So the river flows on to the place named Sara, where it takesa turn to the east and leaves the Syrian desert of Palmyra which stretches righton to the city of Petra and the region called Arabia Felix.

Palmyra is a city famous for its situation, forthe richness of its soil and for its agreeable springs; its fields aresurrounded on every side by a vast circuit of sand, and it is as it wereisolated by Nature from the world, having a destiny of its own between the twomighty empires of Rome and Parthia, and at the first moment of a quarrel betweenthem always attracting the attention of both sides. It is 337 miles distant fromParthian Seleucia, generally known as Seleucia on the Tigris, 203 miles from thenearest part of the Syrian coast, and 27 miles less from Damascus.

Below the Desert of Palmyra is the district of Stelendena, and Holy City, Beroeaand Chalcis already mentioned. Beyond Palmyra also a part of this desert isclaimed by Hemesa, and a part by Elatium, which is half as far as Damascus isfrom Petrae. Quite near to Sura is the Parthian town of Philiscum on theEuphrates; from Philiscum to Seleucia is a voyage of ten days, and about thesame to Babylon. At a paint 594 miles from Bridgetown, the Euphrates dividesround the village of Massice, the left branch passing through Seleucia itselfinto Mesopotamia and falling into the Tigris as it flows round that city, whilethe right-hand channel makes for Babylon, the former capital of Chaldea, andpassing through the middle of it, and also through the city called Mothris,spreads out into marshes. Like the Nile, the Euphrates also increases in volumeat fixed periods with little variation, and floods Mesopotamia when the sun hasreached the 20th degree of the Crab; but when the sun has passed through theLion and entered Virgo it begins to sink, and when the sun is in the 29thdegree of Virgo it returns to its channel entirely.

XXII. But let usreturn to the coast of Syria, adjoining which is Cilicia. Here are the riverDiaphanes, Mount Crocodile, the Gates of Mount Alma-Dagh, the rivers Androcus,Pinarus and Lycus, the Gulf of Issos, the town of Issos, likewise Alexandria,the river Chlorus, the free town of Aegaeae, the river Pyramus, the Gates ofCilicia, the towns of Mallos and Magirsos and in the interior Tarsus, the AleianPlains, the towns of Casyponis, Mopsos (a free town on the river Pyramus),Tyros, Zephyrium and Anchfale; and the rivers Saros and Cydnos, the lattercutting through the free city of Tarsus at a great distance from the sea; thedistrict of Celenderitis with its town, the place Nymphaeum, Soloi of Cilicianow Pompeiopolis, Adana, Cibyra, Pinare, Pedalie, Ale, Selinus, Arsinoe, Iotape,Dorion, and on the coast Corycos, there being a town and harbour and cave of thesame name. Then the river Calycadnus, Cape Sarpedon, the towns of Holmoe andMyle, and the promontory and town of Venus, a short distance from which lies theisland of Cyprus. On the mainland are the towns of Mysanda, Anemurium andCoracesium and the river Melas, the former boundary of Cilicia. Places worthy ofmention in the interior are Anazarbeni (the present Caesarea), Augusta,Castabala, Epiphania (previously called Oeniandos), Eleusa, Iconium, and beyondthe river Calycadnus Selencia, called Seleucia Tracheotis, a city moved from theseashore, where it used to be called Hermia. Besides these there are in theinterior the rivers Liparis, Bombos and Paradisus, and Mount Imbarus.

XXIII. All the authorities have made Pamphylia join on to Cilicia,overlooking the people of Isauria. The inland towns of Isauria are Isaura,Clibanus and Lalasis; it runs down to the sea over against Anemurium abovementioned. Similarly all who have written on the same subject have ignored thetribe of the Omanades bordering on Isauria, whose town of Omana is in theinterior. There are 44 other fortresses lying hidden among rugged valleys.

XXIV. The crest of the mountains is occupied by the Pisidians,formerly called the Solymi, to whom belong the colony of Caesarea also namedAntioch and the towns of Oroanda and Sagalessos.

XXV. The Pisidians are bordered by Lycaonia, included in thejurisdiction of the province of Asia, which is also the centre for the peoplesof Philomelium Tymbrium, Leucolithium, Pelta and Tyriacum. To thatjurisdiction is also assigned a tetrarchy that forms part of Lycaonia in thedivision adjoining Galatia, consisting of 14 states, the most famous city beingIconium. Notable places belonging to Lycaonia itself are Thebasa on Mount Taurusand Ida on the frontier between Galatia and Cappadocia. At the side of Lycaonia,beyond Pamphylia, come the Milyae, a tribe of Thracian descent; their town isAryeanda.

XXVI. Pamphylia was previously called Mopsopia. The Pamphylian Seajoins on to the Sea of Cilicia. Pamphylia includes the towns of Side and, on themountain, Aspendus, Plantanistns and Perga, Cape Leueolla and Mount Sardemisus;its rivers are the Eurymedon flowing past Aspendus and the Catarrhactes onwhich are Lyrnessus and Oibia and Phaselis, the last place on the coast.

XXVII. Adjoining Pamphylia are the Sea of Lycia and the Lycian tribe, atthe point where Mount Taurus coming from the Eastern shores forms theChelidonian Promontory as a boundary between vast bays. It is itself an immenserange, and holds the balance between a countless number of tribes; itsright-hand side, where it first rises out of the Indian Ocean, faces north, andits left-hand side faces south; it also stretches westward, and would divideAsia in two at the middle, were it not that in dominating the land it encountersthe opposition of seas. It therefore recoils in a northerly direction, andforming a curve starts on an immense route, Nature as it were designedlythrowing seas in its way at intervals, here the Phoenician Sea, here the BlackSea, there the Caspian and the Hyrcanian, and opposite to them the Sea of Azov.Consequently owing to their impact the mountain twists about between theseobstacles, and nevertheless sinuously emerging victorious reaches the kindredranges of the Ripaean Mountains. The range is designated by a number of names,receiving new ones at each point in its advance: its first portion is calledImaus, then Emodus, Paropanisus, Circius, Cambades, Pariades, Choatras, Oreges,Oroandes, Niphates, Taurus, and where it overtops even itself, Caucasus, whilewhere it occasionally throws out arms as if trying to invade the sea, it becomes Sarpedon, Coracesius, Cragus, and once again Taurus; and even where it gapesopen and makes a passage for mankind, nevertheless claiming for itself anunbroken continuity by giving to these passes the name of Gates: in one placethey are called the Armenian Gates, in another the Caspian, and in another theCilician. Moreover when it has been cut short in its career, retiring also fromthe sea, it fills itself on tither side with the names of numerous races, on theright-hand side being called the Hyrcanian Mountain and the Caspian, andon the left the Parihedrian, Moschian, Amazonian, Coraxian, Scythian;whereas in Greek it is called throughout the whole of its course the CeraunianMountain.

XXVIII. In Lycia therefore after leaving the promontory of MountTaurus we have the town of Simena, Mount Chimaera, which sends forth flames atnight, and the city-state of Hephaestium, which also has a mountain range thatis often on fire. The town of Olympus stood here, and there are now the mountainvillages of Gagae, Corydalla and Rhodiopolis, and near the sea Limyra with theriver of which the Arycandus is a tributary, and Mount Masicitus, the city-stateof Andria, Myra, the towns of Aperiae and Antiphellos formerly called Habesos,and in a corner Phellos. Then comes Pyrrha, and also Xanthus 15 miles from thesea, and the river of the same name; and then Patara, previously Pataros, andSidyma on its mountain, and Cape Cragus. Beyond Cape Cragus is a bay as large asthe one before; here are Pinara and Telmessus, the frontier town of Lycia. Lyciaformerly contained 70 towns, but now it has 36; of these the most famous besidesthose mentioned above are Canas, Candyba the site of the famous grove of Eunia,Podalia, Choma past which flows the Aedesa, Cyaneae, Ascandiandalis, Amelas,Noscopium, Tlos, Telandrus. It includes also in its interior Cabalia, with itsthree cities, Oenianda, Balbura and Bubon. After Telmessus begins the Asiatic orCarpathian Sea, and Asia properly so called. Agrippa divided this country intotwo parts. One of these he enclosed on the east by Phrygia and Lyeaonia, on thewest by the Aegean Sea, on the south by the Egyptian Sea, and on the north byPaphlagonia; the length of this part he made 470 miles and the breadth 320miles. The other half he bounded on the east by Lesser Armenia, on the west byPhrygia, Lycaonia and Pamphylia, on the north by the Province of Pontus and onthe south by the Pamphylian Sea, making it 575 miles long and 325 miles broad.

XXIX. On the adjoining coast is Caria and then Ionia and beyond itAeolis. Caria entirely surrounds Doris, encircling it right down to the sea onboth sides. In Caria are Cape Pedalium and the river Glaucus, with its tributarythe Telmedius, the towns of Daedala and Crya, the latter a settlement ofrefugees, the river Axon, and the town of Calynda. The river Indus, rising inthe mountains of the Cibyratae, receives as tributaries 60 streams that areconstantly flowing and more than 100 mountain torrents. There is the free townof Caunos, and then Pyrnos, Port Cressa, from which the island of Rhodes is 20miles distant, the place Loryma, the towns of Tisanusa, Paridon and Larymna,Thymnias Bay, Cape Aphrodisias, the town of Hydas, Schoenus Bay, and thedistrict of Bubassus; there was formerly a town Acanthus, otherwise namedDulopolis. On a promontory stand the free city of Cnidus, Triopia, and thenPegusa, also called Stadia. After Pegusa begins Doris.

But before we go on it may be as well to describe the back parts of Cariaand the jurisdictions of the interior. One of these is called Cibyratica; theactual town of Cibyra belongs to Phrygia, and is the centre for 25 city-states,the most famous being the city of Laodicea. Laodicea is on the river Lycus, itssides being washed by the Asopus and the Caprus; its original name was the Cityof Zeus, and it was afterwards called Rhoas. The rest of the peoples belongingto the same jurisdiction whom it may not be amiss to mention are the Hydrelitae,Themisones and Hierapolitae. Another centre has received its name from Synnas;it is the centre for the Lycaones, Appiani, Corpeni, Dorylaei, Midaei, Juliensesand 15 other peoples of no note. A third jurisdiction centres at Apamea,previously called Celaenae, and then Cybotos; Apamea is situated at the foot ofMount Signia, with the rivers Marsyas, Obrima and Orba, tributaries of theMaeander, flowing round it; the Marsyas here emerges from underground, andburies itself again a little later. Aulocrene is the place where Marsyas had acontest in flute-playing with Apollo: it is the name given to a gorge 10 milesfrom Apamea, on the way to Phrygia. Out of this jurisdiction it would be properto name the Metropolitae, Dionysopohtae, Euphorbeni, Acmonenses, Pelteni andSilbiani; and there are nine remaining tribes of no note.

On the Gulf of Doris are Leucopolis, Hamaxitos, Eleus, Etene; then there are theCarian towns of Pitaium, Eutane and Halicarnassus. To the jurisdiction of Halicarnassus six towns were assigned by Alexander the Great, Theangela, Side,Medmassa, Uranium, Pedasum and Telmisum; the last is situated between two bays,those of Ceramus and Iasus. Next we come to Myndus and the former site of OldMyndus, Nariandos, Neapolis, Caryanda, the free town Termera, Bargylia andIasus, the town that gives its name to the bay. Caria is especiallydistinguished for the famous list of places in its interior, for here areMylasa, a free town, and Antiochia which occupies the sites of the former towns,of Symmaethus and Cranaos; it is now surrounded by the rivers Maeander andOrsinus. This region formerly also contained Maeandropolis; in it areEumema on the river Cludrus, the river Glaueus, the town of Lysias, andOrthosia, the district of Berecynthus, Nysa, and Trails also called Euanthia andSeleucia and Antiochia. It is washed by the river Eudon and the Thebais flowsthrough it; some record that a race of Pygmies formerly lived in it.There are also Thydonos, Pyrrha, Eurome, Heraclea, Amyzon, the free town ofAlabanda which has given its name to this jurisdiction, the free town of Stratonicea, Hynidos, Ceramus, Troezene and Phorontis. At a greater distance butresorting to the same centre for jurisdiction are the Orthronienses,Alidienses, Euhippini, Xystiani, Hydissenses, Apolloniatae, Trapezopolitae andAphrodisienses, a free people. Besides these places there are Coscinus andHarpasa, the latter on the river Harpasus, which also passes the site of theformer town of Trallicon.

XXX. Lydia, bathed by the ever-returning sinuosities of the river Maeander, extends above Ionia; it is bordered by Phrygia to the east and Mysiato the north, and with its southern portion it embraces Caria. It was previouslycalled Maeonria. It is specially famous for the city of Sardis, situated on thevine-clad side of Mount Tmolus, the former name of which was Timolus. FromTmolus flows the Pactolus, also called the Chrysorrhoas, and the source of theTarnus; and the city-state of Sardis itself, which is famous for the GygaeanLake, used to be called Hyde by the people of Maeonia. This jurisdiction is nowcalled the district of Sardis, and besides the people before-named it is thecentre for the Macedonian Cadieni, the Philadelphini, and the Maeoniithemselves who are situated on the river Cogamus at the foot of Mount Tmolus,the Tripolltani, also called Antoniopolitaetheir territory is washed by theriver Maeanderthe Apollonihieritae, the Mysotimolitae and other people of nonote.

XXXI. At the Gulf of Iasus Ionia begins. It has a winding coast, with arather large number of bays. The first is the Royal Bay, then the cape and townof Posideum, and the shrine once called the oracle of the Branchidae, now thatof Didymaean Apollo, 4 miles from the coast; and 24 miles from it. Miletus, thecapital of Ionia, which formerly bore the names of Lelegeis and Pityusa andAnactoria, the mother of over 90 cities scattered over all the seas; nor mustshe be robbed of her claim toCadmus asher citizen, the author who originated composition in prose. From the mountainlake of Aulocrene rises the river Maeander, which washes a large number ofcities and is replenished by frequent tributaries; its windings are so tortuousthat it is often believed to turn and flow backwards. It first wanders throughthe region of Apamea, afterwards that of Eumenia, and then the plains ofHyrgale, and finally the country of Caria, its tranquil waters irrigating allthese regions with mud of a most fertilising quality; and it glidesgently into the sea a mile and a quarter from Miletus. Next comes Mount Latmus,the towns of Heraclea belonging to the mountain so designated in the Cariandialect, Myus which is recorded to have been first founded by Ionian emigrantsfrom Athens, Naulochum, and Priene. At the part of the coast called Troglea isthe river Gessus. The district is sacred with all Ionians, and is consequentlycalled Panionia. Next there was formerly a town founded by refugeesas its name Phygela indicatesand another called Marathesium. Above these places isMagnesia, distinguished by the name of Magnesia on Maeander, an offshoot fromMagnesia in Thessaly; it is 15 miles from Ephesus, and 3 miles more fromTralles. It previously had the names ofThessaloche and Androlitia. Being situated on the coast it has appropriated theDerasides islands from the sea. Inland also is Thyatira, washed by the Lycus;once it was called Pelopian or Euhippian Thyatira.

On the coast again is Matium, and Ephesus built by the Amazons, previouslydesignated by many namesthat of Alope at the time of the Trojan War, laterOrtygia and Amorge; it was also called Smyrna Trachia and Haemonion and Ptelea.It is built on the slope of Mount Pion, and is watered by the Cayster, whichrises in the Cilbian range and brings down the waters of many streams, and alsodrains the Pegasaean Marsh, an overflow of the river Phyrites. From these comesa quantity of mud which advances the coastline and has now joined The island ofSyrie on to the mainland by the flats interposed. In the city of Ephesus is thespring called Callippia, and a temple of Diana surrounded by two streams, bothcalled Selinus, coming from different directions.

After leaving Ephesus there is another Matium, which belongs to Colophon, andColophon itself lying more inland, on the river Halesus. Then the temple ofClarian Apollo, Lebedosformerly there was also the town of NotiumCape Cyrenaeum, and Mount Mimas which projects 150 miles into the sea and slopes downinto the plains adjoining. It was here thatAlexander the Great had given orders for a canal 7½ miles long to be cutacross the level ground in question so as to join the two bays and to make anisland of Erythrae with Mimas. Near Erythrae were formerly the towns of Pteleon,Hulos and Dorion, and there is now the river Aleon, Corynaeum the promontory ofMimas, Clazomenae, and Parthenie and Hippi, which were called the Chytrophoriawhen they were islands; theseAlexanderalso ordered to be joined to the mainland by a causeway a quarter of a mile inlength. Places in the interior that exist no longer were Daphnus and Hermestaand Sipylum previously called Tantalis, the capital of Maeonia, situated wherethere is now the marsh named Sale; Archaeopolis which replaced Sipylus has alsoperished, and later Colpe which replaced Archaeopolis and Libade which replacedColpe.

On returning thence to the coast, at a distance of 12 miles we come to Smyrna,founded by an Amazon and restored byAlexander;it is refreshed by the river Meles which rises not far off. The mast famousmountains of Asia mostly lie in this district: Mastusia behind Smyrna andTermes, joining on to the roots of Olympus, ends, and is followed by MountDraco, Draco by Tmolus, Tmolus byCadmus,and that range by Taurus. After Smyrna the river Hermus forms level plainsto which it gives its name. It rises at the Phrygian city-state ofDorylaus, and has many tributary rivers, among them the Phryx which forms thefrontier between the race to which it gives its name and Caria, and the Hyllusand the Gryos, themselves also augmented by the rivers of Phrygia, Mysia andLydia. At the mouth of the Hennus there was once the town of Temnos, and now atthe end of the bay are the rocks called the Ants, the town of Leucae on aheadland that was formerly an island, and Phocaea, the frontier town of Ionia.The jurisdiction of Smyrna is also the centre resorted to by a large part ofAeolia which will now be described, and also by the Macedonians called Hyrcaniand the Magnesians from Sipylus. But Ephesus, the other great luminary of Asia,is the centre for the Caesarienses, Metropolitae, Upper and Lower Cilbiani,Mysomacedones, Mastaurenses, Briullitae, Hypaepeni and Dioshieritae.

XXXII. Next is Aeolis, once called Mysia, and Troas lying on the coast ofthe Dardanelles. Here after passing Phocaea we come to Port Ascanius, and thento the place where once stood Larisa and where now are Cyme, Myrina which stylesitself Sebastopolis, and inland Aegaeae, Itale, Posidea, New Wall, Temnos. Onthe coast are the river Titanus and the city-state named after it, and also oncethere was Grynia, now only a harbour, formerly an island that had been joined tothe mainland; the town of Elaea and the river Caicus coming from Mysia; the townof Pitane; the river Canaitis. Canae has disappeared, as have Lysimachea,Atarnea, Carene, Cisthene, Cilla, Cocyhum, Thebe, Astyre, Chrysa, Palaescepsis,Gergith, Neandros; but there still exist the city-state of Perperene, thedistrict of Heracleotes, the town of Coryphas, the rivers Grylios and Ollius,the district of Aphrodisias which was formerly Politice Orgas, the district ofScepsis, and the river Evenus, on the banks of which stood Lyrnesus andMiletos, both now in ruins. In this region is Mount Ida, and on the coastAdramytteos, formerly called Pedasus, which has given its name to the bay and tothe jurisdiction, and the rivers Astron, Cormalos, Crianos, Alabastros, and HolyRiver coming from Mount Ida; inland are Mount Gargara and the town of the samename. On the coast again are Antandros previously called Edonis, then Cimmeris,and Assos, which is the same as Apollonia; and formerly there was also the townof Palamedium. Then Cape Lectum which marks the frontier between the Aeolid andthe Troad; also there was once the city-state of Polymedia, and Chrysa andanother Larisa: the temple of Znintheus still stands. Colone inland hasdisappeared. Adramytteos is resorted to for legal business by the people ofApollonia on the river Rhyndaeus, the Eresi, Miletopolitae, Poemaneni,Macedonian Asculacae, Polichnaei, Pionitae, the Cilician Mandacandeni, theMysian peoples known as the Abretteni and the Hellespontii, and others of nonote.

XXXIII. The first place in the Troad is Hamaxitus, then come Cebrenia,and then Troas itself, formerly called Antigonia and now Alexandria, a Romancolony; the town of Nee; the navigable river Scamander; and on a promontory wasformerly the town of Sigeum. Then the Harbour of the Achaeans, into which flowsthe Xanthus united with the Simois, and the Palaescamander, which previouslyforms a marsh. Of the rest of the places celebrated inHomer, Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus,Rhodius, no traces remain; and the Granicus flows by a different route into theSea of Marmara. However there is even now the small city-state of Scamander, and4 miles from its harbour Ilium, a town exempt from tribute, the scene of all thefamous story. Outside the bay, are the Rhoetean coasts, occupied by the towns ofRhoeteum, Dardanium and Arisbe. Formerly there was also the town of Achilleon,founded near to the tomb of Achilles by the people of Mitylene and afterwardsrebuilt by the Athenians, where the fleet of Achilles was stationed at Sigeum;and also there once was Aeantion, founded by the Rhodians on the other horn ofthe bay, which is the place where Ajax was buried, at a distance of 3¾ milesfrom Sigeum, and from the actual place where his fleet was stationed. Inlandbehind Aeolis and a part of the Troad is the district called Teuthrania,inhabited in ancient times by the Mysiansthis is where the river Caicus alreadymentioned rises; Teuthrania was in a considerable independent clan, evenwhen the whole district bore the name of Mysia. Places in Teuthrania arePioniae, Andera, Idale, Stabulum, Conisium, Teium, Balce, Tiare, Teuthranie,Sarnaca, Haliseme, Lycide, Parthenium, Cambre, Oxyopiun, Lygdamum, Apollonia,and by far the most famous place in Asia, Pergamum, which is traversed by theriver Selinus and bordered by the river Cetius, flowing down from MountPindasus. Not far away is Elaea, which we mentioned, on the coast. Thejurisdiction of this district is called the Pergamene, and it is the centre forthe Thyatireni, Mossyni, Mygdones, Bregmeni, Hierocometae, Perpereni, Tiareni,Hierolo-phienses, Hermocapelitae, Attalenses, Panteenses, Apollonidienses andother city-states of no note. At a distance of 8¾ miles from Rhoeteum is thesmall town of Dardanium. Eighteen miles from it is Cape Trapeza, fromwhich point the Dardanelles start. A list of Asiatic races now extinct given byEratosthenes includes the Solymi,Leleges, Bebryces, Colycantii and Tripsedi;Isidore gives the Arienei and the Capreatae at the place where Apameastands, founded by KingSeleucus,between Cilicia, Cappadocia, Cataonia and Armenia. Apamea was originally calledDamea because it had subdued some extremely fierce tribes.

XXXIV. Of the islands off the coast of Asia the first is at the Canopicmouth of the Nile, and takes its name, it is said, from Menelaus's helmsman Canopus. The second,called Pharos, joined by a bridge to Alexandria, was settled by the DictatorCaesar; it was formerly a day's sailfrom Egypt, but now it carries a lighthouse to direct the course of vessels atnight; for owing to the treacherous shoals Alexandria can be reached by onlythree channels of the sea, those of Steganus, Posideum and Taurus. Then in thePhoenician Sea off Joppa lies Paria, the whole of which is a townit is said tohave been the place where Andromeda was exposed to the monsterand Arados,mentioned already; between which and the mainland, according toMucianus, fresh water is brought up froma spring at the bottom of the sea, which is 75 feet deep, by means of a leatherpipe.

XXXV. The Pampliylian Sea contains some islands of no note. TheCilician Sea has five of considerable size, among them Cyprus, which lies eastand west off the coasts of Cilicia and Syria; it was formerly the seat of ninekingdoms. Its circumference is given byTimosthenes as measuring 427½ miles and byIsidore as 375 ruiles. Its lengthbetween the two capes of Clidae and Acamas, the latter at its west end, is givenbyArtemidorus as 1624 and byTimosthenes as 200 miles. According toPhilonides it was previously calledAcamantis, according toXenagorasCerastis and Aspelia and Amathusia and Macada, and according toAstynomus Cryptos and Colinias. Itcontains 15 towns, New and Old Paphos, Curias, Citium, Corinaeum, Salamis,Amathus, Lapethos, Soloe, Tamasos, Epidaurus, Chytri, Arsinoe, Carpasium andGolgoe; and formerly there were also Cinyria, Mareum and Idalium. It is 50 milesfrom Anemurius in Cilicia; the sea lying between is called the Cilician Aulon.In the same neighbourhood is the island of Eleusa, and the four Clides off thecape facing Syria, and again off a second headland Stiria, and towards NewFaphos Hiera and Cepia, and towards Salamis the Salaminiae. In the Lycian Seaare Illyris, Telendos, Attelebussa, the three barren Cyprian islands andDionysia, formerly called Charaeta; then opposite to Cape Taurus, theChelidonian islands, the same in number, fraught with disaster for passingvessels. Next to these the Pactyae with the town of Leucolla, Lasia, Nymphais,Maeris and Megista, the city-state on which has ceased to exist; and then anumber of islands of no note. But opposite to Chimaera are Dolichiste,Choerogylion, Crambusa, Rhoge, the eight called the Xenagora islands, the twocalled Daedaleon, and the three called Cryeon; Strongyle, and opposite SidymaAntiochi and towards the river Glaucus Lagussa, Macris, Didymae, Helbo, Scope,Aspis and Telandria (the town on which has ceased to exist) and nearest to MountCaunus Rhodussa.

XXXVI. But the most beautiful is the free island of Rhodes, whichmeasures 125, or, if we prefer to believe Isidore, 103 miles round, and which contains the cities of Lindus,Camirus and Ialysus, and now that of Rhodes. Its distance from Alexandriain Egypt is 583 miles according toIsidore,468 according toEratosthenes, 500according toMucianus; and it is 176miles from Cyprus. It was previously called Ophiussa, Asteria, Aethria,Trinacrie, Corymbia, Poeeessa, Atabyria after its king, and subsequently Macariaand Oloessa. Islands belonging to the Rhodians are Carpathus which has given itsname to the Carpathian Sea, Casos, formerly Achne, Nisyros, previously calledPorphyris, 15½ miles distant from Cnidus, and in the same neighbourhood lyingbetween Rhodes and Cnidus, Syrne. Syrne measures 37½ miles in circumference; itprovides the welcome of eight harbours. Other islands in the neighbourhood ofRhodes besides those mentioned are Cyclopis, Teganon, Cordylusa, the fourDiabatae, Hymos, Chalce with its town, Teutlusa, Narthecusa, Dimastos, Progne,and in the direction of Cnidus Cisserusa, Therionarcia, Calydne with the threetowns of Notium, Nisyrus and Mendeterus, and the town of Ceramus on Arconnesus.Off the coast of Caria are the Argiae, a group of twenty islands, and Hyetusa,Lepsia and Leros. But the most famous island in this gulf is that of Cos, whichis 15 miles distant from Halicarnassus and 100 miles in circumference; it isgenerally believed to have been called Merope, but according to Staphylus itsformer name was Cea and according toDionysiusMeropis and later Nymphaea. On Cos is Mount Prion; and the island of Nisyros,formerly called Porphyris, is believed to have been severed from Cos.Next to Cos we come to Caryanda with its town; and not far from Halicarnassus,Pidossus. In the Ceramic Bay are Priaponesus, Hipponesus, Pserema, Lampsa,Aemyndus, Passala, Crusa, Pyrrhaeciusa, Sepiusa, Melano, and at only a smalldistance from the mainland the island named Cinaedopolis, because certainpersons of disgraceful character were deposited there byAlexander the Great.

XXXVII. Off the coast of Ionia are Aegeae and Corseae, and Icaruspreviously mentioned, Lade, formerly called Late, and among some islands of noimportance the two Camelitae near Miletus, the three Trogiliae near Mycala,Phulios, Argennos, Sandalios, and the free island of Samos, which measures 87½,or according toIsidore, 100 miles incircumference.Aristotle records that itwas first called Parthenia, afterwards Dryusa, and then Anthemusa;Aristocritus adds the namesMelamphyllus, and later Cyparissia, others Parthenoarrhusa and Stephane. Samoscontains the rivers Imbrasus, Chesius and Hibiethes, the springs Gigartho andLeucothea, and Mount Cercetius. Adjacent islands are Ilhypara, Nymphaea andAchillea.

XXXVIII. Ninety-four miles from Samos is the equally famous free islandof Chios with its town. This island Ephorus designates by its ancient name ofAethalia, whileMetrodorus andCleobulus call it Chia after the nymphChione, though some say that name is derived from the Greek word for snow. Othernames for it are Macris and Pityusa. It contains Mount Pelinnaeus, in whichChian marble is quarried. Its circumference amounts to 125 miles, according toold accounts, butIsidore adds 9 milesto that figure. It is situated between Samos and Lesbos and directlyopposite to Erythrae. Neighbouring islands are Tellusa, by other writers calledDaphnusa, Oenusa, Elaphitis, Euryanassa and Arginusa with its town. Theseislands bring us to the neighbourhood of Ephesus, where are also those calledthe Islands of Pisistratus, Anthinae, Myonnesus, Diarrheusa (the towns on boththese islands have disappeared), Pordoselene with its town, Cerciae, Halone,Commone, Illetia, Lepria, Aethre, Sphaeria, Procusae, Bolbulae, Pheate,Priapos, Syce, Melane, Aenare, Sidusa, Pele, Drymusa, Anhydros, Scopclos,Sycussa, Marathusa, Psile, Perirrheusa, and many others of no note. Out at seais the famous island of Teos with its town, 71½ miles from Chios and the samedistance from Erythrae. Near Smyrna are the Peristerides, Carteria, Alopece,Elaeusa, Bacchina, Pystira, Crommyonnesos, Megale. Off the Troad are Ascaniae,the three Plateae, then Larniae, the two Plitaniae, Plate, Scopelos, Getone,Arthedon, Coele, Lagusae, Didymae.

XXXIX. The most famous island is Lesbos, 65 miles from Chios; itwas formerly called Himerte and Lasia, Pelasgia, Aegira, Aethiope and Macaria.It had nine noteworthy towns: of these Pyrrha has been swallowed up by the sea,Arisbe destroyed by earthquake and Antissa absorbed by Methymna, which itselflies near nine cities of Asia, along a coastline of 37 miles. Agamede and Hierahave also ceased to exist; but there remain Eresos, Pyrrhaa and the free city ofMytilene, which has been powerful for 1500 years. The circuit of the wholeisland measures 168 miles according toIsidoreand 195 miles according to old authorities. The mountains on Lesbos areLepetyrnnus, Ordymnus, Macistus, Creone and Olympus. It is 7½ miles distant fromthe nearest point of the mainland. Adjacent islands are Sandalium and the fiveLeucae, which include Cydonea with its hot spring; four miles from Aegeare the Arginussae and then Phellusa and Pedna. Outside the Dardanelles andopposite the coast of Sigeum lies Tenedos, also called Leucophrys andPhoenice and Lyrnesos; it is 56 miles from Lesbos and l2½ from Sigeum.

XL. Here the current of the Dardanelles becomes stronger, and comes intocollision with the sea, undermining the bar with its eddies until it separatesAsia from Europe. We have already given the name of the promontory here as Trapeza. Ten miles from it is the town of Abydus, where the strait is only 7furlongs wide; then the town of Percote, and Lampsacus formerly called Pityusa,the colony of Parium, called byHomer Adrastia, the town of Priapos, the river Aesepus, Zelia, and the Sea ofMannara (the name given to the Straits where the sea widens out), the riverOranicus and the harbour of Artace, where there once was a town. Beyond is theisland whichAlexander joined to themainland and on which is the Milesian town of Cyzicus, formerly calledArctonnesus and Dolionis and Didymis; above it is Mount Didymus. Then the townsof Placia, Ariace and Scylace, and in their rear the mountain called the MysianOlympus and the city-state of Olympena. The rivers are the Horisius and theRhyndacus, formerly called the Lycus: this rises in the marsh of Artynia nearMiletopolis, and into it flow the Macestos and several other rivers; it formsthe boundary between Asia and Bithynia. This district was formerly named Cronia,then Thessalis, and then Malianda and Strymonis; its inhabitants were called byHomer the Halizones, as the tribe is'girdled by the sea.' It once had a vast city named Atussa, and it now includestwelve city-states, among them Gordiu Come otherwise called Juliopolis, and onthe coast Dascylos. Then there is the river Gelbes, and inland the town ofHelgas, also called Germanicopolis, another name for it being Boos Coete; asalso Apamea now known as Myrlea of the Colophonii; and the river Echeleos whichin early times was the frontier of the Troad, and at which Mysia began.Afterwards the bay in which are the river Ascanius, the town of Bryalion, therivers Hylas and Cios, with the town also named Cios, formerly a trading stationfor the neighbouring district of Phrygia, founded by the people of Miletus buton a site formerly known as Ascania of Phrygia: consequently this is as suitablea place as any other to speak about Phrygia.

XLI. Phrygia lies behind Troas and the peoples already mentioned betweenCape Lectum and the river Echeleus. On its northern side it marches withGalatia, on its southern side with Lycaonia, Pisidia and Mygdonia, and on theeast it extends to Cappadocia. Its most famous towns beside the ones alreadymentioned are Aneyra, Andria, Celaenae, Cobossae, Carina, Cotyaion, Ceraine,Coniuni and Midaiuni. Some authorities say that the Mysians, Phrygians andBithynians take their names from three parties of immigrants who crossed overfrom Europe, the Moesi, Brygi and Thyni.

XLII. At the same time it seems proper tospeak also about Galatia, which lies above Phrygia and holds lands that for themost part were taken from that country, as was Gordium, its former capital. Thisdistrict is occupied by Gallic settlers called the Tolistobogii, Voturi andAmbitouti, and those occupying the Maeonian and Paphlagonian region are theTrogmi. Along the north and east of Galatia stretches Cappadocia, the mostfertile part of which has been occupied by the Tectosages and Toutobodiaci.These are the races that inhabit the country; the peoples and tetrarchies intowhich they are divided number 195 in all. The towns are Ancyra belonging to theTectosages, Tavium to the Trogini and Pisinus to the Tolistobogii. Noteworthypeople besides these are the Actalenses, Alassenses, Comenses, Didienses,Hierorenses, Lystreni, Neapolitani, Oeandenses, Seleucenses, Sebasteni,Timoniacenses and Thebaseni. Galatia also touches on Cabalia in Pamphylia andthe Milyae about Bans; also on Cyllanicum and the district of Oroanda inPisidia, and Obizene which is part of Lycaonia. The rivers in it beside thosealready mentioned are the Sakarya and the Gallus; from the latter the priests ofthe Mother of the Gods take their name.

XLIII. Now we give the remainder of the places on this coast. Inland from Cios, in Bithynia, is Prusa, at the foot of Olympus, founded byHannibalfrom there to Nicaea is 25miles, Lake Ascanias coming in betweenthen, on the innermost bay of the lake, Nicaea, which was formerly called Olbia, and Prusias; then a second place alsonamed Prusias at the foot of Mount Hypius. Places that exist no longer arePythopolis, Parthenopolis and Coryphanta. On the coast are the rivers Aesius,Bryazon, Plataneus, Areus, Aesyrus and Geodos, another name for which isChrysorrhoas, and the headland on which formerly the town of Megarice stood:owing to which the gulf used to have the name of Craspedites, because that townwas a sort of tassel on its fringe. There was also formerly the town of Astacus,owing to which the gulf in question was also called Astacus Bay. Also there wasa town called Libyssa at the place where there is now only the tomb ofHannibal; and also at the far extremityof the bay stands the famous city of Bithynian Nicomedia. Cape Leucatas whichshuts in Astacus Bay is 37½ miles from Nicomedia; and then the coastlines cometogether again, forming narrows that extend as far as the Straits ofConstantinople. On these narrows are the free city of Calchadon, previouslycalled Procerastis, 62½ miles from Nicodemia, then Colpusa, afterwards BhndMen's Towna name implying that its founders did not know how to choose asite, Byzantium a site so much more attractive in every respect being less thana mile away! Inland in Bithynia are the colony of Apamea, Agrippenses,Juliopolitae and Bithynion. The rivers are the Syriurn, Laphias, Pharnacias,Alces, Serinis, Lilaeus, Scopius and Hieros, which forms the frontier betweenBithynia and Galatia. Beyond Calchadon formerly stood Chrysopolis. ThenNicopohs, from which comes the name still given to the bay containing Port ofAmycus; then Cape Naulochum, Hestiae and Neptune's Temple. Then come the Straitsof Constantinople, the channel half a mile wide which again separates Asia fromEurope, 12½ miles from Calchadon. Then the mouth of the Straits, 8¾ mileswide, where once stood the town of Spiropolis. The whole of the coast isinhabited by the Thynians and the interior by the Bithynians. This is the end ofAsia and of the 282 peoples who can be counted between the frontier of Lycia andthis point. The length of the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara to the Straitsof Constantinople we stated above as 239 miles, and the distance from Calchadonto Sigeum is given byIsidore as 322½miles.

XLIV. The islands in the Marmara are, Elaphonnesus off Cyzicus, from which is obtained the Cyzicus marbleit is also called Neuris and Proconnesusand then Ophiussa, Acanthus, Phoebe, Scopelos, Porphyrione, Halone with its town, Delphacie, Polydora and Artacaeon with its town. Also off Nicomedia is Demonnesus, and also beyond Heraclea and off Bithynia Thynias, the native name of which is Bithynia. There is also Antiochia, and off the mouth of the Rhyndacus Besbicos, an island 18 miles in circumference; and also Elaea and the two Rhodusae, Erebinthote, Megale, Chalcitis and Pityodes.

I. THE Euxine or Black Sea, formerly because of its inhospitableroughness called the Axine, owing to a peculiar jealousy on the part of Nature,which here indulges the sea's greed without any limit, actually spreads intoEurope and Asia. The Ocean was not content to have encircled the earth, and withstill further cruelty to have reft away a portion of her surface, nor to haveforced an entrance through a breach in the mountains and rent Gibraltar awayfrom Africa, so devouring a larger area than it left remaining, nor to haveswallowed up a further space of land and flooded the Sea of Marmara through theDardanelles; even beyond the Straits of Constantinople also it widens out intoanother desolate expanse, with an appetite unsatisfied until the Sea of Azovlinks on its own trespass to its encroachments. That this event occurred againstthe will of the earth is proved by the number of narrows, and by the smallnessof the gaps left by Nature's resistance, measuring at the Dardanelles 875 paces,at the Straits of Constantinople and Kertsch the passage being actuallyfordable by oxenwhich fact gives both of them their nameand also by a certainharmonious affinity contained in their disseverance, as the singing of birdsand barking of dogs on one side can be heard on the other, and even theinterchange of human speech, conversation going on between the two worlds, savewhen the actual sound is carried away by the wind.

The dimension of the Black Sea from the Dardanelles to the Sea of Azov is givenby some authorities as 1438½ miles, butEratosthenes makes it 100 miles less.Agrippa gives the distance from Calchadon to the river Won as 1000 milesand from that river to the Straits of Kertsch as 360 miles. We shall state thedistances in sections as ascertained in our own time, inasmuch as there has beendispute even about the mouth of the Straits of Kertsch.

Well then, after the mouth of the Dardanelles is the river Rebas, called by somethe Rhesus; then Syris, and Port Calpas, and the Sakarya, a famous river whichrises in Phrygia and into which flow some very large tributaries, among them theTembrogius and the Gallus; its name is commonly given as Sagiarius; the Coraliuswhere the Mariandyni territory begins; the bay of Heraclea, and the town ofthat name on the river Lycusit is 200 miles from the mouth of the BlackSeathe port of Aconae, of evil repute for the poison called aconite, theAcherusian Cavern, the rivers Paedopides, Callichorus and Sonautes, the town ofTium 38 miles from Heraclea, and the river Billis.

II. Beyond this river is the Paphlagonianrace, called by some the Pylaemenian, enclosed to the rear by Galatia, theMilesian town of Mastya, then Cromna, a place with whichCornelius Nepos connects the Eneti, fromwhom he thinks the Veneti in Italy bearing a similar name must be believed to bedescended; the town of Sesamon, now called Amastris; Mount Cytorus, 63 milesfrom Tium; the towns of Cimolis and Stephane and the river Parthenius. The greatprojection of Cape Cerambis is 325 nines, or according to others 350 miles,distant from the mouth of the Black Sea, and the same distance, or, by anestimate which some prefer, 3121 miles from the Straits of Kertsch. There wasformerly also a town of the same name, and then another called Armine; and atthe present day there is the colony of Sinâb, 164 miles from Mount Cytorus; theriver Evarchus, a tribe of Cappadocians, the town of Caturia Zacepluni, and theriver Halys that flows down from the base of Mount Taurus through Cataonia andCappadocia; the towns of Gamge and Carusa, the free town of Amisus 130 milesfrom Sinâb, and the bay of the same name which runs so far inland as to give toAsia the shape of a peninsula,b the isthmus measuring not more than 200 milesacross to the Gulf of Issus in Cilicia. It is reported that in all this regionthere are only three races that can rightly be designated Greek, the Dorian, theIonian and the Aeolian, all the rest being tribes of barbarians. To Amisus wasattached the town of Eupatoria, founded byMithridates; after he had been conquered, the two places were unitedunder the name of Pompeiopolis.

III. Cappadocia contains in its interior a colony ofClaudius Caesar named Archelais, pastwhich flows the river Halys, and the towns of Comana on the Salius, Neocaesareaon the Lycus, and Amasia on the Iris in the region of Gazacena; while in theColopene region are Sebastia and Sebastopol, which are small towns but equal inimportance to those mentioned above; and in the remaining part of Cappadocia areMelita, founded by Samiramis, not far from the Euphrates, Diocaesarea, Tyana,Castabala, Magnopolis, Zela, and under Mount Argaeus Mazacus, now namedCaesarea. The part of Cappadocia adjacent to Greater Armenia is called Melitene,the part bordering on Commagene Cataonia, that on Phrygia Garsanritis, that onCammanene Sargaurasana, that on Galatia Morimene, where the boundary between thetwo countries is formed by the river Cappadox, from which the Cappadocians taketheir namethey were formerly called the White Syrians. The boundary between Neocaesarea above mentioned and Lesser Armenia is the river Lycus. In theinterior there is also the notable river Coeranus, and on the coast after Amisusthe town of Chadisia with the river of the same name, and the town of Lycastns,after which the district of Themiscyra begins. The river here is the Iris, witha tributary the Lycus. Inland is Ziela, the city-state famous for the defeat ofTriarius and the victory of Gaius Caesar. On the coast is the river Thermodon,which rises at the fortress called Phanollas and flows past the foot of themountain Mason Dagh; there was formerly a town of the same name as the river,and five others, Amazonium, Themiscyra, Sotira, Amasia and Comana, and now thereis Matium;

IV. the Caenares and Chalybes tribes, the town of the Cotyi, the tribesof the Tibareni and the Massynithe latter practise tattooingthe Longheadtribe, the town of Cerasus, the harbour of Cordule, the Bechires and Buxeritribes, the Black River, the Machorones tribe, the Sideni, and the river Sidenuswhich washes the town of Polemonium 120 miles from Amisus. Then come the riversTasonius and Melanthius, and 80 miles from Amisus the town of Pharnacea, thefortress and river Tripolis, the fortress and river Philocalia and the fortressof Liviopolis, which is not on a river, and 100 miles from Pharnacea the freetown of Trebizond, shut in by a vast mountain range. Beyond Trebizond begins theArmenochalybes tribe, and 30 miles further Greater Armenia. On the coast beforereaching Trebizond is the river Pyxites, and beyond Trebizond the CharioteerSanni, and the river Absarrus with the fortress of the same name in its gorge,140 miles from Trapezus. Behind the mountains of this district is Liberia, andon the coast the Charioteers, the Ampreutae and the Lazi, the rivers Acampseon,Isis, Mogrus and Bathys, the Colchian tribes, the town of Matium, the River ofHeracles and the cape of the same name, and the Rion, the most celebrated riverof the Black Sea region. The Rion rises among the Moschi and is navigable forships of any size for 38½ miles, and a long way further for smaller vessels; itis crossed by 120 bridges. It had a considerable number of towns on its banks,the most notable being Tyndaris, Circaeus, Cygnus, and at its mouth Phasis; butthe most famous was Aea, 15 miles from the sea, where two very large tributariesjoin the Rion from opposite directions, the Hippos and the Cyaneos. At thepresent day the only town on the Rion is Surium, which itself also takes itsname from a river that enters the Rion at the point up to which we said that itis navigable for large vessels. It also receives other tributaries remarkablefor their size and number, among them the Glaucus; at its mouth is an islandwith no name, 70 miles from the mouth of the Absarrus. Then there is anotherriver, the Charicis, the Saltiae tribe called of old the Pine-seed-eaters, andanother tribe, the Sanni; the river Chobus flowing from the Caucasus through theSuani territory; then Rhoan, the Cegritic district, the rivers Sigania, Thersos,Astelphus and Chrysorrhoas, the Absilae tribe, the fortress of Sebastopol 100miles from Phasis, the Sanicae tribe, the town of Cygnus, the river and town ofPenius; and then tribes of the Charioteers with a variety of names.

V. Below this lies the Black Sea district named Colica, in which theCaucasus range curves round to the Ripaean Mountains, as we have previouslystated, one side sloping down towards the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and theother towards the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea. The tribes occupying almost all therest of the coasts are the Blackcloaks and the Coraxi, with the Colchian city ofDioscurias on the river Anthemus, now deserted, but once so famous thataccording toTimosthenes 300 tribesspeaking different languages used to resort to it; and subsequently business wascarried on there by Roman traders with the help of a staff of 130 interpreters.Some people think that Dioscurias was founded by the charioteers of Castor andPollux, Amphitus and Thelchius, from whom it is virtually certain that theCharioteer tribe are descended. The town of Heracleum is 100 miles fromDioscurias and 70 miles from Sebastopol. The tribes here are the Achaei, Mardiand Cercetae, and after these the Serri and Cephslotomi. In the interior of thisregion was the extremely wealthy town of Pityus, which was sacked by theCharioteers. Behind Pityus are the Epagerritae, a Sarmatian people on theCaucasus range, and after them come the Sauromatians. It was with this tribethatMithridates took refuge in theprincipate ofClaudius, and from him welearn that there is a neighbouring tribe, the Thali, who on the eastern sideextend to the mouth of the Caspian Sea, where, he tells us, thechannel dries up at low tide. On the coast of the Black Sea near the Cercetae isthe river Icarus, and the Achaei, with their Holy Town and River, 136 miles fromHeracleum. Then comes Cape Cruni, after which a steep cliff is occupied by theToretae, and then the city-state of Sindica, 67½ miles from Holy Town, and theriver Secheries.

VI. The distance from the Secheries to the entrance to the Straits ofKertsch is 88½ miles. But the actual peninsula projecting between theBlack Sea and the Sea of Azov is not more than 671 miles long, its breadth beingnowhere below 80 yards; it is called Eone. The actual coast of the Straits onboth the Asiatic and the European sides curves into the Sea of Azov. The townsat its entrance are Hermonasa and next the Milesian town of Cepi, thenStratoclia and Phanagoria and the almost deserted town of Apaturos, and at theextreme end of the mouth Cimmerium, the former name of which was Cerberion.

After passing Cimmerium, the tribes inhabiting the coast are the Maeotici, Hali,Semes, Serrei, Scizi and Gnissi. Next come the two mouths of the riverDon, where the inhabitants are the Sarmatae, said to be descended from theMedes, and themselves divided into a number of sections. The first of these arethe Matriarchal Sauromatae, the husbands of the Amazons; then the Naevazae,Coitae, Cizici, Messeniani, Cotobacchi, Cetae, Zigae, Tindari, Thussegetae andTyrcae, which brings us to uninhabited deserts intersected by wooded glens,beyond which are the Arixnphaei, who reach to the Ripaean Mountains. The Donitself is called by the natives the Sinus, and the Sea of Azov the Temarunda,which means in their language 'the mother of the sea.' There is also a town atthe mouth of the Don. The neighbouring districts were first occupied by the Carians, then by the Clazomenii and Maeones, and afterwards by thePanticapaeans. Some give the following list of tribes round the Sea of Azov nearthe Ceraunian Mountains: starting from the coast the Naprae, and higherup the Essedones, joining on to the Colchians on the tops of themountains. Then the Camacae, Orani, Autacae, Mazamacae, Cantiocaptae,Agamathae, Pici, Itymosoli and Acascomarci, and near the Caucasus range theIcatalae, Imadochi, Rami, Andacae, Tydii, Carastasei and Authiandes; the riverLagous flowing down from the Cathean Mountains, with its tributary the Opharus,where are the Cauthadae and Opharitae tribes; the rivers Menotharus and Imityesflowing from the Cissian Mountains; below these the Agdaes, Carnae, Oscardei,Accisi, Gabri and Gegari, and round the source of the Imityes the Imityi andApartaei. Other writers say that the Scythian tribes of the Auchetae, Atherneiand Asampatae have spread into this country, and have destroyed the Tanaitaeand Inapaei to a man. Some state that the river Ocharius runs through theCantici and Sapei, but that the Don has passed through the Hertichean tribe ofSatharchei, the Spondolici, Synhietae, Anasi, Issi, Cataeetae, Tagorae, Caroni,Neripi, Agandei, Meandaraei and Spalaean Satharchei.

VIII. We have gone over the inner coast of Asia from the river Cius and all the tribes dwelling on it; let us now give an account of the vastregion that lies in the interior. I do not deny that my description of it willdiffer in many points from that of the old writers, as I have devoted much careand attention to ascertaining thoroughly the recent events in that region fromDomitius Corbulo and the kings sent fromthere as suppliants or king's children sent as hostages. We will however beginwith the Cappadocian tribe. This extends farthest into the interior of all thepeoples of Pontus, passing on its left-hand side Lesser and Greater Armenia andCommagene and on its right all the tribes of Asia mentioned above; it spreadsover a very large number of peoples, and rises rapidly in elevation towards theeast in the direction of the Taurus range, passing Lycaonia, Pisidia andCilicia, and then advances above the district of Antiochia, the part of itcalled Cataoruia reaching as far as the department of Antiochia namedCyrrestica. Consequently the length of Asia at this point is 1250 miles and itsbreadth 640 miles.

IX. Greater Armenia begins at the Parihedri Mountains, and is separatedfrom Cappadocia, as we have said, by the river Euphrates and, when theEuphrates turns aside from Mesopotamia by the equally famous river Tigris. Bothrivers rise in Armenia, and it forms the beginning of Mesopotamia, the tract ofcountry lying between these two rivers; the intervening space is occupied by theOrroean Arabs. It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, where it isenclosed by ranges of mountains that stretch across it; here it spreads itswidth on the left, crossing the Aras, to the river Kur, while its length reachesright to Lesser Armenia, from which it is separated by the river Absarrus, whichflows into the Black Sea, and by the Parihedri Mountains in which the Absarrusrises.

X. The source of the Kur is in the Heniochi Mountains, which are calledby some persons the Coraxici; while the Aras rises in the same mountains as theEuphrates, at a distance of six miles from it, and after being augmented by theriver Usis, itself also, in the opinion of the majority of writers, joins theKur and is carried by it down into the Caspian Sea.

The notable towns in Lesser Armenia are Caesarea, Ezaz and Nicopolis; those inGreater Armenia are Arsamosata, which is near the Euphrates, Kharput onthe Tigris and Sert on the high ground, with Artaxata in the plainsadjoining the Araxes. Aufidius gives the circumference of the whole of Armeniaas 5000 miles, whileClaudius Caesarmakes its length from Dascusa to the edge of the Caspian Sea 1300 miles and itsbreadth from Sert to Hiberia half that amount. It is a well-known fact that itis divided into 120 administrative districts with native names, called in Greekmilitary commands, some of which were formerly actual separate kingdoms. It isshut in on the east, but not immediately, by the Ceraunian Mountains andsimilarly by the Adiabene district. The intervening space is occupied by theCepheni, and next to them the mountain district beyond is occupied by theAdiabeni, while along the valleys the peoples adjoining Armenia are theMenobardi and Moschcni. Adiabene is encircled by the Tigris and by impassablemountains. The district on the left of Adiabene belongs to the Medes, as far asthe point where the Caspian Sea comes into view; this sea derives its water fromthe Ocean, as we shall say in the proper place, and is entirely surrounded bythe Caucasus Mountains.

XI. All the plain from the Kur onward is occupied by the race of theAlbani and then that of the Hiberes, separated from the Albani by the riverAlazon, which flows down from Mount Caucasus into the Cyrus. Important towns areKablas-Var in Albania and Hermastus on the river and Neoris in Hiberia. Thedistricts of Thasie and Thriare reach to the Parihedri Mountains, and beyondthem is the Colebian desert, on the side of which towards the Ceraunii dwell theArmenochalybes, and the country of the Moschi reaching to the river Hiberus, atributary of the Kur, and below them the Sacasani and then the Maceronesreaching to the river Absarrus. This gives the population of the plains ormountain slopes; then after the frontier of Albania the whole face of themountains is occupied by the wild tribes of the Silvi and below them those ofthe Lupenii, and afterwards the Diduri and Sodi.

XII. On leaving these one comes to the Gates of the Caucasus, which manyvery erroneously call the Caspian Gates, an enormous work of Nature, whohas here suddenly rent the mountains asunder. Here gates have been placed, withiron-covered beams, under the centre of which flows a river emitting a horribleodour; and on this side of it on a rock stands the fortress called Cumania,erected for the purpose of barring the passage of the innumerable tribes. Atthis spot therefore the world is divided by gates into two portions; it is justopposite the liberian town of Hermastus. Beyond the Gates of the Caucasus amongthe Gurdinian Mountains are the Valli and the Suani, races never yet quelled,who nevertheless work goldmines. After these, right on to the Black Sea, are alarge number of tribes of Charioteers and then of Achaei. Such is the presentstate of one of the most famous regions in the world.

Some authorities have reported the distance between the Black Sea and theCaspian as not more than 375 miles, whileCornelius Nepos makes it 250 miles: by such narrow straits is Asia for asecond time beset.Claudius Caesar givesthe distance from the Straits of Kertseh to the Caspian Sea as 150 miles, and states thatSeleueus Nicatorat the time when he was killed byPtolemyCerannus was contemplating cutting achannel through this isthmus. It is practically certain that the distance fromthe Gates of the Caucasus to the Black Sea is 200 miles.

XIII. The islands in the Black Sea are the Planctae, otherwise named theCyaneae or Symplegades, and then Apollonia, called Thynias to distinguish itfrom the island of the same name in Europeit is a mile away from the mainlandand three miles in circumferenceand opposite to Pharnacea Chaleeritis,called by the Greeks the Isle of Arcs and sacred to the god of war; they saythat on it there were birds which used to attack strangers with blows of theirwings.

XIV. Having now completed our descriptionof the interior of Asia let us in imagination cross the Ripaean Mountains andproceed to the right along the shores of the Ocean. This washes the coast ofAsia towards three points of the compass, under the name of Scythian Ocean onthe north, Eastern Ocean on the east and Indian Ocean on the south; and it issubdivided into a variety of designations according to the bays that it formsand the people dwelling on its coasts. A great portion of Asia however also,adjoining the north, owing to the severity of its frosty climate contains vastdeserts. From the extreme north-north-east to the northernmost point at whichthe sun rises in summer there are the Scythians, and outside of them and beyondthe point where north-north-east begins some have placed the Hyperboreans, whoare said by a majority of authorities to be in Europe. After that point thefirst place known is Lytharmis, a promontory of Celtica, and the riverCarambucis, where the range of the Ripaean Monntains terminates and with it therigour of the climate relaxes; here we have reports of a people called the Arimphaei, a race not unlike the Hyperboreans. They dwell in forests and liveon berries; long hair is deemed to be disgraceful in the case of women and menalike; and their manners are mild. Consequently they are reported to be deemeda sacred race and to be left unmolested even by the savage tribes among theirneighbours, this immunity not being confined to themselves but extended also topeople who have fled to them for refuge. Beyond them we come directly to theScythians, Cimmerians, Cissi, Anthi, Georgi, and a race of Amazons, the lastreaching to the Caspian and Hyrcanian Sea.

XV. For the sea actually forces a passage from the Scythian Ocean to theback of Asia, where the inhabitants call it by a variety of names, but it isbest known by two of them, as the Caspian Sea and the Hyrcanian.Clitarchus is of opinion that theCaspian is as large as the Black Sea;Eratosthenes also gives its dimensions on the south-east side along thecoast of Cadusia and Albania as 725 miles, from there through the territories ofthe Atiaei, Amarbi and Hyrcani to the mouth of the river Zonus 600 miles, andfrom there to the mouth of the Syr Daria 300 miles, making a total of 1575miles.Artemidorus subtracts 25 milesfrom this total.Agrippa states that theCaspian Sea and the races surrounding it, including Armenia, bounded on the eastby the Chinese Ocean, on the west by the ranges of the Caucasus, on the south bythose of the Taurus and on the north by the Scythian Ocean, so far as is knownextend 480 miles in length and 290 miles in breadth. But there are some authorswho give the entire circuit of the sea in question from the straitsas 2500 miles.

Its waters make their way into this sea by a narrow mouth of considerablelength; and where it begins to widen out it curves obliquely withcrescent-shaped horns, as though descending from the mouth to the Sea of Azov,in the likeness of a sickle, asMarcus Varrostates. The first part of it is called the Scythian Gulf, because theinhabitants on both sides are Scythians, who hold communication across thenarrows, on one side being the Nomads and the Sauromatae, who have a variety ofnames, and on the other the Abzoae, with just as many. Starting at the entrance,on the right-hand side the actual point of the mouth is occupied by the Scythiantribe of the Udini; then along the coast are the Albani, said to be descendedfrom Jason, after whom the sea at that point is called the Alban Sea. This raceoverflows the Caucasus Mountains and, as previously stated, comes down as far asthe river Kur, which forms the boundary between Armenia and Hiberia. Above thecoastward parts of Albania and the Udini tribe stretch the Sarmatae, Utidorsiand Aroteres, in the rear of whom we have already indicated the Amazons andSauromatides. The rivers running down to the sea through Albania are the Casusand the Albanus, then the Cambyses, which rises in the Caucasus Mountains, andthen the Kur, rising in the Coraxaci, as we have said. The whole of the coast.from the Casus is stated byAgrippato be formed of very lofty cliffs which prohibit landing for 425 miles. The seabegins to have the name of Caspian from the mouth of the Kur, the coast beinginhabited by the Caspii.

In this place we must correct a mistake made by many people, even those whorecently served with Corbulo in the war in Armenia. These have given the name ofCaspian Gates to the pass in Hiberia, which, as we have stated, is called theGates of the Caucasus, and maps of the region sent home from the front have thisname written on them. Also the expedition threatened by the EmperorNero was spoken of as intended topenetrate to the Caspian Gates, whereas it was really aimed at the pass thatgives a road through Hiberia to Sarmatia, the mountain barrier affordingscarcely any access to the Caspian Sea. There are however other Caspian Gatesadjoining the Caspian tribes; the distinction between the two passes can only beestablished by means of the report of those who accompanied the expedition ofAlexander the Great.

XVI. The kingdom of the Persians, which we now know as Parthia, liesbetween the two seas, the Persian and the Caspian, on the heights of theCaucasus range. Greater Armenia, which occupies the front of the mountainsloping towards Commagene, is adjoined, as we have said, by Cephenia, whichlies on the descent on both sides of it, and this by Adiabene, where the land ofthe Assyrians begins; the part of Adiabene nearest to Syria is Arbilitis, whereAlexander conqueredDarius. The Macedonians have given tothe whole of Adiabene the name of Mygdonia, from its likeness to Mygdonia inMacedon. Its towns are Alexandria and Antiochia, the native name for which isNesebis; it is 750 miles from Artaxata. There was also once the town of Nineveh,which was on the Tigris facing west, and was formerly very famous. Adjoining theother front of Greater Armenia, which stretches to the Caspian Sea, isAtrapatene, separated from the district of Otene in Armenia by the Aras; itschief town is Gazae, 450 miles from Artaxata and the same distance from Hamadan,the city of the Medes, to which race the Atrapateni belong.

XVII. Hamadan, the capital of Media, which was founded by KingSeleucus, is 750 miles from GreatSeleucia and 20 miles from the Caspian Gates. The other towns of Media arePhazaca, Aganzaga and Apamea, called Rhei. The reason for the name 'Gates' isthe same as that stated above: the range is here pierced by a narrow pass 8miles long, scarcely broad enough for a single line of waggon traffic, the wholeof it a work of engineering. It is overhung on either side by crags that look asif they had been exposed to the action of fire, the country over a range of 28miles being entirely waterless; the narrow passage is impeded by a stream ofsalt water that collects from the rocks and finds an exit by the same way.Moreover the number of snakes renders the route impracticable except in winter.

Joining on to the Adiabeni are the people formerly called the Carduchi and nowthe Cordueni, past whom flows the river Tigris, and adjoining these are the'Roadside' Pratitae, as they are called, who hold the Caspian Gates. Running upto these on the other side are the Parthian deserts and the Citheni range; andthen comes the very agreeable locality, also belonging to Parthia, calledChoara. Here are the two Parthian towns formerly serving for protection againstthe Medes, Calliope and, on another rock, Issatis; but the actual capital ofParthia, Hecatompylos, is 133 miles from the Gatesso effectively is the Parthian kingdom also shut off by passes. Going out of the Gates one comes atonce to the Caspian nation, which extends down to the coast: it is from thispeople that the pass and the sea obtain their name. On the left there is amountainous district. Turning back from this people to the river Kur thedistance is said to be 225 miles, and going up from the river Kur to the Gates700 miles; for in the Itineraries ofAlexanderthe Great this pass is made the turning-point of his expeditions, thedistance from these Gates to the frontier of India being given as 1961 miles,from the frontier to the town of Balkh, which is the name given to Zariasta, 462miles, and from Zariasta to the river Syr Darya 620 miles.

XVIII. Lying to the east of the Caspians is the region called Apavortene,in which is Darcium, a place noted for its fertility. Then there are the tribesof the Tapyri, Anariaci, Staures and Hyrcani, from whose shores the Caspianbeyond the river Sideris begins to be called the Hyreanian Sea; while on thisside of the Sideris are the rivers Maziris and Straor, all three streams rise inthe Caucasus. Next comes the Margiarte country, famous for its sunny climateitis the only district in that region where the vine is grown; it is shut in allround by a beautiful ring of mountains, 187 miles in circuit, and is difficultof access on account of sandy deserts stretching for a distance of 120 miles;and it is itself situated opposite to the region of Parthia. In MargianeAlexander had founded a city bearing his name, which was destroyed by thebarbarians, butAntiochus son ofSeleucus re-established a city on thesame site, intersected by the river Murghab, which is canalized into Lake Zotha;he had preferred that the city should be named after himself. Its circuitmeasures 8¾ miles. This is the place to which the Roman prisoners taken in thedisaster of Crassus were brought by Orodes. From the heights of Merv across theridges of the Caucasus right on to the Bactrians extend the fierce tribe of theMardi, an independent state. Below this region are the tribes of the Orciani,Common, Berdnigae, Harmatotropi, Citomarae, Comani, Murrasiarae and Mandruani;the rivers Mandrum and Chindrum, and beyond them the Chorasmi, Gandari,Paricani, Zarangae, Arasmi, Marotiani, Arsi, Gaeli (called by the Greeks theCadusii), and Matiani; the town of Heraclea, founded byAlexander and subsequently overthrown,but restored byAntiochus, who gave itthe name of Achais; the Drehices, whose territory is intersected by theriver Amu Darya rising in Lake Oaxus; the Syrmatae, Oxyttagae, Moci, Bateni,Saraparae; and the Bactri, whose town was called Zariasta from the river, butits name was afterwards changed to Balkh. This race occupies the opposite sideof the Hindu Kush over against the sources of the Indus, and is enclosed by theriver Ochus. Beyond are the Sogdiani and the town of Panda, and on the farthestconfines of their territory Alexandria, founded byAlexander the Great. At this place thereare altars set up by Hercules and Father Liber, and also byCyrus andSemiramis and byAlexander, all of whom found their limitin this region of the world, where they were shut in by the river Syr Darya,which the Scythians call the Sills and whichAlexander and his soldiers supposed to be the Don. But this river wascrossed byDemodamas, the general ofKingSeleucus and KingAntiochus, whom we are chiefly followingin this part of our narrative; and he set up altars to Apollo Didymaeus.

XIX. Beyond are some tribes of Scythians. To these the Persians havegiven the general name of Sacae, from the tribe nearest to Persia, but oldwriters call them the Aranxii, and the Scythians themselves give the name ofChorsar to the Persians and call Mount Caucasus Croucasis, which means 'whitewith snow.' There is an uncountable number of tribes, numerous enough to live onequal terms with the Parthians; most notable among them are the Sacae,Massagetae, Daliae, Essedones, Astacae, Rumnici, Pestici, Homodoti, Histi,Edones, Camae, Camacae, Euchatae, Cotieri, Authusiani, Psacae, Arimaspi,Antacati, Chroasai and Oetael; among them the Napaei are said to have beendestroyed by the Palaei. Notable rivers in their country are the Mandragaeus andthe Caspasus. And in regard to no other region is there more discrepancy amongauthorities, this being due, I believe to the countless numbers and the nomadichabits of the tribes. The water of the Caspian Sea itself was said byAlexander the Great to be sweet todrink, and alsoMarcus Varro states thatgood drinking water was conveyed from it forPompey when he was operating in the neighbourhood of the river during theMithridatic War; doubtless the size of the rivers flowing into it overcomes thesalt.Varro further adds thatexploration under the leadership ofPompeyascertained that a seven days' journey from India into the Bactrian countryreaches the river Bactrus, a tributary of the Amu Darya, and that Indianmerchandize can be conveyed from the Bactrus across the Caspian to the Kur andthence with not more than five days' portage by land can reach Phasis in Pontus.

There are many islands in all parts of the Caspian Sea, but only one of them,Zazata, is particularly notable.

XX. After leaving the Caspian Sea and the Scythian Ocean our course takesa bend towards the Eastern Sea as the coast turns to face eastward. The firstpart of the coast after the Scythian promontory is uninhabitable on account ofsnow, and the neighbouring region is uncultivated because of the savagery of thetribes that inhabit it. This is the country of the Cannibal Scythians who eathuman bodies; consequently the adjacent districts are waste deserts throngingwith wild beasts lying in wait for human beings as savage as themselves. Then wecome to more Scythians and to more deserts inhabited by wild beasts, until wereach a mountain range called Tabis which forms a cliff over the sea; and notuntil we have covered nearly half of the length of the coast that facesnorth-east is that region inhabited. The first human occupants are the peoplecalled the Chinese, who are famous for the woollen substance obtained from theirforests; after a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves,and so supply our women with the double task of unravelling the threads andweaving them together again; so manifold is the labour employed, and so distantis the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman matron to flaunttransparent raiment in public. The Chinese, though mild in character, yetresemble wild animals, in that they also shun the company of the remainder ofmankind, and wait for trade to come to them. The first river found in theirterritory is the Psitharas, next the Cambari, and third the Lanos, after whichcome the Malay Peninsula, the Bay of Cirnaba, the river Atianos and the tribe ofthe Attacorae on the bay of the same name, sheltered by sunbathed hills fromevery harmful blast, with the same temperate climate as that in which dwell theHyperborei. The Attacorae are the subject of a monograph byAmometus, while the Hyperborei have beendealt with in a volume byHecataeus.After the Attacorae there are the Thuni and Focari tribes, and (coming now tonatives of India) the Casiri, situated in the interior in the direction of theScythiansthe Casiri are cannibals; also the Nomad tribes of India reach thispoint in their wanderings. Some writers state that these tribes are actually incontact with the Cicones and also the Brisari on the north.

XXI. We now come to a point after which there is complete agreement as tothe racesthe range of mountains called the Himalayas. Here begins the Indianrace, bordering not only on the Eastern Sea but on the southern also, which wehave designated the Indian Ocean. The part facing east stretches in astraight line until it comes to a bend, and at the point where the Indian Oceanbegins its total length is 1875 miles; while from that point onward thesoutherly bend of the coast according toEratosthenes covers 2475 miles, finally reaching the river Indus, whichis the western boundary of India. A great many authors however give the entirelength of the coast as being forty days' and nights' sail and the measurement ofthe country from north to south as 2850 miles. Agrippa says that it is 3300miles long and 2300 miles broad.Posidoniusgives its measurement from north-east to south-east, making the whole of it facethe west side of Gaul, of which he gives the measurement from north-west tosouth-west; and accordingly he shows by an unquestionable line of argument thatIndia has the advantage of being exposed to the current of the west wind, whichmakes it healthy. In that country the aspect of the heavens and the rising ofthe stars are different, and there are two summers and two harvests yearly,separated by a winter accompanied by etesian winds, while at our midwinter itenjoys soft breezes and the sea is navigable. Its races and cities are beyondcounting, if one wished to enumerate all of them. For it has been broughtto knowledge not only by the armed forces ofAlexander the Great and the kings who succeeded him, Seleucus andAntiochus, and their admiral of thefleetPatrocles having sailed roundeven into the Hyrcanian and Caspian Sea, but also by other Greek authors whohave stayed as guests with the Indian kings, for instanceMegasthenes, andDionysius sent byPhiladelphus for that purpose, and havealso reported as to the strength of these nations. Nevertheless there is nopossibility of being exact as to this matter, so discrepant and so difficult tobelieve are the accounts given. Those who accompaniedAlexander the Great have written thatthe region of India subdued by him contained 5000 towns, none less than twomiles in circuit, and nine nations, and that India forms a third of the entire surface of the earth, and that its populations are innumerablewhich iscertainly a very probable theory, inasmuch as the Indians are almost the onlyrace that has never migrated from its own territory. From the time of Father Liber toAlexander the Great 153 kingsof India are counted in a period of 6451 years and three months. The rivers areof enormous size: it is stated thatAlexandersailing on the Indus did never less than 75 miles a day and yet could not reachthe mouth of the river in less time than five months and a few days over, andnevertheless it is certain that the Indus is smaller than the Ganges.Seneca also, who among our own writersessayed an account of India, gives its rivers as 60 in number and its races as118. It would be an equally laborious task to enumerate its mountains; there isa continuous chain formed by Imavus, Hemodus, Paropanisus and Caucasus, fromwhich the whole country slopes down into an immense plain resembling that ofEgypt.

However, in order to give an idea of the geographical description of India wewill follow in the footsteps ofAlexander theGreat.Diognetus andBaeton, the surveyors of hisexpeditions, write that the distance from the Caspian Gates to the Parthian Cityof Hecatompylos is the number of miles that we stated above; a from thence tothe city of Alexandria of the Arii, whichAlexander founded, 575 miles, to thecity of the Drangae, Prophthasia, 199 miles, to the town of the Arachosii 565miles, to Kabul 175 miles, and thence to Alexander's Town 50 miles (in somecopies of this record we find different numbers): this city is stated to besituated immediately below the Caucasus; from it to the river Kabul andthe Indian town of Peucolatis 237 miles, and thence to the river Indus and thetown of Taxilla 60 miles, to the famous river Jhelum 120 miles, to the not lessnotable Beas 390 milesthis was the terminus ofAlexander's journeys, although he crossed the river and dedicated altarsupon the opposite bank. The king's actual dispatches also agree with thesefigures. The remaining distances after the Beas were ascertained by theexploration of Seleucus Nicator; to theSutlej 169 miles, to the river Jumna the same (some copies add 5 miles), thenceto the Ganges 112½, to Rhodapha 569 (others give 325 miles in this space), tothe town of Callinipaza 167½ (others 165), thence to the confluence of the riverJumna and the Ganges 625 (a great many add 13½), to the town of Patna 425, tothe mouth of the Ganges 637½. The races worth mentioning after leaving theHemodi Mountains (a projection of which is called the Imaus, which in thevernacular means 'snowy') are the Isari, Cosiri, Izi, and spread over the rangethe Chirotosagi and a number of tribes with the name of Bragmanae, among themthe Mactocalingae; the rivers are the Prinas and Cainnas, the latter a tributaryof the Ganges, both of them navigable; then the tribes of the Calingae nearestthe sea, and further inland the Mandaei, the Malli occupying Mount Malhis, andthe river Ganges, which is the boundary of this region.

XXII. The Ganges is said by some people to rise from unknown sources likethe Nile and to irrigate the neighbouring country in the same manner, but otherssay that its source is in the mountains of Scythia, and that it has nineteentributaries, among which the navigable ones besides those already mentioned arethe Crenacca, Rhamnumbova, Casuagus and Sonus. Others state that it bursts forthwith a loud roar at its very source, and after falling over crags and cliffs, assoon as it reaches fairly level country finds hospitality in a certain lake, andflows out of it in a gentle stream with a breadth of 5 miles where narrowest,and 14 miles as its average width, and nowhere less than 100 feet deep, the lastrace situated on its banks being that of the Gangarid Calingae: the city wheretheir king lives is called Pertalis. This monarch has 60,000 infantry, 1000cavalry and 700 elephants always equipped ready for active service. For thepeoples of the more civilised Indian races are divided into many classes intheir mode of life: they cultivate the land, others engage in military service,others export native merchandise and import goods from abroad, while the bestand wealthiest administer the government and serve as judges and as counsellorsof the kings. There is a fifth class of persons devoted to wisdom which is held in high honour with these people and almost elevated into areligion; those of this class always end their life by a voluntary death upon apyre to which they have previously themselves set light. There is one classbesides these, half-wild people devoted to the laborious taskfrom which theclasses above mentioned are kept awayof hunting and taming elephants; thesethey use for ploughing and for transport, these are their commonest kind ofcattle, and these they employ when fighting in battle and defending theircountry: elephants to use in war are chosen for their strength and age and size.There is a very spacious island in the Ganges containing a single race named the Modogalinga race. Beyond it are situated the Modubae, the Molindae, the Uberaewith a magnificent town of the same name, the Modressae, Praeti, Aclissae,Sasuri, Fassulae, Colebae, Orumcolae, Abali and Thalutae: the king of the lattertribe has an army of 50,000 infantry, 4000 cavalry and 4000 elephants. Next comethe Andarae, a more powerful tribe, with a great many villages andthirty towns fortified with walls and towers; they furnish their king with100,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry and 1000 elephants. The country of the Dardaeproduces gold in great quantity, and that of the Setae silver also. But almostthe whole of the peoples of India and not only those in this district aresurpassed in power and glory by the Prasi, with their very large and wealthycity of Patna, from which some people give the name of Palibothri to the raceitself, and indeed to the whole tract of country from the Ganges. Their kingmaintains and pays a standing army of 60,000 foot, 30,000 horse and 9000elephants, from which the vastness of his wealth may be conjectured. Further upcountry from these are the Monaedes and the Suari, in whose domain is MountMalens upon which shadows fall towards the north in winter and towards the southin summer, for periods of six months alternately. According toBaeton the constellation of the GreatBear is only visible in this region one time in the year, and only for a periodof a fortnight; and Megasthenes says that the same thing occurs in many otherplaces in India. The Indian name for their southern region is Diamasa. The riverJumna runs through the Palibothri country into the Ganges between the towns ofMuttra and Chrysobora. In the region to the south of the Ganges the tribes arebrowned by the heat of the sun to the extent of being coloured, though not asyet burnt black like the Ethiopians; the nearer they get to the Indus the morecolour they display. We come to the Indus immediately after leaving the Prasii,a tribe in whose mountain regions there is said to be a race of Pygmies.Artemidorus gives the distance from theGanges to the Indus as 2100 miles.

XXIII. The Indus, the native name for which is Sindus, rises onthe east side of a ridge of Mount Caucasus called Hindu Kush; in its course itreceives nineteen tributaries, the best known being the Jhelum which brings withit four other streams, the Cantaba which brings three, and the Chenab and theBeas, themselves navigable rivers. Owing however to a certain limitation in itssupply of water the Indus is nowhere more than 6¼ miles wide or 75 feet deep;and it forms an island of considerable size named Prasiane and another smallerone named Patale. The main river is navigable for a distance of 1240 milesaccording to the most moderate accounts, and it discharges into the ocean afterfollowing the sun course in some measure westward. I will give the measurementof the coastline to the mouth of the river by stages as I find it, althoughnone of the various reports of it agree with one another; from the mouth of theGanges to the Cape of the Calingae and the town of Dandaguda 625 miles, toTropina 1225 miles, to the Cape of Perimula, where is the most celebratedtrading-place of India, 750 miles, to the town of Patala on the island which wehave mentioned above, 620 miles.

Between the Indus and the Jumna are the mountaintribes of the Caesi, the forester Caetriboni, and then the Megallae (whose kingpossesses 500 elephants and an uncertain number of infantry and cavalry), theChrysei, the Parasangae and the Asmagi, whose district is infested by the wildtiger; they have an armed force of 30,000 foot, 300 elephants and 800 cavalry.They are bounded by the river Indus and surrounded by a ring of mountains and bydeserts. Below the deserts at a distance of 625 miles are the Dan and Surae, andthen desert again for a distance of 187 miles, these places for the most partbeing surrounded by sands exactly as islands are surrounded by the sea. Belowthese deserts are the Maltaecorae, Singae, Moroae, Rarungae and Moruni. Thesepeoples are the inhabitants of the mountains that stretch in a continuous rangeon the coast of the ocean; they are free people having no kings, and they occupythe mountain slopes with a number of cities. Next come the Nareae, who are shutin by the Capitalia range, the highest of the mountains of India. Theinhabitants of the other side of this mountain work a wide range of gold andsilver mines. Next to these come the Oratae, whose king has only ten elephantsbut a large force of infantry, the Suaratarataethese also though ruled by aking do not keep elephants but rely on cavalry and infantrythe Odonbaeoraes andthe Arabastrae, whose fine city Thorax is guarded .by marshy canals whichcrocodiles, creatures with an insatiable appetite for human flesh, renderimpassable save by way of a bridge. Another town in their country is also highlyspoken of, Automula, which is situated on the coast at the point of confluenceof five rivers, and has a celebrated market; their king possesses 1600elephants, 150,000 foot and 5000 horse. The king of the Charmae is not sowealthy, having 60 elephants and small forces of the other kinds. The race nextto these is that of the Pandae, the only people in India ruled by queens. Theysay that only one child of the female sex was born to Hercules, and that she wasin consequence his favourite and he bestowed on her a specially large kingdom.The queens deriving their descent from her rule aver 300 towns, and have an armyof 150,000 foot and 500 elephants. After this list of 300 cities we have theDerangae, Posingae, Butae, Gogaraei, Umbrae, Nereae, Brangosi, Nobundae,Cocondae, Nesei, Palatitae, Salobriasae and Orostrae, the last people beingadjacent to the island of Patala, the distance from the extreme point of whichto the Caspian Gates is given as 1925 miles.

From this point onward the tribes dwelling on theIndusour enumeration proceeding up streamare the Mathoae, Bolingae,Gallitalutae, Dimuri, Megan, Ardabae, Mesae, Abi, Sun and Silae; then 250 milesof desert; and after traversing that, the Organagae, Abortae and Bassuertae; andnext to these an uninhabited stretch equal in extent to the preceding one. Thenthe Sorofages, Arbae and Marogomatrae; the Umbnitae and Ceae comprising twelvetribes and each race possessing two cities; the Asini inhabiting three cities,their chief place being Oxhead, founded to be the burial-place of KingAlexander's charger bearing that name.Mountain tribes above these under the Hindu Kush range are the Sosaeadae andSondrae; and crossing the Indus and following it downstream we come to the Samarabiae, Sarnbraceni, Bisambritae, Orsi and Andiseni, and the Taxilae withtheir famous city. Then the region slopes down to level ground, the whole havingthe name of Amenda; and there are four tribes, the Peucolitae, Arsagalitae,Geretae and Assoi; indeed, most authorities do not put the western frontier atthe river Indus but include four satrapies, the Gedjrosi, Arachotae, Arii andParopanisidae, with the river Kabul as the final boundarythe whole of whichregion others consider to belong to the Arii. Moreover most people also assignto India the city of Nisa and Mount Merus which is sacred to Father Liber (thisbeing the place from which originated the myth of the birth of Liber from thethigh of Jove), and the same as to the Aspagani tribe, a district producing thevine, the bay and the box and all the kinds of fruit indigenous to Greece.Remarkable and almost fabulous reports as to fertility of soil and variety ofcrops and trees or wild animals and birds and other living creatures will berecorded in their several places in the remainder of the work, and the foursatrapies will be described a little below, as at present our mind hastens on tothe island of Ceylon.

But before Ceylon come some other islands: Patale,which we have indicated as situated at the very mouth of the Indus, an island oftriangular shape, 220 miles in breadth; and outside the mouth of the IndusChryse and Argyre, both of which I believe to be rich in mineralsfor I find ithard to believe the statement of some writers that they only have gold andsilver mines. Twenty miles beyond these is Crocala, and 12 miles further Bibaga,which is full of oysters and other shell-fish, and then Coralliba 8 miles beyondthe above-mentioned island, and many of no note.

XXIV. Ceylon, under the name of the Land of the Counterlanders,was long considered to be another world; but the epoch and the achievements ofAlexander the Great supplied clear proofof its being an island. Onesicritus, a commander ofAlexander's navy, writes that elephantsare bred there of larger size and more warlike spirit than in India; andMegasthenes says that it is cut in twoby a river, that the inhabitants have the name of Aborigines, and that theyproduce more gold and large pearls than the Indians.Eratosthenes further gives thedimensions of the island as 875 miles in length and 625 miles in breadth, andsays that it contains no cities, but 700 villages. Beginning at the eastern seait stretches along the side of India from east to west; and it was formerlybelieved to be a distance of 20 days' sail from the nation of the Prasii, but atlater times, inasmuch as the voyage to it used to be made with vesselsconstructed of reeds and with the rigging used on the Nile, its distance wasfixed with reference to the speeds made by our ships as seven days' sail. Thesea between the island and the mainland is shallow, not more than 18 feet deep,but in certain channels so deep that no anchors hold the bottom: for this reasonships are used that have bows at each end, so as to avoid the necessity ofcoming about while negotiating the narrows of the channel; the tonnage of thesevessels is as much as three thousand barrels.a The Cingalese take noobservations of the stars in navigationindeed, the Great Bear is not visible;but they carry birds on board with them and at fairly frequent intervals setthem free, and follow the course they take as they make for the land. They onlyuse four months in the year for voyages, and they particularly avoid the hundreddays following midsummer, when those seas are stormy.

So far the facts stated have been recorded by the early writers. We however haveobtained more accurate information during the principate ofClaudius, when an embassy actually cameto Rome from the island of Ceylon. The circumstances were as follows:Annius Plocamus had obtained a contractfrom the Treasury to collect the taxes from the Red Sea; a freedman of his whilesailing round Arabia was carried by gales from the north beyond the coast ofCarmania, and after a fortnight made the harbour of Hippuri in Ceylon, where hewas entertained with kindly hospitality by the king, and in a period of sixmonths acquired a thorough knowledge of the language; and afterwards in reply tothe king's enquiries he gave him an account of the Romans and their emperor. Theking among all that he heard was remarkably struck with admiration for Romanhonesty, on the ground that among the money found on the captive the denariiwere all equal in weight, although the various figures on them showed that theyhad been coined by several emperors. This strongly attracted his friendship, andhe sent four envoys, the chief of whom was Rachias. From them we learnt thefollowing facts about Ceylon: it contains 500 towns, and a harbour facing south,adjacent to the town of Palaesimundus, which is the most famous of all theplaces in the island and a royal residence, with a population of 200,000. Inland(we were told) there is a marsh named Megisba measuring 375 miles round andcontaining islands that only produce pasturage; and out of this marsh flow tworivers, Pahesirnundus running through three channels into the harbour near thetown that bears the same name as the river, and measuring over half a mile inbreadth at the narrowest point and nearly two miles at the widest, and theother, named Cydara, flowing north in the direction of India. The nearest capein India (according to our informants) is the one called Cape Comorin, at adistance of four days' sail, passing in the middle of the voyage the Island ofthe Sun; and the sea there is of a deep green colour, and also has thickets oftrees growing in it, the tops of which are brushed by the rudders of passingvessels. The envoys marvelled at the new aspect of the heavens visible in ourcountry, with the Great and Little Bear and the Pleiades, and they told us thatin their own country even the moon only appears above the horizon from the 8thto the 18th day of the month, and that Canopus, a large and brilliant star,lights them by night. But what surprised them most was that their shadows felltowards our sky and not towards theirs, and that the sun rose on the left-handside of the observer and set towards the right instead of vice versa.They also told us that the side of their island facing towards India is 1250miles long and lies south-east of India; that beyond the Himalayas they alsoface towards the country of the Chinese, who are known to them by intercourse intrade as well, the father of Rachia having travelled there, and that when theyarrived there the Chinese always hastened down to the beach to meet them. Thatpeople themselves (they told us) are of more than normal height, and have flaxenhair and blue eyes, and they speak in harsh tones and use no language in dealingwith travellers. The remainder of the envoys' account agreed with the reports ofour tradersthat commodities were deposited on the opposite bank of a river bythe side of the goods offered for sale by the natives, and they took them awayif satisfied by the barterhatred of luxury being in no circumstances morejustifiable than if the imagination travels to the Far East and reflects what isprocured from there and what means of trade are employed and for what purpose.

But even Ceylon, although banished by Nature beyond the confines of the world,is not without the vices that belong to us: gold and silver are valuedthere also, and a kind of marble resembling tortoiseshell and pearls andprecious stones are held in honour; in fact the whole mass of luxury is therecarried to a far higher pitch than ours. They told us that there was greaterwealth in their own country than in ours, but that we made more use of ourriches: with them nobody kept a slave, everybody got up at sunrise and nobodytook a siesta in the middle of the day; their buildings were of only moderateheight; the price of corn was never inflated; there were no law-courts and nolitigation; the deity worshipped was Hercules; the king was elected by thepeople on the grounds of age and gentleness of disposition, and as having nochildren, and if he afterwards had a child, he was deposed, to prevent themonarchy from becoming hereditary. Thirty Governors, they told us, were assignedto the king by the people, and capital punishment could only be inflicted by avote of a majority of these; and even then there was a right of appeal to thepeople, and a jury of seventy members was appointed to try the case, and ifthese acquitted the accused the thirty Governors were no more held in anyesteem, being utterly disgraced. The king's costume was of Father Liber, and theother people wore Arabian dress. If the king committed a delinquency he waspunished by being condemned to death, though nobody executed the sentence, butthe whole of the people turned their backs on him and refused to have anycommunication with him or even to speak to him. Holidays, they told us, werespent in hunting, tiger hunts and elephant hunts being always the most popular.Agriculture was industriously practised, but the vine was not grown, althoughorchard fruit was abundant. They were also fond of fishing, especially forturtle, the shells of which were used as roofs for family dwellingsthey werefound of so large a size. They looked upon a hundred years as a moderate span oflife.

XXV. The following is the arrangement of the four satrapies whichwe deferred to this place in our account. After leaving the races nearest toIndia, you come to the mountain districts. That of Capisene formerly had a citynamed Capisa, which was destroyed by Cyrus; next Arachosia, with a riverand town of the same namethe town, which was founded bySemiramis, being called by some writersCulls; then the river Erymandus, flowing past the Arachosian town of Parabeste.Next to the Arachosii writers place the Dexendrusi on the south side, adjoininga section of the Arachotae, and the Paropanisadae on the north; and beneath theHindu Kush the town of Cartana, later called Tetragonis. This region is oppositeto Bactria, and then comes the region of the Ariani, whose town is calledAlexandria after its founder; the Syndraci, Dangalae, Parapinae, Cataces andMazi; near the Hindu Kush the Cadrusi, whose town was founded byAlexander. Below these places the wholecountry is more level. In the direction of the Indus is the Arian region, whichis scorched by glowing heat and encircled by deserts, yet extending in thedistrict between them with plenty of shade, it is occupied by numerous farmers,settled especially on the banks of two rivers, the Tonberos and the Arosapes.There is a town, Artacoana, and a river, Anus, which flows past Alexandria, atown founded byAlexander which coversan area of nearly four miles; and the much more beautiful as well as older townof Artacabene, the fortifications of which were renewed byAntiochus, covers an area of 6¼ miles.Then the Dorisdorsigi tribe; the rivers Pharnacotis and Ophradus; Prophthasia;the town of Zaraspadum, the Drangae, Euergetae, Zarangae and Gedrusi; the townsof Peucolis, Lyphorta and Methorcum; a space of desert; the river Manain, theAcutri tribe, the river Loins, the Orbi tribe, the navigable river Pomanus atthe frontier of the Pandae and the Cabirus at that of the Suari, forming a goodharbour at its mouth; the town of Condigramma and the river Kabul. Navigabletributaries of the Kabul are the Saddaros, Parospus and Sodamus. Some hold thatDaritis is part of Ariana, and they give the dimensions of both aslength 1950miles, breadth one half that of India. Others place the Gedrusi and Sires ascovering an area of 138 miles, and then the Fish-eating Oritae, who do notspeak the Indian language but have one of their own, covering a space of 200miles. (Alexander made an orderforbidding a fish diet to all the Fish-eaters.) Next they put the race of theArbii, covering 200 miles. Beyond them there is a region of desert, and thencome Carmania, Farsistan and Arabia.

XXVI. But before we go on to a detailed account of these countries, itis suitable to indicate the facts reported by Onesicritus after sailing with the fleet ofAlexander round from India to theinterior of Farsistan, and quite recently related in detail byJuba, and then to state the sea-routethat has been ascertained in recent times and is followed at the present day.

The record of the voyage ofOnesicritusandNearchus does not include the namesof the official stopping places nor the distances travelled; and to begin with,no sufficiently clear account is given of the position of the city ofTimbertown, founded byAlexander, whichwas their starting point, nor is the river on which it stood indicated.Nevertheless they give the following places worth mentioning: the town of Arbis,founded byNearchus during his voyage,and the river Arbium, navigable by ships, and an island opposite to Arbis, 8¾miles distant; Alexandria, founded in the territory of this race byLeonnatus at the order ofAlexander; Argenus, with a serviceableharbour; the navigable river Tonberum, in the neighbourhood of which are theParirae; then the Fish-eaters, covering so wide a space of coast that it took 30days to sail past them; the island a called the Isle of the Sun and also theCouch of the Nymphs, the soil of which is red in colour, and on which allanimals without exception die, from causes not ascertained; the On tribe; .theCarmanian river Hyctanis, affording harbourage and producing gold. Thetravellers noted that it was here that the Great and Little Bear first becamevisible, and that Arcturus is not visible at all on some nights and never allnight long; that the rule of the Persian kings extended to this point; and thatcopper, iron, arsenic and red-lead are mined here. Next there is the Cape ofCarmania, from which it is a passage of five miles to cross to the Arabian tribeof the Macae on the opposite coast; three islands, of which only Oracta, 25miles from the mainland, has a supply of fresh water and is inhabited; fourislands quite in the gulf, off the coast of Farsistanin the neighbourhood ofthese the fleet was terrified by sea-serpents 30 ft. long that swam alongsidethe island of Aradus and that of Gauratae, both inhabited by the Gyani tribe; atthe middle of the Persian Gulf the river Hyperis, navigable for merchantvessels; the river Sitioganus, up which it is seven days' voyage to Pasargadae;the navigable river Phrystimus; and an island that has no name. The riverGranis, carrying vessels of moderate size, flows through Susiane, and on itsright bank dwell the Dedmontani, who manufacture asphalt; the river Zarotis, themouth of which is difficult to navigate except for those familiar with it; andtwo small islands. Then comes a shallow stretch of water like a marsh whichnevertheless is navigable by way of certain channels; the mouth of theEuphrates; a lake formed in the neighbourhood of Charax by the Eulaeus and theTigris; then by the Tigris they reached Susa. There after three months' voyagingthey foundAlexander celebrating afestival; it was seven months since he had left them at Patala. Such was theroute followed by the fleet ofAlexander;but subsequently it was thought that the safest line is to start from Ras Fartakin Arabia with a west wind (the native name for which in those parts isHippalus) and make for Patale, the distance being reckoned as 1332 miles.The following period considered it a shorter and safer route to start from thesame cape and steer for the Indian harbour of Sigerus, and for a long time thiswas the course followed, until a merchant discovered a shorter route, and thedesire for gain brought India nearer; indeed, the voyage is made every year,with companies of archers on board, because these seas used to be very greatlyinfested by pirates.

And it will not be amiss to set out the whole of the voyage from Egypt, now thatreliable knowledge of it is for the first time accessible. It is an importantsubject, in view of the fact that in no year does India absorb less than fiftymillion sesterces of our empire's wealth, sending back merchandise to be soldwith us at a hundred times its prime cost. Two miles from Alexandria is the townof Juliopolis. The voyage up the Nile from there to Keft is 309 miles, and takes12 days when the midsummer trade-winds are blowing. From Keft the journey ismade with camels, stations being placed at intervals for the purpose ofwatering; the first, a stage of 22 miles, is called Hydreuma; the secondis in the mountains, a day's journey on; the third at a second place namedHydreuma, 85 miles from Keft; the next is in the mountains; next we come toApollo's Hydreuma, 184 miles from Keft; again a station in the mountains;then we get to New Hydreuma, 230 miles from Keft. There is also another oldHydreuma known by the name of Trogodyticum, where a guard is stationed onoutpost duty at a caravanserai accommodating two thousand travellers; it isseven miles from New Hydreuma. Then comes the town of Berenice, where there is aharbour on the Red Sea, 257 miles from Keft. But as the greater part of thejourney is done by night because of the heat and the days are spent at stations,the whole journey from Keft to Berenice takes twelve days. Travelling by seabegins at midsummer before the dog-star rises or immediately after its rising,and it takes about thirty days to reach the Arabian port of Cella or Cane in thefrankincense-producing district. There is also a third port named Mokha, whichis riot called at on the voyage to India, and is only used by merchants tradingin frankincense and Arabian perfumes. Inland there is a town, the residence ofthe king of the district, called Sapphar, and another called Save. But the mostadvantageous way of sailing to India is to set out from Celia; from that port itis a 40 days' voyage, if the Hippalus is blowing, to the first trading-stationin India, Cranganorenot a desirable port of call, on account of theneighbouring pirates, who occupy a place called Nitriae, nor is it speciallyrich in articles of merchandise; and furthermore the roadstead for shipping isa long way from the land, and cargoes have to be brought in and carried out inboats. The king of Muziris, at the date of publication, wasCaelobothras. There is another moreserviceable port, belonging to the Neacyndi tribe, called Porakad; this is wherekingPandion reigned, his capital beinga town in the interior a long way from the port, called Madura; while thedistrict from which pepper is conveyed to Becare in canoes made of hollowedtree-trunks is called Cottonara. But all these names of tribes and ports ortowns are to be found in none of the previous writers, which seems to show thatthe local conditions of the places are changing. Travellers set sail from Indiaon the return voyage at the beginning of the Egyptian month Tybis, which is ourDecember, or at all events before the sixth day of the Egyptian Mechir, whichworks out at before January 13 in our calendarso making it possible to returnhome in the same year. They set sail from India with a southeast wind, andafter entering the Red Sea, continue the voyage with a south-west or south wind.

XXVII.Nearchus writes that thelength of the coast of Carmania is 1250 miles, and the distance from itsbeginning to the river Sabis 100 miles; and that from that river to the riverAnanis, a space of 25 miles, there are vineyards and arable land. The districtis called Armysia; and towns of Carmania are Zetis and Alexandria.

XXVIII. Moreover in this region the seathen makes a double inroad into the land; the name given to it by our countrymenis the Red Sea, while the Greeks call it Erythrum, from KingErythras, or, according to others, inthe belief that the water is given a red colour by the reflexion of the sun,while others say that the name comes from the sand and the soil, and others thatit is due to the actual water being naturally of such a character. However, thissea is divided into two bays. The one to the east. is called the Persian Gulf,and according to the report ofEratosthenesmeasures 2500 miles round. Opposite is Arabia, with a coastline 1500 miles inlength, and on its other side Arabia is encompassed by the second bay, named theArabian Gulf; the ocean flowing into this is called the Azaman Sea. The width ofthe Persian Gulf at its entrance some make five and others four miles; thedistance in a straight line from the entrance to the innermost part of the Gulfhas been ascertained to be nearly 1125 miles, and its outline has been found tobe in the likeness of a human head. Onesicritus and Nearchus write that from theriver Indus to the Persian Gulf and from there to Babylon by the marshes of theEuphrates is a voyage of 1700 miles. In an angle of Carmania are theTurtle-eaters, who roof their houses with the shells and live on the flesh ofturtles. These people inhabit the promontory that is reached next after leavingthe river Arabis. They are covered all over, except their heads, with shaggyhair, and they wear clothes made of the skins of fishes. After the districtbelonging to these people, in the direction of India there is said to be anuninhabited island, Cascandrus, 50 miles out at sea, and next to it, with, astrait flowing between, Stoidis, with a valuable pearl-fishery. After thepromontory the Carmanians are adjoined by the Harmozaei, though some authoritiesplace the Arbii between them, stretching all along the coast for 421 miles. Hereare the Port of the Macedonians and the Altars of Alexander situated on apromontory; the rivers are Siccanas and then the Dratinus and the Salsum. Afterthe Salsum is Cape Themisteas, and the inhabited island of Aphrodisias. Here isthe beginning of Farsistan, at the river Tab, which separates Farsistan fromElymais. Off the coast of Farsistan lie the islands of Psilos, Cassandra andAracha, the last with an extremely lofty mountain, and consecrated to Neptune. Farsistan itself occupies 550 miles of coast, facing west. It is wealthy even tothe point of luxury. It has long ago changed its name to Parthia.

XXIX. The Parthi possess in all eighteenkingdoms, such being the divisions of their provinces on the coasts of two seas,as we have stated, the Red Sea on the south and the Caspian Sea on the north. Ofthese provinces the eleven designated the Upper Kingdoms begin at the frontiersof Armenia and the shores of the Caspian, and extend to the Scythians, with whomthe Parthiars live on terms of equality. The remaining seven kingdoms are calledthe Lower Kingdoms. So far as the Parthi are concerned, there has always been acountry named Parthyaea at the foot of the mountain range, already mentionedmore than once, which forms the boundary of all these races. To the east ofParthyaea are the Arii, to the south Carmania and the Ariani, to the west thePratitae, a Median race, and to the north the Hyrcani; and it is surrounded onall sides by desert. The more remote Parthians are called the Nomads. Short ofthe desert on the west side are the Parthian cities mentioned above, Issatis andCalliope; north-east is Pyropum, south-east Maria, and in the middleHecatompylos, Arsace, and the fine district of Parthyene, Nisiaea, containingthe city named Alexandropolis after its founder.

At this point it is necessary also to indicate thegeographical position of the Medes, and to trace the formation of the countryround to the Persian Sea, in order that the rest of the account that follows maybe more easily understood. Media lies crosswise on the west side, meetingParthia at an angle, and so shutting off both groups of Parthian kingdoms.Consequently it has the Caspian and Parthian people on its east side, Sittacene,Susiane and Farsistan on the south, Adiabene on the west, and Armenia on thenorth. The Persians have always lived on the shore of the Red Sea, which is thereason why it is called the Persian Gulf. The coastal region there is calledCyropolis, but the Greek name of the place where it runs up towards the Medes isthe Great Staircase, from a steep gorge ascending the mountain by stages, with anarrow entrance, leading to the former capital of the kingdom, Persepolis, whichwas destroyed byAlexander. Right on thefrontier the region also possesses the city of Laodicea, founded byAntiochus. To the east of Laodicea isthe fortress of Phrasargis, occupied by the Magi, which contains the tomb ofCyrus; and another place belonging to the Magi is the town of Ecbatana whichKingDarius transferred to themountains. Between the Parthi and the Ariani projects the territory of theParaetaceni. The Lower Kingdoms are enclosed by these races and by the Euphrates; of the remaining kingdoms we shall speak after describing Mesopotamia, with the exception of the point of that country and the Arabian peoples mentioned in the preceding volume.

XXX. The whole of Mesopotamia once belonged to the Assyrians, andthe population was scattered in villages, with the exception of Babylon andNineveh. The Macedonians collected its population into cities, because of thefertility of the soil. Besides the cities already mentioned it has the towns of Seleucia, Laodicea and Artemita; and also, in the territory of the Arabian tribecalled the Orroei and Mandani, Antioch, which was founded byNicanor when Governor of Mesopotamia,and which is called Arabian Antioch. Adjoining these, in the interior, are theArabian tribe of the Eldamari, above whom on the river Pallaconta is the town ofBuura, and the Arabian Salmani and Masei; but adjoining the Guxdiaei are theAzoni, through whose country flows the Zerbis, a tributary of the Tigris, andadjoining the Azoni the mountain tribe of the Silices and the Orontes; west ofwhom is the town of Gaugamela, and also Suae on a cliff. Above the Silices arethe Sitrae, through whom flows the Lycus from its source in Armenia, andsouth-east of the Sitrae the town of Azochis, and then in level country thetowns of Zeus's Spring, Polytelia, Stratonicea and Anthemus. In theneighbourhood of the Euphrates is Nicephorion, mentioned above; it was foundedby order ofAlexander because of theconvenience of the site. We have also mentioned Apamea opposite Bridgetown;travelling eastward from which one comes to the fortified town of Caphrena,which formerly measured 8¾ miles in extent and was called the Court of theSatraps, being a centre for the collection of tribute, but which has now beenreduced to a fortress. Thebata remains in the same condition as it was formerly,and so does the place which marked the limit of the Roman Empire under theleadership of Pompey, Oruros, 250 miles from Bridgetown. Some writers recordthat the Euphrates was diverted into an artificial channel by the governorGobares at the place where we have stated that it divides, in order toprevent the violence of its current from threatening damage to the district ofBabylonia; and that its name among the whole of the Assyrians is Narmalchas,which means the Royal River. At the point where the channel divides there wasonce a very large town named Agranis, which was destroyed by the Persians.

Babylon, which is the capital of the Chaldaean races, long held an outstandingcelebrity among the cities in the whole of the world, and in consequence of thisthe remaining part of Mesopotamia and Assyria has received the name ofBabylonia. It has two walls with a circuit of 60 miles, each wall being 200 ft.high and 50 ft. wide (the Assyrian foot measures 3 inches more than ours). TheEuphrates flows through the city, with marvellous embankments on either side.The temple of Jupiter Belus in Babylon is still standingBeluswas the discoverer of the science of astronomy; but in all other respects theplace has gone back to a desert, having been drained of its population by theproximity of Seleucia, founded for that purpose by Nicator not quite 90 milesaway, at the point where the canalised Euphrates joins the Tigris. However,Seleucia is still described as being in the territory of Babylon, although atthe present day it is a free and independent city and retains the Macedomanmanners. It is said that the population of the city numbers 600,000; that theplan of the walls resembles the shape of an eagle spreading its wings; and thatits territory is the most fertile in the whole of the east. For the purpose ofdrawing away the population of Seleucia in its turn, the Parthians foundedCtesiphon, which is about three miles from Seleucia in the Chalonitis district,and is now the capital of the kingdoms of Parthia. And after it was found thatthe intended purpose was not being achieved, another town was recently foundedin the neighbourhood by King Vologesus, named Vologesocerta. There are inaddition the following towns in Mesopotamia: Hipparenithis also a school of Chaldaean learning like Babylonsituated on a tributary of the river Narraga,from which the city-state takes its name (the walls of Hippareni were demolishedby the Persians); also Orcheni, a third seat of Chaldaean learning, is situatedin the same neighbourhood towards the south; and next Notitae andOrothophanitae and Gnesiochartae.

Nearchus andOnesicritus report that the Euphrates isnavigable from the Persian Sea to Babylon, a distance of 412 miles; butsubsequent writers say it is navigable up to Seleucia, 440 miles, andJuba from Babylon as far as Charax, 175½miles. Some report that it continues to flow in a single channel for a distanceof 87 miles beyond Babylon before it is diverted into irrigation-channels, andthat its entire course is 1200 miles long. This discrepancy of measurement isdue to the variety of authors that have dealt with the matter, as even among thePersians different writers give different measurements for the length of the sochoenus and the parasang. Where it ceases to afford protection byits channel, as it does when its course approaches the boundary of Charax, itimmediately begins to be infested by the Attali, an Arabian tribe of brigands,beyond whom are the Scenitae. But the winding course of the Euphrates isoccupied by the Nomads of Arabia right on to the desert of Syria, where, as wehave stated, the river makes a bend to the south, quitting the uninhabiteddistricts of Palmyra. The distance of Seleucia from the beginning ofMesopotamia is a voyage by the Euphrates of 1125 miles; its distance from theRed Sea, if the voyage by made by the Tigris, is 320 miles, and from Bridgetown724 miles. Bridgetown is 175 miles from Seleucia on the Mediterranean coast ofSyria. This gives the breadth of the country lying between the Mediterraneanand the Red Sea. The extent of the kingdom of Parthia is 918 miles.

XXXI. Moreover there is a town belonging to Mesopotamia on thebank of the Tigris near its confluence with the Euphrates, the name of which is Digba. But some statement about the Tigris itself may also be suitable here. Thesource of the Tigris is in a region of Greater Armenia, and is clearly visible,being on level ground; the name of the place is Elegosine, and the stream itselfin its comparatively sluggish part is named Diglitus, but where its flow accelerates, it begins to be called the Tigris, owing to its swiftnesstigrisis the Persian word for anarrow. It flows into Lake Aretissa, heavy objectsthrown into which always float on the surface, and which gives off nitrousvapours. The lake contains a single species of fish, which never enters thecurrent of the Tigris flowing through the lake, as likewise the fish of theriver do not swim out of its stream into the water of the lake; but the rivertravels on in a distinct course and with a different colour, and when aftertraversing the lake it comes against Mount Taurus, it plunges into a cave,glides underground, and bursts out again on the other side of the mountain. Thename of the place where it emerges is Zoaranda; and the identity of the streamis proved by the fact that objects thrown into it are carried through thetunnel. Then it crosses a second lake called Thespites, and again burrows intounderground passages, re-emerging 22 miles further on in the neighbourhood ofNymphaeum. According toClaudius Caesar,the course of the Tigris in the Archene district is so close to that of theArsanias that when they are in flood they flow together, although withoutintermingling their waters; that of the Arsanias being of less specific gravityfloats on the surface for a distance of nearly four miles, after which the tworivers separate, and the Arsanias discharges into the Euphrates. The Tigrishowever after receiving as tributaries from Armenia those notable rivers theParthenias and Nicephorion, makes a frontier between the Arab tribes of theOrroei and Adiabeni and forms the region of Mesopotamia mentioned above; it thentraverses the mountains of the Gurdiaei, flowing round Apamea, a town belongingto Mesene, and 125 miles short of Babylonian Seleucia splits into two channels,one of which flows south and reaches Seleucia, watering Mesene on the way, whilethe other bends northward and passing behind the same people cuts through theplains of Cauchae; when the two streams have reunited, the river is calledPasitigris. Afterwards it is joined by the Kerkhah from Media, and, as we havesaid, after flowing between Seleucia and Ctesiphon empties itself into theChaldaean Lakes, and broadens them out to a width of 62 miles. Then it flows outof the Lakes in a vast channel and passing on the right-hand side of the town ofCharax discharges into the Persian Sea, the mouth of the river being 10 mileswide. The mouths of the two rivers used to be 25 miles apart, or as othersrecord 7 miles, and both were navigable; but a long time ago the Euphrates wasdammed by the Orcheni and other neighbouring tribes in order to irrigate theirlands, and its water is only discharged into the sea by way of the Tigris.

The country adjacent to the Tigris is called Parapotamia. It contains thedistrict of Mesene, mentioned above; a town in this is Dabitha, and adjoining itis Chalonitis, with the town of Ctesiphon, a wooded district containing not onlypalm groves but also olives and orchards. Mount Zagrus extends as far asChalonitis from Armenia, coming between the Medes and the Adiabeni aboveParaetacene and Farsistan. The distance of Chalonitis from Farsistan is 380miles, and some persons say that by the shortest route it is the same distancefrom the Caspian Sea and from Syria. Between these races and Mesene isSittacene, which is also called Arbelitis and Palaestine. Its town of Sittace isof Greek origin, and also to the east of this is Sabdata and to the westAntiochia, which lies between the two rivers, Tigris and Tomadotus, and alsoApamea, which Antiochus named after his mother; this town is surrounded by theTigris, and the Archous intersects it. Below is Susiane, in which is situatedSusa, the ancient capital of the Persian monarchy, founded by Darius son ofHystaspes. Babylonia is 450 miles from Seleucia, and the same distance fromEcbatana of the Medes, by way of Mount Carbantus. On the northern channel of theTigris is the town of Barbitace, which is 135 miles from Susa. Here are the onlypeople among mankind who have a hatred for gold, which they collect together andbury, to prevent anyone from using it. Adjoining the Susiani on the eastare the brigand Oxii and the forty in dependent and savage tribes of the Mizaei.Above these and subject to the Parthians are the Mardi and Saitae stretchingabove Blymais, which we described as adjacent to Farsistan on the coast. Thedistance of Susa from the Persian Gulf is 250 miles. Near where the fleet ofAlexander came up the Pasitigris to the city of Susa is a village on theChaldaic lake called Aple, the distance of which from Susa is a voyage of 62½miles. The nearest people to the Susiani on the east side are the Cossiaei, andbeyond the Cossiaei to the north is Massabatene, lying below Mount Cambalidus,which is a spur of the Caucasus range; from this point is the easiest routeacross to the country of the Bactri.

The territory of Susa is separated from Elymais Swsa by the river Karún, whichrises in the country of the Medes, and after running for a moderate distanceunderground, comes to the surface again and flows through Massabatene. It passesround the citadel of Susa and the temple of Diana, which is regarded with thegreatest reverence by the races in those parts; and the river itself is held ingreat veneration, inasmuch as the kings drink water drawn from it only, andconsequently have it conveyed to places a long distance away. Tributaries of theKarún are the Hedyphos, which flows past the Persian town of Asylum, and theAduna coming from the territory of the Susiani. On the Karún lies the town ofMagoa, 15 miles from Charaxthough some people locate Magoa at the extreme edgeof the territory of Susa, close to the desert. Below the Kardu on the coast isElymais, which marches with Farsistan and extends from the river Oratis to theCharax, a distance of 240 miles; its towns are Seleucia and Sostrate, situatedon the flank of Mount Chasirus. The coast lying in front, as we have statedabove, is rendered inaccessible by mud, like the Lesser Syrtes, as the riversBrixa and Ortacia bring down a quantity of sediment, and the Elymais district isitself so marshy that it is only possible to reach Farsistan by making a longdetour round it. It is also infested with snakes carried down by the streams. Aparticularly inaccessible part of it is called Characene, from Charax, a town ofArabia that marks the frontier of these kingdoms; about this town we will nowspeak, after first stating the opinion ofMarcus Agrippa. According to his account the countries of Media, Parthiaand Farsistan are bounded on the east by the Indus, on the west by the Tigris,on the north by the Taurus and Caucasus mountains, and on the south by the RedSea, and cover an area 1320 miles in length and 840 miles in breadth; he addsthat the area of Mesopotamia by itself, bounded by the Tigris on the east, theEuphrates on the west, Mount Taurus on the north and the Persian Sea on thesouth, is 800 miles in length by 360 miles in breadth.

The town of Charax is situated in the innermost recess of the Persian Gulf, fromwhich projects the country called Arabia Felix. It stands on an artificialelevation between the Tigris on the right and the Karún on the left, at thepoint where these two rivers unite, and the site measures two miles in breadth.The original town was founded byAlexander theGreat with settlers brought from the royal city of Durine, which was thendestroyed, and with the invalided soldiers from his army who were left there. Hehad given orders that it was to be called Alexandria, and a borough which he hadassigned specially to the Macedonians was to be named Pellaeum, after the placewhere he was born. The original town was destroyed by the rivers, but it wasafterwards restored byAntiochus, thefifth king of Syria, who gave it his own name; and when it had been againdamaged it was restored and named after himself bySpaosines son ofSagdodonacus, king of the neighbouringArabs, who is wrongly stated byJuba tohave been a satrap ofAntiochus; heconstructed embankments for the protection of the town, and raised the level ofthe adjacent ground over a space of six miles in length and a little less inbreadth. It was origin ally at a distance of 1¼ miles from the coast, and had aharbour of its own, but whenJubapublished his work it was 50 miles inland; its present distance from the coastis stated by Arab envoys and our own traders who have come from the place to be120 miles. There is no part of the world where earth carried down by rivers hasencroached on the sea further or more rapidly; and what is more surprising isthat the deposits have not been driven back by the tide, as it approaches farbeyond this point.

It has not escaped my notice that Charax was the birthplace ofDionysius, the most recent writerdealing with the geography of the world, who was sent in advance to the East byhis late majestyAugustus to write afull account of it when the emperor's elder son was about to proceed to Armeniato take command against the Parthians and Arabians; nor have I forgotten theview stated at the beginning of my work that each author appears to be mostaccurate in describing his own country; in this section however my intention isto be guided by the Roman armies and by KingJuba, in his volumes dedicated to the above-mentionedGaius Caesar describing the sameexpedition to Arabia.

XXXII. In regard to the extent of its territory Arabia is inferior to norace in the world; its longest dimension is, as we have said, the slopedown from Mount Amanus in the direction of Cilicia and Commagene, many of theArabian races having been brought to that country byTigranes the Great, while others havemigrated of their own accord to the Mediterranean and the Egyptian coast, as wehave explained, and also the Nubei penetrating to the middle of Syria as far asMount Lebanon adjoining whom are the Ramisi and then the Teranei and then thePatami. Arabia itself however is a peninsula projecting between two seas, theRed Sea and the Persian Gulf, some device of nature having surrounded it by seawith a conformation and an area resembling Italy, and also with exactly the sameorientation, so that it also has the advantage of that geographical position. Wehave stated the peoples that inhabit it from the Mediterranean to the deserts ofPalmyra, and we will now recount the remainder of them from that point onward.

Bordering on the Nomads and the tribes that harrythe territories of the Chaldaeans are, as we have said, the Scenitae, themselvesalso a wandering people, but taking their name from their tents made ofgoat's-hair cloth, which they pitch wherever they fancy. Next are the Nabataeansinhabiting a town named Petra; it lies in a deep valley a little less than twomiles wide, and is surrounded by inaccessible mountains with a river flowingbetween them. Its distance from the town of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast is600 miles, and from the Persian Gulf 635 miles. At Petra two roads meet, oneleading from Syria to Palmyra, and the other coming from Gaza. After Petra thecountry as far as Charax was inhabited by the Omani, with the once famous townsof Abaesamis and Soractia, founded bySemiramis;but now it is a desert. Then there is a town on the bank of the Pasitigris namedForat, subject to the King of the Characeni; this is resorted to by people fromPetra, who make the journey from there to Charax, a distance of 12 miles bywater, using the tide. But those travelling by water from the kingdom of Parthiacome to the village of Teredon below the confluence of the Euphrates and theTigris; the teft bank of the river is occupied by the Chaldaeans and the rightbank by the Scenitae tribe of nomads. Some report that two other towns at longdistances apart are also passed on the voyage down the Tigris, Barbatia and thenDumatha, the latter said to be ten days' voyage from Petra. Our merchants saythat the king of the Characeni also rules over Apamea, a town situated at theconfluence of the overflow of the Euphrates with the Tigris; and thatconsequently when the Parthians threaten an invasion they are prevented by theconstruction of dams across the river, which cause the country to be flooded.

We will now describe the coast from Charax onward, which was first explored forKingEpiphanes. There is the place wherethe mouth of the Euphrates formerly was, a salt-water stream; Cape Caldone; anestuary more resembling a whirlpool than open sea, stretching 50 miles along thecoast; the river Achenum; 100 miles of desert, extending as far as IcarusIsland; Capeus Bay, on which dwell the Gaulopes and the Gattaei; the Bay ofGerra and the town of that name, which measures five miles round and has towersmade of squared blocks of salt. Fifty miles inland is the Attene district; andopposite to it and the same number of miles distant from the coast is the islandof Tyros, extremely famous for its numerous pearls, with a town of the samename, and next another smaller island 12½ miles away from the cape of Tyros. Itis reported that beyond Tyros some large islands are in view which have neverbeen visited; that the circumference of Tyros measures 112½ miles; that itsdistance from Farsistan is more than that; and that it is accessible only by onenarrow channel. Then the island of Ascliae, tribes named Nochaeti, Zurazi,Borgodi and the nomad Cathanei, and the river Cynos. According toJuba the voyage beyond on that side hasnot been explored, because of the rocksJubaomits to mention Batrasavave, the town of the Omani, and the town of Omana whichprevious writers have made out to be a famous port of Carmania, and also Homnaand Attana, towns said by our traders to be now the most frequented ports in thePersian Gulf, After the Dog's River, according toJuba, there is a mountain looking as ifit had been burnt; the Epimaranitae tribes, then the Fish-eaters, an uninhabitedisland, the Bathyxni tribes, the Eblythaean Mountains, the island of Omoemns,Port Mochorhae, the islands of Etaxalos and Inchobrichae, the Cadaei tribe; anumber of islands without names, and the well-known islands of Isura andRhinnea, and the adjacent island on which there are some stone pillars bearinginscriptions written in an unknown alphabet;. Port Coboea, the unhabited Bragaeislands, the Taludaei tribe, the Dabanegoris district, Mount Orsa with itsharbour, Duatas Bay, a number of islands, Mount Three Peaks, the Chardaleondistrict, the Solonades and Cachinna, also islands belonging to the Fish-eaters.Then Clan, the Mamaean coast with its gold-mines, the Canauna district, theApitami and Casani tribes, Devade Island, the spring Coralis, the Carphati, theislands of Alaea and Amnamethus, the Darae tribe; Chelonitis Island and a numberof islands of the Fish-eaters, the uninhabited Odanda, Basa, a number ofislands belonging to the Sabaei. The dyers Thanar and Amnum, the llbric Islands,the Daulotos and Dora springs, the islands of Pteros, Labatanis, Coboris andSambrachate with the town of the same name on the mainland. Many islands to thesouthward, the largest of which is Camari, the river Musecros, Port Laupas; theSabaei, a tribe of Scenitae, owning many islands and a trading-station at Kalhatwhich is a port of embarkation for India; the district of Amithoscatta.,Damnia, the Greater and Lesser Mizi, Drymatina, the Macae; a cape in theirterritory points towards Carmania, 50 miles away. A remarkable event is said tohave occurred there: the governor of Mesene appointed by King Antiochus,Numenius, here won a battle against the Persians with his fleet and after thetide had gone out a second battle with his cavalry, and set up a couple oftrophies, to Jupiter and to Neptune, on the same spot.

Out at sea off this coast lies the island of Ogyris, famous as the burial-placeof KingErythras; its distance from themainland is 125 miles and it measures 112½ miles round. Equally famous is asecond island in the Azanian Sea, the island of Socotra, lying 280 miles awayfrom the extreme point of Cape Syagrus.

The remaining tribes on the mainland situated further south are the Autaridae,seven days' journey into the mountains, the Larendani and Catapani tribe, theGebbanitae with several towns, of which the largest are Nagia and Thomna, thelatter with sixty-five temples, a fact that indicates its size. Then a cape thedistance between which and the mainland in the Cave-dwellers' territory is 50miles; then the Thoani, the Actaei, the Chatramotitae, the Tonabaei, theAntiadalei and Lexianae, the Agraei, the Cerbani and the Sabaei, the best knownof all the Arabian tribes because of their frankincensethese tribes extend fromsea to sea. Their towns on the coast of the Red Sea are Merme, Marina, Corolla,Sabbatha, and the inland towns are Nascus, Cardava, Carnus, and Thomala to whichthey bring down their perfumes for export. One division of them are theAtrainitae, whose chief place is Sabota, a walled town containing sixty temples;the royal capital of all these tribes however is Mareiabata, which lies on a baymeasuring 94 miles round, studded with islands that produce perfumes. Adjoiningthe Atramitae in the interior are the Minaei; and dwelling on the coast are alsothe Aelamitae with a town of the same name, and adjoining them the Chaculataewith the town of Sibis, the Greek name of which is Apate, the Arsi, the Codani,the Vadaei with the large town of Barasasa, and the Lechieni; and the island ofSygaros, into which dogs are not admitted, and so being exposed on the seashorethey wander about till they die. Then a bay running far inland on which live theLaeanitae, who have given it their name. Their capital is Agra, and on the bayis Laeana, or as others call it Aelana; for the name of the bay itself has been written by our people 'Laeanitic', and by others 'Aelanitic', whileArtemidorus gives it as 'Alaenitic' and Juba as 'Leanitic'. The circumference ofArabia from Charax to Laeana is said to amount to 4665 miles, thoughJuba thinks it is a little less than4000 miles; it is widest at the north, between the towns of Heroeum and Charax.

The rest of its inland places also must now be stated. Adjoining the Nabataeithe old authorities put the Timanei, but now there are the Taveni, Suelleni,Araceni, Arreni (with a town which is a centre for all mercantile business),Hemnatae, Avalitae (with the towns of Domata and Haegra), Tamudaei (townBaclanaza), Cariati, Acitoali (town Phoda), and the Minaei, who derive theirorigin, as they believe, from King Minos of Crete; part of them are the Carmei.Fourteen miles further is the town of Maribba, then Paramalacun, also aconsiderable place, and Canon, to which the same applies. Then the Rhadamaei(these also are believed to descend from Rhadamanthus the brother of Minos), theHomeritae with the town of Mesala, the Hamiroei, Gedranitae, Phryaei, Lysanitae,Bachylitae, Samnaei, the Amaitaei with the towns of Messa and Chenneseris, theZamareni with the towns of Sagiatta and Canthace, the Bacaschami with the townof Riphearina (a name which is the native word for barley), the Autaei, Ethravi,Cyrei with the town of Elmataei, Chodae with the town of Aiathuris 25 miles upin the mountains (in which is the spring called Aenuscabales, which means 'thefountain of the camels'), the town of Ampelome, a colony from Miletus, the townof Athrida, the Calingi, whose town is named Mariba, meaning 'lords of all men',the towns of Pallon and Murannimal, on a river through which the Euphrates isbelieved to discharge itself, the Agraei and Ammoni tribes, a town namedAthenae, the Caunaravi (which means 'very rich in herds'); the Chorranitae, theCesani and the Choani. Here were also the Greek towns of Arethusa, Larisa andChalcis, but they have been destroyed in various wars.

Aelius Gallus, a member of the Order ofKnights, is the only person who has hitherto carried the arms of Rome into thiscountry; forGaius Caesar son of Augustus only had a glimpse of Arabia. Gallus destroyed the following towns not named by the authors who have written previouslyNegrana, Nestus, Nesca,Magusus, Caminacus, Labaetia; as well as Mariba above mentioned, which measures6 miles round, and also Caripeta, which was the farthest point he reached. Theother discoveries that he reported on his return are: that the Nomads live onmilk and the flesh of wild animals; that the rest of the tribes extract wine outof palm trees, as the natives do in India, and get oil from sesame; that theHomeritae are the most numerous tribe; that the Minaei have land that is fertilein palm groves and timber, and wealth in flocks; that, the Cerbani and Agraei,and especially the Chatramotitae, excel as warriors; that the Carrei have themost extensive and most fertile agricultural land; that the Sabaei are the mostwealthy, owing to the fertility of their forests in producing scents, their goldmines, their irrigated agricultural land and their production of honey and wax:of their scents we shall speak in [Book XII] the volume dealing with thatsubject. The Arabs wear turbans or else go with their hair unshorn; they shavetheir beards but wear a moustacheothers however leave the beard also unshaven.And strange to say, of these innumerable tribes an equal part are engaged intrade or live by brigandage; taken as a whole, they are the richest races in theworld, because vast wealth from Rome and Parthia accumulates in their hands, asthey sell the produce they obtain from the sea or their forests and buy nothingin return.

XXXIII. We will now follow along the rest of the coast lying opposite toArabia. Timosthenes estimated the lengthof the whole gulf at four days' sail, the breadth at two, and the width of theStraits of Bab-el-Mandeb as 74 miles;Eratosthenes makes the length of the coast on either side from the mouthof the gulf 1200 miles;Artemidorusgives the length of the coast on the Arabian side as 1750 miles and on the sideof the Cave-dweller country as far as Ptolemais 11844 miles;Agrippa says that there is no differencebetween the two sides, and gives the length of each as 1732 miles. Mostauthorities give the breadth as 475 miles, and the mouth of the gulf facingsouth-west some make 4 miles wide, others 7 and others 12.

The lie of the land is as follows: on leaving the Laeanitic Gulf there isanother gulf the Arabic name of which is Aeas, on which is the town of Heroim.Formerly there was also the City ofCambyses,between the Neli and the Marchades; this was the place where the invalids fromthe army ofCambyses were settled. Thencome the Tyro tribe and the Harbour of the Daneoi, from which there was aproject to carry a ship-canal through to the Nile at the place where it flowsinto what is called the Delta, over a space of 62½ miles, which is thedistance between the river and the Red Sea; this project was originallyconceived bySesostris King of Egypt,and later by the Persian KingDarius andthen again byPtolemy the Second, whodid actually carry a trench 100 ft. broad and 30 ft. deep for a distance of 344miles, as far as the Bitter Springs. He was deterred from carrying it further byfear of causing a flood, as it was ascertained that the level of the Red Sea is44 ft. above that of the land of Egypt. Some persons do not adduce this reasonfor the abandonment of the project, but say that it was due to fear lest makingan inlet from the sea would pollute the water of the Nile, which affords toEgypt its only supply of drinking-water. Nevertheless the whole journey fromthe Egyptian Sea is constantly performed by land, there being three routes: onefrom Pelusium across the sands, a route on which the only mode of finding theway is to follow a line of reeds fixed in the sand, as the wind causesfootprints to be covered up immediately; another route beginning two milesbeyond Mount Casius and after 60 miles rejoining the road from Pelusiumalongthis route dwell the Arab tribe of the Autaei; and a third starting from Gerrum,called the Agipsum route, passing through the same Arab tribe, which is 60 milesshorter but rough and mountainous, as well as devoid of watering-places. Allthese routes lead to Arsinoë, the city on Carandra Bay founded andnamed after his sister byPtolemy Philadelphus,who first thoroughly explored the Cave-dweller country and gave his own name tothe river on which Arsinod stands. Soon after comes the small town ofAenumother writers give the name as Philoteriaè insteadand then there are the Asarri, a wild Arab tribe sprung from intermarriage with the Cave-dwellers, theislands of Sapirine and Scytala, and then desert stretching as far asMyoshormos, where is the spring of Amos, Mount Eos, Iambe Island, a number ofharbours, the town of Berenice named from the mother ofPhiladelphus, the road to which from Coptus we have described, and the Arabtribes of the Autaei and Gebadaei.

XXXIV. Cave-dwellers' country, called in former times Midoë and by otherpeople Midioë, Mount Five-fingers, some islands called the Narrow Necks, theHalonesi about the same in number, Cardamine, and Topazos, which has given itsname to the precious stone. A bay crowded with islands, of which the ones calledthe Islands of Matreos have springs on them and those called Erato's Islands aredry; these islands formerly had governors appointed by the kings. Inland are theCandaei, who are called the Ophiophagi because it is their habit to eat snakes,of which the district is exceptionally productive.Juba, who appears to have investigatedthese matters extremely carefully, has omitted to mention in this district(unless there is an error in the copies of his work) a second town calledBerenice which has the additional name of All-golden, and a third calledBerenice on the Neck, which is remarkable for its situation, being placed on aneck of land projecting a long way out, where the straits at the mouth of theRed Sea separate Africa from Arabia by a space of only 7½ miles. Here is theisland of Cytis, which itself also produces the chrysolite. Beyond there areforests, in which is Ptolemais, built byPtolemy Philadelphus for the purpose of elephant-hunting and consequentlycalled Ptolemy's Hunting Lodge; it is close to Lake Monoleus. This is thedistrict referred to by us inBook II, in which during the 45 days beforemidsummer and the same number of days after midsummer shadows contract tonothing an hour before noon, and during the rest of the day fall to the south,while all the other days of the year they fall to the north; on the other handat the first Berenice mentioned above, on the actual day of thesummer solstice the shadow disappears altogether an hour before noon, butnothing else unusual is observedthis place is 602½ miles from Ptolemais. Thephenomenon is extremely remarkable, and the topic is one involving infinitelyprofound research, it being here that the structure of the world was discovered,becauseEratosthenes derived from itthe idea of working out the earth's dimensions by the certain method ofnoting the shadows.

Next come the Azanian Sea, the cape whose name some writers give asHippalus, Lake Mandalum, Colocasitis Island, and out at sea a number of islandscontaining a large quantity of turtle. The town of Sacae, the island of Daphnis,Freemen's Town, founded by slaves from Egypt who had run away from their.masters. Here is very large trading centre of the Cave-dwellers and also theEthiopiansit is two days' sail from Ptolemais; they bring into it a largequantity of ivory, rhinoceros horns, hippopotamus hides, tortoise shell, apesand slaves. Beyond the Ploughmen Ethiopians are the islands called the Isles ofAliaeos, and also Bacchias and Antibacchias, and Soldiers' Island. Next there isa bay in the coast of Ethiopia that has not been explored, which is surprising,in view of the fact that traders ransack more remote districts; and a cape onwhich is a spring named Cucios, resorted to by seafarers; and further on, Portof Isis, ten days' row distant from Freemen's Town, and a centre to whichCave-dwellers' myrrh is brought. There are two islands off the harbour calledthe False Gates, and two inside it called the Gates, on one of which are somestone monuments with inscriptions in an unknown alphabet. Further on is the Bayof Abalitos, and then Diodorus's Island and other uninhabited islands, and alsoalong the mainland a stretch of desert; the town of Gaza; Mossylites Cape andHarbour, the latter the port of export for cinnamon. This was the farthest pointto whichSesostris led his army. Somewriters place one Ethiopian town on the coast beyond this point, Baragaza.

Juba holds that at Cape Mossylitesbegins the Atlantic Ocean, navigable with a north-west wind along the coast ofhis kingdom of the Mauretanias as far as Cadiz; and his whole opinion must notbe omitted at this point in the narrative. He puts forward the view that thedistance from the cape in the Indian territory called in Greek the Narrow Head,and by others the Sickle, in a straight course past Burnt Island to Malichas'sIslands is 1500 miles, from there to the place called Scaenei 225 miles, and onfrom there to Sadanus Island 150 milesmaking 1875 miles to the open sea. Allthe rest of the authorities have held the view that the heat of the sun makesthe voyage impossible; moreover actual goods conveyed for trade are exposed tothe depredations of an Arabian tribe living on the islands: who are called the Ascitae because they make rafts of timber placed on a pair ofinflated ox-hides and practise piracy, using poisoned arrows.Juba also speaks of some tribes ofCave-dwellers called the Jackal-hunters, because of their skill in hunting, whoare remarkable for their swiftness, and also of the Fish-eaters, who can swimlike creatures of the sea; also the Bangeni, Zangenae, Thalibae, Saxinae,Sirecae, Daremae and Domazenes.Jubastates moreover that the people inhabiting the banks of the Nile from Syene asfar as Meroë are not Ethiopian but Arabian tribes and also that the City of theSun, which in our description of Egypt we spoke of as not far from Memphis, hadArab founders. The further bank also is by some authorities taken away fromEthiopia and attached to Africa. (But they lived on the banks for the sake ofthe water.) We however shall leave this point to the reader to form his ownopinion on it, and shall enumerate the towns on either bank in the order inwhich they are reported, starting from Syene.

XXXV. And taking the Arabian side of the Nile first, we have the Catadupi tribe, and then the Syenitae, and the towns of Tacompson (which somehave called Thatice), Aramum, Sesamos, Andura, Nasardunia, Aindoxna Villagewith Arabeta and Bongiana, Leuphitorga, Tautarene, Meae, Chindita, Noa, Gopba,Gistate, Megada, Lea, Remni, Nups, Dfrea, Patinga, Bagada, Durnana, Radata(where a golden cat used to be worshipped as a god), Boron, and inlandMeroë, near Mallos. This is the account given byBion.Juba's is different: he says that there is a fortified town called theGreat Wall between Egypt and Ethiopia, the Arabic name for which is Mirsios, andthen Tacompson, Aramum, Sesamos, Pide, Mamuda, Corambis near a spring of mineralpitch, Amodota, Prosda, Parenta, Mania, Tessata, Galles, Zoton, Graucome, Emeus,Pidibotae, Endondacometae, Nomad tribes living in tents, Cystaepe, LittleMagadale, Prumis, Nups, Dicelis, Patingas, Breves, New Magus, Egasmala, Cramda,Denna, Cadeus, Mathena, Batta, Alana, Macna, Scammos, Gora, and on an island offthese places Abale, Androcalis, Seres, Mallos and Agoces.

The places on the African side are given as Tacompsus (either a second town ofthe same name or a suburb of the one previously mentioned), Mogore, Saea,Aedosa, Pelenariae, Pindis, Magassa, Buma, Lintuma, Spintnm, Sidopt, Gensoe,Pindicitor, Agugo, Orsmn, Suara, Maumarnm, Urbim, Mulon (the town called by theGreeks Hypaton), Pagoartas, Zamncs (after which elephants begin to be found),Mambli, Berressa, Coetum. There was also formerly a town called Epis, oppositeto Meroë, which had been destroyed before Bionwrote.

These are the places that were reported as far asMeroë, though at the present day hardly any of them still exist on either sideof the river; at all events an exploring party of praetorian troops under thecommand of a tribune lately sent by the emperorNero, when among the rest of his wars he was actually contemplating anattack on Ethiopia, reported that there was nothing but desert. Nevertheless inthe time of his late MajestyAugustusthe arms of Rome had penetrated even into those regions, under the leadership of Publius Petronius, himself also a memberof the Order of Knighthood, when he was Governor of Egypt.Petronius captured the Arabian towns ofwhich we will give a list, the only ones we have found there: Pselcis, Primi,Bocchis, Cambyses' Market, Attenia and Stadissis, where there is a cataract ofthe Nile the noise of which affects people dwelling near it with deafness; healso sacked the town of Napata. The farthest point he reached was 870 miles fromSyene; but nevertheless it was not the arms of Rome that made the country adesert: Ethiopia was worn out by alternate periods of dominance and subjectionin a series of wars with Egypt, having been a famous and powerful country evendown to the Trojan wars, when Memnon was king; and the stories about Andromedashow that it dominated Syria and the coasts of the Mediterranean in the time ofKingCepheus.

Similarly there have also been various reports as to the dimensions of thecountry, which were first given byDalion,who sailed up a long way beyond Meroë, and then byAristocreon andBion andBasilis, and also by the youngerSimonides, who stayed at Meroë for fiveyears while writing his account of Ethiopia. Further,Timosthenes, who commanded the naviesof Philadelphus, has stated the distance from Syene to Meroë as sixty days'journey, without specifying the mileage per diem, whileEratosthenes gives it as 625 miles andArtemidorus as 600 miles; andSebosus says that from the extreme pointof Egypt to Meroë is 1672 miles, whereas the authors last mentioned give it as1250 a miles. But all this discrepancy has recently been ended, inasmuch as theexpedition sent byNero to explore thecountry have reported that the distance from Syene to Meroë is 945 miles, madeup as follows: from Syene to Holy Mulberry 54 miles, from there to Tama 72 milesthrough the district of the Ethiopian Euonymites, to Primi 120 miles, Acina 64miles, Pitara 22 miles, Tergedus 103 miles. The report stated that the island ofGagaudes is halfway between Syene and Meroe, and that it was after passing thisisland that the birds called parrots were first seen, and after another, namedArticula, thesphingion ape, and after Tergedus dog-faced baboons. Thedistance from Tergedus to Nabata is 80 miles, that little town being the onlyone among those mentioned that survives; and from Nabata to the island of Meroëis 360 miles. Round Meroë, they reported, greener herbage begins, and a certainamount of forest came into view, and the tracks of rhinoceroses and elephantswere seen. The actual town of Meroë they said is at a distance of 70 miles fromthe first approach to the island, and beside it in the channel on the right handas one goes up stream lies another island, the Isle of Tados, this forming aharbour; the town possesses few buildings. They said that it is ruled by awoman,Candace, a name that has passedon through a succession of queens for many years; and that religious ceremoniestake place in a temple of Hammon in the town and also in shrines of Hammon allover the district. Moreover at the time of the Ethiopic dominion this island wasextremely celebrated. It is reported that it used to furnish 250,000 armed menand 3000 artisans. At the present day there are reported to be forty-five otherkings of Ethiopia. But the whole race was called Aetheria, and then Atlantia,and finally it took its name from Aethiops the son of Vulcan. It is by no meanssurprising that the outermost districts of this region produce animal and humanmonstrosities, considering the capacity of the mobile element of fire to mouldtheir bodies and carve their outlines. It is certainly reported that in theinterior on the east side there are tribes of people without noses, their wholeface being perfectly flat, and other tribes that have no upper lip and others notongues. Also one section has the mouth closed up and has no nostrils, but onlya single orifice through which it breathes and sucks in drink by means of oatstraws, as well as grains of oat, which grows wild there, for food. Some of thetribes communicate by means of nods and gestures instead of speech; and somewere unacquainted with the use of fire before the reign of KingPtolemy Lathyrus in Egypt. Some writershave actually reported a race of Pygmies living among the marshes in which theNile rises. On the coast, in a region which we shall describe later, there is arange of mountains of a glowing red colour, which have the appearance of beingon fire.

After Meroë all the region is bounded by the Cave-dwellers and the Red Sea, thedistance from Napata to the coast of the Red Sea being three days' journey; inseveral places rainwater is stored for the use of travellers, and the districtin between produces a large amount of gold. The parts beyond are occupied by theAtabuli, an Ethiopian tribe; and then, over against Meroë, are the Megabarri, towhom some give the name of Adiabari; they have a town named the Town of Apollo,but one division of them are Nomads, and live on the flesh of elephants.Opposite to them, on the African side, are the Macrobii, and again after theMegabarri come the Memnones and Dabelli, and 20 days' journey further on theCritensi. Beyond these are the Doehi, next the Gymnetes, who never wear anyclothes, then the Anderae, Mattitae and Mesanches: the last are ashamed of theirblack colour and smear themselves all over with red clay. On the African sideare the Medimni, and then a Nomad tribe that lives on the milk of the dog-facedbaboon, the Alabi, and the Syrbotae who are said to be 12 ft. high.Aristocreon reports that on the Lybianside five days' journey from Meroë is the town of Tolles, and twelve days beyondit another town, Aesar, belonging to Egyptians who fled to escape fromPsammetichus (they are said to have beenliving there for 300 years), and that the town of Diaron on the Arabian sideopposite belongs to them. To the town whichAristocrates calls AesarBiongives the name of Sapes, which he says means that the inhabitants are strangers;their chief city is Sembobitis, situated on an island, and they have a thirdtown named Sinat, in Arabia. Between the mountains and the Nile are theSimbarri, the Palunges and, on the actual mountains, the numerous tribes ofAsachae, who are said to be five days' journey from the sea; they live byhunting elephants. An island in the Nile, belonging to the Sembritae, isgoverned by a queen. Eight days' journey from this island are the NubianEthiopians, whose town Tenupsis is situated on the Nile, and the Sesambri, inwhose country all the four-footed animals, even the elephants, have no ears. Onthe African side are the Ptonebari; the Ptoemphani, who have a dog for a kingand divine his commands from his movements; the Harusbi, whose town is situateda long distance away from the Nile; and afterwards the Arehisarmi, Phalliges,Marigarri and Chasamari.Bion alsoreports other towns situated on islands: after Sembobitis, in the direction ofMeroë, the whole distance being twenty days' journey, on the first islandreached, a town of the Semberritae, governed by a queen, and another town named Asara; on the second island, the town of Darde; the third island is calledMedoe, and the town on it is Asel; the fourth is Garrofi, with a town of thesame name. Then along the banks are the towns of Nautis, Madum, Demadatis,Secande, Navectabe with the territory of Psegipta, Candragori, Araba, Summara.Above is the region of Sirbitum, where the mountain range ends, and which isstated by some writers to be occupied by Ethiopian coast-tribes, the Nisicathaeand Nisitae, names that mean `men with three' or `with four eyes'not becausethey really are like that but because they have a particularly keen sight inusing arrows. On the side of the Nile that stretches inland from the Greater Syrtes and the southern ocean. Dalionsays there are the Vacathi, who use only rainwater, the Cisori, the Logonporifive days' journey from the Oecalices, the Usibalchi, Isbeli, Perusii, Balliiand Cispii; and that all the rest of the country is uninhabited. Then comeregions that are purely imaginary: towards the west are the Nigroi, whose kingis said to have only one eye, in his forehead; the Wild-beast-eaters, who livechiefly on the flesh of panthers and lions; the Eatalls, who devour everything;the Man-eaters, whose diet is human flesh; the Dog-milkers, who have dogs'heads; the Artabatitae, who have four legs and rove about like wildanimals; and then the Hesperioi, the Perorsi and the people we have mentioned asinhabiting the border of Mauretania. One section of the Ethiopians live only onlocusts, dried in smoke and salted to keep for a year's supply of food; thesepeople do not live beyond the age of forty.

The length of the whole of the territory of the Ethiopians including theRed Sea was estimated byAgrippa as 2170miles and its breadth including Upper Egypt 1296 miles. Some authors give thefollowing divisions of its length: from Meroë to Sirbitus 12 days' sail, fromSirbitus to the Dabelli 12 days' sail, and from the Dabelli to the EthiopicOcean 6 days' journey by land. But authorities are virtually agreed that thewhole distance from the ocean to Meroë is 625 miles and that the distance fromMeroe to Syene is what we have stated above. The conformation of Ethiopiaspreads from south-east to south-west with its centre line running south. It hasflourishing forests, mostly of ebony trees. Rising from the sea at the middle ofthe coast is a mountain of great height which glows with eternal firesits Greekname is the Chariot of the Gods; and four days' voyage from it is the capecalled the Horn of the West, on the confines of Africa, adjacent to the WesternEthiopians. Some authorities also report hills of moderate height in thisregion, clad with agreeable shady thickets and belonging to the Goat-Pans andSatyrs.

XXXVI. It is stated by Ephorus,and also byEudoxus andTimosthenes, that there are a largenumber of islands scattered over the whole of the Eastern Sea; whileClitarchus says that KingAlexander received a report of one thatwas so wealthy that its inhabitants gave a talent of gold for a horse, and ofanother on which a holy mountain had been found, covered with a dense forest oftrees from which fell drops of moisture having a marvellously agreeable scent.An island opposite the Persian Gulf and lying off Ethiopia is named Cerne;neither its size nor its distance from the mainland has been ascertained, but itis reported to be inhabited solely by Ethiopian tribes. Ephorus states thatvessels approaching it from the Red Sea are unable became of the heat to advancebeyond the Columnsthat being the name of certain small islands.Polybius informs us that Cerne lies atthe extremity of Mauretania, over against Mount Atlas, a mile from the coast;Cornelius Nepos gives it as being nearlyin the same meridian as Carthage, and 10 miles from the mainland, and asmeasuring not more than 2 miles round. There is also reported to be anotherisland off Mount Atlas, itself also called Atlantis, from which a two days'voyage along the coast reaches the desert district in the neighbourhood of theWestern Ethiopians and the cape mentioned above named the Horn of the West, thepoint at which the coastline begins to curve westward in the direction of theAtlantic. Opposite this cape also there are reported to be some islands, the Gorgades, which were formerly the habitation of the Gorgons, and which accordingto the account ofXenophon of Lampsacus are at a distance of two days' sail from the mainland. These islands werereached by the Carthaginian generalHanno,a who reported that the women had hair all over their bodies, but that the menwere so swift of foot that they got away; and he deposited the skins of two ofthe female natives in the Temple of Juno as proof of the truth of his story andas curiosities, where they were on show until Carthage was taken by Rome.Outside the Gorgades there are also said to be two Islands of the Ladies of theWest; and the whole of the geography of this neighbourhood is so uncertain thatStatius Sebosus has given the voyagealong the coast from the Gorgons' Islands past Mount Atlas to the Isles of theLadies of the West as forty days' sail and from those islands to the Horn of theWest as one day's sail. Nor is there less uncertainty with regard to the reportof the islands of Mauretania: it is only known for certain that a few werediscovered byJuba off the coast of theAntololes, in which he had established a dyeing industry that used Gaetulianpurple.

XXXVII. Some people think that beyond the islands of Mauretania lie theIsles of Bliss, [Canaries] and also some others of whichSebosus before mentioned gives not onlythe number but also the distances, reporting that Junonia is 750 miles fromGadiz, and that Pluvialia [Ferero] and Capraria [Gomera] are the samedistance west from Junonia; that in Pluvialia there is no water except what issupplied by rain; that the Isles of Bliss are 250 miles W.N.W. from these, tothe left hand of Mauretania, and that one is called Invallis [Tenerife] fromits undulating surface and the other Planasia [Great Canary Is.] from itsconformation, Invallis measuring 300 miles round; and that on it trees grow to aheight of 140 ft. About the Isles of BlissJubahas ascertained the following facts: they lie in a southwesterly direction, ata distance of 625 miles' sail from the Purple Islands, provided thata course be laid north of due west for 250 miles and then east for 375 miles;that the first island reached is called Ombrios, and there are notraces of buildings upon it, but it has a pool surrounded by mountains, andtrees resembling the giant fennel, from which water is extracted, the black onesgiving a bitter fluid and those of brighter colour a juice that is agreeable todrink; that the second island is called Junonia, and that there is a smalltemple on it built of only a single stone; and that in its neighbourhood thereis a smaller island of the same name, and then Capraria, which swarms with largelizards; and that in view from these islands is Ninguaria, so named from itsperpetual snow, and wrapped in cloud; and next to it one named Canaria, from itsmultitude of dogs of a huge size (two of these were brought back forJuba). He said that in this island thereare traces of buildings; that while they all have an abundant supply of fruitand of birds of every kind, Canada also abounds in palm-groves bearing dates,and in conifers; that in addition to this there is a large supply of honey, andalso papyrus grows in the rivers, and sheat-fish; and that these islands areplagued with the rotting carcases of monstrous creatures that are constantlybeing cast ashore by the sea.

XXXVIII. And now that we have fully described the outer and inner regionsof the earth, it seems proper to give a succinct account of the dimensions ofits various bodies of water.

According toPolybius the distance in astraight line from the Straits of Gibraltar to the outlet of the Sea of Azov is3437½ miles, and the distance from the same starting point due eastward toSicily 1250 miles, to Crete 375 miles, to Rhodes 187½ miles, to the SwallowIslands the same, to Cyprus 225 miles, and from Cyprus to Seleukeh Pieria inSyria 115 mileswhich figures added together make a total of 2340 miles.Agrippa calculates the same distance ina straight line from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Scanderoon at 3440miles, in which calculation I suspect there is a numerical error, as he hasalso given the length of the route from the Straits of Sicily to Alexandria as1350 miles. The whole length of the coastline round the bays specified, startingat the same point and ending at the Sea of Azov, amounts to 15,509milesalthough Artemidorus puts it at756 miles more, and also reports that the total coastline including the shoresof Azov measures 17,390 miles.

This is the measurement made by persons throwing out a challenge to Fortune notby force of arms, but by the boldness they have displayed in time of peace.

We will now compare the dimensions of particular parts of the earth, howevergreat the difficulty that will arise from the discrepancy of the accounts givenby authors; nevertheless the matter will be most suitably presented by givingthe breadth in addition to the length. The following, then, is the formula forthe area of Europe ... length 8148 miles. As for Africato take the average of allthe various accounts given of its dimensionsits length works out at 3798 miles,and the breadth of the inhabited portions nowhere exceeds 750 miles; but asAgrippa made it 910 miles at the Cyrenaic part of the country, by including theAfrican desert as far as the country of the Garamantes, the extent then known,the entire length that will come into the calculation amounts to 4708 miles. Thelength of Asia is admittedly 6375 miles, and the breadth should properly becalculated from the Ethiopic Sea to Alexandria on the Nile, making themeasurement run through Meroe and Syene, which gives 1875 miles. It isconsequently clear that Europe is a little less than one and a half times thesize of Asia, and two and one sixth times the width of Africa. Combining allthese figures together, it will be clearly manifest that Europe is a little morethan ⅓ + ⅛th, Asia ¼ + 1/14th, and Africa 1/5 + 1/60th, of the whole earth.

XXXIX. To these we shall further add one theory of Greek discoveryshowing the most recondite ingenuity, so that nothing may be wanting in oursurvey of the geography of the world, and so that now the various regions havebeen indicated, it may be also learnt what alliance or relationship of days andnights each of the regions has, and in which of them the shadows are of the samelength and the world's convexity is equal. An account will therefore be given ofthis also, and the whole earth will be mapped out in accordance with theconstituent parts of the heavens.

The world has a number of segments to which our countrymen give the name of`circles' and which the Greeks call 'parallels'. The first place belongs to thesouthward part of India, extending as far as Arabia and the people inhabitingthe coast of the Red Sea. This segment includes the Gedrosians, Carmanians,Persians, and Elymaeans, Parthyene, Aria, Susiane, Mesopotamia, BabylonianSeleucia, Arabia as far as Petra, Hollow Syria, Pelusium, the lower parts ofEgypt called Chora, Alexandria, the coastal parts of Africa, all the towns ofCyrenaica, Thapsus, Hadrumeturu, Clupea, Carthage, Utica, the two Hippos,Numidia, the two Mauretanias, the Atlantic Ocean, the Straits of Gibraltar. Inthis latitude, at noon at the time of the equinox a sundial-pin or 'gnomon' 7ft. long casts a shadow not more than 4 ft. long, while the longest night andthe longest day contain 14 equinoctial hours, and the shortest on the contrary10.

The next parallel begins with the western part of India, and runs through themiddle of Parthia, Versepolis, the nearest parts of Farsistan, Hither Arabia,Judaea and the people living near Mount Lebanon, and embraces Babylon, Idumaea,Samaria, Jerusalem, Ascalon, Joppa, Caesarea, Phoenicia, Ptolemais, Sidon, Tyre,Berytus, Botrys, Tripolis, Byblus, Antioch, Laodicea, Seleucia, seaboardCilicia, Southern Cyprus, Crete, Lilybaeum in Sicily. Northern Africa andNorthern Numidia. At the equinox a 35 ft. gnomon throws a shadow 24 ft.long, while the longest day and the longest night measure 14 2/5 equinoctialhours.

The third parallel begins at the part of India nearest to the Himalayas, andpasses through the Caspian Gates, the nearest parts of Media, Cataonia,Cappadocia, Taurus, Amanus, Issus, the Cilician Gates, Soli, Tarsus, Cyprus,Pisidia, Pamphylia, Side, Lycaonia, Lycia, Patara, Xanthus, Caunus, Rhodes, Cos,Halicarnassus, Cnidus, Doris, Chios, Delos, the middle of the Cyclades,Gythiuxn, Malea, Argos, Laconia, Ella, Olympia and Messenia in the Peloponnese,Syracuse, Catania, the middle of Sicily, the southern parts of Sardinia,Carteia, Cadiz. A gnomon 100 inches long throws a shadow 77 inches long. Thelongest day is 14 8/15 equinoctial hours.

Under the fourth parallel lie the regions on the other side of the Imavus, thesouthern parts of Cappadocia, Oalatia, Mysia, Sardis, Smyrna, Mount Sipylus,Mount Tmolus, Lydia, Carla, Ionia, Trails, Colophon, Ephesus, Miletus, Chios,Samos, the Icarian Sea, the northern part of the Cyclades, Athens,Megara, Corinth, Sicyon, Achaia, Patras, the Isthmus, Epirus, the northerndistricts of Sicily, the eastern districts of Gailia Narbonensis, and the coastof Spain from New Carthage westward. A 21-ft. gnomon has 16-ft. shadows. Thelongest day has 144 equinoctial hours.

The fifth division, beginning at the entrance of the Caspian Sea, containsBactria, Liberia, Armenia, Mysia, Phrygia, the Dardanelles, the Troad, Tenedos,Abydos, Scepsis, Ilium, Mount Ida, Cyzicus, Lampsacus, Sinope, Amisus, Heracleain Pontus, Paphlagonia, Lemnos, Imbros, Thasos, Cassandria, Thessaly, Macedon,Larisa, Amphipolis, Thessalonica, PeIla, Edesus, Beroea, Pharsalia, Carystum,Euboca belonging to Boeotia, Chalcis, Delphi, Acarnania, Aetolia, Apollonia,Brindisi, Taranto, Thurii, Locri, Reggio, the Lucanian territory, Naples,Pozzuoli, the Tuscan Sea, Corsica, the Baiearic Islands and the middle of Spain.A 7-ft. gnomon throws a 6-ft. shadow. The longest day is 15 equinoctial hours.

The sixth group, the one containing the city of Rome, comprises the Caspiantribes, the Caucasus, the northern parts of Armenia, Apollonia on the Rhyndaeus,Nicomedia, Nicaea, Chalcedon, Byzantium, Lysimachea, the Chersonese, the Gulfof Melas, Abdera, Samothrace, Maronea, Aenos, Bessica, Thrace, Maedica, Paeonia,Illyria, Durazzo, Canosa, the edge of Apulia, Campania, Etruria, Pisa, Luna,Lucca, Genoa, Liguria, Antibes, Marseilles, Narbonne, Tarragon, the middle ofTarragonian Spain; and then runs through Lusitania. A 9-ft. gnomon throws an8-ft. shadow. The longest day-time is 15 1/9, or, according toNigidius, 15 1/5 equinoctial hours.

The seventh division starts from the other side of the Caspian Sea and passesabove Collat, the Straits of Kertsch, the Dnieper, Tomi, the back parts ofThrace, the Triballi, the remainder of Illyria, the Adriatic Sea, Aquileia,Altinum, Venice, Vicenza, Padua, Verona, Cremona, Ravenna, Ancona, Picenum, theMarsians, Paelignians and Sabines, Umbria, Rimini, Bologna, Piacenza, Milan andall the districts at the foot of the Apennines, and across the Alps AquitanianGaul, Vienne, the Pyrenees and Celtiberia. A 35-ft. gnomon throws 36-ft.shadows, except that in part of the Venetian district the shadow and the gnomonare equal. The longest daytime consists of 15 3/5 equinoctial hours.

Up to this point we have been setting forth theresults worked out by the ancients. The rest of the earth's surface has beenallotted by the most careful among subsequent students to three additionalparallels: from the Don across the Sea of Azov and the country of the Sarmataeto the Dnieper and so across Dacia and part of Germany, and including the Gallicprovinces forming the coasts of the Ocean, making a parallel with a sixteen-hourlongest day; the next across the Hyperboreans and Britain, with a seventeen-hourday; the last the Scythian parallel from the Ripaean mountain-range to Thule, inwhich, as we said above, there are alternate periods of perpetual daylight andperpetual night.

The same authoritiesalso place two parallels before we made the starting point, the first runningthrough the island of Meroe and Ptolemy's Lodge built on the Red Sea for thesake of elephant-hunting, in which parallel the longest day will be 12½ hours,and the second passing through Syene in Egypt, with a 13-hour day; and they alsoadd half an hour to each of the parallels up to the last.

THE above is a description of the world, and of the lands, races, seas,important rivers, islands and cities that it contains.

The nature of the animals also contained in it is not less important than thestudy of almost any other department, albeit here too the human mind is notcapable of exploring the whole field.

The first place will rightly be assigned to man, for whose sake [great] Nature appears to have created all other thingsthongh she asks a cruel price for allher generous gifts, making it hardly possible to judge whether she has been morea kind parent to man or more a harsh stepmother. First of all, man alone of allanimals she drapes with borrowed resources. On all the rest in various wise shebestows coveringsshells, bark, spines, hides, fur, bristles, hair, down,feathers, scales, fleeces; even the trunks of trees she has protected againstcold and heat by bark, sometimes in two layers: but man alone on the day of hisbirth she casts away naked on the naked ground, to burst at once into wailing andweeping, and none other among all the animals is more prone to tears, and thatimmediately at the very beginning of life; whereas, I vow, the much-talked-ofsmile of infancy even at the earliest is bestowed on no child less than sixweeks old. This initiation into the light is followed by a period of bondagesuch as befalls not even the animals bred in our midst, fettering all his limbs;and thus when successfully born he lies with hands and feet in shackles,weepingthe animal that is to lord it over all the rest, and he initiates hislife with punishment because of one fault only, the offence of being born. Alasthe madness of those who think that from these beginnings they were bred toproud estate!

His earliest promise of strength and first grant of time makes him like afour-footed animal. When does man begin to walk? when to speak? when is hismouth firm enough to take food? how long does his skull throb, a mark of hisbeing the weakest among all animals? Then his diseases, and all the curescontrived against his illsthese cures also subsequently defeated by newdisorders! And the fact that all other creatures are aware of their own nature,some using speed, others swift flight, others swimming, whereas man alone knowsnothing save by educationneither how to speak nor how to walk nor who to eat;in short the only thing he can do by natural instinct is to weep! Consequentlythere have been many who believed that it were best not to be born, or to be putaway as soon as possible. On man alone of living creatures is bestowed grief, onhim alone luxury, and that in countless forms and reaching every separate partof his frame; he alone has ambition, avarice, immeasurable appetite for life,superstition, anxiety about burial and even about what will happen after he isno more. No creature's life is more precarious, none has a greater lust for allenjoyments, a more confused timidity, a fiercer rage. In fine, all other livingcreatures pass their time worthily among their own species: we see them herdtogether and stand firm against other kinds of animalsfierce lions do not fightamong themselves, the serpent's bite attacks not serpents, even the monsters ofthe sea and the fishes are only cruel against different species; whereas to man,I vow, most of his evils come from his fellowman.

I. And about the human race as a whole we have in large part spoken inour account of the various nations. Nor shall we now deal with mannersand customs, which are beyond counting and almost as numerous as the groups ofmankind; yet there are some that I think ought not to be omitted, and especiallythose of the people living more remote from the sea; some things among which Idoubt not will appear portentous and incredible to many. For who ever believedin the Ethiopians before actually seeing them? or what is not deemed miraculouswhen first it comes into knowledge? how many things are judged impossible beforethey actually occur? Indeed the power and majesty of the nature of the universeat every turn lacks credence if one's mind embraces parts of it only and not thewhole. Not to mention peacocks, or the spotted skins of tigers and panthers andthe colourings of so many animals, a small matter to tell of but one ofmeasureless extent if pondered on is the number of national languages anddialects and varieties of speech, so numerous that a foreigner scarcely countsas a human being for someone of another race! Again though our physiognomycontains ten features or only a few more, to think that among all the thousandsof human beings there exist no two countenances that are not distincta thingthat no art could supply by counterfeit in so small a number of specimens!Nevertheless in most instances of these I shall not myself pledge my own faith,and shall preferably ascribe the facts to the authorities who will be quoted forall doubtful points: only do not let us be too proud to follow the Greeks,because of their far greater industry or older devotion to study.

II. We have pointed out that some Scythian tribes, and in fact a goodmany, feed on human bodiesa statement that perhaps may seem incredible if we donot reflect that races of this portentous character have existed in the centralregion of the world, named Cyclopes and Laestrygones, and that quite recentlythe tribes of the parts beyond the Alps habitually practised human sacrifice,which is not far removed from eating human flesh. But also a tribe is reportednext to these, towards the North, not far from the actual quarter whence theNorth Wind rises and the cave that bears its name, the place called the Earth'sDoorboltthe Arimaspi whom we have spoken of already, people remarkable forhaving one eye in the centre of the forehead. Many authorities, the mostdistinguished beingHerodotus andAristeas of Proconnesus, write thatthese people wage continual war around their mines with the griffins, a kind ofwild beast with wings, as commonly reported, that digs gold out of mines, whichthe creatures guard and the Arimaspi try to take from them, both with remarkablecovetousness.

But beyond the other Scythian cannibals, in acertain large valley in the Himalayas, there is a region called Abarimon whereare some people dwelling in forests who have their feet turned backward behindtheir legs, who run extremely fast and range abroad over the country with thewild animals. It is stated by Baeton,Alexander the Great's route-surveyor onhis journeys, that these men are unable to breathe in another climate, and thatconsequently none of them could be brought to the neighbouring kings or had everbeen brought toAlexander. According to Isogonus of Nicaea the former cannibaltribes whom we stated to exist to the north, ten days' journey beyond the riverDnieper, drink out of human skulls and use the scalps with the hair on asnapkins hung round their necks. The same authority states that certain people inAlbania are born with keen grey eyes and are bald from childhood, and that theysee better by night than in the daytime. He also says that the Sauromatae,thirteen days' journey beyond the Dnieper, always take food once every two days.

Crates ofPergamum states that there was a race of men round Parium on the Dardanelles,whom he calls Ophiogenes, whose custom it was to cure snakebites by touch anddraw the poison out of the body by placing their hand on it.Varro says that there are still a fewpeople there whose spittle is a remedy against snakebites. According to thewritings of Agatharchides there was alsoa similar tribe in Africa, the Psylli, named after KingPsyllus, whose tomb is in the region ofthe greater Syrtes. In their bodies there was engendered a poison that wasdeadly to snakes, and the smell of which they employed for sending snakes tosleep, while they had a custom of exposing their children as soon as they wereborn to the most savage snakes and of using that species to test the fidelity oftheir wives, as snakes do not avoid persons born with adulterous blood in them.This tribe itself has been almost exterminated by the Nasamones who now occupythat region, but a tribe of men descended from those who had escaped or had beenabsent when the fighting took place survives today in a few places. A similarrace lingers on in Italy also, the Marsi, said to be descended from the son ofCirce and to possess this natural property on that account. However, all mencontain a poison available as a protection against snakes: people say thatsnakes flee from contact with saliva as from the touch of boiling water, andthat if it gets inside their throats they actually die; and that this isespecially the case with the saliva of a person fasting.

Beyond the Nasamones and adjacent to themCalliphanes records the Machlyes, whoare Adrogyni and perform the function of either sex alternately.Aristotle adds that their left breast isthat of a man and their right breast that of a woman.Isogonus andNymphodorus report that there arefamilies in the same part of Africa that practise sorcery, whose praises causemeadows to dry up, trees to wither and infants to perish. Isogonus adds thatthere are people of the same kind among the Triballi and the Illyrians, who alsobewitch with a glance and who kill those they stare at for a longer time,especially with a look of anger, and that their evil eye is most felt by adults;and that what is more remarkable is that they have two pupils in each eye.Apollonides also reports women of thiskind in Scythia, who are called the Bitiae, andPhylarchus also the Thibii tribe and many others of the same nature inPontus, whose distinguishing marks he records as being a double pupil in oneeye and the likeness of a horse in the other, and he also says that they areincapable of drowning, even when weighed down with clothing.Damon records a tribe not unlike thesein Ethiopia, the Pharmaces, whose sweat relieves of diseases bodies touched byit. Also among ourselvesCicero statesthat the glance of all women who have double pupils is injurious everywhere. Infact when nature implanted in man the wild beasts' habit of devouring humanflesh, she also thought fit to implant poisons in the whole of the body, andwith some persons in the eyes as well, so that there should be no evil anywherethat was not present in man.

There are a few families in the Faliscan territory, not far from the city ofRome, named the Hirpi, which at the yearly sacrifice to Apollo performed onMount Soracte walk over a charred pile of logs without being scorched, and whoconsequently enjoy exemption under a perpetual decree of the senate frommilitary service and all other burdens. Some people are born with parts of thebody possessing special remarkable properties, for instance King Pyrrhus in the great toe of his rightfoot, to touch which was a cure for inflammation of the spleen; it is recordedthat at his cremation it proved impossible to bum the toe with the rest of thebody, and it was stored in a chest in a temple.

India and parts of Ethiopia especially teem with marvels. The biggest animalsgrow in India: for instance Indian dogs are bigger than any others. Indeed thetrees are said to be so lofty that it is not possible to shoot an arrow overthem, and [the richness of the soil, temperate climate and abundance of springsbring it about] that, if one is willing to believe it, squadrons of cavalry areable to shelter beneath a single fig-tree; while it is said that reeds are ofsuch height that sometimes a single section between two knots will make a canoethat will carry three people. It is known that many of the inhabitants are morethan seven feet six inches high, never spit, do not suffer from headache ortoothache or pain in the eyes, and very rarely have a pain in any other part ofthe bodyso hardy are they made by the temperate heat of the sun; and that thesages of their race, whom they call Gymnosophists, stay standing from sunrise tosunset, gazing at the sun with eyes unmoving, and continue all day longstanding first on one foot and then on the other in the glowing sand. Megasthenes states that on the mountainnamed Nulus there are people with their feet turned backwards and with eighttoes on each foot, while on many of the mountains there is a tribe of humanbeings with dogs' heads, who wear a covering of wild beasts' skins, whose speechis a bark and who live on the produce of hunting and fowling, for which they usetheir nails as weapons; he says that they numbered more than 120,000 when hepublished his work. Ctesias writes thatalso among a certain race of India the women bear children only once in theirlifetime, and the children begin to turn grey directly after birth; he alsodescribes a tribe of men called the Monocolia who have only one leg, and whomove in jumps with surprising speed; the same are called the Umbrella-foottribe, because in the hotter weather they lie on their backs on the ground andprotect themselves with the shadow of their feet; and that they are not far awayfrom the Cave-dwellers; and again westward from these there are some peoplewithout necks, having their eyes in their shoulders. There are also satyrs[doubtless a kind of monkey] in the mountains in the east of India(it is called the district of the Catarcludi); this is an extremely swiftanimal, sometimes going on all fours and sometimes standing upright as theyrun, like human beings; because of their speed only the old ones or the sick arecaught. Tauron gives the name of Choromandae to a forest tribe that has nospeech but a horrible scream, hairy bodies, keen grey eyes and the teeth of adog.Eudoxus says that in the south ofIndia men have feet eighteen inches long and the women such small feet that theyare called Sparrowfeet.Megasthenestells of a race among the Nomads of India that has only holes in the place ofnostrils, like snakes, and bandy-legged; they are called the Sciritae. At theextreme boundary of India to the East, near the source of the Ganges, he putsthe Astomi tribe, that has no mouth and a body hairy all over; they dress incotton-wool and live only on the air they breathe and the scent they inhalethrough their nostrils; they have no food or drink except the different odoursof the roots and flowers and wild apples, which they carry with them on theirlonger journeys so as not to lack a supply of scent; he says they can easily bekilled by a rather stronger odour than usual. Beyond these in the most outlyingmountain region we are told of the Three-span men and Pygmies, who do not exceedthree spans,i.e. twenty-seven inches, in height; the climate is healthyand always spring-like, as it is protected on the north by a range of mountains;this tribeHomer has also recorded asbeing beset by cranes. It is reported that in springtime their entire band,mounted on the backs of rams and she-goats and armed with arrows, goes in a bodydown to the sea and eats the cranes eggs and chickens, and that this outingoccupies three months; and that otherwise they could not protect themselvesagainst the flocks of cranes that would grow up; and that their houses are madeof mud and feathers and eggshells. Aristotle says that the Pygmies live incaves, but in the rest of his statement about them he agrees with the otherauthorities. The Indian race of Cyrni according toIsigonus live to 140; and he holds thatthe same is true of the Long-lived Ethiopians, the Chinese and the inhabitantsof Mount Athosin the last case because of their diet of snakes' flesh, whichcauses their head and clothes to be free from creatures harmful to the body. Onesicritus says that in the parts ofIndia where there are no shadows there are men five cubits and two spans a high,and people live a hundred and thirty years, and do not grow old but diemiddle-aged.Crates of Pergamum tells ofIndians who exceed a hundred years, whom he calls Gymnetae, though many callthem Long-livers.Ctesias says that atribe among them called the Pandae, dwelling in the mountain valleys, live twohundred years, and have white hair in their youth that grows black in old age;whereas others do not exceed forty years, this tribe adjoining the Long-livers,whose women bear children only once.Agatharchides records this as well, and also that they live on locusts,and are very swift-footed.Clitarchusgave them the name of Mandi; andMegasthenesalso assigns them three hundred villages, and says that the women bear childrenat the age of seven and old age comes at forty.Artemidorus says that on the Island of Ceylon the people live very longlives without any loss of bodily activity.Duris says that some Indians have union with wild animals and theoffspring is of mixed race and half animal; that among the Calingi, a tribe ofthe same part of India, women conceive at the age of five and do not live morethan eight years, and that in another part men are born with a hairy tail andextremely swift, while others are entirely covered by their ears.

The river Arabis is the frontier between the Indians and the Oritae. These areacquainted with no other food but fish, which they cut to pieces with theirnails and roast in the sun and thus make bread out of them, as is recorded byClitarchus.Crates of Pergamum says that the Cavemenbeyond Ethiopia are swifter than horses; also that there are Ethiopians morethan twelve feet in height, and that this race is called the Syrbotae. The tribeof the Ethiopian nomads along the river Astragus towards the north called theMenismini is twenty days' journey from the Ocean; it lives on the milk of theanimals that we call dog-headed apes, herds of which it keeps in pastures,killing the males except for the purpose of breeding. In the deserts of Africaghosts of men suddenly meet the traveller and vanish in a moment.

These and similar varieties of the human race have been made by the ingenuity ofNature as toys for herself and marvels for us. And indeed who could possiblyrecount the various things she does every day and almost every hour? Let itsuffice for the disclosure of her power to have included whole races of mankindamong her marvels. From these we turn to a few admitted marvels in the case ofthe individual human being.

III. The birth of triplets is attested by the case of the Horatii andCuriatil; above that number is considered portentous, except in Egypt, wheredrinking the water of the Nile causes fecundity. Recently on the day of theobsequies of his late MajestyAugustus acertain woman of the lower orders named Fausta at Ostia was delivered of twomale and two female infants, which unquestionably portended the food shortagethat followed. We also find the case of a woman in the Peloponnese who fourtimes produced quintuplets, the greater number of each birth surviving. In EgyptalsoTrogus alleges cases of seveninfants born at a single birth.

Persons are also born of both sexes combinedwhat we call Hermaphrodites,formerly calledandrogyni and considered as portents, but now asentertainments.Pompey the Great amongthe decorations of his theatre placed images of celebrated marvels, made withspecial elaboration for the purpose by the talent of eminent artists; amongthem we read of Eutychis who at Tralles was carried to her funeral pyre bytwenty children and who had given birth 30 times, andAlcippe who gave birth to anelephantalthough it is true that the latter case ranks among portents, for oneof the first occurrences of the Marsian War was that a maidservant gave birthto a snake, and also monstrous births of various kinds are recorded among theominous things that happened.Claudius Caesarwrites that a hippo-centaur was born in Thessaly and died the same day; and inhis reign we actually saw one that was brought here for him from Egypt preservedin honey. One case is that of an infant at Saguntum which at once went back intothe womb, in the year [218 BC] in which that city was destroyed byHannibal.

IV. Transformation of females into males is not an idle story. We find intheAnnals that in the consulship [171 BC] of Publius Licinius Crassus andGaius Cassius Longinus a girl at Casinumwas changed into a boy, under the observation of the parents, and at the orderof the augurs was conveyed away to a desert island.Licinius Mucianus has recorded that hepersonally saw at Argos a man named Arescon who had been given the name ofArescusa and had actually married a husband, and then had grown a beard anddeveloped masculine attributes and had taken a wife; and that he had also seen aboy with the same record at Smyrna. I myself saw in Africa a person who hadturned into a male on the day of marriage to a husband; this wasLucius Constitius, a citizen ofThysdritum....(It is said that) at the birth of twins neither the mother nor morethan one of the two children usually lives, but that if twins are born that areof different sex it is even more unusual for either to be saved; that femalesare born more quickly than males, just as they grow older more quickly; and thatmovement in the womb is more frequent in the case of males, and males areusually carried on the right side, females on the left.

V. All the other animals have a fixed season both for copulation and forbearing offspring, but human reproduction takes place all the year round and theperiod of gestation variesin one case it may exceed six months, in anotherseven, and it may even exceed ten; a child born before the seventh month isusually still born. Only those conceived the day before or the day after fullmoon, or when there is no moon, are born in the seventh month. It is a commonthing in Egypt for children to be born even in the eighth month; and indeed inItaly also for such cases to live, contrary to the belief of old times. Thesematters vary in more ways also. Vistiliathe wife ofGlitius and subsequently ofPomponius and of Orfitius, citizens ofthe highest distinction, bore these husbands four children, in each case aftersix months' pregnancy, but subsequently gave birth toSuillius Rufus after ten months andCorbulo after sixboth of these becameconsulsand subsequently bore Caesonia,the consort of the EmperorGaius, afterseven months. Infants born in this number of months are weakest in health duringthe first six weeks, the mothers iu the fourth and eighth months of pregnancy;and abortions in these cases are fatal.Masurius states thatLucius Papiriusas praetor in a suit for an estate brought by an heir presumptive gave judgementfor the defendant; the plaintiff's case was that the heir apparent's mother saidthat he had been born after thirteen months' pregnancy, and the ground for thejudgement was that there appeared to be no fixed period ofpregnancy.

VI. On the tenth day from conception pains in the head, giddiness and dimsight, distaste for food, and vomiting are symptoms of the formation of theembryo. If the child is a male, the mother has a better colour and an easierdelivery; there is movement in the womb on the fortieth day. In a case of theother sex all the symptoms are the opposite: the burden is hard to carry, thereis a slight swelling of the legs and groin, but the first movement is on theninetieth day. But in the case of both sexes the greatest amount of faintnessoccurs when the embryo begins to grow hair; and also at the full moon,which period is also specially inimical to infants after birth. The gait inwalking and every thing that can be mentioned are so important during pregnancythat mothers eating food that is too salt bear children lacking nails, and thatnot holding the breath makes the delivery more difficult; indeed, to gape duringdelivery may cause death, just as a sneeze following copulation causes abortion.

VII. One feels pity and even shame in realizing how trivial is theorigin of the proudest of the animals, when the smell of lamps being put outusually causes abortion! These are the beginnings from which are born tyrantsand the pride that deals slaughter. You who put confidence in your bodilystrength, you who accept fortune's bounty and deem yourself not even hernurseling but her offspring, you whose thoughts are of empire, you who whenswelling with some success believe yourself a god, could you have been made awaywith so cheaply? and even today you can be more cheaply, from being bitten by asnake's tiny tooth, or even choked by a raisin-stone like the poet Anacreon, or by a single hair in adraught of milk, like the praetorFabiusSenator. Assuredly only he who always remembers how frail a thing man iswill weigh life in an impartial balance!

VIII. It is against nature to be born feet foremost; this is the reasonwhy the designation of 'Agrippa' has been applied to persons so bornmeaning'born with difficulty' [aegre partus]; MarcusAgrippa is said to have been born in this manner, almost the solitaryinstance of a successful career among all those so bornalthough he too isdeemed to have paid the penalty which his irregular birth foretold, by a youthmade unhappy by lameness, a lifetime passed amidst warfare and ever exposed tothe approach of death, by the misfortune caused to the world by his wholeprogeny but especially due to his two daughters a who became the mothers of theemperors Gaius Caligula andDomitius Nero, the two firebrands ofmankind; and also by the shortness of his life, as he was cut off at the age offifty during the agony caused him by his wife's adulteries and during hisirksome subjection to his father-in-lawAugustus.Nero also, who wasemperor shortly before and whose entire rule showed him the enemy of mankind, isstated in his motherAgrippina's memoirsto have been born feet first. It is Nature's method for a human being to be bornhead first, and it is the custom for him to be carried to burial feet first.

IX. It is a better omen when the mother dies in giving birth to thechild; instances are the birth of the elderScipio Africanus and of the first of the Caesars, who got that name fromthe surgical operation performed on his mother; the origin of the family name Caeso is also the same. AlsoManiliuswho entered Carthage with his army was born in the same manner.

X. The name Vopiscus used to be given to cases of a twin born after beingretained in the womb when the other twin had been killed by premature deliveryfor extremely remarkable though infrequent cases of this occur.

XI. Few animals except woman ever havesexual intercourse when pregnantat all events superfetation only occurs withanimals in very few cases. In the records of the medical profession and ofwriters who have been interested in collecting such occurrences, there is a caseof miscarriage in which twelve infants were stillborn at once. When, however, amoderate interval of time separates two conceptions, both may be successful, aswas seen in the instance of Hercules and his brother Iphicles and in the case ofthe woman who bore twins of whom one resembled her husband and the other anadulterer; and also in that of the maidservant ofMarmara who, as a result of intercourseon the same day, bore one twin resembling her master and another resembling hissteward, and that of another woman who bore one twin at the proper period andthe other a five-months' child, and again of another who after bearing a sevenmonths' child was delivered of twins three months later.

It is also well known that sound parents may have deformed children and deformedparents sound children or children with the same deformity, as the case may be;that some marks and moles and even scars reappear in the offspring, in somecases a birth-mark on the arm reappearing in the fourth generation

XII. (we are told that in the Lepidus family three children were born,though not all in succession, with a membrane over the eyes); and indeed thatother children have resembled their grandfather, and that also there has been acase of twins of which one resembled the father and the other the mother, andone of a child who resembled his brother like a twin although born a year later.Also that some women always bear children like themselves, some bear childrenlike their husbands, some children with no family likeness, some a female childlike its father and a male child like themselves. One unquestioned instance isthat of the famous boxerNicaeus, bornat Istamboul, whose mother was the offspring of adultery with an Ethiopian buthad a complexion no different from that of other women, whereasNicaeus himself reproduced his Ethiopiangrandfather.

Cases of likeness are indeed an extremely wide subject, and one which includesthe belief that a great many accidental circumstances areinfluentialrecollections of sights and sounds and actual sense-impressionsreceived at the time of conception. Also a thought suddenly flitting across themind of either parent is supposed to produce likeness or to cause a combinationof features, and the reason why there are more differences in man than in allthe other animals is that his swiftness of thought and quickness of mind andvariety of mental character impress a great diversity of patterns, whereas theminds of the other animals are sluggish, and are alike for all and sundry, eachin their own kind. A man of low station named Artemo so closely resembledAntiochus[III, 223-187 BC], king of Syria, that the royal consortLaodice after she had murderedAntiochus successfully made use of himto stage a play of her being recommended for succession to the throne.Pompey the Great had two doubles almostindistinguishable from him in appearance, a plebeian named Vibius and onePublieius who was actually a liberatedslave, both of whom reproduced that noble countenance and the actual dignity ofhis magnificent brow. A similar resemblance was the reason that saddledPompey's father also with the surname Menogenes, that being the name of hiscook, when he already had the surnameStrabo[cross-eyed] from the appearance of his eyes, which actually copied a defect inhis slave; and aScipio received thesurnameSerapio in a similar way,Serapio being a low chattel belonging toa dealer in hogs. AnotherScipio of alater generation received his name from an actorSalutio, just asSpinther andPamphilus who played second and thirdroles respectively gave their names to the colleagues in the consulship Lentulus andMetellus, a situation which also (mostinappropriately) resulted incidentally in the counterfeit presentations of twoconsuls being seen on the stage at once. Vice versa,Lucius Plancus an orator gave a surnameto a playerRubrius, whereasBurbuleius gave his name toCurio senior and likewise Menogenes to the former censorMessala, both alike being actors. Afisherman in Sicily not only resembled the proconsulSara in appearance but actuallyreproduced his gape while speaking and his tongue-tied stammering utterance. Thefamous oratorCassius Severus wastaunted for his likeness to the gladiatorArmentarius. Recently in the household of Annaeus people used to mistakeGallio for the freedmanCastellanus and the senatorAgrippinus for the actorSannius, surnamedParis. The slave-dealerToranius sold toAntony after he had become one of thetriumvirate two exceptionally handsome boys, who were so identically alike thathe passed them off as twins, although one was a native of Asia and the other ofa district North of the Alps. Later the boys' speech disclosed the fraud, and aprotest was made to the dealer by the wrathfulAntony, who complained especially about the large amount of the price (hehad bought them for 200,000 sesterces); but the crafty dealer replied that thething protested about was precisely the cause of his having charged so much,because there was nothing remarkable in a likeness between any pair of twinbrothers, whereas (he said) to find natives of different races so preciselyalike in appearance was something above all appraisal; and this produced inAntony so convenient a feeling ofadmiration that the great inflictor of outlawry, who had just been in a fury ofthreats and abuse, considered that no other property that he possessed was moresuited to his station!

XIII. Particular individuals may have acertain physical incongruity between them, and persons whose union is infertilemay have children when they form other connexionsfor instanceAugustus and Livia, and similarly others. Also somewomen have only female or only male children, though usually the sexes comealternatelyfor instance in the case of the mother of the Gracchi this occurredtwelve times, and in that ofGermanicus'swifeAgrippina nine times; some womenare childless in youth; on some parentage is bestowed once in a lifetime;certain women are always delivered prematurely, and those of this class, if everthey succeed in overcoming this tendency by the use of drugs, usually bear afemale child. One of the many exceptional circumstances connected with his lateMajestyAugustus is that he lived to seehis daughter's grandson,Marcus Silanus,who was born in the year of his death;Silanus,after succeeding the emperorNero asconsul, held the province of Asia, and during his officeNero despatched him by poison.Quintus Metellus Macedonicus, leavingsix children, left eleven grandchildren, but including daughters-in-law andsons-in-law the total of those who greeted him by the title of father wastwenty-seven. In the annals of the period of his late MajestyAugustus is found a statement that inhis twelfth consnlship, [4 BC] whenLuciusSulla was his colleague, on the 9th April a freeman of humble station atFiesole namedGaius Crispinius Hilaruswent in procession preceded by eight children, including two daughters,twenty-seven grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren, and eightgranddaughters by marriage, and with all of these in attendance offeredsacrifice on the Capitol.

XIV. A woman does not bear children after the age of fifty, and with themajority menstruation ceases at 40. As for the case of men, it is well knownthat King Masinissa begot a son whenover 86, whom he calledMethimannus, andCato the ex-censor had a son by thedaughter of his clientSalonius when hewas 81: this is the reason why this branch of his family bears the surname ofSalonianus, although that of the otherbranch isLicinianus;Cato of Utica belonged to the Salonianbranch. Recently alsoLucius VolusinsSaturninus, who died while holding the office of City Praefect, is knownto have had a son, byCornelia of theScipio family, born after he was 62,VolusiusSaturninus, who was consul. Parentage even up to the age of 75 iscommonly found in the lower classes.

XV. Woman is, however, the only animal that has monthly periods;consequently she alone has what are called moles in her womb. This mole is ashapeless and inanimate mass of flesh that resists the point and the edge of aknife; it moves about, and it checks menstruation, as it also checks births: insome cases causing death, in others growing old with the patient, sometimes whenthe bowels are violently moved being ejected. A similar object is also formed inthe stomach of males, called a tumour, as in the case of the praetorian Oppius Gapito. But nothing could easilybe found that is more remarkable than the monthly flux of women. Contact with itturns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seeds ingardens are dried up, the fruit of trees falls off, the brightsurface of mirrors in which it is merely reflected is dimmed, the edge of steeland the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bees die, even bronze and iron areat once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills the air; to taste it drivesdogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison. Moreover bitumen, asubstance generally sticky and viscous, that at a certain season of the yearfloats on the surface of the lake of Judaea called the Asphalt Pool [Dead Sea],adheres to everything touching it, and cannot be drawn asunder except by athread soaked in the poisonous fluid in question. Even that very tiny creaturethe ant is said to be sensitive to it, and throws away grains of corn that tasteof it and does not touch them again. Not only does this pernicious mischiefoccur in a woman every month, but it comes in larger quantity every threemonths; and in some cases it comes more frequently than once a month, just as incertain women it never occurs at all. The latter, however, do not have children,since the substance in question is the material for human generation, as thesemen from the males acting like rennet collects this substance within it, whichthereupon immediately is inspired with life and endowed with body. Hence whenthis flux occurs with women heavy with child, the offspring is sickly orstill-born orsanious, according toNigidius.

XVI. (The same writer holds that a woman's milk does not go bad while sheis suckling a baby if she has become pregnant again from the same male.) It isstated, however, that the easiest conceptions are when this condition isbeginning or ceasing. We have it recorded as a sure sign of fertility in womenif when the eyes have been anointed with a drug the saliva contains traces ofit.

Moreover, it is known that children cut their first teeth when six months old,the upper ones mostly coming first, and that the first teeth fall out andare replaced by others when they are six years old; and that some children areborn having teethtwo distinguished instances are Manius Curius, who received the surnameDentatus in consequence, andGnaeus Papirius Carbo. In the regalperiod this occurrence was considered a sign of bad luck in females;Valeria was born with teeth, and thesoothsayers in reply to inquiry prophesied that she would bring disaster to anycommunity to which she was taken; she was deported to Suessa Pometia, at thatperiod a very flourishing place, the eventual result verifying the oracle. (Somefemales are born with the genitals closed; this is proved by the ease ofCornelia the mother of the Graechi to bea sign of bad luck.) Some infants are born with a ridge of bone instead ofteeth; this was the case as regards the upper jaw with the son ofPrusias, King of Bithynia. The teeth areso far indestructible by fire as not to burn when the rest of the body iscremated, but although they resist fire they are corroded by a morbid state ofthe saliva. A certain drug gives them whiteness. Use wears them down, and insome people they decay much before this. Nor are they only necessary for foodand nourishment, as the front teeth regulate the voice and speech, meeting theimpact of the tongue with a kind of harmony, and according to their regularityof arrangement and size clipping or modulating or else dulling the words, andwhen they are lost preventing all clear articulation. Moreover this part of thebody is believed to possess prophetic powers. Males (excepting the Turdulitribe) have 32 teeth; there have been cases of men with morethis is thought toforetell a longer term of life. Women have fewer; with them two dogteeth on theright side of the upper jaw are a promise of fortune's favours, as in the caseof Domitius Nero's motherAgrippina; on the left side theopposite.(It is the universal custom of mankind not to cremate a person whodies before cutting his teeth.)But more of this later when our researches gothrough the parts of the body seriatim.

It is recorded of only one person,Zoroaster,that he laughed on the same day on which he was born, and also that hisbrain throbbed so violently as to dislodge a hand placed on his headthisforetelling his future knowledge.

It is known that at the age of three a person's measurement is half his futurestature. But it is almost a matter of observation that with the entire humanrace the stature on the whole is becoming smaller daily, and that few men aretaller than their fathers, as the conflagration that is the crisis towards whichthe age is now verging is exhausting the fertility of the semen. When a mountainin Crete was cleft by an earthquake a body 69 feet in height was found, whichsome people thought must be that of Orion and others of Otus. The recordsattest that the body ofOrestes dug upat the command of an oracle measured l0 ft. 6 in. Moreover, the famous bardHomer nearly 1000 years ago never ceasedto lament that mortals were smaller of stature than in he old days. In the caseofNaevius Pollio the annals do notrecord his height, but they show that was deemed portentous, because he wasalmost killed by the people flocking round him. The tallest person our age hasseen was a man namedGabbara broughtfrom Arabia in the principate of his late MajestyClaudius who was 9 ft. 9 in. in height.Under his late MajestyAugustus therewere two persons 6 in. taller, whose bodies on account of this remarkable heightwere preserved in the tomb inSallust'sGardens; their names werePusio andSecundilla. When the same emperor washead of the state the smallest person was a dwarf 2 ft. 5 in. high namedConopas, the pet of his granddaughterJulia, and the smallest female wasAndromeda, a freed-woman ofJulia Augusta.Marcus Varro states that the Knights ofRomeManius Maximus andMarcus Tullius were 3 ft. high, and wehave ourselves men their bodies preserved in coffins. It is a matter of commonknowledge that persons are born 18 in. high and some taller, who complete theirlife's course at the age of three.

We find in the records that at Salamis the son ofEuthymenes grew to 4 ft. 6 in. in histhird year; he walked slowly, was dull of sense, became sexually quite mature,had a bass voice, and was carried off by a sudden attack of paralysis when heturned three. We ourselves recently saw almost all these features except sexualmaturity in a son of the Knight of RomeCornelius Tacitus, Deputy Finance Minister in Belgic Gaul. The Greekscall these cases 'perverts,' but in the Latin country there is no name for them.

XVII. It has been noticed that a man's height from head to foot isequal to his full span measured from the tips of the middle fingers;likewise that the right-hand side of the frame is the stronger, though in somecases both sides are equally strong and there are people whose left side is thestronger, though this is never the case with women; and that males are theheavier; and that the bodies of all creatures are heavier when dead than whenalive, and when asleep than when awake; and that men's corpses float on theirbacks, but women's on their faces, as if nature spared their modesty afterdeath.

XVIII. Cases are recorded of persons living whose bones were solid andwithout marrow; and we are told that their distinguishing mark isinsensibility to thirst and absence of perspiration, although we know thatthirst can also be subdued by the will, and that a Knight of Rome of the alliedtribe of the Vocontil namedJulius Viator,suffering from dropsy when a minor, was forbidden liquid by the doctors andhabituated himself to defeat nature, going without drink till old age. Moreoverother persons also have exercised many kinds of self-control.

XIX. It is stated that Crassusthe grandfather ofCrassus who fell inParthia never laughed, and was consequently called Agelastus, and thatlikewise there have been many cases of people who never wept, and that thefamous philosopher Socrates always wore the same look on his countenance, nevergayer and never more perturbed. This temperament sometimes develops into a kindof rigidity and a hard, unbending severity of nature, and takes away theemotions natural to humanity; persons of this sort are called 'apathetic' bythe Greeks, who have known many men of the kind, and among them surprising tosay, chiefly founders of schools of philosophy,Diogenes the Cynic, Pyrrho, Herachtus,Timothe last indeed going as far as to hate the whole human race. Butthese small peculiarities of nature are known to occur variously in manypersons, for instance in the case of Drusus'sdaughterAntonia never spitting, in thepoet and ex-consulPomponius neverbelching. Persons whose bones are by nature solid, a rather rare class, arecalled 'horny.'

XX.Varro in his account of casesof remarkable strength records that one Tritanus, famous in the gladiatorial exercise with the Samnite equipment,was slightly built but of exceptional strength, and that his son, a soldier ofPompey the Great, had a chequeredcrisscross of sinews all over his body, even in his arms and hands; andmoreover that once he challenged one of the enemy to single combat, defeated himwithout a weapon in his hand, and finally took hold of him with a single fingerand carried him off to the camp. Vinnius Valensserved as captain in the Imperial Guard of the late lamentedAugustus; he was in the habit of holdingcarts laden with wine-sacks up in the air until they were emptied, and ofcatching hold of wagons with one hand and stopping them by throwing his weightagainst the efforts of the teams drawing them, and doing other marvellousexploits which can be seen carved on his monument. Marcus Varro likewise states: 'Rusticelius, who was nicknamed Hercules, used to lift his mule; Fufius Salviusused to walk up a ladder with two hundred pound weights fastened to his feet,the same weights in his hands and two two-hundred-pound weights on hisshoulders.' We also saw a man namedAthanatus,who was capable of a miraculous display: he walked across the stage wearing aleaden breast-plate weighing 500 pounds and shod in boots of 500 pounds' weight.When the athleteMilo took a firm stand,no one could make him shift his footing, and when he was holding an apple no onecould make him straighten out a finger.

Phidippides's running the 130 miles fromAthens to Sparta in two days was a mighty feat, until the Spartan runnerAnystis andAlexander the Great's courierPhilonides ran the 148 miles from Sicyonto This in a day. At the present day indeed we are aware that some men can lastout 128 miles in the circus, and that recently in the consulship ofFonteius andVipstanus a boy of 8 ran 68 milesbetween noon and evening. The marvellous nature of this feat will only getacross to us in full measure if we reflect thatTiberius Nero completed by carriage the longest twenty-four hours'journey on record when hastening to Germany to his brotherDrusus who was ill: this measured 182miles.

XXI. Keenness of sight has achieved instances transcending belief in thehighest degree.Cicero recordsthat a parchment copy ofHomer's poemThe Iliad was enclosed in a nutshell.He also records a case of a man who could see 123 miles.Marcus Varro also gives this man's name,which wasStrabo, and states that in thePunic wars he was in the habit of telling from the promontory of Lilybaeum inSicily the actual number of ships in a fleet that was passing out from theharbour of Carthage.Callicrates used tomake such small ivory models of ants and other creatures that to anybody elsetheir parts were invisible. A certainMyrmecides won fame in the same department by making a four-horse chariotof the same material that a fly's wings would cover, and a ship that a tiny beecould conceal with its wings.

XXII. There is one marvellous instance of the transmission of a spokenmessage: the battle that resulted in the destruction of Sybaris was heard of atOlympia on the day on which it was fought. For the messengers who brought newsof the victory over the Cimbri and the brothers Castor who reported thevictory over Perseus to the Romans on the very day on which it happenedwere visions and warnings sent by the divine powers.

XXIII. Bodily endurance, so fertile of disasters is fate, has producedcountless examples, the most famous in the case of women being that of theharlot Leaena who on the rack refused tobetray the tyrannicidesHarmodius andAristogiton, and among men that ofAnaxarchus, who when being tortured fora similar reason bit off his tongue and spat the only hope of betrayal in thetyrant's face.

XXIV. As to memory, the boon most necessary for life, it is noteasy to say who most excelled in it, so morning. many men having gainedrenown for it. KingCyrus could givetheir names to all the soldiers in his army, Lucius Scipio knew the names of the whole Roman people, KingPyrrhus's envoyCineas knew those of the senate andknighthood at Rome the day after his arrival.Mithridates who was king of twenty-two races gave judgements in as manylanguages, in an assembly addressing each race in turn without an interpreter. Aperson in Greece namedCharmadas recitedthe contents of any volumes in libraries that anyone asked him to quote, just asif he were reading them. Finally, amemoria technica was constructed,which was invented by the lyric poetSimonidesand perfected byMetrodorus of Seepsis,enabling anything heard to be repeated in the identical words. Also no otherhuman faculty is equally fragile: injuries from, and even apprehensions of,diseases and accident may affect in some cases a single field of memory and inothers the whole. A man has been known when struck by a stone to forget how toread and write but nothing else. One who fell from a very high roof forgot hismother and his relatives and friends, another when ill forgot his servants also;the orator Messala Corvinus forgot hisown name. Similarly tentative and hesitating lapses of memory often occur whenthe body even when uninjured is in repose; also the gradual approach of sleepcurtails the memory and makes the unoccupied mind wonder where it is.

XXV. The most outstanding instance ofinnate mental vigour I take to be the dictatorCaesar; and I am not now thinking of valour and resolution, nor of aloftiness embracing all the contents of the firmament of heaven, but of nativevigour and quickness winged as it were with fire. We are told that he used towrite or read and dictate or listen simultaneously, and to dictate to hissecretaries four letters at once on his important affairsor, if otherwiseunoccupied, seven letters at once. He also fought fifty pitched battles, andalone beat the record ofMarcus Marcelluswho fought thirty-ninefor I would not myself count it to his glory that inaddition to conquering his fellow-citizens he killed in his battles 1,192,000human beings, a prodigious even if unavoidable wrong indicted on the human race,as he himself confessed it to be by not publishing the casualties of the civilwars.

It would be more just to creditPompey the Great with the 846 ships thathe captured from the pirates; while toCaesarlet us assign, in addition to the facts mentioned above, the peculiardistinction of the clemency in which (even to the point of subsequent regret) hesurpassed all men; also he afforded an example of magnanimity that no other canparallel. For while to count under this head the shows that he gave and thewealth that he squandered, or the magnificence of his public works, woulddisplay indulgence to luxury, it showed the genuine and unrivalled sublimity ofan unconquered spirit that, whenPompey theGreat's despatch cases were captured at Pharsalia and again those ofScipio at Thapsus, he scrupulously burntthem and did not read them.

XXVI. But it concerns the glory of the Roman Empire, and not that of oneman, to mention in this place all the records of the victories ofPompey the Great and all his triumphs,which equal the brilliance of the exploits not only ofAlexander the Great but even almost ofHercules and Father Liber. Well then, after the recovery of Sicily, whichinaugurated his emergence as a champion of the commonwealth in the party ofSulla, and after the conquest of thewhole of Africa and its reduction under our sway, and the acquirement as atrophy therefrom of the title of The Great, he rode back in a triumphalchariot though only of equestrian rank, a thing which had never occurred before;and immediately afterwards he crossed over to the West, and after erectingtrophies in the Pyrenees he added to the record of his victorious career thereduction under our sway of 876 towns from the Alps to the frontiers of FurtherSpain, and with greater magnanimity refrained from mentioning Sertorius, andafter crushing the civil war which threatened to stir up all our foreignrelations, a second time led into Rome a procession of triumphal chariots as aKnight, having twice been commander-in-chief before having ever served in theranks. Subsequently he was despatched to the whole of the seas and then to thefar east, and he brought back titles without limit for his country, after themanner of those who conquer in the sacred contests before these are not crownedwith wreaths themselves but crown their native land; consequently he bestowedthese honours on the city in the shrine of Minerva that he was dedicating out ofthe proceeds of the spoils of war:

This is his summary of his exploits in the east. But the announcement of thetriumphal procession that he led on September 28 in the consulship ofMarcus Piso andMarcus Messala was as follows:

The crowning pinnacle of this glorious record was (as he himself declared inassembly when discoursing on his achievements) to have found Asia the remotestof the provinces and then to have made her a central dominion of his country. Ifanybody on the other side desires to review in similar manner the achievementsofCaesar, who showed himself greaterthanPompey, he must assuredly roll offthe entire world, and this it will be agreed is a task without limit.

XXVII. There have been various and numerous cases of eminence in theother kinds of excellence.Catothe first of that name in the Gens Porcia is deemed to have exemplifiedthe three supreme human achievements, excelling alike as orator, as general andas senator; all of which distinctions seem to me to have been achieved thoughnot previously yet with greater brilliance in the case ofScipio Aemilianus, and that moreoverwithout the very wide unpopularity that handicappedCato. So it may be counted anexceptional fact aboutCato that he tookpart in forty-four actions at law and was sued more frequently than anybody elseand always acquitted.

XXVIII. What person has possessed the most outstanding courage is asubject of unending enquiry, at all events if the legendary testimony of poetrybe accepted.Quintus Ennius had aparticular admiration forTitus CaeciliusTeucer and his brother, adding Book XVI to hisAnnals on their account. Lucius Siccius Dentatus, Tribune of thePlebs in the consulship ofSpurius TarpeiusandAulus Aternius not long after theexpulsion of the kings, scores an exceedingly large number of votes, as havingfought in 120 battles, been challenged to and having won eight single combats,and having the distinction of 45 scars in front and none at all on his back. Healso captured spoils 34 times, had bestowed upon him 18 spear-shafts,25 breast-badges, 83 necklets, 160 bracelets, 26 crowns (including 14 civiccrowns, eight of gold, three mural crowns, one siege-rescue crown), a bag ofmoney, ten prisoners of war and with them 20 cows; also he followed in thetriumphs of nine generals whose victories were chiefly due to his aid, and inadditionand this in my opinion is his finest achievementprocured theconviction in the People's Court at the termination of his consulship of one ofhis leadersTitus Romilius on the chargeof maladministration of his office. The military distinctions of Capitolinuswould be not inferior, if he had not cancelled them by the conclusion of hiscareer. He had twice captured enemy's spoils before he was seventeen years old;he had been the first of any one to receive a mural crown as a Knight, as wellas six civic crowns and 37 gifts; he had received 23 wounds on the front of hisbody; he had rescued Publius ServiliusMaster of the Horse, when himself wounded in the shoulder and thigh; above allhe had alone saved the Capitol and the fortunes of the state therein from theGaulsif only he had not saved it to make himself king.

But, although these cases exhibit great achievements of valour, yet they involvestill greater achievements of fortune; whereas nobody, in my judgement atall events, can rightly rank any human being aboveMarcus Sergius, albeit hisgreat-grandsonCatiline diminishes thecredit of his name.Sergius in hissecond campaign lost his right hand; in two campaigns he was woundedtwenty-three times, with the result that he was crippled in both hands and bothfeet, only his spirit being intact; yet although disabled, he served in numeroussubsequent campaigns. He was twice taken prisoner byHannibal (for it was with no ordinaryfoe that he was engaged), and twice escaped fromHannibal's fetters, although he was keptin chains or shackles on every single day for twenty months. He fought fourtimes with only his left hand, having two horses he was riding stabbed underhim. He had a right hand of iron made for him and going into action with it tiedto his arm, raised the siege of Cremona, saved Piacenza, captured twelve enemycamps in Gaul: all of which exploits are testified by his speech deliveredduring his praetorship when his colleagues wanted to debar him from thesacrifices as infirma man who with a different foe would have accumulated whatpiles of wreaths! inasmuch as it makes the greatest difference with what periodof history a particular man's valour happens to coincide. What civic wreathswere bestowed by Trebbia or Ticino or Trasimeno? what crown was won at Cannae,where successful flight was valour's highest exploit? All other victors trulyhave conquered men, butSergiusvanquished fortune also.

XXIX. Who could make an honours class-list of geniuses, ranging throughall the kinds of systems and all the varieties of subject and of treatment?unless perhaps it is agreed that no genius has ever existed who was moresuccessful thanHomer the bard ofGreece, whether he be judged by the form or by the matter of his work.ConsequentlyAlexander the Greatfor solordly an assessment will be effected best and least invidiously by the mostsupreme tribunalswhen among the booty won from the Persian KingDarius there was a case of unguents madeof gold and enriched with pearls and precious stones, and when his friendspointed out the various uses to which it could be put, since a warrior soiledwith warfare had no use for perfume, said, 'No, by Hercules, rather let it beassigned to keeping the works ofHomer'sothat the most precious achievement of the mind of man might be preserved in therichest possible product of the craftsman's art.Alexander also gave orders at the sackof Thebes for the household and home of the poet Pindar to be spared; and he felt thenative place of the philosopherAristotleto be his own, and blended that evidence of kindliness with all the glory of hisexploits. Apollo at Delphi exposed the murderers of the poet Archilochus. WhenSophocles the prince of the tragicbuskin died [406 BC] Father Liber gave orders for his burial though the Spartanswere besieging the city walls, the Spartan kingLysander receiving frequent admonitions in dreams 'to permit theinterment of the darling of the god.' The king enquired what persons had expiredat Athens and had no difficulty in understanding which among them the god meant, and he granted an armistice for the funeral.

XXX. The tyrantDionysius, whowas in other matters by nature given to cruelty and pride, sent a shipdecked with garlands to meet Plato the high priest of wisdom, andas he disembarked received him at the coast in person, in a chariot with fourwhite horses. Isocrates sold a single speech for 20 talents. The eminentAthenian orator Aeschines, afterreading to the citizens of Rhodes the speech that he had made inprosecuting, also read Demosthenes'sspeech in defence that had driven him into exile at Rhodes, and on theirexpressing admiration said hat they would have admired it even more on theactual occasion, if they had heard the orator himself: thus his disasterconstituted him a powerful witness for his enemy's case.Thucydides as military commander wassentenced to exile by the Athenians but as historian was recalled: they admiredthe eloquence of a man whose valour they had condemned. High testimony was alsoborn to Menander's eminence in comedy bythe kings of Egypt and Macedon when they sent a fleet and an embassy to fetchhim, but higher testimony was derived from himself by his preferment of theconsciousness of literary merit to royal fortune.

Roman leaders also have borne witness even to foreigners. At the conclusion ofthe war withMithridatesGnaeus Pompey when going to enter theabode of the famous professor of philosophyPosidonius forbade his retainer to knock on the door in the customarymanner, and the subduer of the East and of the West dipped his standard to theportals of learning.Cato the censor, onthe occasion when the famous embassy of the three leaders of philosophy was sentfrom Athens, after hearingCarneadesadvised that these envoys should be sent away as soon as possible, because whenCarneades was discoursing it wasdifficult to distinguish where the truth lay. What a complete change of fashion!TheCato in question always on otheroccasions recommended the total banishment of Greeks from Italy, whereas hisgreat-grandsonCato of Utica broughthome one from his military tribunate and another from his mission to Cyprus; andof the two Catos the former has the distinction of having banished and the otherof having introduced the same language.

But let us also pass in review the glory of our own countrymen. The elderAfricanus gave orders for a statue ofQuintus Ennius to be placed on his owntomb, and for that famous name, or rather trophy of war won from a third part ofthe world, to be read above his last ashes together with the memorial of a poet.His late MajestyAugustus overrode themodesty ofVirgil's will and forbade theburning of his poems, and thus the bard achieved a stronger testimony than if hehad commended his own works himself. In the library founded at Rome byAsinius Pollio, the earliest library inthe world established out of the spoils of war, the only statue of a livingperson erected was that ofMarcus Varro,the bestowal by a leading orator and citizen of this crowning honour on one onlyout of the multitude of men of genius then existing constituting no less adistinction, in my own opinion, than whenPompey the Great gave to that sameVarroa naval crown for his conduct in the war with the pirates. There is a countlessseries of Roman examples, if one chose to pursue them, since a single race hasproduced more men of distinction in every branch whatever than the whole of theother countries. But what excuse could I have for omitting mention of you,Marcus Tullius? or by what distinctivemark can I advertise your superlative excellence? by what in preference to themost honourable testimony of that whole nation's decree, selecting out of yourentire life only the achievements of your consulship? Your oratoryinduced the tribes to discard the agrarian law, that is, their ownlivelihood; your advice led them to forgive Roscius the proposer of the law asto the theatre, and to tolerate with equanimity the mark put upon them by adistinction of seating; your entreaty made the children of the men sentenced toproscription ashamed to stand for office; your genius droveCatiline to flight; you proscribedMark Antony. Hail, first recipient ofthe title of Father of the Country, first winner of a civilian triumph and of awreath of honour for oratory, and parent of eloquence and of Latium's letters;and (as your former foe, the dictatorCaesar,wrote of you) winner of a greater laurel wreath than that of any triumph,inasmuch as it is a greater thing to have advanced so far the frontiers of theRoman genius than the frontiers of Rome's empire.

XXXI. Persons who have surpassed the rest of mortal kind in the remaininggifts of the mind are: in wisdom, the people who on this account won atRome the surnames of Wise and Sage, and in GreeceSocrates, whom Pythian Apollo's oracleplaced before all other men.

XXXII. Again, partnership with the oracles was bestowed by mortals on theSpartan Chilo, by canonizing in lettersof gold at Delphi his three precepts, which are these: Know thyself; Desirenothing too much; The comrade of debt and litigation is misery.Moreover when he expired from joy on his son's being victorious at Olympia, thewhole of Greece followed in his funeral procession.

XXXIII. The most famous instances of the gift of divination and so tospeak communion with the heavenly beings are, among women, theSibyl, and among men, Melampus in Greece andMarcius at Rome.

XXXIV.Scipio Nasica was judgedby the verdict of the senate on oath to be once for all the noblest man sincethe foundation of time, although he was twice branded by the nation with defeatwhen a candidate for office. At the end he was not permitted to die in hisnative land, any more in truth than the greatSocrates, whom Apollo judged to be the wisest of mankind, was allowed todie freed from fetters.

XXXV. The first case of a woman judged by the vote of the matrons to bethe most modest was Sulpicia, a daughterofPaterculus and wife ofFulvius Flaccus, who was elected from apreviously chosen list of 100 to dedicate the image of Venus in accordance withtheSibylline books; and on a secondoccasion, by the test of religion,Claudia,when the Mother of the Gods was brought to Rome.

XXXVI. Of filial affection there have it is true been unlimited instancesall over the world, but one at Rome with which the whole of the rest could notcompare. A plebeian woman of low position and therefore unknown, who had justgiven birth to a child, had permission to visit her mother who had been shut upin prison as a punishment, and was always searched in advance by the doorkeeperto prevent her carrying in any food; she was detected giving her mothersustenance from her own breasts. In consequence of this marvel the daughter'spious affection was rewarded by the mother's release and both were awardedmaintenance for life; and the place where it occurred was consecrated to theGoddess concerned, a temple dedicated to Filial Affection being built on thesite of the prison, where the Theatre of Marcellus now stands, in the consulshipof Gaius Quinctius andManius Acilius. In the house of thefather of the Gracchi two snakes were caught, and in reply to enquiry an oracledeclared that he himself would live if the snake of the other sex were killed;"No," said he, "kill my snake:Corneliais young and still able to bear children." This meant, to spare his wife andthink of the public interest; and the result prophesied soon followed.Marcus Lepidus after divorcing his wifeAppuleia died for love of her.Publius Rutilius when suffering from aslight illness received news of his brother's defeat in his candidature for theconsulship, and at once expired. PubliusCatienus Philotimus loved his patron so dearly that he threw himself uponhis funeral pyre, although left heir to the whole of his property.

XXXVII. The people who have achieved distinction in the knowledge of thevarious sciences are innumerable, but nevertheless they must be touched on whenwe are culling the flower of mankind: in astronomy,Berosus, to whom on account of hismarvellous predictions Athens officially erected in he exercising ground astatue with a gilt tongue; philology,Apollodorus, whom the Amphictyons of Greece honoured; in medicine,Hippocrates, who foretold a plague thatwas coming from Illyria and despatched his pupils round the cities to renderassistance, in return for which service Greece voted him the honours that itgave to Hercules. The same knowledge in the case ofCleombrotus of Ceos was rewarded by KingPtolemy at the Megalensian Festival with100 talents, after he had saved the life of KingAntiochus.Critobulus also has a great reputationfor having extracted an arrow from KingPhilip's eye, and having treated his loss of sight without causingdisfigurement of his face; but the highest reputation belongs toAsclepiades of Prusa, for having foundeda new school, despised the envoys and overtures of KingMithridates, discovered a method ofpreparing medicated wine for the sick, brought back a man from burial and savedhis life, but most of all for having made a wager with fortune that he shouldnot be deemed a physician if he were ever in any way ill himself: and he won hisbet, as he lost his life in extreme old age by falling downstairs.

Archimedesalso received striking testimony to his knowledge of geometry and mechanics fromMarcus Marcellus, who at the capture ofSyracuse forbade violence to be done to him onlyhad not the ignorance of asoldier foiled the command. Others who won praise were Chersiphron of Gnossus who constructedthe wonderful temple of Diana at Ephesus,Philowho made a dockyard for 400 ships at Athens,Ctesibius who discovered the theory of the pneumatic pump and inventedhydraulic engines,Dinochares who actedas surveyor forAlexander when foundingAlexandria in Egypt. This ruler also issued a proclamation that onlyApelles should paint his picture, onlyPyrgoteles sculpture his statue, andonlyLysippus cast him in bronze: thereare many celebrated examples of these arts.

XXXVIII. King Attalus bid 100talents for one picture by the Theban painterAristides; the dictatorCaesarpurchased two by Timomachus for 80, theMedea and the Ajax, to dedicate them in the temple of Venus Genetrix. KingCandaules paid its weight in gold for apicture of considerable size byBularchusrepresenting the downfall of the Magnesians. KingDemetrius surnamed Besieger of Citiesrefrained from setting fire to Rhodes for fear of burning a picture byProtogenes stored in that part of thefortification.Praxiteles is famous forhis marbles, and especially for his Venus at Cnidos, which is celebrated becauseof the infatuation that it inspired in a certain young man, and because of thevalue set on it by KingNicomedes, whoattempted to obtain it in return for discharging a large debt owed by theCnidians. Daily testimony is borne toPhidiasby Olympian Jove, and toMentor byCapitoline Jove and by Diana of Ephesus, works that have immortalized the toolsof this craft.

XXXIX. The highest price hitherto paid, so far as I have ascertained,for a person born in slavery was when Attius ofPesaro was selling a skilled linguist namedDaphnis andMarcus Scaurus, Head of the state, bid700,000 sesterces. This has been exceeded, and considerably, in our own time byactors when buying their own freedom by means of their earnings, inasmuch asalready in the time of our ancestors the actorRoscius is said to have earned 500,000 sesterces a year,unless anybodyexpects a mention in this place of the commissary in the Armenian war carried onnot long ago for Tiridates, whomNero liberated for 13,000,000 sesterces.But this was the price paid for a war, not for an individual, just as in truthwhenClutorius Priscus bought one ofSejanus's eunuchsPaezon for 50,000,000, this was theprice of lust and not of beauty. ButClutoriusgot away with this outrageous affair during a period of national mourning, asnobody had time to show him up.

XL. The one race of outstanding eminence invirtue among all the races in the whole world is undoubtedly the Roman. Whathuman being has had the greatest happiness is not a question for humanjudgement, since prosperity itself different people define in different ways andeach according to his own temperament. If we wish to make a true judgement anddiscard all fortune's pomp in deciding the point, none among mortals is happy.Fortune deals lavishly and makes an indulgent bargain with the man whom it ispossible justly to pronounce not unhappy. In fact, apart from otherconsiderations, assuredly there is a fear that fortune may grow weary, and thisfear once entertained, happiness has no firm foundation. What of the proverbthat none among mortals is wise all the time? And would that as many men aspossible may deem this proverb false, and not as the utterance of a prophet!Mortality, being so vain and so ingenious in self-deception, makes itscalculation after the manner of the Thracian tribe that puts stone counters ofdifferent colours corresponding to each day's experience in an urn, and on thelast day sorts them and counts them out and thus pronounces judgement about eachindividual. What of the fact that the very day commended by that stone ofbrilliant whiteness contained the source of misfortune? How many men have beenoverthrown by attaining power! How many have been ruined and plunged into thedirest torments by wealth! Wealth forsooth it is called if a man has had anhour of joy while surrounded by it. So doubtless is it! Different days passverdict on different men and only the last day a final verdict on all men; andconsequently no day is to be trusted. What of the fact that goods are not equalto evils even if of equal number, and that no joy can counterbalance thesmallest grief? Alas what vain and foolish application! we count the number ofthe days, when it is their weight that is in question!

XLI. Only one woman can be found in the whole of history, theSpartan Lampido, who was daughter,wife and mother of a king; only one,Berenice, who was daughter, sister and mother of Olympic winners; onlyone family, the Curios, that has produced three orators in unbroken series, onlyone, the Fabii, three successive Chiefs of the Senate,Marcus Fabius Ambustus, his sonFabius Rullianus and his grandsonQuintus Fabius Gurges.

XLII. All other cases are instances of changing Fortune, and are beyondcounting. For what great joys does she produce except when following ondisasters, or what immeasurable disasters except when following on enormousjoys?

XLIII. She preserved the senatorMarcus Fidustius for 36 a years after his proscription bySulla, but only to proscribe him asecond time: he survivedSulla, but helived to see Antony, and it is knownthatAntony proscribed him for no otherreason than that he had been proscribed before! It is true she willed thatPublius Ventidius should alone win atriumph from the Parthians, but she also in his boyhood led him captive inGnaeus Pompeius's triumph afterAsculumalbeitMasurius states that hewas led in triumph twice, andCicerothat he was a mule-driver for an army bakery, and many authorities say that inhis youth he supported his poverty by foot-slogging in the ranks! Also the elderCornelius Balbus was consul, but he wasimpeached and handed over to a court of justice to decide as to his legalliability to a flogginghe being the first foreigner and actual native of theAtlantic coast to have held an honour refused by our ancestors even to Latium.Lucius Fulvius also is one of thenotable examples, having been consul of the Tusculans at the time of theirrevolt and after coming over having been at once honoured with the same officeby the Roman nation: he is the only man who ever in the same year in which hehad been Rome's enemy won a triumph from the people whose consul he had been.Lucius Sulla is the sole human beinghitherto who has assumed the surname Fortunate, in fact achieving the title bycivil bloodshed and by making war upon his country. And what tokens of goodfortune were his motive? His success in exiling and slaughtering so manythousands of his fellow-countrymen?

O what a false meaning to attach to the title! Howdoomed to misfortune in the future! Were not his victims more fortunate at thetime when dying, whom we pity today whenSullais universally hated? Come, was not the close of his life more cruel than thecalamity of all the victims of his proscriptions, when his body ate itself awayand bred its own torments? And although he dissembled the pangs, and althoughon the evidence of that last drama of his, which may almost be said to haveaccompanied his death, we believed that he alone vanquished odium by glory,nevertheless he admitted forsooth that this one thing was wanting to hishappinesshe had not dedicated the Capitol.

Quintus Metellus,in the panegyric that he delivered at the obsequies of his fatherLucius Metellus the pontiff, who hadbeen Consul twice, Dictator, Master of the Horse and Land-commissioner, and whowas the first person who led a procession of elephants in a triumph,having captured them in the first Punic War, has left it in writing that hisfather had achieved the ten greatest and highest objects in the pursuit of whichwise men pass their lives: for he had made it his aim to be a first-classwarrior, a supreme orator and a very brave commander, to have the direction ofoperations of the highest importance, to enjoy the greatest honour, to besupremely wise, to be deemed the most eminent member of the senate, to obtaingreat wealth in an honourable way, to leave many children, and to achievesupreme distinction in the state; and that these things had fallen to hisfather's lot, and to that of no one else since Rome's foundation. It would be alengthy matter to refute this, and it is superfluous to do so as it isabundantly rebutted by a single accidental misfortune: inasmuch as this Metellus passed an old age of blindness,having lost his sight in a fire when saving the statue of Pallas from the templeof Vesta, a memorable purpose but disastrous in its result. Consequently thoughhe must not be pronounced unhappy, still he cannot be called happy. The nationbestowed on him a privilege given to no one else since the foundation of time,permission to ride to the senate-house in a chariot whenever he went to ameeting of the senatea great and highly honourable privilege, bnt one that wasbestowed on him as a substitute for sight.

XLIV. The son of this Metelluswho made those remarks about his father is also counted among the exceptionalinstances of human happiness. Besides receiving an abundance of high honours andthe surname ofMacedonicus, he was borneto the tomb by four sons, one a praetor, three ex-consuls (two winners oftriumphs), one an ex-censorthings that even separately have fallen to few men'slot. Nevertheless at the very height of his distinguished career, when comingback from the Field at midday, the market place and Capitol being empty, he wascarried off to the Tarpeian Rock byGaiusAtinius Labeo, surnamedMacerio,tribune of the plebs, whom when censor he had ejected from the senate, with theintention of hurling him down the cliff; the numerous company of persons whocalled him their father did it is true hasten to his aid, but as was inevitablein this sudden emergency, too late and as if coming for his funeral, andas he had not the right to resist and to repel the hallowed person of a tribunehis virtue and his strictness would have resulted in his destruction, but withdifficulty another tribune was found to intercede, and he was recalled from thevery threshold of death; and subsequently he lived on the charity of another, ashis own property had immediately been confiscated on the proposal of the veryman whom he had himself caused to be condemned, just as though the penaltyexacted from him of having his throat tied in a rope and the blood forced outthrough his ears were not sufficient! Although for my own part I should alsoreckon it as a disaster to have been at enmity with the secondAfricanus, on the evidence ofMacedonicus himself, inasmuch as hesaid, "Go, my sons, celebrate his obsequies; you will never see the funeral of agreater citizen!" And he said this to sons who had already won the titles ofBalearicus and Dahnaticus, while he himself was already Macedonicus. But even ifonly that injury be taken into account, who could rightly pronounce happy thisman who ran the risk of perishing at the will of an enemy, and him not even anAfricanus? Victory over what enemies wasworth so much? or what honours and triumphal cars did not fortune put into theshade by that violent strokea censor dragged through the middle of the city(for this had been the sole reason for delaying), dragged to that same Capitolto which he himself had not thus dragged even prisoners when he was triumphingover the spoils taken from them? This was rendered a greater crime by thehappiness that followed, as it placed Macedonicus in danger of losing even that great and glorious funeral inwhich he was carried to the pyre by his children who had themselves wontriumphs, so that even his obsequies were a triumphal procession. Assuredly itis no firmly founded happiness that any outrage in a man's career has shattered,let alone so great an outrage as that. For the rest I know not whether it countsto the credit of our morals or increases the anguish of our indignation thatamong all the many Metelli that criminal audacity ofGaius Atinius for ever went unpunished.

XLV. Also in the case of his late MajestyAugustus, whom the whole of mankindenrols in the list of happy men, if all the facts were carefully weighed, greatrevolutions of man's lot could be discovered: his failure with his uncle inregard to the office of Master of the Horse, when the candidate opposing him, Lepidus, was preferred; the hatred caused by the proscription; his associationin the triumvirate with the wickedest citizens, and that not with an equalshare of power but withAntonypredominant; his flight in the battle of Philippi when he was suffering fromdisease, and his three days' hiding in a marsh, in spite of his illness and hisswollen dropsical condition (as stated byAgrippa andMaecenas); hisshipwreck off Sicily, and there also another period of hiding in a cave; hisentreaties toProculeius to kill him, inthe naval rout when a detachment of the enemy was already pressing close athand; the anxiety of the struggle at Perugia, the alarm of the Battle of Actium,his fall from a tower in the Pannonian Wars; and all the mutinies in his troops,all his critical illnesses, his suspicion ofMarcellus's ambitions, the disgrace ofAgrippa's banishment, the many plots against his life, the charge ofcausing the death of his children; and his sorrows that were not due solely tobereavement, his daughter's [Julia] adultery and the disclosure of her plotsagainst her father's life, the insolent withdrawal of his stepsonNero, another adultery, that of hisgrand-daughter; then the long series of misfortuneslack of army funds,rebellion of Illyria, enlistment of slaves, shortage of man power, plague atRome, famine in Italy, resolve on suicide and death more than half achieved byfour days' starvation; next the disaster of Varus and the foul slur upon hisdignity; the disowning ofPostumius Agrippaafter his adoption as heir, and the sense of loss that followed his banishment;then his suspicion in regard toFabiusand the betrayal of secrets; afterwards the intrigues of his wife andTiberius that tormented hislatest days. In fine, this godwhether deified more by his own action or by hismerits I know notdeparted from life leaving his enemy's son his heir.

XLVI. In this review there come to mind the Delphic oracles sent forth bythe god as if for the purpose of chastising the vanity of mankind. Here are two:`The happiest of men is Pedius, wholately fell in battle for his country'; and secondly, when the oracle wasconsulted byGyges, then the wealthiest king in the world, 'Aglaus of Psophis ishappier.' This was an elderly man who cultivated an estate, small but amplysufficient for his yearly provision, in a very shut in corner of Arcadia, andwho had never left it, and being (as his kind of life showed) a man of verysmall desires experienced a very small amount of misfortune in life.

XLVII. By the command of the same oracle and with the assent of Jupiterthe supreme deity, Euthynus the boxer,who won all his matches at Olympia and was only once beaten, was made a saint inhis lifetime and to his own knowledge. His native place was Locri in Italy; Inoticed thatCallimachus records as anunparalleled marvel that a statue of him there and another at Olympia werestruck by lightning on the same day, and that the oracle commanded thatsacrifice should be offered to him; this was repeatedly done both during hislifetime and when he was dead, and nothing about it is surprising except thatthe gods so decreed.

XLVIII. As to the length and duration of men's life, not onlygeographical position but also dates and the various fortunes allotted at birthto each individual have made it uncertain.Hesiod, who first put forth some observations on this matter, placingmany creatures above man in respect of longevity, fictitiously as I think,assigns nine of our lifetimes to the crow, four times a crow s life to stags,three times a stag's to ravens, and for the rest in a more fictitious style inthe case of the phoenix and the nymphs. The poet Anacreon attributes 150 years toArganthonius king of the Tartcsii, 10years more toCinyras king of Cyprus,and 200 toAegimius.Theopompus gives 157 toEpimenides of Cnossus.Hellanicus says that some members of theclan of the Epii in Aetolia complete 200 years, and he is supported byDamastes who records that one of them,Pictoreus, a man of outstanding statureand strength, even lived 300 years;Ephorusrecords Arcadian kings of 300 years;AlexanderCornelius says that a certainDandoin Illyria lived 500 years.Xenophon inhisCoasting Voyage says that a king ofthe island of the Lutmii lived to 600, andas though that were only a modestfabricationthat his son lived to 800. All of these exaggerations were due toignorance of chronology, because some people made the year coincide with thesummer, the winter being a second year, others marked it by the periods of thefour seasons, for example the Arcadians whose years were three months long, andsome by the waning of the moon, as do the Egyptians. Consequently with them evenindividuals are recorded to have lived a thousand years.

But to pass to admitted facts, it is almost certain thatArgathonius of Cadiz reigned for 80years; his reign is thought to have begun in his fortieth year. It is notquestioned thatMasinissa reigned 60years and that the SicilianGorgiaslived 108 years.Quintus Fabius Maxixnuswas augur for 63 years.Marcus Perpernaand recentlyLucius Volusius Saturninusoutlived all the persons whose votes in debate they had taken as consuls;Perperna left only seven of those whomas censor he had electedhe lived to 98. In this matter it occurs to me to notealso that there has only been a single five-year period in which no senator hasdied, from when Flaccus andAlbinus as censors performed thepurification ceremony to the next censorsbeginning 175 B.C.Marcus Valerius Corvinus completed 100years, and there was an interval of 46 years between his first and sixthconsulships. He also took his seat in the curule chair 21 times, which is arecord; but his length of life was equalled by the pontifexMetellus.

Also among womenLivia wife ofRutilius exceeded 97 years,Statilia a lady of noble family underthe EmperorClaudius 99,Terentia Cicero's wife 103,Clodia Ofilius's wife 115; the latteralso bore 15 children. The actressLucceiadelivered a recitation on the stage at 100. Galeria Copiola the actress of interludes was brought back to the stagein the consulship ofGaius Poppaeus andQuintus Sulpicius, at the votive gamescelebrated for the recovery of his late MajestyAugustus, when in her 104th year; she had been brought out at her firstappearance byMarcus Pomponius, aedileof the plebs, in the consulship ofGaiusMarius andGnaeus Carbo, 91 yearsbefore, and she was brought back to the stage when an old woman byPompey the Great as a marvel at thedeification of the big theatre. AlsoPedianusAsconius states thatSammulalived 110 years. I am less surprised thatStephanio, who first introduced dancing in national costume, danced atboth secular games, both those of his late MajestyAugustus and those celebrated byClaudius Caesar in his fourthconsulship, as the interval was only 63 years, although he also lived a longtime afterwards.Mucianus is theauthority for oneTempsis having lived150 years at the place called Mount Tmolus Heights; and the census ofClaudius Caesar gives the same number ofyears forTitus Fullonius of Bologna,which has been verified by comparing the census returns he had made previouslyand by the facts of his careerfor the emperor gave his attention to thismatter.

XLIX. The topic seems of itself to call for the view held by astronomicalscience. Epigenes declared that it isimpossible to live 112 years;Berosussaid that 116 years can be exceeded. Also the theory handed down byPetosiris andNecepsos is still extant (it is calledthe Theory of Quarters, from its dividing up the Zodiac into groups of threesigns); this theory shows it possible to attain 124 years of life in the regionof Italy. These thinkers declared that nobody exceeds the ascendant measure of90 degrees (what is called `risings'), and stated that this period itself may becut short by the encounter of maleficent stars, or even by their rays and bythose of the sun. Again it is uncertain what is the greatest longevity allowedby the school of Aesculapius, which saysthat fixed periods of life are received from the stars; however, they say thatlonger periods of life are rare, inasmuch as vast crowds of men are born atcritical moments in the hours of the lunar days, for example the 7th and the15th hour counting by night and day, who are liable to die under the law of theascending scale of years, called 'gradations', persons so born rarely exceedingtheir fifty-fourth year.

At the outset therefore the variations in the science itself show how uncertainthe matter is. In addition there are the experiences of the last census,held within the last four years by the EmperorsCaesar Vespasian father and son as Censors. Nor is it necessary toransack all the records: we will only produce cases from the middle regionbetween the Apennines and the Po. Three persons declared 120 years at Parma andone at Brescello; two at Parma 125; one man at Piacenza and one woman at Faenza130;Lucius Terentius son ofMarcus at Bologna 135;Marcus Aponius 140 andTertulla 137 at Itimini. In the hillsthis side of Piacenza is the township of Veleia, where six declared 110 years,four 120, one (Marcus Mucius Felix, sonofMarcus, of the Galerian tribe) 150.And, not to delay with further instances in a matter of admitted fact,the census registered in the eighth region of Italy 54 persons of 100 years ofage, 14 of 110, 2 of 125, 4 of 130, the same number of 135 or 137, 3 of 140.

Other instances of the fickleness of mortal fortunes are these:Homer has recorded that men of suchdiverse fates asHector andPolydamas were born on the samenight;Marcus Caelius Rufus andGaius Licinius Calvus, both orators butwith such different success, were born on the same day, May 28 in the consulship[82 BC] ofGaius Marius andGnaeus Carbothe latter's third. Takingthe entire world, this happens daily even to persons born at the samehoursmasters and slaves, kings and paupers come into existence simultaneously.

L. Fublius Cornelius Rufus, whowas consul withManius Curius, lost hissight while asleep, when dreaming that it was happening to him. In the oppositeway,Jason of Pherae being ill with atumour and given up by the doctors sought death in battle, but was wounded inthe chest and so obtained a cure from the enemy. In the battle against the clansof the Allobroges and Arverni on the river Isère, on August 8, when 130,000 ofthe foe were killed, the consulQuintus FabiusMaximus got rid of a quartan ague in action. In fact whatever be thisgift of nature that is bestowed upon us, it is uncertain and insecure, indeedsinister and of brief duration even in the case of those to whose lot it hasfallen in most bounteous measure, at all events when we regard the whole extentof time. What of the fact that, if we take into account our nightly period ofslumber, everybody is alive for only a half of his life, whereas an equalportion is passed in a manner that resembles death, or, in default of slumber,torture. And we are not counting in the years of infancy that lack sensation,nor those of old age that remains alive to be tormented, nor all the kinds ofdangers, all the diseases, all the fears, all the anxieties, with death so ofteninvoked that this is the commonest of prayers. But nature has granted man nobetter gift than the shortness of life. The senses grow dull, the limbs arenumb, sight, hearing, gait, even the teeth and alimentary organs die before wedo, and yet this period is reckoned a portion of life. Consequently it isvirtually a miracleand this is the solitary instance of it foundthat themusician Xenophilus lived to 105 withoutany bodily disablement. But assuredly with all the rest of men, as in the caseof none of the other animals, morbid heat or else stiffness returns through theseveral portions of the limbs at fixed hours, and not only at certain hours butalso every three or four days or nights, even all the year round. And moreoverthe death of the intellect in some measure is a disease. For nature has imposedcertain laws even upon diseases: a four-day-period fever never begins atmidwinter or in the winter months, and some people are not attacked by it whenover the age of 60, while with others, particularly women, it is discarded atpuberty; and old men are least susceptible to plague. For diseases attack notonly entire nations but also particular classes, sometimes the slaves,sometimes the nobility, and so Through other grades. In this respect it has beenobserved that plague always travels from southern quarters westward and almostnever otherwise, and that it does not spread in winter, nor during a periodexceeding three months.

LI. Again, signs of approaching death are: in a case of insanitylaughter, but in delirium toying with fringes and making folds in thebed-clothes, disregard of persons trying to keep the patient awake, makingwater, while the most unmistakable signs are in the appearance of the eyes andnostrils, and also in lying constantly on the back, in an irregular andexcessively slow pulse, and the other symptoms noted by that prince of medicineHippocrates. And whereas the signs ofdeath are innumerable, there are no signs of health being secure; inasmuch asthe ex-censorCato gave an as it wereoracular utterance addressed to his son about healthy persons also, to theeffect that senile characteristics in youth are a sign of premature death. Butso unlimited is the number of diseases that the Syrian Pherecydes expired with a swarm ofmaggots bursting out of his body. Some people suffer from perpetual fever, forinstanceGaius Maecenas: the same hadnot an hour's sleep in the last three years of his life. The poetAntipater of Sidon used to have a yearlyattack of fever on one day only, his birthday, and this at a fairly advanced agecarried him off.

LII. The ex-consulAviola came tolife again on the funeral pyre, and as the flame was too powerful for it to bepossible to come to his assistance, was burnt alive. A similar cause of death isrecorded in the case of the ex-praetorLuciusLamia, whileGaius Aelius Tubero,a former praetor, is recorded byMessala Rufusand most authorities to have been recovered from the pyre. This is the law ofmortals: we are born for these and similar accidents of fortune, so that in thecase of a human being no confidence must he placed even in death. Among otherinstances we find that the soul ofHermotimusof Clazomenae used to leave his body and roam abroad, and in its wanderingsreport to him from a distance many things that only one present at them couldknow ofhis body in the meantime being only half-conscious; till finally someenemies of his named the Cantharidae burned his body and so deprived his soul onits return of what may be called its sheath. We also read that the soul ofAristeas at Proconnesus was seen flyingont of his mouth in the shape of a raven, with a great deal of fabulousinvention that follows this. This inventiveness I for my part also receive in asimilar way in the case ofEpimenides ofCnossusthat when a boy, being weary with the heat and with travel, he slept ina cave 57 years, and when he woke, just as if it had been on the following day,was surprised at the appearance of things and the change in them; and afterwardsold age came on him in the same number of days as he had slept years, thoughnevertheless he lived to the age of 157. The female sex seems specially liableto this malady, caused by distortion of the womb; if this is set right, thebreathing is restored. To this subject belongs the essay ofHeracides, well known in Greece, aboutthe woman recalled to life after being dead for seven days.

AlsoVarro records that when he wasacting as one of the Twenty Commissioners and apportioning lands at Capua aperson being carried out on a bier to burial returned home on foot; and that thesame thing occurred at Aquino; and that also at Rome his maternal aunt's husbandCorfidius came to life again after hisfuneral had been arranged for with an undertaker, and that he himselfsuperintended the funeral of the relative who had made the arrangement. He addssome marvellous occurrences that it would be suitable to have set out in theirentirety: that there were two brothers Corfidius, of the rank of knights, to the elder of whom it happened thathe appeared to have expired, and when his will was opened the younger brotherwas read out as his heir, and set about arranging his funeral; in the meantimethe brother who appeared to be dead summoned the servants by clapping his handsand told them that he had come from his brother, who had entrusted his daughterto his care, and had also shown him where he had without anybody's knowledgehidden some gold in a hole dug in the ground, and had asked that thepreparations that he had made for his brother's funeral might be used forhimself. While he was telling this story his brother's servants hurriedly camewith the news that their master was dead; and the gold was found in the placewhere he had said. Moreover life is full of these prophecies, but they are notworth collecting, because more often than not they are false, as we will proveby an outstanding example. In the Sicilian War the bravest man inCaesar's navies Gabienus was taken prisoner bySextus Pompeius, by whose order histhroat was cut and almost severed, and so he lay a whole day on the shore. Thenon the arrival of evening, a crowd having been gathered to the spot by hisgroans and entreaties, he besought thatPompeyshould come to him, or send one of his personal staff, as he had come back fromthe lower world and had some news to tell him.Pompey sent several of his friends, who were told byGabienus that the gods below approvedPompey's cause and the righteous party,so that the issue would be what Pompey desired; that he had had orders to bringthis news, and that a proof of its truth would be that as soon as his errand wasaccomplished he would expire. And this so happened. There are also cases ofpersons appearing after burialsave that our subject is the works of nature, notprodigies.

LIII. But most miraculous and also frequent, are sudden deaths (this islife's supreme happiness), which we shall show to be natural.Verrius has reported a greatmany, but we will preserve moderation with a selection. Cases of people whodied of joy are (besides Chilo aboutwhom we have spoken)Sophocles andDionysius the tyrant of Sicily, in bothcases after receiving news of a victory with a tragedy: also the mother who sawher son back safe from Cannae in contradiction of a false message;Diodorus the professor of logic died ofshame because he could not at once solve a problem put to him in jest byStilpo. Cases of men dying from noobvious causes are: while putting on their shoes in the morning, the twoCaesars, the praetor and the ex-praetor,father of the dictatorCaesar, thelatter dying at Pisa and the former at Rome;Quintus Fabius Maximus on 31 December in the year of his consulship, inwhose place Gaius Rebilus obtained theoffice for only a few hours; also the senatorGaius Volcatius Gurgesall of these men so healthy and fit that they werethinking of going out for a walk; QuintusAemilius Lepidus who bruised his great toe in the doorway of hisbedroom just as he was going out;GaiusAufidius who after he had gone out hit his foot against something in theCornitium when he was on his way to the senate. Also an envoy who had pleadedthe cause of Rhodes in the senate to the general admiration, just as he wantedto leave the senate-house expired on the threshold;Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus, who hadhimself also held the praetorship, died just after asking his footman the time;Aulus Pompeius died on the Capitol afterpaying reverence to the gods,Mantis JuventiusThalna the consul while offering sacrifice,Gaius Servilius Pansa while standing ata shop in the market-place, leaning on his brotherPublius's arm, at seven o'clock in themorning,Baebius the judge while in theact of giving an order for enlargement of bail,Marcus Terentius Corax while writing a note in the market-place; andmoreover last year, a Knight of Rome died while saying something in the ear ofan ex-consul, just in front of the ivory statue of Apollo in the Forum ofAugustus; and, most remarkable of all,the doctorGaius Julius died frompassing the probe through his eye while pouring in ointment, the ex-consulAulus Manlius Torquatus while helpinghimself to a cake at dinner,Lucius Tuccius,Sulla's doctor, while drinking a draughtof mead,Appius Saufeius when he haddrunk some mead and was sucking an egg after coming back from the bathhouse, Publius Quintius Scapula when out todinner withAquilius Gallus,Decimus Saufeius the clerk when lunchingat home.Cornelius Gallus, expraetor,andTitus Hetereius Knight of Rome diedwhile with women; and, cases remarked on by our own generation, two members ofthe Order of Knighthood died when with the same ballet-dancer Mystieus, theleading beauty of the day. However, the most enviable case of a peaceful end isone recorded by our forefathers, that ofMarcusOfilius Hilarus: he was an actor in comedy, and having had a considerablesuccess with the public on his birthday and while giving a party, when dinnerwas served called for a hot drink in a tankard, and at the same time picked upthe mask that he had worn on that day and while gazing at it transferred thewreath from his own head to it, and in this attitude lay quite stiff withoutanybody noticing, until the guest on the next couch warned him that his drinkwas getting cold.

These are happy instances, but there are countlessnumbers of unhappy ones.Lucius Domitius,a man of very distinguished family, who was defeated at Marseilles and was takenprisoner, also byCaesar, at Corfinium,grew tired of life and drank poison, but afterwards made every effort to savehis life. It is found in the official records that at the funeral ofFelix the charioteer of the Reds one ofhis backers threw himself upon the pyrea pitiful storyand the opposing backerstried to prevent this score to the record of a professional by asserting thatthe man had fainted owing to the quantity of scents! Not long before, the corpseofMarcus Lepidus, the man ofdistinguished family whose death from anxiety about his divorce we have recordedabove, had been dislodged from the pyre by the violence of the flame, and as itwas impossible to put it back again because of the heat, it was burnt naked witha fresh supply of faggots at the side of the pyre.

LIV. Cremation was not actually an old practice at Rome: the deadused to be buried. But cremation was instituted after it became known that thebodies of those fallen in wars abroad were dug up again. All the same manyfamilies kept on the old ritual, for instance it is recorded that nobody in thefamily of the Cornelii was cremated beforeSulla the dictator, and that he had desired it because he was afraid ofreprisals for having dug up the corpse ofGaiusMarius. [But burial is understood to denote any mode of disposal of acorpse, but interment means covering up with earth.]

LV. There are various problems concerning the spirits of the departedafter burial. All men are in the same state from their last day onward asthey were before their first day, and neither body nor mind possesses anysensation after death, any more than it did before birthfor the same vanityprolongs itself also into the future and fabricates for itself a life lastingeven into the period of death, sometimes bestowing on the soul immortality,sometimes transfiguration, sometimes giving sensation to those below, andworshipping ghosts and making a god of one who has already ceased to be even amanjust as if man's mode of breathing were in any way different from that ofthe other animals, or as if there were not many animals found of greaterlongevity, for which nobody prophesies a similar immortality! But what is thesubstance of the soul taken by itself? what is its material? where is itsthought located? how does it see and hear, and with what does it touch? what usedoes it get from these senses, or what good can it experience without them?Next, what is the abode. or how great is the multitude, of the souls orshadows in all these ages? These are fictions of childish absurdity, and belongto a mortality greedy for life unceasing. Similar also is the vanity aboutpreserving men's bodies, and aboutDemocritus'spromise of our coming to life againwho did not come to life again himself!Plague take it, what is this mad idea that life is renewed by death? what reposeare the generations ever to have if the soul retains permanent sensation in theupper world and the ghost in the lower? Assuredly this sweet but credulous fancyruins nature's chief blessing, death, and doubles the sorrow of one about to dieby the thought of sorrow to come hereafter also; for if to live is sweet, whocan find it sweet to have done living? But how much easier and safer for each totrust in himself, and for us to derive our idea of future tranquillity from ourexperience of it before birth!

LVI. Before we quit the subject of man'snature it seems suitable to point out the various discoveries of differentpersons. Father Liber instituted buying and selling, and also invented theemblem of royalty, the crown, and the triumphal procession. Ceres discoveredcorn, men having hitherto lived on acorns; she also invented grinding corn andmaking flour in Attica (or, as others say, in Sicily), and for this was deemed agoddess. Also she first gave laws, though others have thought this was done byRhadamanthus.

I am of opinion that the Assyrians have always had writing, but others,e.g.Gellius, hold that it was invented inEgypt by Mercury, while others think it was discovered in Syria; both schools ofthought believe thatCadmus imported analphabet of 16 letters into Greece from Phoenicia and that to these Palamedes at the time of the Trojan waradded the four characters ΖΨΦΧ, and after himSimonides the lyric poet added anotherfour ΥΞΩΘY, all representing sounds recognized also in the Roman alphabet.Aristotle holds that the primitivealphabet contained 18 letters, and that Ψ and Z were added by Epicharmus more probably thanPalamedes.Anticlides records that a person namedMenos invented the alphabet in Egypt15,000 years beforePhoroneus, the mostancient king of Greece, and he attempts to prove this by the monuments. On theother sideEpigenes, an authority of thefirst rank, teaches that the Babylonians had astronomical observations for730,000 years inscribed on baked bricks; and those who give the shortest period,Berosus andCritodemus, make it 490,000 years; fromwhich it appears that the alphabet has been in use from very ancient times. Itwas brought to Latium by the Pelasgi.

Brick-kilns and houses were first introduced by the brothersEuryalus andHyperbius at Athens; previously caveshad served for dwellings.Gelliusaccepts Toxius son of Uranus as the inventor of building with clay, the examplehaving been taken from swallows' nests. Cecrops named after himself the firsttown, Cecropia, which is now the Acropolis at Athens; though some hold thatArgos had been founded before by KingPhoroneus,and certain authorities saySicyon also,but the Egyptians hold that Diospolis was founded in their country long before.Tiles were invented byCinyra, son ofAgriopa, as well as mining for copper,both in the island of Cyprus, and also the tongs, hammer, crowbar and anvil;wells by Danaus who came from Egypt toGreece to the region that used to be called Dry Argos; stone quarrying byCadmus at Thebes, or according toTheophrastus, in Phoenicia; walls wereintroduced byThrason, towers by theCyclopes according toAristotle butaccording toTheophrastus by theTirynthians; woven fabrics by the Egyptians, dyeing woollen stuffs by theLydians at Sardis, the use of the spindle in the manufacture of woollen byCloster son ofArachne, linen and nets byArachne, the fuller's craft byNicias of Ntegara, the shoemaker's byTychius of Boeotia; medicine accordingto the Egyptians was discovered among themselves, but according to othersthrough the agency ofArabus son ofBabylon and Apollo; and the science of herbs and drugs was discovered by Chironthe son of Saturn and Philyra.Aristotlethinks thatLydus the Scythian showedhow to melt and work copper, butTheophrastusholds that it was the Phrygian Delas;manufactures of bronze some ascribe to the Chalybes and others to the Cyclopes;the forging of ironHesiod ascribes tothe people called the Dactyli of Ida in Crete.Erichthonius of Athens, or according to othersAeacus, discovered silver; mining andsmelting gold was invented byCadmus thePhoenician at Mount Pangaeus, or according to others byThoas orAeacus in Panchaia, or by the Sun, sonof Oceanus, to whomGellius also assignsthe discovery of medicine derived from minerals. Tin was first imported byMidacritus from the island ofCassiteriss Working in iron was invented by the Cyclopes, potteries byCoroebus of Athens, the potter's wheelby the ScythianAnacharsis, or accordingto others byHyperbius of Corinth.Carpentry was invented byDaedalus, andwith it the saw, axe, plumb-line, gimlet, glue, isinglass; but the square, theplummet, the lathe and the lever byTheodorusof Samos, measures and weights byPhidonof Argos, or, asGellius preferred,Palamedes; fire from flint byPyrodes son ofCilix, the storing of fire in afennel-stalk by Prometheus; a vehicle with four wheels by the Phrygians, tradeby the Phoenicians, viticulture and arboriculture byEumolpus of Athens, diluting wine withwater byStaphylus son of Silenus, oiland oil-mills byAristaeus of Athens,honey by the same; the ox and the plough byBuzyges of Athens, or, as others say, byTriptolemus; monarchical government bythe Egyptians, republican by the Athenians afterTheseus. The first tyrant wasPhalaris at Girgenti. Slavery wasinvented by the Spartans. Capital trials were first carried on in the Areopagus.

The Africans first fought with clubs (calledpoles) in a war against the Egyptians. Shields were invented byProetus andAcrisius in making war against eachother, or else byChalcus son ofAthamas; the breastplate byMidias ofMessene, the helmet, sword and spear by the Spartans, greaves and helmet-plumesby the Carians. The bow and arrow is said by some to have been invented byScythes son of Jove; others say that arrows were invented by Perses son ofPerseus, lances by the Aetolians, the spear slung with a thong by Aetolus son ofMars, spears for skirmishing byTyrrhenus,the javelin by the same, the battle-axe by Penthesilea the Amazon,hunting-spears and among missile engines the scorpion byPisaeus, the catapult by the Cretans,the ballista and the sling by the Syrophoenicians, the bronze trumpet byPysaeus son of Tyrrhenus,tortoise-screens byArtemo ofClazomenae, among siege-engines the horse (now called the ram) byEpius at Troy; horse-riding byBellerophon, reins and saddles byPelethronius, fighting on horseback bythe Thessalians called Centaurs, who dwelt along Mount Pelion. The Phrygian racefirst harnessed pairs, Erichthonius four-in-hands. Military formation, the useof passwords, tokens and sentries were invented by Palamedes in the Trojan war, signallingfrom watch-towers bySinon in the samewar, truces byLycaon, treaties byTheseus.

Auguries from birds were invented byCar, from whom Caria got its name;Orpheus added auspices derived from theother animals, Delphus divination from victims, Amphiaraus divination from fire,Tiresias of Thebes divination by inspecting birds' entrails,Amphictyon the interpretation ofportents and dreams;Atlans son ofLibya, or as others say the Egyptians and others the Assyrians, astronomy,Anaximander of Miletus the use of aglobe in astronomy, Aeolus son ofHellen the theory of winds;Amphionmusic, Pan son of Mercury the pipe and single flute, Midas in Phrygia theslanting flute,Marsyas in the samenation the double flute, Amphion the Lydian modes, the Thracian Thamyras theDorian,Marsyas of Phrygia the Phrygian,Amphion, or others say Orpheus and others Linus, the harp. Terpander first sangwith seven strings, adding three to the original four,Simonides added an eighth,Timothens a ninth.Thamyris first played the harp withoutusing the voice,Amphion, or accordingto othersLinus, accompanied the harpwith singing; Terpander composed songs for harp and voice.Ardalus of Troezen instituted singing tothe flute. The Curetes taught dancing in armour, Pyrrhus the Pyrrhic dance; bothof there were in Crete. Hexameter verse we owe to the Pythian oracle, but as tothe origin of poetry there is much debate, though it is proved to have existedbefore the Trojan War.Pherecydes ofSyria instituted prose composition in the period of KingCyrus,Cadmus of Miletus history; gymnastic games were started byLycaon in Arcadia, funeral games byAcastus in Iolcus, and subsequently byTheseus at the Isthmus and by Herculesat Olympia; wrestling byPytheus, thesport of ball-throwing byGyges ofLydia; painting by the Egyptians, and in Greece byEuchir the kinsman of Daedalus accordingtoAristotle, but according toTheophrastus byPolygnotus of Athens.

Danaus first came from Egypt to Greeceby ship; before that time rafts were used for navigation, having beeninvented by KingErythras for usebetween the islands in the Red Sea. Persons are found who think that vesselswere devised earlier on the Hellespont by the Mysians and Trojans when theycrossed to war against the Thracians. Even now in the British ocean coracles aremade of wicker with hide sown round it, and on the Nile canoes are made ofpapyrus, rushes and reeds. The first voyage made in a long ship is attributed byPhilostephanus to Jason, byHegesias to Parhalus, byCtesias toSemiramis, and byArchemachus to Aegaeo. Further advanceswere as follows:

The freight-ship was invented by Hippusof Tyre, the cutter by the Cyrenians, the skiff by the Phoenicians, the yacht bythe Rhodians, the yawl by the Cyprians; the Phoenicians invented observing thestars in sailing, the town of Copae invented the oar, the city of Plataea theoar-blade, Icarus sails, Daedalus mast and yard, the Samians or Pericles ofAthens the cavalry transport, the Thasians decked longshipspreviously themarines had fought from the bows and stem only. Pisaeus son of Tyrrenus addedbeaks, Enpalamus the anchor, Anacharsis the double-fluked anchor, Pericles ofAthens grappling-irons and claws, Tiphys the tiller. Minos was the first whofought a battle with a fleet.

LVII. The first of all cases of tacit agreement between the nations wasthe convention to employ the alphabet of the Ionians.

LVIII. The practical identity of the old Greek alphabet with the presentLatin one will be proved by an ancient Delphic tablet of bronze (at the presentday in the Palace, a gift of the emperors) dedicated to Minerva, with thefollowing inscription: Tithe dedicated byNausicrates to the Daughter of Zeus...

LIX. The next agreement between nations was in the matter of shaving thebeard, but with the Romans this was later. Barbers came to Rome from Sicily in300 B.C., according toVarro beingbrought there byPublius Titinius Mena;before then the Romans had been unshaved. The secondAfricanus first introduced a dailyshave. His late MajestyAugustus neverneglected the razor.

LX. The third agreement was in the observation of the hours (this nowbeing an addition made by theory), the date and inventor of which we have statedinBook II. This also happened later at Rome: in the Twelve Tables onlysunrise and sunset are specified; a few years later noon was also added, theconsuls' apparitor announcing it when from the Senate-house he saw the sunbetween the Beaks and the Greek Lodging. When the sun sloped from the MaenianColumn to the Prison he announced the last hour, but this only on clear days,down to the First Punic War. We have it on the authority ofFabius Vestalis that the first sundialwas erected 11 years before the ware with Pyrrhus at the Temple of Quirinus byLucius Papirius Cursor when dedicatingthat temple, which had been vowed by his father; but Fabius does not indicatethe principle of the sundial's construction or the maker, nor where it wasbrought from or the name of the writer who is his authority for the statement.Marcus Varro records that the firstpublic sundial was set up on a column along by the Beaks during the First PunicWar after Catania in Sicily had been taken a by the consulManius Valerius Messala, and that it wasbrought from Sicily thirty years later than the traditional date ofPapirius's sundial, B.C. 264.The lines of this sundial did not agree with the hours, but all the same theyfollowed it for 99 years, tillQuintusMarcius Philippus who was Censor withLucius Paulus placed a more carefully designed one next to it, and thisgift was received as one of the most welcome of the censor's undertakings. Eventhen however the hours were uncertain in cloudy weather, until the next lustrum,whenScipio Nasica the colleague ofLaenas instituted the first water-clockdividing the hours of the nights and the days equally, and dedicated thistimepiece in a roofed building, B.C. 159. For so long a period thedivisions of daylight had not been marked for the Roman public.

The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man inintelligence: it understands the language of its country and obeys orders,remembers duties that it has been taught, is pleased by affection and by marksof honour, nay more it possesses virtues rare even in man, honesty, wisdom,justice, also respect for the stars and reverence for the sun and moon.Authorities state that in the forests of Mauretania, when the new moon isshining, herds of elephants go down to a river named Amilo and there perform aritual of purification, sprinkling themselves with water, and after thus payingtheir respects to the moon return to the woods carrying before them those oftheir calves who are tired. They are also believed to understand the obligationsof another's religion in so far as to refuse to embark on board ships when goingoverseas before they are lured on by the mahout's sworn promise in regard totheir return. And they have been seen when exhausted by suffering (as even thosevast frames are attacked by diseases) to lie on their backs and throw grass upto the heaven, as though deputing the earth to support their prayers. Indeed sofar as concerns docility, they do homage to their king by kneeling before himand proffering garlands. The Indians employ the smaller breed, which they callthe bastard elephant, for ploughing.

II. At Rome they were first used in harness to draw the chariot ofPompey the Great in his African triumph,as they are recorded to have been used before when Father Liber went in triumphafter his conquest of India.Prociliusstates that atPompey's triumph the teamof elephants were unable to pass out through the gate. At the gladiatorial showgiven by Germanicus Caesar some evenperformed clumsy movements in figures, like dancers. It was a common display forthem to hurl weapons through the air without the wind making them swerve, and toperform gladiatorial matches with one another or to play together in a sportivewar-dance. Subsequently they even walked on tightropes, four at a time actuallycarrying in a litter one that pretended to be a lady lying-in; and walked amongthe couches in dining-rooms full of people to take their places among theguests, planting their steps carefully so as not to touch any of the drinkingparty.

III. It is known that one elephant which was rather slow-witted inunderstanding instructions given to it and had been punished with repeatedbeatings, was found in the night practising the same. It is surprising thatthey can even climb up ropes, but especially that they can come down themagain, at all events when they are stretched at a slope. Mucianus who was threetimes consul states that one elephant actually learnt the shapes of the Greekletters, and used to write out in words of that language: 'I myself wrote thisand dedicated these spoils won from the Celts;' and also that he personally hadseen elephants that, when having been brought by sea to Pozzuoli they were made to walk off theship, were frightened by the length of the gangway stretching a long way outfrom the land and turned round and went backwards, so as to cheat themselves intheir estimation of the distance.

IV. They themselves know that the only thing in them that makes desirableplunder is in their weapons whichJubacalls 'horns,' but which the author so greatly his senior,Herodotus, and also common usage betterterm 'tusks;' consequently when these fall off owing to some accident or to agethey bury them in the ground. The tusk alone is of ivory: otherwise even inthese animals too the skeleton forming the framework of the body is common bone;albeit recently owing to our poverty even the bones have begun to be cut intolayers, inasmuch as an ample supply of tasks is now rarely obtained except fromIndia, all the rest in our world having succumbed to luxury. A young elephant isknown by the whiteness of its tusks. The beasts take the greatest care of them;they spare the point of one so that it may not be blunt for fighting and use theother as an implement for digging roots and thrusting massive objects forward;and when surrounded by a party of hunters they post those with the smallesttusks in front, so that it may be thought not worth while to fight them, andafterwards when exhausted they break their tusks by dashing them against a treeand ransom themselves at the price of the desired booty.

V. It is remarkable in the case of most animals that they know why theyare hunted, but also that almost all know what they must beware of. It is saidthat when an elephant accidentally meets a human being who is merely wanderingacross its track in a solitary place it is good-tempered and peaceful and willactually show the way; but that when on the other hand it notices a man'sfootprint before it sees the man himself it begins to tremble in fear of anambush, stops to sniff the scent, gazes round, trumpets angrily, and avoidstreading on the footprint but digs it up and passes it to the next elephant, andthat one to the following, and on to the last of all with a similar message, andthen the column wheels round and retires and a battle line is formed: since thesmell in question lasts to be scented by them all, though in the majority ofcases it is not even the smell of bare feet. Similarly a tigress also, It issaid, even though savage to all other animals and herself scorning thefootprints even of an elephant, when she sees the track of a human being at oncecarries her cubs elsewhereThough how has she recognized or where has she seenbefore the person that she fears? For it is certain that such forests are verylittle frequented. Granted that no doubt they may be surprised by the mererarity of the print; but how do they know that it is something to be afraid of?Indeed there is a further point, why should they dread even the sight of a manhimself when they excel him so greatly in strength, size and speed? Doubtless itis Nature's law and shows her power, that the fiercest and largest wild beastsmay have never seen a thing that they ought to fear and yet understandimmediately when they have to fear it.

Elephants always travel in a herd; the oldest leads the column and thenext oldest brings up the rear. When going to ford a river they put the smallestin front, so that the bottom may not be worn away by the tread of the largerones, thus increasing the depth of the water.Antipater states that two elephants employed for military purposes byKingAntiochus were known to the publiceven by name; indeed they know their own names. It is a fact thatCato, although he has removed the namesof military commanders from hisAnnals,has recorded that the elephant in the Carthaginian army that was the bravestin battle was called the Syrian, and that it had one broken tusk. WhenAntiochus was trying to ford ariver his elephant Ajax refused, though on other occasions it always led theline; thereupon Antiochus issued an announcement that the elephant that crossedshould have the leading place and he rewarded Patroclus, who made the venture, with the gift of silver harness, anelephant's greatest delight, and with every other mark of leadership. The onedisgraced preferred death by starvation to humiliation; for the elephant has aremarkable sense of shame, and when defeated shrinks from the voice of itsconqueror, and offers him earth and foliage. Owing to their modesty, elephantsnever mate except in secret, the male at the age of five and the female at ten;and mating takes place for two years, on five days, so it is said, of each yearand not more; and on the sixth day they give themselves a shower-bath in ariver, not returning to the herd before. Adultery is unknown among them, or anyof the fighting for females that is so disastrous to the other animalsthoughnot because they are devoid of strong affection, for it is reported that oneelephant in Egypt fell in love with a girl who was selling flowers, and (thatnobody may think that it was a vulgar choice) who was a remarkable favourite ofthe very celebrated scholar Aristophanes; and another elephant is said to havefallen in love with a young soldier inPtolemy's army, a Syracusan namedMenander, and whenever it did not see him to have shown its longing forhim by refusing food. AlsoJuba recordsa girl selling scent who was loved by an elephant. In all these cases theanimals showed their affection by their delight at the sight of the object andtheir clumsy gestures of endearment, and by keeping the branches given to themby the public and showering them in the loved one's lap. Nor is it surprisingthat animals possessing memory are also capable of affection. For the samewriter records a case of an elephant's recognizing many years later in old age aman who had been its mahout in its youth, and also an instance of a sort ofinsight in to justice, when KingBocchustied to stakes thirty elephants which he intended to punish and exposed them toa herd of the same number, men running out among them to provoke them to theattack, and it proved impossible to make them perform the service of ministeringto another's cruelty.

VI. Italy saw elephants for the first time in the war with King Pyrrhus, and called themLucan oxen because they were seen inLucania, 280 BC.; but Rome first saw them at a date five years later, in atriumph, and also a very large number that were captured from the Carthaginiansin Sicily by the victory of the pontiffLuciusMetellus, 252 B.C. There were 142 of them, or by some accounts 140, andthey had been brought over on rafts thatMetellus constructed by laying decks on rows of casks lashed together.Verrius records that they fought in theCircus and were killed with javelins, because it was not known what use to makeof them, as it had been decided not to keep them nor to present them to nativekings;Lucius Piso says that they weremerely led into the Circus, and in order to increase the contempt felt for themwere driven all round it by attendants carrying spears with a button on thepoint. The authorities who do not think that they were killed do not explainwhat was done with them afterwards.

VII. There is a famous story of one of the Romans fighting single-handedagainst an elephant, on the occasion whenHannibal had compelled his prisoners from our army to fight duels withone another. For he pitted one survivor against an elephant, and this man,having secured a promise of his freedom if he killed the animal, met itsingle-handed in the arena and much to the chagrin of the Carthaginiansdispatched it.Hannibal realized thatreports of this encounter would bring the animals into contempt, so he senthorsemen to kill the man as he was departing. Experiences in our battles with Pyrrhus made it clear that it is veryeasy to lop off an elephant's trunk.Fenestellastates that the first elephant fought in the circus at Rome in thecuruleaedileship ofClaudius Pulcher and theconsulship ofMarcus Antonius andAulus Postumius, 99 BC., and also thatthe first fight of an elephant against bulls was twenty years later in thecurule aedileship of the Luculli. Also inPompey's second consulship, at the dedication of the Temple of Venus Victrix, twenty, or, as some record, seventeen, fought in the Circus,their opponents being Gaetulians armed with javelins, one of the animals puttingup a marvellous fightits feet being disabled by wounds it crawled against thehordes of the enemy on its knees, snatching their shields from them and throwingthem into the air, and these as they fell delighted the spectators by the curvesthey described, as if they were being thrown by a skilled juggler and not by aninfuriated wild animal. There was also a marvellous occurrence in the case ofanother, which was killed by a single blow, as the javelin striking it under theeye had reached the vital parts of the head. The whole band attempted to burstthrough the iron palisading by which they were enclosed and caused considerabletrouble among the public. Owing to this, when subsequently Caesar in hisdictatorship was going to exhibit a similar show he surrounded the arena withchannels of water; these the emperorNeroremoved when adding special places for the Knighthood. ButPompey's elephants when they had lostall hope of escape tried to gain the compassion of the crowd by indescribablegestures of entreaty, deploring their fate with a sort of wailing, so much tothe distress of the public that they forgot the general and his munificencecarefully devised for their honour, and bursting into tears rose in a body andinvoked curses on the head ofPompey forwhich he soon afterwards paid the penalty. Elephants also fought for thedictatorCaesar in his third consulship,twenty being matched against 500 foot soldiers, and on a second occasion anequal number carrying castles each with a garrison of 60 men, who fought apitched battle against the same number of infantry as on the formeroccasion and an equal number of cavalry; and subsequently for the emperorsClaudius andNero elephants versus mensingle-handed, as the crowning exploit of the gladiators' careers.

A story is told that the animal's natural gentleness towards those not so strongas itself is so great that if it gets among a flock of sheep it willremove with its trunk those that come in its way, so as not unwittingly to crushone. Also they never do any harm unless provoked, and that although they goabout in herds, being of all animals the least solitary in habit. Whensurrounded by horsemen they withdraw. The weak ones or those that are exhaustedor wounded into the middle of their column, and advance into the fighting linein relays as if by command or strategy.

VIII. The method of capturing them in India is for a mahout riding one ofthe domesticated elephants to find a wild elephant alone or detach itfrom the herd and to flog it, and when it is tired out he climbs across on to itand manages it as he did his previous mount. Africa captures elephants by meansof pitfalls; when an elephant straying from the herd falls into one of theseall the rest at once collect branches of trees and roll down rocks and constructramps, exerting every effort in the attempt to get it out. Previously for thepurpose of taming them the kings used to round them up with horsemen into atrench made by hand so as to deceive them by its length, and when they wereenclosed within its banks and ditches they were starved into submission; theproof of this would be if when a man held out a branch to them they gently tookit from him. At the present day hunters for the sake of their tusks shoot themwith javelins in the foot, which in fact is extremely soft. The Cavemen on thefrontier of Ethiopia, whose only food is elephant meat obtained by hunting,climb up trees near the elephants' track and there keep a look out for the lastof the whole column and jump down on to the hind part of its haunches; the tailis grasped in the man's left hand and his feet are planted on the animal's leftthigh, and so hanging suspended, with his right hand and with a very sharp axehe hamstrings one leg, and as the elephant runs forward with its leg crippled hestrikes the sinews of the other leg, performing the whole of these actions withextreme rapidity. Others employing a safer but less reliable method fix greatbows rather deep in the ground, unbent; these are held in position by young menof exceptional strength, while others striving with a united effort bend them,and as the elephants pass by they shoot them with hunting-spears instead ofarrows and afterwards follow the tracks of blood.

IX. The females of the genus elephant are much more timid than themales. Mad elephants can be tamed by hunger and blows, other elephants beingbrought up to one that is unmanageable to restrain it with chains. Besides thisthey get very wild when in heat and overthrow the stables of the Indians withtheir tusks. Consequently they prevent them from coupling, and keep the herds offemales separate, in just the same way as droves of cattle are kept. Maleelephants when broken in serve in battle and carry castles manned with armedwarriors on their backs; they are the most important factor in eastern warfare,scattering the ranks before them and trampling armed soldiers underfoot.Nevertheless they are scared by the smallest squeal of a pig; and when woundedand frightened they always give ground, doing as much damage to their own sideas to the enemy. African elephants are afraid of an Indian elephant, and do notdare to look at it, as Indian elephants are indeed of a larger size.

X. Their period of gestation is commonly supposed to be ten years, butAristotle puts it at two years, and saysthat they never bear more than one at a time, and that they live 200and in some cases 300 years. Their adult life begins at 60. They take thegreatest pleasure in rivers and roam in the neighbourhood of streams, althoughat the same time they are unable to swim because of the size of their bodies,and also as they are incapable of enduring cold: this is their greatestinfirmity; they are also liable to flatulence and diarrhoea, but not to otherkinds of disease. I find it stated that missiles sticking in their body fall outwhen they drink oil, but that perspiration makes it easier for them to keeptheir hold. It also causes them disease to eat earth unless they chew itrepeatedly; but they devour even stones, consider trunks of trees a greatdelicacy, and bend down the loftier palm trees by butting against them withtheir foreheads and when thus prostrate consume their fruit. They eat with themouth, but they breathe and drink and smell with the organ not unsuitably calledtheir hand. They hate the mouse worst of living creatures, and if they see onemerely touch the fodder placed in their stall they refuse it with disgust. Theyare liable to extreme torture if in drinking they swallow a leech (the commonname for which I notice has now begun to be 'blood-sucker'); when this attachesitself in the actual breathing passage it causes intolerable pain.

The hide of the back is extremely hard, but that of the belly is soft; it has nocovering of bristles, not even on the tail as a guard for driving away theannoyance of fliesfor even that huge bulk is sensitive to thisbut the skin iscreased, and is inviting to this kind of creature owing to its smell; consequently they stretch the creases open and let the swarms get in, and thencrush them to death by suddenly contracting the creases into wrinkles. Thisserves them instead of tail, mane and fleece.

The tusks fetch a vast price, and supply a very elegant material for images ofthe gods. Luxury has also discovered another thing that recommends the elephant,the flavour in the hard skin of the trunk, sought after, I believe, for no otherreason than because the epicure feels that he is munching actual ivory.Exceptionally large specimens of tusks can indeed be seen in the temples, butneverthelessPolybius has recorded onthe authority of the chieftain Gulusa,that in the outlying parts of the province of Africa where it marcheswith Ethiopia elephants' tusks serve instead of doorposts in the houses, andpartitions in these buildings and in stabling for cattle are made by usingelephants' tusks for poles.

XI. Elephants are produced by Africa beyond the deserts of Sidraand by the country of the Moors; also by the land of Ethiopia and theCave-dwellers, as has been said; but the biggest ones by India, as wellas serpents that keep up a continual feud and warfare with them, the serpentsalso being of so large a size that they easily encircle the elephants in theircoils and fetter them with a twisted knot. In this duel both combatants dietogether, and the vanquished elephant in falling crushes with its weight thesnake coiled round it.

XII. Every species of animal is marvellously cunning for its owninterests, as are those which we are considering. One difficulty that theserpent has is in climbing to such a height; consequently it keeps watch on thetrack worn by the elephant going to pasture and drops on him from a lofty tree.The elephant knows that he is badly handicapped in fighting against the snake'scoils, and therefore seeks to rub it against trees or rocks. The snakes are ontheir guard against this, and consequently begin by shackling the elephants'steps with their tail. The elephants untie the knots with their trunk. But thesnakes poke their heads right into the elephants' nostrils, hindering theirbreathing and at the same time lacerating their tenderest parts; also whencaught in the path of the elephants they rear up against them, going speciallyfor their eyes: this is how it comes about that elephants are frequently foundblind and exhausted with hunger and wasting misery.

What other cause could anybody adduce for suchquarrel save Nature arranging a match between a pair of combatants to provideherself with a show? There is also another account of this contestthatelephants are very cold-blooded, and consequently in very hot weather arespecially sought after by the snakes; and that for this reason they submergethemselves in rivers and lie in wait for the elephants when drinking, and risingup coil round the trunk and imprint a bite inside the ear, because that placeonly cannot be protected by the trunk; and that the snakes are so large thatthey can hold the whole of an elephant's blood, and so they drink the elephantsdry, and these when drained collapse in a heap and the serpents beingintoxicated are crushed by them and die with them.

XIII. Ethiopia produces elephants that rival those of India, being 30ft. high; the only surprising thing is what ledJuba to believe them to be crested. The Ethiopian tribe in whose countrythey are chiefly bred are called the Asachaeans; it is stated that in the coastdistricts belonging to this tribe the elephants link themselves four or fivetogether into a sort of raft and holding up their heads to serve as sails arecarried on the waves to the better pastures of Arabia.

XIV. Megasthenes writes that inIndia snakes grow so large as to be able to swallow stags and bulls whole; andMetrodorus that in the neighbourhood ofthe river Rhyndacus in Pontus they catch and gulp down birds passing over themeven though they are flying high and fast. There is the well-known case of thesnake 120 ft. long that was killed during the Punic Wars on the River Bagradasaby GeneralRegulus, using ordnance andcatapults just as if storming a town; its skin and jawbones remained in atemple at Rome down to the Nuxnantine War? Credibility attaches to these storieson account of the serpents in Italy called boas, which reach such dimensionsthat during the principate ofClaudiusof blessed memory a whole child was found in the belly of one that was killed onthe Vatican Hill. Their primary food is milk sucked from a cow; from this theyderive their name.

XV. It is not our concern to give a meticulous account of all the otherspecies of animals that recently have reached Italy more frequently byimportation from all quarters. Scythia, owing to its lack of vegetation,produces extremely few; its neighbour Germany few, but some remarkable breeds ofwild oxen, the maned bison and the exceptionally powerful and swiftaurochaffto which the ignorant masses give the name of buffalo, though the buffalo isreally a native of Africa and rather bears some resemblance to the calf and thestag.

XVI. The North also produces herds of wild horses, as do Asia and Africaof wild asses, and also the elk, which resembles a bullock save that it isdistinguished by the length of its ears and neck; also theachlis,born in the island of Scandinavia and never seen in Rome, although manyhave told stories of itan animal that is not unlike the elk but has no joint atthe hock and consequently is unable to lie down but sleeps leaning against atree, and is captured by the tree being cut through to serve as a trap, butwhich nevertheless has a remarkable turn of speed. Its upper lip isexceptionally big; on account of this it walks backward when grazing, so as toavoid getting tripped up by it in moving forward. There are reports of a wildanimal in Paeonia called thebonasus, which has the mane of a horse but in allother respects resembles a bull; its horns are curved back in such a manner asto be of no use for fighting, and it is said that because of this it savesitself by running away, meanwhile emitting a trail of dung that sometimescovers a distance of as much as three furlongs, contact with which scorchespursuers like a sort of fire.

XVII. It is remarkable that leopards, panthers, lions and similaranimals walk with the point of their claws sheathed inside the body so that theymay not get broken or blunted, and run with their talons turned back and do notextend them except when attempting to catch something.

The lion is specially high-spirited at the time when its neck and shoulders areclothed with a manefor this occurs at maturity in the case of those sired by alion, though those begotten by leopards always lack this characteristic; and thefemales likewise. Sexual passion is strong in this species, with its consequenceof quarrelsomeness in the males; this is most observed in Africa, where theshortage of water makes the animals flock to the few rivers. There areconsequently many varieties of hybrids in that country, either violence or lustmating the males with the females of each species indiscriminately. This isindeed the origin of the common saying of Greece that Africa is always producingsome novelty. A lion detects intercourse with a leopard in the case of anadulterous mate by scent, and concentrates his entire strength on herchastisement; consequently this guilty stain is washed away in a stream, or elseshe keeps her distance when accompanying him. But I notice that there used tobe a popular belief that the lioness only bears a cub once, as her womb iswounded by the points of its claws in delivery.Aristotle, however, whose authority Ifeel bound to cite first as I am going in great part to follow him on thesesubjects, gives a different account. KingAlexander the Great being fired with a desire to know the natures ofanimals and having delegated the pursuit of this study toAristotle as a man of supreme eminencein every branch of science, orders were given to some thousands of personsthroughout the whole of Asia and Greece, all those who made their living byhunting, fowling, and fishing and those who were in charge of warrens, herds,apiaries, fishponds and aviaries, to obey his instructions, so that he mightnot fail to be informed about any creature born anywhere. His enquiriesaddressed to those persons resulted in the composition of his famous works onzoology, in nearly 50 volumes. To my compendium of these, with the addition offacts unknown to him, I request my readers to give a favourable reception, whilemaking a brief excursion under our direction among the whole of the works ofNature, the central interest of the most glorious of all sovereigns. Aristotlethen states that a lioness at the first birth produces five cubs, and each yearone fewer, and after bearing a single cub becomes barren; and that the cubs aremere lumps of flesh and very small, at the beginning of the size of weasels, andat six months are scarcely able to walk, not moving at all until they are twomonths old; also that lions are found in Europe only between the rivers Achelousand Mestus, but that these far exceed in strength those produced by Africaand Syria.

XVIII. He states that there are two kinds of lions, one thickset andshort, with comparatively curly manesthese being more timid than the long,straight-haired kind; the latter despise wounds. The males lift one leg inmaking water, like dogs. Their smell is disagreeable, and not less their breath.They are infrequent drinkers, and they feed every other day, after a full mealoccasionally abstaining from food for three days; when chewing they swallowwhole what they can, and when their belly will not contain the result of theirgluttony, they insert their clenched claws into their throats and drag it out,so that if they have to run away they may not go in a state of repletion. Fromthe fact that many specimens are found lacking teeth he infers that they arelong-lived. Aemilianus's companion Polybius states that in old age theirfavourite prey is a human being, because their strength is not adequate tohunting wild animals; and that at this period of their lives they beset thecities of Africa, and consequently when he was with Scipio he saw lionscrucified, because the others might be deterred from the same mischief by fearof the same penalty.

XIX. The lion alone of wild animals shows mercy to suppliants; it sparespersons prostrated in front of it, and when raging it turns its fury onmen rather than women, and only attacks children when extremely hungry.Juba believes that the meaning ofentreaties gets through to them: at all events he was informed that the onset ofa herd of lions in the forests upon a woman of Gaetulia who was captured and gotaway again had been checked by a speech in which she dared to say that she was afemale, a fugitive, a weakling a suppliant to the most generous of all theanimals, the lord of all the rest, a booty unworthy of his glory. Opinion willvary in accordance with each person's as experience has not decided whether itbe true or false that even serpents can be enticed out by song and forced tosubmit to chastisement. Lions indicate their state of mind by means of theirtail, as horses do by their ears: for Nature has assigned even these means ofexpression to all the noblest animals. Consequently the lion's tail ismotionless when he is calm, and moves gently when he wishes to cajolewhich isseldom, since anger is more usual; at the onset of which the earth is lashed,and as the anger grows, his back is lashed as if for a mode of incitement. Alion's greatest strength is in the chest. Black blood flows from every wound,whether made by claw or tooth. Yet when lions are glutted they are harmless. Thelion's nobility of spirit is detected most in dangers, not merely in the waythat despising weapons he protects himself for a long time only by intimidation,and protests as it were that he is acting under compulsion, and rises to theencounter not as if forced by danger but as though enraged by madness; but anobler indication of this spirit is this, that however large a force of houndsand hunters besets him, in level plains and where he can be seen he retirescontemptuously and constantly halting, but when he has made his way intobrushwood and forest he proceeds at top speed, as if aware that the lie of theland conceals his disgrace. When pursuing he advances by leaps and bounds, buthe does not use this gait when in flight. When he has been wounded he marks downhis assailant in a marvellous way, and knows him and picks him out in howeverlarge a him but fails to wound him he seizes and whirling him round flings himon the ground, but does not wound him. It is said that when a mother lion isfighting in defence of her cubs she fixes the gaze of her eyes upon the groundso as not to flinch from the hunting spears. Otherwise lions are devoid of craftand suspicion, and they do not look at you with eyes askance and dislike beinglooked at in a similar way. The belief has been held that a dying lion bites theearth and bestows a tear upon death. Yet though of such a nature and of suchferocity this animal is frightened by wheels turning round and by emptychariots, and even more by the crested combs and the crowing of cocks, but mostof all by fires. The only malady to which it is liable is that of distaste forfood; in this condition it can be cured by insulting treatment, the pranks ofmonkeys tied to it driving it to fury; and then tasting their blood acts as aremedy.

XX. A fight with several lions at once was first the bestowed on Rome byQuintus Scaevola, son ofPublius, whenconsular aedile, but thefirst of all who exhibited a combat of 100 maned lions wasLucius SuIla, later dictator, in hispraetorship. AfterSulla Pompey the Greatshowed in the Circus 600, including 315 with manes, andCaesar when dictator 400.

XXI. Capturing lions was once a difficult task, chiefly effected by meansof pitfalls. In the principate ofClaudiusaccident taught a Gaetulian shepherd a method that was almost one to be ashamedof in the case of a wild animal of this nature: when it charged he flung a cloakagainst its onseta feat that was immediately transferred to the arena as ashowthe creature's great ferocity abating in an almost incredible manner whenits head is covered with even a light wrap, with the result that it isvanquished without showing fight. The fact is that all its strength isconcentrated in its eyes, which makes it less remarkable that when Lysimachus by order ofAlexander was shut up in a lion's cagehe succeeded in strangling it.Mark Antonybroke lions to the yoke and was the first person at Rome to harness them to achariot, and this in fact during the civil war, after the decisive battle in theplains of Pharsalia, not without some intention of exhibiting the position ofaffairs, the portentous feat signifying that generous spirits can bow to a yoke.For his riding in this fashion with the actressCytheris at his side was a thing that outdid even the portentousoecnrrences of that disastrous period. It is recorded that Hanno, one of themost distinguished of the Carthaginians, was the first human being who dared tohandle a lion and exhibit it as tamed, and that this supplied a reason for hisimpeachment, because it was felt that a man of such an artful character mightpersuade the public to anything, and that their liberty was ill entrusted to oneto whom even ferocity had so completely submitted.

But there are also instances of occasional mercifulness even in lions. TheSyracusanMentor in Syria met a lionthat rolled on the ground in suppliant wise and struck such terror intohim that he was running away, when the lion stood in his way wherever he turned,and licked his footsteps as if fawning on him; he noticed a swelling and a woundin its foot, and by pulling out a thorn set the creature free from torment: apicture at Syracuse is evidence of this occurrence. In a similar manner a nativeof Samos named Elpis on landing from a ship in Africa, saw near the coast a lionopening its jaws in a threatening way, and took refuge up a tree, calling onFather Liber for help, since the chief occasion for praying is an emergencywhere there is no room for hope. The beast had not stood in his way when hetried to run away although it might have done, and lying down by the tree beganto beg for compassion with the gaping jaws by which it had scared the man.Owing to its biting its food too greedily a bone had stuck in its teeth, and wastormenting it with starvation and not merely with the punishment contained inthe actual prickles, as it gazed up and looked as if making a silent prayer foraidwhile chance events are not to be relied on in face of a wild animal, andmuch longer hesitation is caused by surprise than by alarm. But finally he camedown and pulled out the bone for the lion, which held out its foot to him andadjusted it at the most necessary angle; and they say that as long as thatvessel remained on the coast the lion displayed its gratitude by bringing itscatches to its benefactor. This ledElpisto consecrate in Samos a temple to Father Liber, to which from that occurrencethe Greeks have given the name of Temple of Dionysus with his Mouth Open. Afterthis do not let us be surprised that men's tracks are recognized by wild beastswhen they actually hope for assistance from one of the animal race: for why didthey not go to other animals, or how do they know of man's healing touch? Unlessperchance violent maladies force even wild animals to every expedient.

The natural philosopherDemetrius alsorecords an equally remarkable story about a panther, which out of desire forhuman aid lay in the middle of a road, where the father of a certain student ofphilosophy namedPhilinus suddenly camein sight of it. The man, so the story goes, began to retreat, but the animalrolled over on its back, obviously trying to cajole him, and tormented by sorrowthat was intelligible even in a panther: she had a litter of cubs that had falleninto a pit some distance away. The first result of his compassion therefore wasnot to be frightened, and the next to give her his attention; and he followedwhere she drew him by lightly touching his clothes with her claws, and when heunderstood the cause of her grief and at the same time the recompense due forhis own security, he got the cubs out of the pit; and the panther with her youngescorted him right to the edge of the desert, guiding him with gestures ofdelight that made it quite clear that she was expressing gratitude and notreckoning on any recompense, which is rare even in a human being.

XXII. These stories give credibility toDemocritus also, who tells a tale of Thoas in Arcadia being saved by a snake.When a boy he had fed it and made a great pet of it, and his parent being afraidof the snake's nature and size had taken it away into an uninhabited region,where it recognized Thoas's voice and came to his rescue when he was entrappedby an ambush of brigands. For as to the reports about infants when they had beenexposed being fed by the milk of wild animals, as well as those about ourfounders being nursed by a she-wolf, I deem it more reasonable for them to becredited to the grandeur of their destinies than to the nature of the wildanimals.

XXIII. The panther and the tiger almostalone of beasts are distinguished by a variety of markings, whereas the resthave a single colour, each kind having its ownblack in the case of lions inSyria only. Panthers have small spots like eyes on a light ground. It is saidthat all four-footed animals are wonderfully attracted by their smell, butfrightened by the savage appearance of their head; for which they catch them byhiding their head and enticing them to approach by their other attractions. Someauthorities report that they have a mark on the shoulder resembling a moon,expanding into a circle and hollowed out in a similar manner. As it is, peopleuse the name 'spotted ladies', and for the males 'pards', in the whole of thisgenus, which occurs most frequently in Africa and Syria; some personsdistinguish panthers from these by their light colour only, nor have I hithertodiscovered any other difference.

XXIV. There was an old Resolution of the Senate prohibiting theimportation of African elephants into Italy. Gnaeus Aufidius when Tribune of the Plebs carried in the Assembly of thePeople a resolution repealing this and allowing them to be imported for shows inthe Circus. But Scaurus in his aedileship first sent in procession 150 femaleleopards in one flock, thenPompey theGreat 410, and the late lamentedAugustus420.

XXV.Augustus also, in the consulship ofMarcus Tubero andPaullus Fabius,at the dedication of the Theatre of Marcellus, on May 7, was the first of allpersons at Rome who exhibited a tamed tiger in a cage, although his late MajestyClaudius exhibited four at one time.

Hyrcania and India produce the tiger, au animal of terrific speed, which is mostnoticeable when the whole of its litter, which is always numerous, isbeing captured. The litter is taken by a man lying in wait with the swiftesthorse obtainable, and is transferred successively to fresh horses. But when themother tiger finds the lair empty (for the males do not look after their young)she rushes off at headlong speed, tracking them by scent. The captor when herroar approaches throws away one of the cubs. She snatches it up in her mouth,and returns and resumes the pursuit at even a faster pace owing to her burden,and so on in succession until the hunter has regained the ship and her ferocityrages vainly on the shore.

XXVI. The East pastures camels among its flocks of cattle; of these thereare two kinds, the Bactrian and the Arabian, which differ in that the formerhave two humps on the back and the latter one, with a second hump beneath thechest on which they can rest their weight; but both kinds resemble oxen inhaving no teeth in the upper jaw. All however perform the services of beasts ofburden, and also of cavalry in battles; their speed is below that of horses. Butthe two kinds differ in dimensions, as also in strength; and a camel will nottravel beyond its customary march, nor carry more than the regulation load.They possess an innate hatred for horses. They can endure thirst for as much asfour days, and when they have an opportunity they replenish themselves bothfor the past interval and for the future, stirring up the water by tramplingwith their fore feet before they drinkotherwise they do not enjoy the draught.They live for fifty years, some even for a hundred; although even camels areliable to rabies. A method has been discovered of gelding even the femalesintended for war; this by denying them intercourse increases their strength.

XXVII. Some resemblance to these is passed on to two animals. TheEthiopians give the name of to one that has a neck like a horse, feet and legslike an ox, and a head like a camel, and is of a ruddy colour picked out withwhite spots, owing to which it is called a camelopard; it was first seenat Rome at the games in the Circus given byCaesar when dictator. From this it has subsequently been recognized to bemore remarkable for appearance than for ferocity, and consequently it has alsogot the name of wild sheep.

XXVIII. The games ofPompeythe Great first displayed thechama, which the Gauls used to call thelynx, with the shape of a wolf and leopard's spots; the same show exhibited whatthey callcephi from Ethiopia, which have hind feet resembling the feetof a man and legs and fore feet like hands. Rome has not seen this animalsubsequently.

XXIX. At the same games there was also a rhinoceros with one horn on thenose such as has often been seen. Another bred here to fight matches with anelephant gets ready for battle by filing its horns on rocks, and in theencounter goes specially for the belly, which it knows to be softer. It equalsan elephant in length, but its legs are much shorter, and it is the colour ofbox-wood.

XXX. Ethiopia produces lynxes in great numbers, and sphinxes with brownhair and a pair of udders on the breast, and many othermonstrositieswinged homes armed with horns, calledpegasi, hyenas like across between a dog and a wolf, that break everything with their teeth, swallowit at a gulp and masticate it in the belly; tailed monkeys with black heads,ass's hair and a voice unlike that of any other species of ape; Indian oxen awith one and with three horns; the leucrocota, [hyena] swiftest ofwild beasts, about the size of an ass, with a stag's haunches, a lion's neck,tail and breast, badger's head, cloven hoot mouth opening right back to theears, and ridges of bone in place of rows of teeththis animal is reported toimitate the voices of human beings. Among the same people is also found theanimal called theyale, the size of a hippopotamus, with an elephant's tail, ofa black or tawny colour, with the jaws of a boar and movable horns more than acubit in length which in a fight are erected alternately, and presented to theattack or sloped backward in turn as policy directs. But its fiercest animalsare forest bulls, larger than the bulls of the field, surpassing all in speed,of a tawny colour, with blue eyes, hair turned backward, mouth gaping open tothe ears, along with mobile horns; the hide has the hardness of flint, rejectingevery wound. They hunt all wild animals, but themselves can only be caught inpits, and when caught always die game. Ctesiaswrites that in the same country is born the creature that he calls themantichora [fabulous] which has a triple row of teeth meeting likethe teeth of a comb, the face and ears of a human being, grey eyes, a blood-redcolour, a lion's body, inflicting stings with its tail in the manner of ascorpion, with a voice like the sound of a panpipe blended with a trumpet, ofgreat speed, with a special appetite for human flesh.

XXXI. He says that in India there are also oxen with solid hoofs and onehorn and a wild animal namedaxis, [deer] with the hide ofa fawn but with more spots and whiter ones, belonging to the ritual of Father Liber (the Orsaean Indians hunt monkeys that are a bright white all over thebody); but that the fiercest animal is the unicorn, which in the rest of thebody resembles a horse, but in the head a stag, in the feet an elephant, and inthe tail a boar, and has a deep bellow, and a single black horn three feet longprojecting from the middle of the forehead. They say that it is impossible tocapture this animal alive.

XXXII. In Western Ethiopia there is a spring, the Nigris, which mostpeople have supposed to be the source of the Nile, as they try to proveby the arguments that we have stated. In its neighbourhood there is ananimal called thecatoblepas, in other respects of moderate size andinactive with the rest of its limbs, only with a very heavy head which itcarries with difficultyit is always hanging down to the ground; otherwise it isdeadly to the human race, as all who see its eyes expire immediately.

XXXIII. The basilisk serpent also has thesame power. It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, not more than 12 incheslong, and adorned with a bright white marking on the head like a sort of diadem.It routs all snakes with its hiss, and does not move its body forward inmanifold coils like the other snakes but advancing with its middle raised high.It kills bushes not only by its touch but also by its breath, scorches up grassand bursts rocks. Its effect on other animals is disastrous: it is believed thatonce one was killed with a spear by a man on horseback and the infection risingthrough the spear killed not only the rider but also the horse. Yet to acreature so marvellous as thisindeed kings have often wished to see a specimenwhen safely deadthe venom of weasels is fatal: so fixed is the decree of naturethat nothing shall be without its match. They throw the basilisks into weasels'holes, which are easily known by the foulness of the ground, and the weaselskill them by their stench and die themselves at the same time, and nature'sbattle is accomplished.

XXXIV. But in Italy also it is believed that the sight of wolves isharmful, and that if they look at a man before he sees them, it temporarilydeprives him of utterance. The wolves produced in Africa and Egypt are feebleand small, but those of colder regions are cruel and fierce. We are bound topronounce with confidence that the story of men being turned into wolves andrestored to themselves again is falseor else we must believe all the tales thatthe experience of so many centuries has taught us to be fabulous; neverthelesswe will indicate the origin of the popular belief, which is so firmly rootedthat it classes werewolves among persons under a curse. Evanthes, who holds no contemptibleposition among the authors of Greece, writes that the Arcadians have atradition that someone chosen out of the clan of a certain Anthus by castinglots among the family is taken to a certain marsh in that region, and hanginghis clothes on an oak-tree swims across the water and goes away into a desolateplace and is transformed into a wolf and herds with the others of the same kindfor nine years; and that if in that period he has refrained from touching ahuman being, he returns to the same marsh, swims across it and recovers hisshape, with nine years' age added to his former appearance;Evanthes also adds the more fabulousdetail that he gets back the same clothes. It is astounding to what lengthsGreek credulity will go; there is no lie so shameless as to lack a supporter.SimilarlyApollas the author ofOlympic Victors relates that at thesacrifice which even at that date the Arcadians used to perform in honour ofLycaean Jove with a human victim,Daemenetusof Parrhasia tasted the vitals of a boy who had been offered as a victim andturned himself into a wolf, and furthermore that he was restored ten years laterand trained himself in athletics for boxing and returned a winner from Olympia.Moreover it is popularly believed that even the tail of this animal contains alove-poison in a small tuft of hair, and when it is caught it sheds the tuft,which has not the same potency unless plucked from the animal while it is alive;that the days on which it breeds are not more than twelve in a wholeyear; also that for it to feed on earth when it is hungry counts as an augury:if it does this in large mouthfuls when barring the path of travellers who comeupon it on their right hand side, this is the finest of all omens. Some membersof the genus are called stag-wolves; a specimen from Gaul was seen in thearena ofPompey the Great, as we havestated. They say that if this animal while devouring its food looks behind it,however hungry it is, forgetfulness of what it is eating creeps over it and itgoes off to look for something else.

XXXV. As concerning serpents, it is generally stated that most of themhave the colour of the earth that they usually lurk in; that there areinnumerable kinds of them; that horned snakes have little horns, often a clusterof four, projecting from the body, by moving which so as to hide the rest of thebody they lure birds to them; that the amphisbaena has a twin he ad, that is oneat the tail-end as well, as though it were not enough for poison to be pouredout of one mouth; that some have scales, others coloured markings, and all adeadly venom; that the javelin-shake hurls itself from the branches of trees,and at serpents are not only formidable to the feet but fly like a missile froma catapult; that when asps' necks swell, up there is no remedy for their stingexcept the immediate amputation of the parts stung. Although so pestilential,this animal has one emotion or rather affection: they usually roam in couples,male and female, and only live with their consort. Accordingly when either ofthe pair has been destroyed the other is incredibly anxious for revenge: itpursues the murderer and by means of some mark of recognition attacks him and himonly in however large a throng of people, bursting through all obstacles andtraversing all distances, and it is only debarred by rivers or by very rapidflight. It is impossible to declare whether Nature has engendered evils orremedies more bountifully. In the first place she has bestowed on this accursedcreature dim eyes, and those not in the forehead for it to look straight infront of it, but in the templesand consequently it is more quickly excited byhearing than by sight; and in the next place she has given it war to the deathwith the ichneumon.

XXXVI. That animal, which is also a nativeof Egypt, is specially known because of this exploit. The asp repeatedly plungesinto mud and dries itself in the sun, and then when it has equipped itself witha cuirass of several coatings by the same method, it proceeds to the encounter.In this it raises its tail and renders the blows it receives ineffectual byturning away from them, till after watching for its opportunity, with head heldsideways it attacks its adversary's throat. And not content with this victim itvanquishes another animal no less ferocious, the crocodile.

XXXVII. This belongs to the Nile; it is a curse on four legs, and equallypernicious on land and in the river. It is the only land animal notfurnished with a tongue and the only one that bites by pressing down the mobileupper jaw, and it is also formidable because of its row of teeth set closetogether like a comb. In size it usually exceeds 18 ells. It lays as many eggsas a goose, and by a kind of prophetic instinct incubates them always outsidethe line to which the Nile in that year is going to rise at full flood. Nor doesany other animal grow to greater dimensions from a smaller original size;however, it is armed with talons as well, and its hide is invincibleagainst all blows. It passes its days on land and its nights in the water, inboth eases for reasons of warmth. This creature when sated with a meal of fishand sunk in sleep on the shore with its mouth always full of food, is tempted bya small bird (called there thetrochilus, but in Italy the king-bird) to openits mouth wide to enable the bird to feed; and first it hops in and cleans outthe mouth, and then the teeth and inner throat also, [fictitious] which yawnsopen as wide as possible for the pleasure of this scratching; and the ichneumonwatches for it to be overcome by sleep in the middle of this gratification anddarts like a javelin through the throat so opened and gnaws out the belly.

XXXVIII. A native of the Nile resembling the crocodile but smaller eventhan the ichneumon is the skink, which is an outstanding antidote againstpoisons, and also an aphrodisiac for males.

But the crocodile constituted too great a plague for Nature to be content with asingle enemy for it. Accordingly dolphins also, which have on their backs asharp fin shaped like a knife as if for this purpose, enter the mouth of theNile, and when the crocodiles drive them away from their prey and lord it in theriver as merely their own domain, kill them by craft, as they are otherwise inthemselves no match for them in strength. For all animals are skilful in this,and know not only the things advantageous for themselves but also thosedetrimental for their enemies, and are acquainted with their own weapons andrecognize their opportunities and the unwarlike parts of their adversaries. Thecrocodile's hide is soft and thin over the belly; consequently the dolphinspretending to be frightened dive and going under them rip the belly with thespine described. Moreover there is also a tribe of human beings right on theNile, named after the Island of Tentyrus on which it dwells, that ishostile to this monster. They are of small stature but have a readiness of mindin this employment only that is remarkable. The creature in question is terribleagainst those who run away but runs away from those who pursue it. But these menalone dare to go against them; they actually dive into the river and mounting ontheir back as if riding a horse, when they yawn with the head thrown backwardto bite, insert a staff into the month, and holding the staff at both ends withtheir right and left hands, drive their prisoners to the land as if withbridles, and by terrifying them even merely with their shouts compel them todisgorge the recently swallowed bodies for burial. Consequently this island onlyis not visited by crocodiles, and the scent of this race of men drives themaway, as that of the Psylli does snakes. This animal is said to have dim sightin the water, but to be very keen-sighted when out of it; and to pass fourmonths of the winter in a cave continuously without food. Some persons thinkthat this alone of animals goes on growing in size as long as it lives; but itlives a long time.

XXXIX. A monster of still greater height is also produced in theNile, the hippopotamus, which has cloven hoofs like those of oxen, a horse'sback, mane and neigh, a snub snout, a boar's tail and curved-tusks, though theseare less formidable, and with a hide that supplies an impenetrable material forshields and helmets, except if they are soaked in moisture. It feeds on thecrops, marking out a definite portion beforehand for each day, so it is said,and making its footprints lead out of the field, so that no traps maybe laid for it when it returns.

XL. A hippopotamus was exhibited at Rome for the first time, togetherwith five crocodiles, by Marcus Scaurus at the games which he gave when aedile;a temporary channel was made to hold them. The hippopotamus stands outas an actual master in one department of medicine; for when its unceasingvoracity has caused it to overeat itself it comes ashore to reconnoitre placeswhere rushes have recently been cut, and where it sees an extremely sharpstalk it squeezes its body down on to it and makes a wound in a certain vein inits leg, and by thus letting blood unburdens its body, which would otherwise beliable to disease, and plasters up the wound again with mud.

XLI. A somewhat similar display has also been made in the same country ofEgypt by the bird called the ibis, which makes use of the curve of its beak topurge itself through the part by which it is most conducive to health for theheavy residue of foodstuffs to be excreted. Nor is the ibis alone, but manyanimals have made discoveries destined to be useful for man as well. The valueof the herb dittany for extracting arrows was shown by stags when wounded bythat weapon and ejecting it by grazing on that herb; likewise stags when bittenby thephalangium, a kind of spider, or any similar animal curethemselves by eating crabs. There is also a herb that is particularly good forsnakebites, with which lizards heal themselves whenever they fight a battlewith snakes and are wounded. Celandine was shown to be very healthy for thesight by swallows using it as a medicine for their chicks' sore eyes. Thetortoise eatscunila, called ox-grass, to restore its strength againstthe effect of snake-bites; the weasel cures itself with rue when it has had afight with mice in hunting them. The stork drugs itself with marjoram insickness, and goats use ivy and a diet consisting mostly of crabs thrown up fromthe sea. When a snake's body gets covered with a skin owing to its winterinactivity it sloughs this hindrance to its movement by means of fennel-sap andcomes out all glossy for spring; but it begins the process at its head, andtakes at least 24 hours to do it, folding the skin backward so that what was theinner side of it becomes the outside. Moreover as its sight is obscured by itshibernation it anoints and revives its eyes by rubbing itself against a fennelplant, but if its scales have become numbed it scratches itself on the spinyleaves of a juniper. A large snake quenches its spring nausea with the juice ofwild lettuce. Barbarian hunters catch leopards by means of meat rubbed over withwolfs bane; their throats are at once attacked by violent pain (in consequenceof which some people have given this poison a Greek name meaning choke-leopard),but to cure this the creature doses itself with human excrement, and in generalit is so greedy for this that shepherds have a plan of hanging up some of it ina vessel too high for the leopard to be able to reach it by jumping up, and theanimal keeps springing up and trying to get it till it is exhausted and finallydies, although otherwise its vitality is so persistent that it will go onfighting for a long time after its entrails have been torn out. When an elephantswallows a chameleon (which is poisonous to it) because it is of the same colouras a leaf, it uses the wild olive as a remedy. When bears have swallowed thefruit of the mandrake they lick up ants. A stag uses wild artichoke as anantidote to poisoned fodder. Pigeons, jays, blackbirds and partridges curetheir yearly distaste for food with bay-leaves; doves, turtle-doves and domesticfowls use the plant calledhelxine, ducks, geese and other water-fowlwater-starwort, cranes and the like marsh-rushes. When a raven has killed achameleon lizard, which is noxious even to its conqueror, it stanches thepoisonous infection with bay-leaves.

XLII. There are thousands of points besides, inasmuch as Nature haslikewise also bestowed upon very many animals the faculty of observing the sky,and a variety of different modes of prognosticating winds, rain and storms,a subject which it would be an immense task to pursue, just as much so no doubtas the other points of alliance between particular animals and human beings. Forin fact animals even give warning of dangers in advance, not only by means oftheir entrails and internal organs, a thing that much intrigues a great part ofmankind, but also by another mode of indication. When the collapse of a buildingis imminent, the mice migrate in advance, and spiders with their webs are thefirst things to fall. Indeed auguries have constituted a science at Rome andhave given rise to a priestly college of the greatest dignity. In frostboundcountries, the fox also is among the creatures believed to give omens, being ananimal of formidable sagacity in other respects; people only cross frozen riversand lakes at points where it goes or returns: it has been observed to put itsear to the frozen surface and to guess the thickness of the ice.

XLIII. Nor are there less remarkable instances of destructivenesseven in the case of contemptible animals.Marcus Varro states that a town in Spain was undermined by rabbits andone in Thessaly by moles, and that a tribe in Gaul was put to flight by frogsand one in Africa by locusts, and the inhabitants were banished from the islandof Gyara in the Cyclades by mice, and Amynclae in Italy was completely destroyedby snakes. North of the Ethiopic tribe of the Bitch-milkers there is a wide beltof desert where a tribe was wiped out by scorpions and poisonous spiders, andTheophrastus states that the Rhoetienseswere driven away by a kind of centipede.

XLIV. The hyena is popularly believed to be bisexual and to become maleand female in alternate years, the female bearing offspring without a male; butthis is denied byAristotle. Its neckstretches right along the backbone like a mane, and cannot bend without thewhole body turning round. A number of other remarkable facts about it arereported, but the most remarkable are that among the shepherds' homesteads itsimulates human speech, and picks up the name of one of them so as to call himto come out of doors and tear him in pieces, and also that it imitates a personbeing sick, to attract the dogs so that it may attack them; that this animalalone digs up graves in search of corpses; that a female is seldom caught; thatits eyes have a thousand variations and alterations of colour; moreover thatwhen its shadow falls on dogs they are struck dumb; and that it has certainmagic arts by which it causes every animal at which it gases three times tostand rooted to the spot.

XLV. When crossed with this race of animals the Ethiopian lioness givesbirth to thecorocotta, that mimics the voices of men and cattle in a similarway. It has an unbroken ridge of bone in each jaw, forming a continuous toothwithout any gum, which to prevent its being blunted by contact with the oppositejaw is shut up in a sort of case.Jubastates that in Ethiopia themantichora also mimics human speech.

XLVI. Hyenas occur most numerously in Africa, which also producesa multitude of wild asses. In that species each male is lord of a separate herdof females. They are afraid of rivals in their affections, and consequently theykeep a watch on their females when in foal, and geld their male offspring with abite; to guard against this the females when in foal seek hiding-places and areanxious to give birth by stealth. Also they are fond of a great deal of sexualindulgence.

XLVII. The beavers of the Black Sea region practise self-amputation ofthe same organ when beset by danger, as they know that they are hunted for thesake of its secretion, the medical name for which is beaver-oil.Apart from this the beaver is an animal with a formidable bite, cutting downtrees on the river banks as if with steel; if it gets hold of part of a man'sbody it does not relax its bite before the fractured bones are heard grindingtogether. The beaver has a fish's tail, while the rest of its conformationresembles an otter's; both species are aquatic, and both have fur that is softerthan down.

XLVIII. Also the bramble-frog, which is amphibious in its habit,is replete with a great number of drugs, which it is said to evacuate daily andto replace by the food that it eats, always keeping back only the poisons foritself.

XLIX. The seal also resembles the beaver both in its amphibioushabits and in its nature. It gets rid of its gall, which is useful for manydrugs, by vomiting it up, and also its rennet, a cure for epileptic attacks; itdoes this because it knows that it is bunted for the sake of these products.Theophrastus states that geckoes also slough off their old skin as a snakedoes, and similarly swallow the slough at once, it being a cure for epilepsy ifone snatches it from them. It is also said that their bite is harmless in Greecebut that they are noxious in Sicily.

L. Deer also a have their own form of stinginess although the stag is thegentlest of animals. When beset by a pack of hounds they fly for refuge of theirown accord to a human being, and when giving birth to young are less careful toavoid paths worn by human footprints than secluded places that are advantageousfor wild beasts. The mating season is after the rising of Arcturus. Pregnancylasts eight months, and occasionally they bear twins. After mating the hindswithdraw, but the deserted males rage in a fury of desire, and score the groundwith their horns; afterwards their snouts are black till a considerable rainfallwashes off the dirt. The females before giving birth use a certain plant called hartwort as a purge, so having an easier delivery. After giving birth theybrowse on the two plants named dittany and seseli before they return to theyoung: for some reason or other they desire the sucklings' first draughts ofmilk to be flavoured with those herbs. When the fawns are born they exercisethem in running and teach them to practise escaping, and take them to cliffs andshow them how to jump. The males when at last freed from lustful desire greedilyseek pasture; when they feel they are too fat, they look for lairs to hide in,showing that they are conscious of inconvenient weight. And on other occasionswhen running away from pursuit they always stop and stand gazing backward, whenthe hunters draw near again seeking refuge in flight: this is done owing to painin the gut, which is so weak that a light blow causes internal rupture. But whenthey hear the baying of hounds they always run away down wind, so that theirscent may go away with them. They can be charmed by a shepherd's pipe and bysong. Their hearing is very keen when they raise their ears, but dull when theydrop them. In other respects the deer is a simple animal and stupefied bysurprise at everythingso much so that when a horse or a heifer is approachingthey do not notice a huntsman close to them, or if they see him merely gaze inwonder at his bow and arrows. They cross seas swimming in a herd strung out inline with their heads resting on the haunches of the ones in front of them, andtaking turns to drop to the rear: this is most noticed when they are crossingfrom Cilicia to Cyprus; and they do not keep land in sight but swim towards itsscent. The males have horns, and alone of animals shed them every year at afixed time in spring; consequently when the day in question approaches theyresort as much as possible to unfrequented places. When they have lost theirhome they keep in hiding as if disarmedalthough these animals also are grudgingof their special good: people say that a stag's right horn, which is endowedwith some sort of healing drug, is never found; and this must be confessed to bethe more surprising in view of the fact that even stags kept in warrens changetheir horns every year: it is thought that they bury them. The smell of eitherhorn when burnt arrests attacks of epilepsy. They also bear marks of their agein their horns, each year till they are six years old adding one time; thoughthenceforward the horns grow again like the old ones and the age cannot be toldby them. But old age is indicated by the teeth, for the old have either few ornone, nor have they tines at the bottom of the horns, though otherwise theseusually jut out in front of the brow when they are younger. When stags have been gelt the horns do not fall off nor grow again, but burst out with excrescencesthat keep springing again, at first resembling dry skin, and then grow up withtender shoots into reedy tufts feathered with soft down. As long as the stagsare without them, they go out to graze iu the nights. When they are growingagain they harden them with the heat of the sun, subsequently testing them ontrees, and only go out into the open when satisfied with theft strength; andbefore now they have been caught with green ivy on their antlers, that has beengrafted on the tender horns as on a log of wood as a result of rubbing themagainst trees while testing them. Stags are sometimes even of a white colour, asQuintus Sertorius's hind is said to havebeen, which he had persuaded the tribes of Spain to believe prophetic. Evenstags are at war with a snake; they track out their holes and draw them out bymeans of the breath of their nostrils in spite of their resistance. Consequentlythe smell made by burning stag's horn is an outstanding thing for driving awayserpents, while a sovereign cure against bites is obtained from the rennet of afawn killed in its mother's womb. Stags admittedly have a long life, some havingbeen caught a hundred years later with the gold necklaces thatAlexander the Great had put on themalready covered up by the hide in great folds of fat. This animal is not liableto feverish diseasesindeed it even supplies a prophylactic against theirattack; we know that recently certain ladies of the imperial house have made apractice of eating venison every day in the morning and have been free fromfevers throughout a long lifetime; though it is thought that this only holdsgood if the stag has been killed by a single wound.

The animal called the goat-stag, occurring only near the river Phasis, is of thesame appearance, differing only in having a beard, and a fleece on theshoulders.

LI. Africa almost alone does not produce stags, but Africa also has thechameleon, although India produces it in greater numbers. Its shape andsize were those of a lizard, were not the legs straight and longer. The flanksare joined on to the belly as in fishes, and the spine projects in a similarmanner. It has a snout not unlike a pig's, considering its small size, a verylong tail that tapers towards the end and curls in coils like a viper, andcrooked talons; it moves rather slowly like a tortoise and has a rough body likea crocodile's, and eyes in a hollow recess, close together and very large and ofthe same colours as its body. It never shuts its eyes, and looks round not bymoving the pupil but by turning the whole eye. It holds itself erect with itsmouth always wide open, and it is the only animal that does not live on food ordrink or anything else but the nutriment that it derives from the air, with agape that is almost terrifying, but otherwise it is harmless. And it is moreremarkable for the nature of its colouring, since it constantly changes the hueof its eyes and tail and whole body and always makes it the colour with which itis in closest contact, except red and white. When dead it is of a pallid colour.

It has flesh on the head and jaws and at the junction tail in a rather scantyamount, and nowhere else in the whole body; blood in the heart and around theeyes only; its vital parts contain no spleen. It hibernates like a lizard in thewinter months.

LII. The reindeer of Scythia also changes its colours, but none other ofthe fur-clad animals does so except the Indian wolf, which is reported to havea mane on the neck. For the jackalwhich is a kind of wolf, longer in thebody and differing in the shortness of the legs, quick in its spring, living byhunting, harmless to manchanges its raiment though not its colour, being shaggythrough the winter but naked in summer. The reindeer is the size of an ox; itshead is larger than that of a stag but not unlike it; it has branching horns,cloven hooves, and a fleece as shaggy as a bear's but, when it happens to beself-coloured, resembling an ass's coat. The hide is so hard that they use itfor making cuirasses. When alarmed it imitates the colours of all thetrees, bushes and flowers and places where it lurks, and consequently is rarelycaught. It would be surprising that its body has such variety of character, butit is more surprising that even its fleece has.

LIII. The porcupine is a native of India and Africa. It is covered with aprickly skin of the hedgehogs' kind, but the spines of the porcupine are longerand they dart out when it draws the skin tight: it pierces the mouths of houndswhen they close with it, and shoots out at them when further off. In the wintermonths it hibernates, as is the nature of many animals and before all of bears.

LIV. Bears couple at the beginning of winter, and not in the usualmanner of quadrupeds but both lying down and hugging each other; afterwards theyretire apart into caves, in which they give birth on the thirtieth day to alitter of five cubs at most. These are a white and shapeless lump of flesh,little larger than mice, without eyes or hair and only the claws projecting.This lump the mother bears slowly lick into shape. Nor is anything more unusualthan to see a she-bear giving birth to cubs. Consequently the males lie inhiding for periods of forty days, and the females four months. If they have notgot caves, they build rainproof dens by heaping up branches and brushwood, witha carpet of soft foliage on the floor. For the first fortnight they sleep sosoundly that they cannot be aroused even by wounds; at this period they get fatwith sloth to a remarkable degree (the bear's grease is useful for medicines anda prophylactic against baldness). As a result of these days of sleep they shrinkin bulk and they live by sucking their fore paws. They cherish their freezingoffspring by pressing them to their breast, lying on them just like birdshatching eggs. Strange to say,Theophrastusbelieves that even boiled bear's flesh, if kept, goes on growing in size forthat period; that no evidence of food and only the smallest amount of water isfound in the belly at this stage, and that there are only a few drops of bloodin the neighbourhood of the heart and none in the rest of the body. In thespring they come out, but the males are very fat, a fact the cause of which isnot evident, as they have not been fattened up even by sleep, except for afortnight as we have said. On coming out they devour a plant called wake-robinto loosen the bowels, which are otherwise constipated, and they rub their teethon tree-stumps to get their mouths into training. Their eyes have got dim, whichis the chief reason why they seek for hives, so that their face may be stung bythe bees to relieve that trouble with blood. A bear's weakest part is the head,which is the lion's strongest; consequently if when hard pressed by an attackthey are going to fling themselves down from a rock they make the jump withtheir head covered with their fore paws, and in the arena are often killed bytheir head being broken by a buffet. The Spanish provinces believe that a bear'sbrain contains poison, and when bears are killed in shows their heads are burntin the presence of a witness, on the ground that to drink the poison drives aman bear-mad. Bears even walk on two feet, and they crawl down trees backward.They tire out bulls with their weight by hanging by all four feet from theirmouth and horns; and no other animal's stupidity is more cunning in doing harm.It is noted in theAnnals that on 19 September in the consulship ofMarcus Piso andMarcus Messala,Domitius Ahenobarbus ascurule aedileprovided in the circus a hundred Numidian bears and the same number of Ethiopianhuntsmen. I am surprised at the description of the bears as Numidian, since itis known that the bear does not occur in Africa.

LV. The mice of the Black Sea region alsohibernate at all events the white ones, which are stated to have a verydiscriminating palate, though I am curious to know how the authorities detectedthis. Alpine mice, [marmots] which are the size of badgers, also hibernate, butthese carry a supply of fodder into their caves beforehand. Some people say thatthey let themselves down into their cave in a string, male and femalealternately holding the next one's tail in their teeth, and lying on theirbacks, embracing a bundle of grass that they have bitten off at the roots, andthat consequently at this season their backs show marks of rubbing. There arealso mice resembling these in Egypt, and they sit back on their haunches in asimilar way, and walk on two feet and use their forepaws as hands.

LVI. Hedgehogs also prepare food for winter, and fixing fallen apples ontheir spines by rolling on them and holding one more in their mouth carry themto hollow trees. The same animals foretell a change of wind from North to Southby retiring to their lair. But when they perceive someone hunting them they drawtogether their mouth and feet and all their lower part, which has thin andharmless down on it, and roll up into the shape of a ball, so that it may not bepossible to take hold of any part of them except the prickles. But whendesperate they make water over themselves, which corrodes their hide and damagestheir spines, for the sake of which they know that people catch them. Hence thescientific way is to hunt them just after they have discharged their water. Andthen the hide is of particular value, whereas otherwise it is spoiled andfragile, with the spines rotting and falling out, even if the animal escapes byflight and lives. On this account it does not drench itself with this damagingstuff except as a last resort, since even the creatures themselves hate thisself-poisoning, sparing themselves and waiting for the final limit so long thatusually capture overtakes them beforehand. Afterwards the ball into which theyroll up can be made to unroll by a sprinkle of hot water, and to fasten them upby one of the hind feet kills them through starvation when hanging: it is notpossible to kill them in any other way and avoid damaging the hide. The animalitself is not, as most of us think, superfluous for the life of mankind, since,if it had not spines, the softness of the hides in cattle would have beenbestowed on mortals to no purpose: hedgehog skirt is used in dressing cloth forgarments. Even here fraud has discovered a great source of profit by monopoly,nothing having been the subject of more frequent legislation by the senate, andevery emperor without exception having been approached by complaints from theprovinces.

LVII. The urine of two other animals also has remarkable properties. Weare told that there is a small animal called 'lion's-bane' thatonly occurs in regions where the lion is found, to taste of which causes thatmighty creature, the lord of all the other four-footed animals, to expireimmediately. Consequently men burn this creature's body and sprinkle it likepearl barley on the flesh of other animals as a bait for a lion, and even killtheir prey with its ashes: so noisome a bane it is. Therefore the lion naturallyhates it, and when he sees it crushes it and does all he can short of biting itto kill it; while it meets the attack by spraying urine, knowing already thatthis also is deadly to a lion.

The water of lynxes, voided in this way when they are born, solidifies or driesup into drops likecarbuncles and of a brilliant flame-colour, calledlynx-waterwhich is the origin of the common story that this is the wayin which amber is formed. The lynxes have learnt this and know it, and theyjealously cover up their urine with earth, thereby causing it to solidify morequickly.

Another case of ingenuity in alarm, is that of the badgers: they ward off men'sblows and the bites of dogs by inflating anddistending their skin.

LVIII. Squirrels also foresee a storm, and stop up their holes towindward in advance, opening doorways on the other side; moreover theirown exceptionally bushy tail serves them as a covering. Consequently some have astore of food ready for the winter and others use sleep as a substitute forfood.

LIX. It is said that the viper is the only snake that hides in theground, all the others using holes in trees or rocks. And for the rest they canlast out a year's starvation if only they are protected against cold. All kindssleep at the period of retirement and are not poisonous. Snails also hibernatein the same way, these indeed retiring again in the summers also, mostlyclinging to rocks, or even when violently bent back and torn away, neverthelessnot going out. But those in the Balearic Islands called cave-snails do not crawlout of their holes in the ground and do not live on grass, but cling together ina cluster like a bunch of grapes. There is also another kind, which is not socommon, that shuts itself in with a tightly fitting lid formed of the samematerial as its shell. These are always buried in the earth, and formerly wereonly dug up in the neighbourhood of the Maritime Alps, but they have now begunto be pulled up in the Velitrae district also; however themost highly commended kind of all is on the island of Astypalaea.

LX. The greatest enemy of the snail is the lizard; this genus is said notto live more than six months. The lizard of Arabia is 18 inches long, butthose on Mount Nysus in India reach a length of 24 feet, and are coloured yellowor scarlet or blue.

LXI. Many also of the domestic animals are worth studying, and before allthe one most faithful to man, the dog, and the horse. We are told of adog that fought against brigands in defence of his master and although coveredwith wounds would not leave his corpse, driving away birds and beasts of prey;and of another dog in Epirus which recognized his master's murderer in agathering and by snapping and barking made him confess the crime. The King ofthe Garamantes' was escorted back from exile by 200 dogs who did battle withthose that offered resistance. The people of Colophon and also those ofCastabulum had troops of dogs for their wars; these fought fiercely in the frontrank, never refusing battle, and were their most loyal supporters, neverrequiring pay. When some Cimbrians were killed their hounds defended theirhouses placed on waggons. WhenJason ofLycia had been murdered his dog refused to take food and starved to death. But adog the name of whichDuris gives asHyrcanus when kingLysimachus's pyre wasset alight threw itself into the flame, and similarly at the funeral of KingHiero.Philistus also records the tyrantGelo'sdog Pyrrhus; also the dog ofNicomedesking of Bithynia is recorded to have bitten the King's wifeConsingis because she played a ratherloose joke with her husband. Among ourselves the famousVulcatius,Cassellius's tutor in civil law, whenreturning on his cob from his place near Rome after nightfall was defended byhis dog from a highwayman; and so was the senatorCaelius, an invalid, when set upon byarmed men at Piacenza, and he did not receive a wound till the dog had beendespatched. But above all cases, in our own generation it is attested by theNational Records that in the consulship of Appius Julius andPublius Siliuswhen as a result of the case of Germanicus's sonNero punishment was visited onTitius Sabinus and his slaves, a dogbelonging to one of them could not be driven away from him in prison and when hehad been flung out on the Steps of Lamentation would not leave his body,uttering sorrowful howls to the vast concourse of the Roman public around, andwhen one of them threw it food it carried it to the mouth of its dead master;also when his corpse had been thrown into the Tiber it swam to it and tried tokeep it afloat, a great crowd streaming out to view the animal's loyalty.

Dogs alone know their master, and also recognize a sudden arrival as a stranger;they alone recognize their own names, and the voice of a member of the household;they remember the way to places however distant, and no creature save man has alonger memory. Their onset and rage can be mollified by a person sitting down onthe ground. Experience daily discovers very many other qualities in theseanimals, but it is in hunting that their skill and sagacity is most outstanding.A hound traces and follows footprints, dragging by its leash the tracker thataccompanies it towards his quarry; and on sighting it how silent and secret buthow significant an indication is given first by the tail and then by the muzzleConsequently even when they are exhausted with old age and blind and weak, menwry them in their arms sniffing at the breezes scents and pointing theirmuzzles towards Indians want hounds to be sired by tigers, the breeding seasonthey tie up bitches in the for this purpose. They think that the first secondlitters are too fierce and they only rear the third one. Similarly the Gaulsbreed hounds wolves; each of their packs has one of the as leader and guide; thepack accompanies this leader in the hunt and pays it obedience; for dogsactually exercise authority among themselves. It is known that the dogs by theNile lap up water from the river as they run, so as not to give the greed of thecrocodiles its chance. WhenAlexanderthe Great was on his way toIndia, the king of Albania had presented him with one dog of unusuallylarge size;Alexander was delighted byits appearance, and gave orders for bears and then boars and finally hinds to belet slipthe hound lying contemptuously motionless. This slackness on the partof so vast an animal annoyed the generous spirit of the Emperor, who ordered itto be destroyed. Report carried news of this to the king; and accordinglysending a second hound he added a message thatAlexander should not desire to test it on small game but on a lion or anelephant; he had only possessed two of the breed and if this one was destroyedthere would be none left.Alexander didnot put off the trial, and forthwith saw a lion crushed. Afterwards he orderedan elephant to be brought in, and no other show ever gave him more delight: forthe dog's hair bristled all over his body and it first gave a vast thunderousbark, then kept leaping up and rearing against the creature's limbs on this sideand that, in scientific combat, attacking and retiring at the most necessarypoints, until the elephant turning round and round in an unceasing whirl wasbrought to the ground with an earth-shaking crash.

LXII. The genus dog breeds twice a year. Maturity for reproduction beginsat the age of one. They carry their young for sixty days. Puppies areborn blind, and acquire sight the more slowly the more copious the milk withwhich they are suckled; though the blind period never lasts more than threeweeks or less than one. Some people report that a puppy born singly sees on the9th day, twins on the 10th, and so on, a corresponding number of days' delay inseeing light being added for each extra puppy; and that a bitch of a firstlitter begins to see sooner. The best in a litter is the one that begins to seelast, or else the one that the mother carries into the kennel first afterdelivery.

LXIII. Rabies in dogs, as we have said, is dangerous to human beings inperiods when the dog-star is shining, as it causes fatal hydrophobia tothose bitten in those circumstances. Consequently a precautionary measureduring the 30 days in question is to mix dungmostly chicken's droppings, in thedog's food, or, if the disease has come already, hellebore. But after a bite theonly cure is one which was lately discovered from an oracle, the root of thewild-rose called in Greek dog-rose.Columellastates that if a dog's tail is docked by being bitten off and the end jointamputated 40 days after birth, the spinal marrow having been removed the taildoes not grow again and the dog is not liable to rabies. The only cases thathave come down to us among portents, so far as I have noted of a dog talking anda snake barking when Tarqum was drivenfrom his kingdom.

XIV.Alexander also had the goodfortune to a great rarity in horseflesh. They called the animal Bucephalus,either because of its fierce appearance or from the mark of a bull'shead branded on its shoulder. It is said that it was bought for sixteen talentsfrom the herd ofPhilonicus ofPharsalus whileAlexander was still aboy, as he was taken to its beauty. This horse when adorned with the royalsaddle would not allow itself to be mounted by anybody exceptAlexander, though on other occasions itallowed anybody to mount. It is also celebrated for a memorable feat in battle,not having allowedAlexander during theattack on Thebes to change to another mount when it had been wounded; and anumber of occurrences of the same kind are also reported, on account of whichwhen it died the king headed its funeral procession, and built a city round itstomb which he named after it! Also the horse that belonged toCaesar the Dictator is said to haverefused to let anyone else mount it; and it is also recorded that its fore feetwere like those of a man, as it is represented in the statue that stands infront of the Temple of Venus Genetrix. The late lamentedAugustus also made a funeral mound for ahorse, which is the subject of a poem byGermanicus Caesar. At Girgenti a great number of horses' tombs havepyramids over them.Juba attests thatSemiramis fell so deeply in love with ahorse that she married it. The Scythian cavalry regiments indeed resound withfamous stories of horses: a chieftain was challenged to a duel by an enemy andkilled, and when his adversary came to strip his body of its armour, his horsekicked him and bit him till he died; another horse, when its blinkers wereremoved and it found out that a mare it had covered was its dam, made for aprecipice and committed suicide. We read that an ostler in the Reate districtwas savaged by a horse for the same reason. For horses actually understand theties of relationship, and a filly in a herd is even fonder of going with asister a year older than with their dam. Their docility is so great that welearn that the entire cavalry of the army of Sybaris used to perform a sort ofballet to the music of a band. The Sybarite horses also know beforehand whenthere is going to be a battle, and when they lose their masters mourn for them:sometimes they shed tears at the bereavement. When King Nicomedes was killed his horse ended itslife by refusing food.Phylarchusrecords that whenAntiochus fell inbattle one of the GalatiansCentaretuscaught his horse and mounted it in triumph, but it was fired with indignationand taking the bit between its teeth so as to become unmanageable, gallopedheadlong to a precipice where it perished with its rider. Philistus records thatDionysius left his horse stuck in a bog,and when it extricated itself it followed its master's tracks with a swarm ofbees clinging to its mane; and that in consequence of this portentDionysius seized the tyranny.

LXV. The cleverness of horses is beyond description. Mounted javelinmenexperience their docility in assisting difficult attempts with the actualswaying of their body; also they gather up the weapons lying on the ground andpass them to their rider. Horses harnessed to chariots in the circusunquestionably show that they understand the shouts of encouragement andapplause. At the races in the circus forming part of the Secular Games ofClaudius Caesar a charioteer of theWhites named Raven was thrown at the start, and his team took the lead and keptit by getting in the way of their rivals and jostling them aside and doingeverything against them that they would have had to do with a most skilfulcharioteer in control, and as they were ashamed for human science to be beatenby horses, when they had completed the proper course they stopped dead at thechalk line. A greater portent was when in early days a charioteer was thrown atthe plebeian circus races and the horses galloped on to the Capitol and racedround the temple three times just the same as if he still stood at the reins;but the greatest was when a chariot-team reached the same place from Veii withthe palm-branch and wreath afterRatumennawho had won at Veii had been thrown: an event which subsequently gave its nameto the gate. The Sarmatians get their horses into training for a long journey bygiving them no fodder the day before and only allowing them a small amount ofwater, and by these means they ride them on a journey of 150 miles withoutdrawing rein.

Some horses live fiftyyears, but mares live a shorter time; mares stop growing when five years old,the males a year later. The appearance of the horse that ought to be mostpreferred has been very beautifully described in the poetry ofVirgil, but we also have dealt with itin our book on theUse of the Javelin byCavalry, and I observe that there is almost universal agreement aboutit. But a different build is required for the Circus; and consequently thoughhorses may be broken as two-year-olds to other service, racing in the Circusdoes not claim them before five.

LXVI. Gestation in this genus lasts eleven months and the foal is born inthe twelfth month. Breeding takes place as a rule in the spring equinoxwhen both animals are two-year-olds, but the progeny is stronger if breedingbegins at three. A stallion goes on serving to the age of 33, as they are sentfrom the racecourse to the stud at 20. It is recorded that a stallion at Opuseven continued to 40, only he needed assistance in lifting his fore-quarters.But few animals are such unfertile sires as the horse; consequently intervalsare allowed in breeding, and nevertheless a stallion cannot stand servingfifteen times in the same year. Mares in heat are cooled down by having theirmanes shorn; they foal yearly up to 40. It is stated that a mare has lived to75.

In the equine genus the pregnant female is delivered standing up; and she lovesher offspring more than all other female animals. And in fact a love-poisoncalled horse-frenzy is found in the forehead of horses at birth, the size of adried fig, black in colour, which a brood mare as soon as she has dropped herfoal eats up, or else she refuses to suckle the foal. If anybody takes it beforeshe gets it, and keeps it, the scent drives him into madness of the kindspecified. If a foal loses its dam the other brood mares in the same herd rearthe orphan. It is said that a foal is unable to reach the pound with its mouthwithin the first three days after birth. The greedier it is in drinking thedeeper it dips its nostrils into the water. The Scythians prefer mares aschargers, because they can make water without checking their gallop.

LXVII. It is known that in Lusitania in the neighbourhood of the town ofLisbon and the river Tagus mares when a west wind is blowing stand facingtowards it and conceive the breath of life and that this produces a foal, andthis is the way to breed a very swift colt, but it does not live more than threeyears. Also in Spain the Gallaic and Asturian tribes breed those of the horse kind that we call 'theldones,' though when more of a pony type they aredesignated 'cobs', which have not the usual paces in running but a smooth trot,straightening the near and offside legs alternately, from which the horses aretaught by training to adopt an ambling pace.

The horse has nearly the same diseases as mankind, and is also liable toshifting of the bladder, as are all beasts of the draft class.

LXVIII. MarcusVarro states that an ass was Ass-bought for the senatorQuintus Axius at 400,000 sesterees whichperhaps beats the price paid for any other animal. The services of the ass kindare undoubtedly bountiful in ploughing as well, but especially in breedingmules. In mules also regard is paid to locality of originin Greece the Arcadianbreed is esteemed and in Italy the Iteatine. The ass itself is very bad atenduring cold, and consequently is not bred in the Black Sea district; and itis not allowed to breed at the spring equinox like all other cattle, but atmidsummer. The males make worse sires when not in work. The females breed at twoand a half years old at earliest, but regularly from three; they can breed asmany times as mares, and in the same months and in a similar way. But the wombcannot retain the genital fluid but discharges it, unless the animal is whippedinto a gallop after coupling. It seldom bears twins. When about to bear a foalit shuns the sunlight and seeks the shadow, so as not to be seen by a humanbeing. It breeds through all its lifetime, which is thirty years. It has a verygreat affection for its young, but a greater dislike for water: she-asses willgo through fire to their foals, but yet if the smallest stream intervenes theyare afraid of merely wetting their hooves. Those kept in pastures will onlydrink at springs they are used to, and where they can get to drink by a drytrack; and they will not go across bridges with interstices in their structureallowing the gleam of the river to be seen through them; and, surprising to say,they may be thirsty and have to be forced or coaxed to drink, if the stream isnot the one they are used to. Only a wide allowance of stall-room is safe forthem to lie down in, for when asleep they have a variety of dreams andfrequently let out with their hooves, which at once causes lameness by hittingtimber that is too hard unless they have plenty of room to kick in. The profitmade out of she-asses surpasses the richest spoils of war. It is known that in Celtiberia their foals have made 400,000 sesterces per dam, especially whenmules are bred. They say that in she-asses the hair of the ears and the eyelidsis an important point, for although the rest of the dam's body is all onecolour, the foal reproduces all the colours that were in those places. Maecenas set the fashion of eatingdonkey foals at banquets, and they were much preferred to wild asses at thatperiod; but after his time the ass lost favour as a delicacy. Animals of thisgenus very quickly flag when their sight begins to go.

LXIX. A mare coupled with an ass after twelve-months bears a mule,an animal of exceptional strength for agricultural operations. To breedmules they choose mares not less than four or more than ten years old. Alsobreeders say that females of either genus refuse stallions of the other oneunless as foals they were suckled by females of the same genus as the stallions;for this reason they stealthily remove the foals in the dark and put them tomares' or she-asses' udders respectively. But a mule is also got by a horse outof an ass, though it is unmanageable, slow and obstinate. Also all the foalsfrom old mares are sluggish. It causes miscarriage for a mare in foal by ahorse to be put to an ass, but not vice versa. It has been observed thatfemale asses are best coupled six days after they have borne a foal, and thatmales couple better when tired. It is noticed that a female that does notconceive before she casts what are called her milk-teeth is barren, as is onethat does not begin to produce foals from the first coupling. Male foals of anass by a horse were in old days called hinnies, while the term mules was usedfor the foals of a mare by an ass. It has been noticed that the offspring of twodifferent races of animals belong to a third kind and resemble neither parent;and that such hybrids are not themselves fertile: this is the case with allkinds of animals, and is the reason why mules are barren. A number of cases ofreproduction by mules are recorded in ourAnnals, but these were consideredportentous.Theophrastus states thatmules breed commonly in Cappadocia, but that the Cappadocian mule is a peculiarspecies. A mule can be checked from kicking by rather frequent drinks of wine.It is stated in the records of a good many Greeks that a foal has been got froma mare coupled with a mule, called aginnus, which means a small mule.She-mules bred from a mare and tamed wild-asses are swift in pace and haveextremely hard hooves, but a lean body and an indomitable spirit. But as asire the foal of a wild-ass and a domestic she-ass excels all others. Thewild-asses in Phrygia and Lycaonia are pre-eminent. Africa boasts of their foalsas an outstanding table delicacy; the vernacular word for them is lalisio.Records at Athens attest a mule's having lived 80 years; for the citizenswere so delighted because after it had been put aside owing to old age itencouraged the teams by its company and assistance in their uphill work duringthe construction of a temple on the citadel, that they made a decree that thecorn-dealers were not to keep it away from their stands.

LXX. Indian oxen are reported to be as tallas camels and to have horns with a span of four feet. In our part of the worldthe most famous are those of Epirus, having been so, it is said, ever since theattention given to them by KingPyrrhns.Pyrrhus achieved this result by notrequisitioning them for breeding before the age of four; consequently his oxenwere very large, and the remains of his breeds continue even today. But nowyearling heifers are called upon for breeding, though they can stand it betterat two years, while bulls are made to serve at four. Each bull serves ten cowsin the same year. It is said that if the bulb after coupling go away towards theright hand side the offspring will be males, and if towards the left, females.Conception is effected by one coupling, and if this happens to miss, the femalegoes to a male again twenty days after. They bear the calf in the tenth month;one produced before is of no use. Some authorities say that they bear on theactual last day of the tenth month. They rarely produce twins. Coupling takesplace in the thirty days following the rise of the Dolphin on January 4, andoccasionally in the autumn also, though nations that live on milk spread it outso that there may be a supply of this nutriment at every season of the year.Bulls do not couple more than twice in one day. Oxen are the only animals thatgraze even while walking backward; indeed among the Garamantes that is theironly way of grazing. The longest life of a cow is 15 years and of a bull 20;they grow to full strength at 5. Washing in hot water is said to fatten them,and also cutting a hole in the hide and blowing air into the flesh with a reed.Even the breeds less praised for their appearance are not to be deemed inferior:the Alpine cows which are the smallest in size give most milk, and do most work,although they are yoked by the head and not the neck. Syrian oxen have nodewlaps, but a hump on the back. Also the Carian breed in a district of Asia issaid to be ugly in appearance, with a swelling that projects from the neck overthe shoulders and with the horns displaced, but excellent in workalthough whenblack and white in colour they are said to be no good for ploughing; the bullshave smaller and thinner horns than the cows. Oxen should be broken when threeyears old; after that it is too late and before too early; the best way to traina young bullock is to yoke it with one already broken in. For we possess in thisanimal a partner in labour and in husbandry, held in such esteem with ourpredecessors that among our records of punishments there is a case of a man whowas indicted for having killed an ox because a wanton young companion said hehad never eaten bullock's tripe, and was convicted by the public court and sentinto exile just as though he had murdered his farm-labourer.

Bulls have a noble appearance, a grim brow, bristly ears, and horns baredfor action and asking for a fight; but their chief threat is in their fore feet:a bull stands glowing with wrath, bending back either fore foot in turn andsplashing up the sand against his bellyit is the only animal that goads itselfinto a passion by these means. We have seen bulls, when fighting a duel underorders and on show for the purpose, being whirled round and caught on the hornsas they fall and afterwards rise again, and then when lying down be lifted offthe ground, and even stand in a car like charioteers with a pair of horsesracing at full speed. It is a device of the Thessalian race to kill bulls bygalloping a horse beside them and twisting back the neck by the horn; thedictatorCaesar first gave this show atRome. The bull supplies costly victims and the most sumptuous appeasement of thegods. In this animal only of all that have a comparatively long tail, thetail is not of the proper size from birth, as it is in the others; and with italone the tail grows till it reaches right down to the feet. Consequently thetest of victims for sacrifice in the case of a calf is that the tail must reachthe joint of the hock; if it is shorter the offering is not acceptable. It hasalso been noted that calves are not usually acceptable if carried to the altarson a man's shoulders, and also that the gods are not propitiated if the victimis lame or is not of the appropriate sort, or if it drags itself away from thealtar. It frequently occurs among the prodigies of old times that an ox spoke,and when this was reported it was customary for a meeting of the senate to beheld in the open air.

LXXI. In Egypt an ox is even worshipped in place of a god; its name isApis. Its distinguishing mark is a bright white spot in the shape of a crescenton the right flank, and it has a knob under the tongue which they call a beetle.It is not lawful for it to exceed a certain number of years of life, and theykill it by drowning it in the fountain of the priests, proceeding withlamentation to look for another to put in its place, and they go on mourningtill they have found one, actually shaving the hair off their heads.Nevertheless the search never continues long. When the successor is found it isled by 100 priests to Memphis. It has a pair of shrines, which they call itsbedchambers, that supply the nations with auguries: when it enters one this is ajoyful sign, but in the other one it portends terrible events. It gives answersto private individuals by taking food out of the hand of those who consult it;it turned away from the hand ofGermanicusCaesar, who was made away with not long after. Usually living inretirement, when it sallies forth into assemblies it proceeds with lictors toclear the way, and companies of boys escort it singing a song in its honour; itseems to understand, and to desire to be worshipped. These companies aresuddenly seized with frenzy and chant prophecies of future events. Once a year acow is displayed to it, she too with her decorations, although they are not thesame as his; and it is traditional for her always to be found and put to deathon the same day. At Memphis there is a place in the Nile which from its shapethey call the Goblet; every year they throw into the river there a gold and asilver cup on the days which they keep as the birthdays of Apis. These areseven; and it is a remarkable fact that during these days nobody is attacked bycrocodiles, but that after midday on the eighth day the creature's savageryreturns.

LXXII. Sheep are also of great service either in respect of propitiatoryofferings to the gods or in the use of their fleeces. As oxen improve men'sdiet, so the protection of their bodies is owed to sheep. They breed when twoyears old on both sides, till the age of nine, and in some cases even till ten.The lambs at the first birth are smaller. They all couple from the setting ofArcturus, that is May 13th, to the setting of Aquila, July 23rd; they carrytheir lambs 150 days. Lambs conceived after the date mentioned are weak; in olddays those born later were calledcordi. Many people prefer winter lambsto spring ones, holding that it is more important for them to bewell-established before midsummer than before midwinter, and that this animalalone is advantageously born in winter. It is inbred in the ram to despise lambsas mates and to desire maturity in sheep; and the ram himself is better in oldage, and also more serviceable when polled. His wildness is restrained by boringa hole in the horn close to the ear. If a ligature is put on the right testiclehe gets females and if on the left males. Claps of thunder cause sheep tomiscarry when solitary; the remedy is to herd them in flocks, so as to becheered by company. They say that male lambs are got when a north wind isblowing and female when a south; and in this breed the greatest attention isgiven to the mouths of the rams, as the wool in the case of the progeny is ofthe colour of the veins under the tongue of the parent ram, and if these were ofseveral colours the lamb is van-coloured. Also changing the water they drinkvaries their colour.

There are two principal breeds of sheep, jacketed sheep and farm sheep; theformer are softer and the latter more delicate in their pasture, inasmuch as thejacketed sheep feeds on brambles. The best jackets for them are made of Arabiansheep's wool.

LXXIII. The most highly esteemed wool is the Apulian and the kind that iscalled in Italy wool of the Greek breed and elsewhere Italian wool. Thethird place is held by the sheep of Miletus. The Apulian fleeces are short inthe hair, and not of great repute except for cloaks; they have a very highreputation in the districts of Taranto and Canossa, as have the Laodiceanfleeces of the same breed in Asia. No white fleece is valued above that from thedistrict of the Po, and none has hitherto gone beyond the price of a pound.Sheep are not shorn everywherein some places the practice survives of pluckingoff the wool. There are several sorts of colour, in fact even names are lackingfor the wools which are variously designated after their places of origin: Spainhas the principal black wool fleeces, Pollentia near the Alps white, Asia thered fleeces that they call Erythrean, Baetica the same, Canossa tawny, Tarantoalso a dark colour of its own.. All fresh fleeces have a medicinal property.Istrian and Liburnian fleece is nearer to hair than wool, and not suitable forgarments with a soft nap; and the same applies to the fleece that Salaeia inLusitania advertises by its check pattern. There is a similar wool in thedistrict of the Fishponds in the province of Narbonne, and also in Egypt, whichis used for darning clothes worn by use and making them last again for a longperiod. Also the coarse hair of a shaggy fleece has a very ancient popularity incarpets: Homer a is evidence that they were undoubtedly in use even in veryearly times. Different methods of dyeing these fleeces are practised by the Gauls and by the Parthian races. Self-felted fleeces make clothing, and also ifvinegar is added withstand even steel, nay more even fire, the latest method ofcleaning them. In fact fleeces drawn from the coppers of the polishers serve asstuffing for cushions, I believe by a French invention: at all events at thepresent day it is classified under Gallic names. And I could not easily say atwhat period this began; for people in old times had bedding of straw, in thesame way as in camp now. Frieze cloaks began within my father's memory andcloaks with hair on both sides within my own, as also shaggy body-belts;moreover weaving a broad-striped tunic after the manner of a frieze cloak iscoming in for the first time now. Black fleeces will not take dye of any colour;we will discuss the dyeing of the other sorts in their proper places under thehead of marine shellfish or the nature of various plants.

LXXIV.Marcus Varro informs us,on his own authority, that the wool on the distaff and spindle of Tanaquil (whowas also called Gala Caecilia) was still preserved in the temple of Sancus; andalso in the shrine of Fortune a pleated royal robe made by her, which had beenworn byServiusTullius. Hence arose the practice thatmaidens at their marriage were accompanied by a decorated distaff and a spindlewith thread. Tanaquil first wove a straight tunic of the kind that novices wearwith the plain white toga, and newly married brides. The pleated robe was thefirst among those most in favour; consequently the spotted robe went out offashion.Fenestella writes that togas ofsmooth cloth and of Phrygian wool began in the latest times of the late lamentedAugustus. Togas of closely wovenpoppy-cloth have a an older source, being noticed as far back as the poetLucilius in the case of Torquatus.Bordered robes found their origin with the Etruscans. I find it recorded thatstriped robes were worn by the kings, and they had embroidered robes as far backasHomer, these being the origin ofthose worn in triumphs. Embroidering with the needle was discovered by thePhrygians, and consequently embroidered robes are called Phrygian. Goldembroidery was also invented in Asia, by King Attalus, from whom Attalic robes got their name. Weaving differentcolours into a pattern was chiefly brought into vogue by Babylon, which gave itsname to this process. But the fabric called damask woven with a number ofthreads was introduced by Alexandria, and check patterns by Gaul.Metellus Scipio counts it among thecharges against Capito that Babylonian coverlets were already then sold for800,000 sesterces, which lately cost the EmperorNero 4,000,000. The state robes ofServius Tullius, with which the statueof Fortune dedicated by him was draped, lasted till the death ofSejanus, and it was remarkable that theyhad not rotted away or suffered damage from moths in 560 years. We have beforenow seen the fleeces even of living animals dyed with purple, scarlet, crimson ... [with eighteen inch scales/pounds] as though luxury forced them to be bornlike that.

LXXV. In the sheep itself breed is sufficiently shown byshortness of the legs and a well-clothed belly. Sheep with the belly bareused to be called 'misfits' and turned down. The sheep of Syria have tails 18inches long, and a great deal of wool on that part. It is considered too soonfor lambs to be gelt unless five months old.

In Spain, but particularly in Corsica, there is ananimal not unlike the sheep, the moufflon, with hair nearer the goat's than thesheep's; these when crossed with sheep produce what in old days were calledUmbrians. Sheep are very weak in the head, and consequently must be made tograze with their backs to the sun. The fleecy sheep is the stupidest of animals;if afraid to go into a place they will follow one of the flock that is taken bythe horn. Their longest term of life is 10 years, in Ethiopia 13; goats inEthiopia live 11 years, but in other parts of the world at most eight. Inbreeding with either kind to couple three times at most is sufficient.

LXXVI. Goats bear as many as four kids at once, but rather seldom; theycarry their young for 5 months, like sheep. He-goats are made sterile byover-fattening. They are not very useful as sires till three years old, nor inold age, and they do not serve for more than four years. They begin when sixmonths old and before they are weaned. Both sexes breed better with the hornsremoved. The first coupling in the day has no result, but the following andsubsequent ones are more effectual. She-goats conceive in November so as to bearkids in March when the bushes arc buddingyearlings sometimes and two-year-oldsalways, but they are not of much use for breeding unless three years old. Theygo on bearing for eight years. They are liable to miscarriage from cold. Ashe-goat cures its eyes when bloodshot by pricking them on a rush, he-goats on abramble. Mucianus has described a case of this animal's cleverness seen byhimselftwo goats coming in opposite directions met on a very narrow bridge, andas the narrow space did not permit them to turn round and the length did notallow of backing blindly on the scanty passageway with a rushing torrent flowingthreateningly below, one of them lay down and so the other one passed over,treading on top of it. People admire he-goats that are as snub-nosed aspossible, with long drooping ears and extremely shaggy flanks. It is a mark ofgood breeding in she-goats to have two dewlaps hanging down from the neck; notall have horns, but in those that have there are also indications of their yearsfurnished by the growths of the knobs; they give more milk when without horns;according to Archelaus they breathethough the ears, not the nostrils, and are never free from fever: this isperhaps the reason why they are more high-spirited than sheep and hotter incoupling. It is said that goats can see by night as well as they can in thedaytime, and that consequently a diet of goat's liver restores twilight sight topersons suffering from what is called night-blindness. In Cilicia and the Syrtesregion people wear clothes made of hair shorn from goats. They say thatshe-goats in the pastures when the sun is setting do not look at one another butlie down with their backs to each other, though at other times of the day theylie facing each other and take notice of one another. From the chin of all goatshangs a tuft of hair called their heard. If you grasp a she-goat by this anddrag her out of the herd the others look on in amazement; this also happens aswell when one of them nibbles a particular plant. Their bite kills a tree; theymake an olive tree barren even by licking it, and for this reason they are notoffered in sacrifice to Minerva.

LXXVII. Swine are allowed to breed from the beginning of spring to thevernal equinox, beginning at seven months old and in some places even at threemonths, and continuing to their eighth year. Sows bear twice a year, carryingtheir pigs four months: litters number up to 20, but sows cannot rear so many.Nigidius states that for ten days atmidwinter pigs are born with the teeth already grown. Sows are impregnated byone coupling, which is also repeated because they are so liable to abortion; theremedy is not to allow coupling at the first heat or before the ears arependulous. Hogs cannot serve when over three years old. Sows exhausted by agecouple lying down; it is nothing out of the way for them to eat their litter. Apig is suitable for sacrifice four days after birth, a lamb in a week and a calfin a month.Coruncanius asserted thatruminant animals are not acceptable as victims before they grow their frontteeth. It is thought that a sow that loses an eye soon dies, but that otherwisesows live to fifteen and in some cases even twenty years; but they becomesavage, and in any ease the breed is liable to diseases, especially quinsy andserofula. Symptoms of bad health in a sow are when blood is found on the root ofa bristle pulled out of its back and when it holds its head on one side inwalking. If too fat they experience lack of milk; and they have a smaller numberof pigs in their first litter. The breed likes wallowing in mud. The tail iscurly; also it has been noticed that it is easier to kill them for sacrificewhen the tail curls to the right than when to the left. They take 60 days tofatten, but fatten better if feeding up is preceded by three days' fast. The pigis the most brutish of animals, and there used to be a not unattractive ideathat its soul was given it to serve as salt. it is a known fact that some pigscarried off by thieves recognized the voice of their swineherd, crowded to oneside of the ship till it capsized and sank, and swam back to shore. Moreoverthe leaders of a herd in the city learn to go to the market place and to findtheir way home; and wild hogs know how to obliterate their tracks by crossingmarshy ground, and to relieve themselves when running away by making water.Sows are spayed in the same way as also camels are, by being hung up by the forelegs after two days without food and having the matrix cut out; this makes themfatten quicker. There is also a method of treating the liver of sows as ofgeese, a discovery ofMarcus Apiciustheyare stuffed with dried fig, and when full killed directly after having beengiven a drink of mead. Nor does any animal supply a larger number of materialsfor an eating-house: they have almost fifty flavours, whereas all other meatshave one each. Hence pages of sumptuary laws, and the prohibition of hog's paunches, sweetbreads, testicles, matrix and cheeks for banquets, althoughnevertheless no dinner of the pantomime writerPublius after he had obtained his freedom is recorded that did notinclude paunchhe actually got from this the nickname of Pig's Paunch.

LXXVIII. But also wild boar has been a popular meat. luxury. As far backasCato the Censor a we find hisspeeches denouncing boar's meat bacon. Nevertheless a boar used to be cut upinto three parts and the middle part served at table, under the name of boar'sloin. Publius ServiliusRullus, father of theRullus who brought in the landsettlement act duringCicero'sconsulship, first served a boar whole at his banquetsso recent isthe origin of what is now an everyday affair; and this occurrence has been notedby historians, presumably for the improvement of the manners of the present day,when it is the fashion for two or three boars to be devoured at one time noteven as a whole dinner but as the first course.

Fulvius Lippinus was the first person ofRoman nationality who invented preserves for wild pigs and the other kinds ofgame: he introduced keeping wild animals in the district of Tarquinii; and hedid not long lack imitators,Lucius LucullusandQuintus Hortensius.

Wild pigs breed once a year. The boars are veryrough when mating; at this period they fight each other, hardening their flanksby rubbing against trees and plastering their behinds with mud. The females arefiercer when with young, and this is more or less the same in every kind of wildanimal. Male boats do not mate till one year old. In India they have curvedtusks 18 in. long: two project from the jaw, and two from the forehead like acalf's horns. The wild boar's hair is a sort of copper colour; that of the otherspecies is black. But the hog genus does not occur in Arabia.

LXXIX. In the case of no other kind of animal is it so easy to cross with the wild variety; the offspring of such unions in old days were called 'hybrids,' meaning half-wild, a term also applied as a nickname to human beings,for instance, toCicero's colleague inthe consulshipGaius Antonius. But not only in pigs but in all animals as well whenever there is any tamevariety of a genus there is also found a wild one of the same genus, inasmuch aseven in the case of man an equal number of savage races have been predicted toexist. Nevertheless the formation of the goat is transferred to a very largenumber of similar species: there are the goat, the chamois and the ibexananimal of marvellous speed, although its head is burdened with enormous hornsresembling the sheaths of swords, towards which it sways itself as thoughwhirled with a sort of catapult, chiefly when on rocks and seeking to leap fromone crag to another, and by means of the recoil leaps out more nimbly to thepoint to which it wants to get. There are also the oryx, the only speciesaccording to certain authorities clothed with hair lying the wrong way, towardsthe head, and the antelope, the white-rumped antelope, the twisted-horn antelopeand a great many other not dissimilar species. But the former we receive fromthe Alps, the latter from places across the sea.

LXXX. The kinds of apes also which are closest to the human shape aredistinguished from each other by the tails. They are marvellously cunning:people say that they use bird-lime as ointment, and that they put on the noosesset to snare them as if they were shoes, in imitation of the hunters; accordingtoMucianus the tailed species have evenbeen known to play at draughts, are able to distinguish at a glance sham nutsmade of wax, and are depressed by the moon waning and worship the new moon withdelight: and it is a fact that the other four-footed animals also are frightenedby eclipses. The genus ape has a remarkable affection for its young. Tamemonkeys kept in the house who bear young ones carry them about and show them toeverybody, and delight in having them stroked, looking as if they understoodthat they are being congratulated; and as a consequence in a considerablenumber of cases they kill their babies by hugging them. The baboon is of afiercer nature, just as the satyrus is extremely gentle. Thepretty-haired ape is almost entirely different in appearance: it has a beardedface and a tail flattened out wide at the base. This animal is said to be unableto live in any other climate but that of its native country, Ethiopia.

LXXXI. There are also several kinds of hare. In the Alps there are whitehares, which are believed to eat snow for their fodder in the winter monthsatall events they turn a reddish colour every year when the snow meltsand inother ways the animal is a nurseling of the intolerable cold. The animals inSpain called rabbits also belong to the genus hare; their fertility is beyondcounting, and they bring famine to the Balearic Islands by ravaging the crops.Their young cut out from the mother before birth or taken from the teat areconsidered a very great delicacy, served without being gutted; the name for themislaurer. It is an established fact that the peoples of the Balearicspetitioned the late lamentedAugustusfor military assistance against the spread of these animals. The ferret isextremely popular for rabbit-hunting; they throw ferrets into the burrows with anumber of exits that the rabbits tunnel in the ground (this is the derivation oftheir name cony) and so catch the rabbits when they are driven out to thesurface. Archelaus states that a hare is as many years old as it has folds inthe bowel: these are certainly found to vary in number. The same authority saysthat the hare is a hermaphrodite and reproduces equally well without a male.Nature has shown her benevolence in making harmless and edible breeds of animalsprolific. The hare which is born to be all creatures' prey is the only animalbeside the shaggy-footed rabbit that practises superfetation, rearing oneleveret while at the same time carrying in the womb another clothed with hairand another bald and another still an embryo. Also the experiment has been madeof using the fur of the hare for making clothes, although it is not so soft tothe touch as it is when on the animal's skin, and the garments soon come topieces because of the shortness of the hair.

LXXXII. Hares rarely grow tame, although they cannot properly be termedwild animalsfor in fact there are a good many creatures that are neither wildnor tame but of a character intermediate between each, forinstance among winged things swallows and bees, in the sea dolphins. Many peoplehave also placed in this class these denizens of our homes the mice, a creaturenot to be ignored among portents even in regard to public affairs; they foretoldthe war with the Marsians by gnawing the silver shields at Lanuvium,and the death of GeneralCarbo bygnawing at the puttees that he wore inside his sandals. There are more varietiesof mice in the district of Cyrene, some with broad and others with pointedheads, and others like hedgehogs with prickly bristles.Theophrastus states that on the islandof Chiura when they had banished the inhabitants they even gnawed iron, and thatthey also do this by a sort of instinct in the iron foundries in the country ofthe Chalybes: indeed, he says, in gold mines because of this their bellies getcut away and their theft of gold is always detected, so fond are they ofthieving. The Public Records relate that during the siege ofCasilinum byHannibal a mouse was soldfor 200 francs, and that the man who sold it died of hunger while the buyerlived. The appearance of white mice constitutes a joyful omen. For we have ourRecords full of instances of the auspices being interrupted by the squeaking ofshrews.Nigidius states that shrewsthemselves also hibernate as do dormice, which sumptuary legislation andMarcus Scaurus the Head of the Stateduring his consulship ruled out from banquets just as they didshell-fish or birds imported from other parts of the world. The shrewmouseitself also is a half-wild animal, and keeping it alive in jars was originatedby the same person as started keeping wild pigs. In this connexion it has beennoticed that shrew-mice do not associate unless they are natives of the sameforest, and if foreigners separated by a river or mountain are introduced theydie fighting one another. They feed their parents when exhausted by old age withremarkable affection. Their old age comes to its end during the winterreposefor these creatures also hibernate, and renew their youth at the comingof summer. Dormice hibernate similarly.

LXXXIII. In this connexion it is surprising that Naturehas not only assigned different animals to different countries, but has alsodenied certain animals to some places in the same region. In the Mesian forestin Italy dormice of which we are now speaking are only found in one part. InLycia the gazelles do not cross the mountains near the Sexi, nor the wild assesthe boundary dividing Cappadocia from Cilicia. The stags on the Hellespont donot migrate into unfamiliar districts, and those in the neighbourhood ofArginusa do not go beyond Mount Elaphus, even those on the mountain having cleftears. In the island of Pordoselene weasels do not cross a road. Similarlyin Boeotia moles that undermine the whole of the fields in Orchomenus near by,when imported into Lebadea are shy of the very soil. We have seen counterpanesfor beds made out of their skins: so powerless is even superstition to protectthe miraculous against luxury. In Ithaca imported hares die on the very edge ofthe shore, as do rabbits in Iviza, although Spain and the Balearic Islands closeby are teeming with them. At Cyrene the frogs were silent, and though croakingfrogs have been imported from the mainland the silent breed goes on. Frogs arealso silent in the island of Seriphus, but the same frogs croak whenremoved to some other place, which is also said to happen in the Siccanean Lakein Thessaly. The bite of the shrewmouse in Italy is venomous, but the venomousspecies is not found in the district beyond the Apennines. Also whereverit occurs it dies if it crosses the track of a wheel. There are no wolves onMount Olympus in Macedon, nor in the island of Crete. In fact in Crete there areno wolves or bears either, and no noxious animal at all except a poisonousspider: we shall speak of this species in its place, under the head of spiders.It is more remarkable that in the same island there are no stags except in thedistrict of Cydonea, and the same is the case with wild boars and francolins andhedgehogs, while in Africa there are neither wild boars nor stags nor wild goatsnor bears.

LXXXIV. Again, some animals harmless tonatives of the country are deadly to foreigners, for instance some small snakesat Tiryns that are said to be born from the earth. Similarly serpents in Syriaspecially found about the banks of the Euphrates do not touch Syrians whenasleep, or even if they bite them when trodden on are not felt to cause any evileffect, but they are maleficent to other people of whatever race, killing themvoraciously and with torturing pain, on account of which the Syrians also do notkill them. On the other handAristotle[FR. 605 Rose] relates that the scorpions on Mount Latmos in Carla do not woundstrangers but kill natives.

I. WE have indicated the nature of the species that we havedesignated land animals, as living in some kind of association with men. Of theremaining kinds it is agreed that birds are the smallest. We will thereforefirst speak of the creatures of the seas, rivers and ponds.

There are however a considerable number of these that are larger even than landanimals. The obvious cause of this is the lavish nature of liquid. Birds, whichlive hovering in the air, are in a different condition. But in the sea, lying sowidely outspread and so yielding and productive of nutriment, because theelement receives generative causes from above and is always producing offspring,a great many actual monstrosities are found, the seeds and first principlesintertwining and interfolding with each other now in one way and now in another,now by the action of the wind and now by that of the waves, so ratifying thecommon opinion that everything born in any department of nature exists also inthe sea, as well as a number of things never found elsewhere. Indeed we mayrealize that it contains likenesses of things and not of animals only, when weexamine the grape, the sword-fish, the saw-fish, and the cucumber-fish, the lastresembling a real cucumber both in colour and scent; which makes it lesssurprising that in cockle-shells that are so tiny there are horses' headsprojecting.

II. But the largest number of animals and those of the largestsize are in the Indian sea, among them whales covering three acres each, andsharks 100 ells long: in fact in those regions lobsters grow to 6 ft. long, andalso eels in the river Ganges to 300 ft. The monsters in the sea are mostly tobe seen about the solstices. At those periods in that part of the world thereare rushing whirlwinds and rainstorms and tempests hurtling down from themountain ridges that upturn the seas from their bottom, and roll with theirwaves monsters forced up from the depths in such a multitude, like the shoals of tunnies in other places, that the fleet ofAlexander the Great deployed its columnin line of battle to encounter them, in the same way as if an enemy force weremeeting it: it was not possible to escape them in any other manner.They are not scared by shouts or noises or uproar, but only by impact, and theyare only routed by a violent collision. There is an enormous peninsula in theRed Sea called Cadara, the projection of which forms a vast bay which took KingPtolemy twelve days and nights of rowingto cross, as it does not admit a breath of wind from any quarter. In thistranquil retreat particularly the creatures grow to a huge motionless bulk. Theadmirals of the fleets ofAlexander the Greathave stated that the Gedrosi who live by the river Arabis make the doorways intheir houses out of the monsters' jaws and use their bones for roof-beams, manyof them having been found that were 60 ft. long. Also great creatures resemblingsheep come out on to the land in that country and after grazing on the roots ofbushes return; and there are some with the heads of horses, asses and bulls thateat up the crops.

III. The largest animals in the Indian Ocean are the shark and the whale;the largest in the Bay of Biscay is the sperm-whale, which rears up like a vastpillar higher than a ship's rigging and belches out a sort of deluge; thelargest in the Gulf of Cadiz is the tree-polypus, which spreads out such vastbranches that it is believed never to have entered the Straits of Gibraltarbecause of this. The creatures called Wheels from their resemblance to a wheelalso put in an appearance, these radiating in four spokes, with their naveterminating in two eyes, one on each side.

IV. An embassy from Lisbon sent for the purpose reported tothe EmperorTiberius that a Triton hadbeen seen and heard playing on a shell in a certain cave, and that he hadthe well-known shape. The description of the Nereids also is not incorrect,except that their body is bristling with hair even in the parts where they havehuman shape; for a Nereid has been seen on the same coast, whose mournful songmoreover when dying has been heard a long way off by the coast-dwellers; alsothe Governor of Gaul wrote to the late lamentedAugustus that a large number of dead Nereids were to be seen on theshore. I have distinguished members of the Order of Knighthood as authoritiesfor the statement that a man of the sea has been seen by them in the Gulf ofCadiz, with complete resemblance to a human being in every part of his body, andthat he climbs on board ships during the hours of the night and the side of thevessel that he sits on is at once weighed down, and if he stays there longeractually goes below the water. During the rule ofTiberius, in an island off the coast ofthe province of Lyons the receding ocean tide left more than 300 monsters at thesame time, of marvellous variety and size, and an equal number on thecoast of Saintes, and among the rest elephants, and rams with only a whitestreak to resemble horns, and also many Nereids.Turranius has stated that a monster wascast ashore on the coast at Cadiz that had 24 feet of tail-end between its twofins, and also 120 teeth, the biggest 9 inches and the smallest 6 inches long.The skeleton of the monster to which Andromeda in the story was exposed wasbrought byMarcus Scaurus from the townof Jaffa in Judaea and shown at Rome among the rest of the marvels during hisaedileship; it was 40 ft. long, the height of the ribs exceeding the elephantsof India, and the spine being 1 ft. 6 inches thick.

V. Whales even penetrate into our seas. It is said that they are not seenin the Gulf of Cadiz beforemidwinter, but during the summer periods hide in a certain calm and spaciousinlet, and take marvellous delight in breeding there; and that this is known tothe killer whale, a creature that is the enemy of the other species and theappearance of which can be represented by no other description except that of anenormous mass of flesh with savage teeth. The killer whales therefore burst intotheir retreats and bite and mangle their calves or the females that have calvedor are still in calf, and charge and pierce them like warships ramming. Thewhales being sluggish in bending and slow in retaliating, and burdened by theirweight, and at this season also heavy with young or weakened by travail ingiving birth, know only one refuge, to retreat to the deep sea and defend theirsafety by means of the ocean. Against this the killer whales use every effort toconfront them and get in their way, and to slaughter them when cooped up innarrow straits or drive them into shallows and make them dash themselves uponrocks. To spectators these battles look as if the sea were raging againstitself, as no winds are blowing in the gulf, but there are waves causedby the whales blowing and thrashing that are larger than those aroused by anywhirlwinds. A killer whale was actually seen in the harbour of Ostia inbattle with the EmperorClaudius;it had come at the time when he was engaged in completing the structure of theharbour, being tempted by the wreck of a cargo of hides imported from Gaul, andin glutting itself for a number of days had furrowed a hollow in the shallowbottom and had been banked up with sand by the waves so high that it was quiteunable to turn round, and while it was pursuing its food which was drivenforward to the shore by the waves its back projected far above the water like acapsized boat.Caesar gave orders for abarrier of nets to be stretched between the mouths of the harbour and settingout in person with the praetorian cohorts afforded a show to the Roman public,the soldiery hurling lances from the vessels against the creatures when theyleapt up alongside, and we saw one of the boats sunk from being filled withwater owing to a beast's snorting.

VI. Whales have their mouths in their foreheads, and consequently whenswimming on the surface of the water they blow clouds of spray into the air. Itis universally admitted that a very few other creatures in the sea also breathe,those whose internal organs include a lung, since it is thought that no animalis able to breathe without one. Those who hold this opinion believe that thefishes possessing gills do not alternately expire and inspire air, and thatmany other classes even lacking gills do notan opinion which I notice thatAristotle a held and supported by many learned researches. Nor do I pretend that I do not myself immediately accept thisview of theirs since it is possible that animals may also possess otherrespiratory organs in place of lungs, if nature so wills, just as also manypossess another fluid instead of blood. At all events who can be surprised thatthis life-giving breath penetrates into water if he observes that it is alsogiven back again from the water, and that it also penetrates into the earth,that much denser element, as is proved by animals that live always inunderground burrows, like moles. Undoubtedly to my mind there are additionalfacts that make me believe that in fact all creatures in the water breathe,owing to the condition of their own naturein the first place a sort of pantingthat has often been noticed in fishes during the summer heat, and another formof gasping, so to speak, in calm weather, and also the admission in regard tofishes sleeping made even by those persons who are of the opposite opinionforhow can sleep occur without breathing?and moreover the bubbles caused on thesurface of the water by air rising from below, and the effect of the moon incausing the bodies even of shellfish to increase in size. Above all there is thefact that it will not be doubted that fish have the sense of hearing and smell,both of which are derived from the substance of air: scent indeed could notpossibly be interpreted as anything else than an infection of the air.Consequently it is open to every person to form whatever opinion about thesematters he pleases. Whales do not possess gills, nor do dolphins. These twogenera breathe with a tube that passes to the lung, in the case of whales fromthe forehead and in the case of dolphins from the back. Also sea-calves, calledseals, breathe and sleep on land, as also do tortoises, about whom more shortly.

VII. The swiftest of all animals, not only those of the sea, isthe dolphin; it is swifter than a bird and darts faster than a javelin, and werenot its mouth much below its snout, almost in the middle of its belly, not asingle fish would escape its speed. But nature's foresight contributes delay,because they cannot seize their prey except by turning over on their backs. Thisfact especially shows their speed; for when spurred by hunger they have chased afleeing fish into the lowest depths and have held their breath too long, theyshoot up like arrows from a bow in order to breathe again, and leap out of thewater with such force that they often fly over a ship's sails. They usually roamabout in couples, husband and wife; they bear cubs after nine months, in thesummer season, occasionally even twins. They suckle their young, as do whales,and even carry them about while weak from infancy; indeed they accompany themfor a long time even when grown up, so great is their affection for theiroffspring. They grow up quickly, and are believed to reach their full size in 10years. They live as much as 30 years, as has been ascertained by amputating thetail of a specimen for an experiment. They are in retirement for 30 days aboutthe rising of the dog-star and hide themselves in an unknown manner,which is the more surprising in view of the fact that they cannot breathe underwater. They have a habit of sallying out on to the land for an unascertainedreason, and they do not die at once after touching earthin fact they die muchmore quickly if the gullet is closed up. The dolphin's tongue, unlike the usual structure of aquatic animals, is mobile, and is short and broad, not unlike a pig's tongue. For a voice they have a moan like that of a human being; their back is arched, and their snout turned up, owing to which all of them in a surprising manner answer to the name of 'Snubnose' and like it better than anyother.

VIII. The dolphin is an animal that is not only friendly to mankind butis also a lover of music, and it can he charmed by singing in harmony, butparticularly by the sound of the water-organ. It is not afraid of a human beingas something strange to it, but comes to meet vessels at sea and sports andgambols round them, actually trying to race them and passing them even whenunder full sail. In the reign of the late lamentedAugustus a dolphin that had beenbrought into the Lucrine Lake fell marvellously in love with a certain boy, apoor man's son, who used to go from the Baiae district to school at Pozzuoli,because fairly often the lad when loitering about the place at noon called himto him by the name of Snub-nose and coaxed him with bits of the bread he had withhim for the journey,I should be ashamed to tell the story were it not that ithas been written about by Maecenas andFabianus andFlavius Alfius and many others,and whenthe boy called to it at whatever time of day, although it was concealed inhiding used to fly to him out of the depth, eat out of his band, and let himmount on its back, sheathing as it were the prickles of its fin, and used tocarry him when mounted right across the bay to Pozzuoli to school, bringing himback in similar manner, for several years, until the boy died of disease, andthen it used to keep coming sorrowfully and like a mourner to the customaryplace, and itself also expired, quite undoubtedly from longing. Another dolphinin recent years at Hippo Diarrhytus on the coast of Africa similarly used tofeed out of people's hands and allow itself to be stroked, and play withswimmers and carry them on its back. The Governor of Africa,Flavianus, smeared it all over withperfume, and the novelty of the scent apparently put it to sleep: it floatedlifelessly about, holding aloof from human intercourse for some months as if ithad been driven away by the insult; but afterwards it returned and was an objectof wonder as before. The expense caused to their hosts by persons of officialposition who came to see it forced the people of Hippo to destroy it.Before these occurrences a similar story is told about a boy in the city ofIasus, with whom a dolphin was observed for a long time to be in love, and whileeagerly following him to the shore when he was going away it grounded on thesand and expired;Alexander the Greatmade the boy head of the priesthood of Poseidon at Babylon, interpreting thedolphin's affection as a sign of the deity's favour.Hegesidemus writes that in the same cityof Iasus another boy also, namedHermias,while riding across the sea in the same manner lost his life in the waves of asudden storm, but was brought back to the shore, and the dolphin confessingitself the cause of his death did not return out to sea and expired on dry land.Theophrastus records that exactly thesame thing occurred at Naupactus too. Indeed there are unlimited instances: thepeople of Amphulochus and Taranto tell the same stories about boys and dolphins;and these make it credible that also the skilled harpist Anon, when at sea thesailors were getting ready to kill him with the intention of stealing the moneyhe had made, succeeded in coaxing them to let him first play a tune on his harp,and the music attracted a school of dolphins, whereupon he dived into the seaand was taken up by one of them and carried ashore at Cape Matapan.

IX. In the region of Nismes in the Province of Narbonne there is a marshnamed Latera where dolphins catch fish in partnership with a human fisherman. Ata regular season a countless shoal of mullet rushes out of the narrow mouth ofthe marsh into the sea, after watching for the turn of the tide, which makes itimpossible for nets to be spread across the channelindeed the nets would beequally incapable of standing the mass of the weight even if the craft of thefish did not watch for the opportunity. For a similar reason they make straightout into the deep water produced by the neighbouring eddies, and hasten toescape from the only place suitable for setting nets. When this is observed bythe fishermenand a crowd collects at the place, as they know the time, andeven more because of their keenness for this sportand when the entirepopulation from the shore shouts as loud as it can, calling for 'Snubnose' forthe denouement of the show, the dolphins quickly hear their wishes if anortherly breeze carries the shout out to sea, though if the wind is in thesouth, against the sound, it carries it more slowly; but then too they suddenlyhasten to the spot, in order to give their aid. Their line of battle comes intoview, and at once deploys in the place where they are to join battle; they barthe passage on the side of the sea and drive the scared mullet into theshallows. Then the fishermen put their nets round them and lift them out of thewater with forks. None the less the pace of some mullets leaps over theobstacles; but these are caught by the dolphins, which are satisfied for thetime being with merely having killed them, postponing a meal till victory iswon. The action is hotly contested, and the dolphins pressing on with thegreatest bravery are delighted to be caught in the nets, and for fear that thisitself may hasten the enemy's flight, they glide out between the boats and thenets or the swimming fishermen so gradually as not to open ways of escape; noneof them try to get away by leaping out of the water, which otherwise they arevery fond of doing, unless the nets are put below them. One that gets outthereupon carries on the battle in front of the rampart. When in this way thecatch has been completed they tear in pieces the fish that they have killed. Butas they are aware that they have had too strenuous a task for only a singleday's pay they wait there till the following day, and are given a feed of breadmash dipped in wine, in addition to the fish.

X.Mucianus's account of the samekind of fishing in the Iasian Gulf differs in thisthe dolphins stand byof their own accord and without being summoned by a shout, and receive theirshare from the fishermen's hands, and each boat has one of the dolphins as itsally although it is in the night and by torchlight. The dolphins also have aform of public alliance of their own: when one was caught by the King of Lanaand kept tied up in the harbour a great multitude of the remainder assembled,suing for compassion with an unmistakable display of grief, until the kingordered it to be released. Moreover small dolphins are always accompanied by alarger one as escort; and before now dolphins have been seen carrying a deadcomrade, to prevent its body being torn in pieces by sea-monsters.

XI. The creatures called porpoises have a resemblance to dolphins (at thesame time they are distinguished from them by a certain gloomy air, as they lackthe sportive nature of the dolphin), but in their snouts they have a closeresemblance to the maleficence of dogfish.

XII. The Indian Ocean produces turtles such size that the natives roofdwelling-houses with the expanse of a single shell, and use them as boatsin sailing, especially among the islands of the Red Sea. They are caught in anumber of ways, but chiefly as they rise to the surface of the sea when theweather in the morning attracts them, and float across the calm waters with thewhole of their backs projecting, and this pleasure of breathing freely cheatsthem into self-forgetfulness so much that their hide gets dried up by the heatand they are unable to dive, and go on floating against their will, an opportuneprey for their hunters. They also say that turtles come ashore at night to grazeand after gorging greedily grow languid and when they have gone back in themorning doze off to sleep on the surface of the water; that this is disclosed bythe noise of their snoring; and that then the natives swim quietly up to them,three men to one turtle, and two turn it over on its back while the thirdthrows a noose over it as it lies, and so it is dragged ashore by more menhauling from the beach. Turtles are caught without any difficulty in thePhoenician Sea; and at a regular period of the year they come of their ownaccord into the river Eleutherus in a straggling multitude.

The turtle has no teeth, but the edges of the beak are sharp on the upper side,and the mouth closing the lower jaw like a box is so hard that they can crushstones. They live on shell-fish in the sea and on plants when they come ashore.They bear eggs like birds' eggs numbering up to 100 at a time; these they buryin the ground somewhere ashore, cover them with earth rammed down and levelledwith their chests, and sleep on them at night. They hatch the young in the spaceof a year. Some people think that they cherish their eggs by gazing at them withtheir eyes; and that the females refuse to couple till the male places a wisp ofstraw on one as she turns away from him. The Cavemen have homed turtles withbroad horns twisted inward like those of a lyre but movable, which they use asoars to aid themselves in swimming; the name for this horn ischelium;it is of tortoise shell of exceptional quality, but it is seldom seen, asthe very sharp rocks frighten the Turtle-eater tribe, while the Cavemen, onwhose coasts the turtles swim, worship them as sacred. There are also turtlesliving on land, and consequently called in works on the subject theTerrestrial species; these are found in the deserts of Africa in the region ofthe driest and most arid sands, and it is believed that they live on themoisture of dew. No other animal occurs there.

XIII. The practice of cutting tortoise-shell into plates andusing it to decorate bedsteads and cabinets was introduced by Carvilius Pollio, a man of lavish talentand skill in if producing the utensils of luxury.

XIV.The aquatic animals have a variety of coverings. Some are covered with hide andhair, for instance seals and hippopotamuses; others with hide only, asdolphins, or with shell, as turtles, or a hard flinty exterior, as oysters andmussels, with rind, as lobsters, with rind and spines, as sea-urchins, withscales, as fishes, with rough skin which can be used for polishing wood andivory, as skates, with soft skin, as lampreys; others with no skin at all, aspolyps.

XV. The aquatic animals clad with hair are viviparousfor instance thesaw-fish, the whale and the seal. The last bears its young on land; it producesafterbirth like cattle; in coupling it clings together as dogs do; it sometimesgives birth to more than two in a litter; it rears its young at thebreast; it does not lead them down into the sea before the twelfth day,thereafter continually accustoming them to it. Seals are with difficulty killedunless the head is shattered. Of themselves they make a noise like lowing,whence their name 'sea-calves'; yet they are capable of training, and canbe taught to salute the public with their voice and at the same time withbowing, and when called by name to reply with a harsh roar. No animal sleepsmore heavily. The fins that they use in the sea also serve them on land as feetto crawl with. Their hides even when flayed from the body are said to retain asense of the tides, and always to bristle when the tide is going out; and it isalso said that the right fin possesses a soporific influence, and when placedunder the head attracts sleep.

XVI. There are 74 species of fishes, not including those that have a hardcovering, of which there are thirty. We will speak of them severally in anotherplace, for now we are dealing with the natures of specially remarkable species.

XVII. The tunny is of exceptional size; we are told of a specimenweighing a third of a ton and having a tail 3 ft. 4 in. broad. Fish of no lesssize also occur in certain rivers, the catfish in the Nile, the pike in theRhine, the sturgeon in the Po, a fish that grows so fat from sloth that itsometimes reaches a thousand pounds; it is caught with a hook on a chain andonly drawn out of the water by teams of oxen. And this monster is killed by thebite of a very small fish called the anchovy which goes for a particular vein inits throat with remarkable voracity. The catfish ranges about and goes for everyliving creature wherever it is, often dragging down horses when swimming. A fishvery like a sea-pig is drawn out with teams of oxen, especially in the riverMain in Germany, and in the Danube with weeding-hooks; an exceptionally largespecies with no internal framework of bones or vertebrae and very sweet fleshis recorded in the Dnieper. In the Ganges in India there is a fish called theplatanista with a dolphin's beak and tail, but 24 ft. long.Statius Sebosus gives an extremelymarvellous account of worms in the same river that have a pair of gillsmeasuring 90 ft; they are deep blue in colour, and named from their appearance;he says that they are so strong that they carry off elephants coming to drink bygripping the trunk in their teeth.

XVIII. Male tunnies have no fin under the belly. In spring timethey enter the Black Sea from the Mediterranean in shoals, and they do not spawnanywhere else. The name ofcordyla is given to the fry, which accompanythe fish when they return to the sea in autumn after spawning; in the springthey begin to be called mudfish orpelamydes (from the Greekfor 'mud'), and when they have exceeded the period of one year they are called tunny. These fish are cut up into parts, and the neck and belly are counted adelicacy, and also the throat provided it is fresh, and even then it causessevere flatulence; all the rest of the tunny, with the flesh entire, ispreserved in salt: these pieces are calledmelandrya, as resemblingsplinters of oak-wood. The cheapest of them are the parts next the tail, becausethey lack fat, and the parts most favoured are those next the throat; whereas inother fish the parts round the tail are most in use. At the pelamys stagethey are divided into choice slices and cut up small into a sort of little cube.

XIX. Fishes of all kinds grow up exceptionally fast, especially in theBlack Sea; this is due to the fresh water carried into it by a large number ofrivers. The name ofscomber is given to a fish whose growth in size can benoticed daily. This fish and the pelamys in company with the tunny enterthe Black Sea in shoals in search of less brackish feeding-grounds, each kindwith its own leaders, and first of all the mackerel, which when in the water issulphur-coloured, though out of water it is the same colour as the other kinds.These fill the fish-ponds of Spain, the tunny not going with them.

XX. But no creature harmful to fish enters the Black Sea besides sealsand small dolphins. The tunny enter it by the right bank and go out of it by theleft; this is believed to occur because they can see better with the right eye,being by nature dim of sight in both eyes. In the channel of the ThracianBosphorus joining the Sea of Marmora with the Black Sea, in the actual narrowsof the channel separating Europe and Asia, there is a rock of marvellouswhiteness that shines through the water from the bottom to the surface, nearChalcedon on the Asiatic side. The sudden sight of this always frightens them,and they make for the opposite promontory of Istanbul in a headlong shoal; thisis the reason why that promontory has the name of the Golden Horn. Consequentlyall the catch is at Istanbul, and there is a great shortage at Chalcedon, owingto the 1000 yards of channel flowing in between. But they wait for a north windto blow so as to go out of the Black Sea with the current, and are only takena when entering the harbour of Istanbul. In winter they do not wander;wherever winter catches them, there they hibernate till the equinox. They arealso frequently seen from the stern of vessels proceeding under sail,accompanying them in a remarkably charming manner for periods of several hoursand for a distance of some miles, not being scared even by having a harpoonrepeatedly thrown at them. Some people give the name of pilot-fish to the tunnythat do this. Many pass the summer in the Sea of Marmora without entering theBlack Sea; the same is the case with the sole, though the turbot does enter it.Nor does the sepia occur there, though the cattle-fish is found. Of rock-fishthe sea-bream and whiting are lacking, as are some shell-fish, though oystersare plentiful; but they all winter in the Aegean. Of those entering the BlackSea the only kind that never returns is thebichia or sardineit will beconvenient to use the Greek names in most cases, as different districts havecalled the same species by a great variety of namesbut these alone enter theDanube and float down from it by its underground channels into the Adriatic, andconsequently there also they are regularly seen going down stream and nevercoming up from the sea. The season for catching tunny is from the rise of thePleiades to the setting of Arcturus; during the rest of the wintertime they lurk at the bottom of the water unless tempted out by a mild spell orat full moon. They get fat even to the point of bursting. The tunny's longestlife is two years.

XXI. There is a small animal shaped like a scorpion, of the size of aspider. This attaches with a spike under the fin of both the tunny and the fishcalled sword-fish, which often exceeds the size of a dolphin, and torments themso painfully that they frequently jump out of the water into ships. This is alsodone on other occasions from fear of the violence of other fish, especially bymullet, which are so exceptionally swift that they sometimes leap right overships that lie across their path.

XXII. In this department of nature also there are cases of augury; evenfish have foreknowledge of events. During the Sicilian War whenAugustus was walking on the shore a fishleapt out of the sea at his feet, a sign which the priests interpreted asmeaning that although Sextus Pompeiuswas then adopting Neptune as his fatherso glorious were his navalexploitsyet those who at that time held the seas would later be beneath thefeet ofCaesar.

XXIII. Female fish are larger than the males. In one kind there are nomales at all, as is the case with red mullet and sea-perch, for all those caughtare heavy with eggs. Almost every kind with scales is gregarious. Fish arecaught before sunrise; at that of hour their sight is most fallible. In thenight they repose, but on bright nights they can see as well as by day.People also say that scraping the bottom helps the catch, and that consequentlymore are caught at the second haul than at the first. Fish are fondest of thetaste of oil, but next to that they enjoy and derive nourishment from moderatefalls of rain: in fact even reeds although growing in a marsh nevertheless donot grow up without rain; and besides, fishes everywhere die when keptcontinually in the same water, if there is no inflow.

XXIV. All fish feel a very cold winter, but most of all those that arebelieved to hate a stone in their head, for instance the bass, the chromis,the ombre and the phagrus. When the winter has been severe a greatmany are caught blind. Consequently in the winter months they lie hidden ineaves (like cases that we have recorded in the class of land-animals),particularly the hippuris and blackfish, which are not caughtin winter except on a few regular days that are always the same, and also thelamprey and the orphus, the conger and perch and all rockfish. It isindeed reported that the electric ray, the plaice and the sole hide through thewinters in the ground, that is, in a hole scraped out at the bottom of the sea.

XXV. Some fish again being unable to endure heat hide for 8 or 9 weeksduring the heats of midsummer, for instance the grayling, the haddock andthe gilt-bream. Of river fish the catfish has a stroke at the rise of thedog-star, and at other times is always made drowsy by lightning. This is thoughtto happen to the carp even in the sea. And beside this the whole sea isconscious of the rise of that star, as is most clearly seen in the Dardanelles,for seaweed and fishes float on the surface, and everything is turned up fromthe bottom.

XXVI. It is an amusing trait in the mullet that when frightened it hidesits head and thinks it is entirely concealed. The same fish is soincautious in its wantonness that in Phoenicia and in the Province of Narbonneat the breeding season a male mullet from the fishponds is sent out into thesea with a long line tied to its gills through its mouth and when it is drawnback by the same line the females follow it to the shore, and again the malesfollow a female at the laying season.

XXVII. In old days the sturgeon was held to be the noblest of the fishes,being the only one with its scales turned towards the mouth, in the oppositedirection to the one in which it swims; but now it is held in no esteem,which for my part I think surprising, as it is a fish seldom to be found. Onename for it is theelops.

XXVIII.Cornelius Nepos and themime-writerLaberius have recorded thatat a later period the chief rank belonged to the bass and the haddock.The kind of bass most praised is the one called the woolly bass, from thewhiteness and softness of its flesh. There are two kinds of haddockthe collyrus, which is the smaller, and the bacchus, which is only caughtin deep water, and consequently is preferred to the former. But among bass thosecaught in a river are preferred.

XXIX. Nowadays the first place is given to the wrasse, which isthe only fish that is said to chew the cud and to feed on grasses and not onother fish. It is especially common in the Carpathian Sea; it never of its ownaccord passes Cape Lectum in the Troad. Some wrasse were imported from there inthe principate ofTiberius Claudius byone of his freedmen, Optatus, Commanderof the Fleet, and were distributed and scattered about between the mouth of theTiber and the coast of Campania, care being taken for about five years that whencaught they should be put back into the sea. Subsequently they have beenfrequently found on the coast of Italy, though not caught there before; and thusgreed has provided itself with additional dainties by cultivating fish, and hasbestowed on the sea a new denizenso that nobody must be surprised that foreignbirds breed at Rome. The next place belongs at all events to the liver of thelamprey that strange to say the Lake of Constance in Raetia in the Central Alpsalso produces to rival the marine variety.

XXX. Of other fish of a good class the red mullet stands first inpopularity and also in plentifulness, though its size is moderate and itbut rarely exceeds 2 lbs. in weight, nor does it grow larger when kept inpreserves and fishponds. This size is only produced by the northern ocean andin its westernmost part. For the rest, there are several kinds of mullet. For itfeeds on seaweed, bivalves, mud and the flesh of other fish; and it isdistinguished by a double beard on the lower lip. The mullet of cheapest kind iscalled the mud-mullet. This variety is always accompanied by another fish namedsea-bream, and it swallows down as fodder mire stirred up by the sea-breamdigging. The coast mullet also is not in favour. The most approved kind have theflavour of an oyster. This variety has the name of shoe-mullet, which Fenestellathinks was given it from its colour. It spawns three times a yearat all eventsthat is the number of times that its fry is seen. The leaders in gastronomy saythat a dying mullet shows a large variety of changing colours, turning pale witha complicated modification of blushing scales, at all events if it is looked atwhen contained in a glass bowl.Marcus Apicius,who had a natural gift for every ingenuity of luxury, thought it speciallydesirable for mullets to be killed in a sauce made of their companions, garumforthis thing also has procured a designationand for fish-paste to be devised outof their liver.

XXXI. With a fish of this kind one of the proconsular body,Asinius Celer, in the principateofGaius, issued a challengeit is notso easy to say who won the matchto all the spendthrifts by giving 8000 sesterces for a mullet. The thought of this sidetracks the mind to theconsideration of the people who in their complaints about luxury used toprotest that cooks were being bought at a higher price per man than a horse; butnow the price of three horses is given for a cook, and the price of three cooksfor a fish, and almost no human being has come to be more valued than one thatis most skilful in making his master bankrupt.Licinius Mucianus has recorded the capture in the Red Sea of a mulletweighing 80 lbs.; what price would our epicures have paid for it if it had beenfound on the coasts near the city?

XXXII. It is also a fact of nature that different fishes hold the firstrank in different placesthe blackfish in Egypt, the John Dory (also called thecarpenter-fish) at Cadiz, the stockfish in the neighbourhood of Iviza, thoughelsewhere it is a disgusting fish, and everywhere it is unable to be cookedthoroughly unless it has been beaten with a rod; in Aquitaine the river salmonis preferred to all sea-fish.

XXXIII. Some fish have numerous gills, others single ones, others double.With the gills they discharge the water taken in by the mouth. Hardening of thescales, which are not alike in all fishes, is a sign of age. There are two lakesin Italy at the foot of the Alps, named Como and Maggiore, in which every yearat the rising of the Pleiades fish are found that are remarkable for close-setand very sharp scales, shaped like shoe-nails, but they are not commonly seenfor a longer period than about a month from then.

XXXIV. Arcadia also has a marvel in its climbing perch, socalled because it climbs out on to the land to sleep. In the district of theriver Clitorius this fish is said to have a voice and no gills; the same varietyis by some people called the Adonis fish.

XXXV. The fish called the sea-mouse alsocomes out on to the land, as do the polypus and the lamprey; so also does acertain kind of fish in the rivers of India, and then jumps hack againfor inmost cases there is an obvious purpose in getting across into marshes and lakesso as to produce their offspring safe, as in those waters there are no creaturesto devour their young and the waves are less fierce. Their understanding thesereasons and their observing the changes of the seasons would seem moresurprising to anybody who considers what fraction of mankind is aware that thebiggest catch is made when the sun is passing through the sign of the Fishes.

XXXVI. Some sea-fish are flat, for instance the turbot, the sole and theflounder, which differs from the turbot only in the posture of its bodytheturbot lies with the right side uppermost and the flounder with the left; whileother sea-fish are long, as the lamprey and the conger.

XXXVII. Consequently differences also occur in the fins, which arebestowed on fish instead of feet; none have more than four, some have three,some two, certain kinds none. In the Lago di Celano, but nowhere else, there is a fish that has eight fins to swim with. Long slippery fish like eels and congers generally have two fins, others have none, for instance, the lamprey which also has no gills. All this class use the sea as snakes do the land, propelling themselves by twisting their bodies, and they also crawl on dry land; consequently this class are also longer-lived. Some of the flat-fish too have not got fins, for example, the stingrayfor these swim merely by means of their breadthand the kinds called soft fish, such as polyps, since their feet serve them instead of fins.

XXXVIII. Eels live eight years. They can even last five or six days at atime out of water if a north wind is blowing, but not so long with a south wind.But the same fish cannot endure winter in shallow nor in rough water;consequently they are chiefly caught at the rising of the Pleiades as the riversare then specially rough. They feed at night. They are the only fish that donot float on the surface when dead. There is a lake called Garda in theterritory of Verona through which flows the river Mincio, at the outflow ofwhich on a yearly occasion, about the month of October, when the lake is maderough evidently by the autumn star, they are massed together by the waves androlled in such a marvellous shoal that masses of fish, a thousand in each, arefound in the receptacles constructed in the river for the purpose.

XXXIX. The lamprey spawns in any month, although all other fish havefixed breeding seasons. Its eggs grow very quickly. Lampreys are commonlybelieved to crawl out on to dry land and to be impregnated by copulating withsnakes.Aristotle gives the name ofzmyrus to the male fish which generates, and says that the difference isthat the lamprey is spotted and feeble whereas the zmyrus is self-coloured andhardy, and has teeth projecting outside the mouth. In Northern Gaul all lampreyshave seven spots on the right jaw arranged like the constellation of the GreatBear, which are of a bright golden colour as long as the fish are alive, and areextinguished when they are deprived of life.Vedius Pollio, Knight of Rome, a member of the Privy Council under thelate lamentedAugustus, found in thisanimal a means of displaying his cruelty when he threw slaves sentenced to deathinto ponds of lampreysnot that the wild animals on land were not sufficient forthis purpose, but because with any other kind of creature he was not able tohave the spectacle of a man being torn entirely to pieces at one moment. It isstated that tasting vinegar particularly drives them mad. Their skin is verythin, whereas that of eels is rather thick, and Verrius records that it used to be used for flogging boys who were sonsof citizens, and that consequently it was not the practice for them to bepunished with a fine.

XL. There is a second class of flatfish that has gristle instead of abackbone, for instance rays, stingrays, skates, the electric ray, and those theGreek names for which mean 'ox,' 'sorceress,' 'eagle' and 'frog.' This groupincludes the squalus also, although that is not a flatfish. TheseAristotle designated in Greek by thecommon name of selachians, giving them that name for the first time; but wecannot distinguish them as a class unless we like to call them the cartilaginea.But all such fish are carnivorous, and they feed lying on their backs, as wesaid in the case of dolphins; and whereas all other fish are oviparous, thiskind alone with the exception of the species called the sea-frog is viviparous,like the creatures termed cetaceans.

XLI. There is a quite small fish that frequents rocks, called thesucking-fish. This is believed to make ships go more slowly by sticking to theirhulls, from which it has received its name; and for this reason it also has anevil reputation for supplying a love-charm and for acting as a spell to hinderlitigation in the courts, which accusations it counterbalances only by itslaudable property of stopping fluxes of the womb in pregnant women and holdingback the offspring till the time of birth. It is not included however amongarticles of diet. It is thought by some to have feet, butAristotle denies this, adding that itslimbs resemble wings.

Mucianus states that the murex isbroader than the purple, and has a mouth that is not rough nor round and a beakthat does not stick out into corners but shuts together on either side like abivalve shell; and that owing to murexes clinging to the sides a ship wasbrought to a standstill when in full sail before the wind, carrying despatchesfromPeriander ordering some nobleyouths to be castrated, and that the shell-fish that rendered this service areworshipped in the shrine of Venus at Cnidus.Trebius Niger says that it is a foot long and four inches wide,and hinders ships, and moreover that when preserved in salt it has the power ofdrawing out gold that has fallen into the deepest wells when it is brought nearthem.

XLII. Themaena changes its white colour and. becomes blacker insummer. The lamprey also changes colour, being white all the rest of the timebut variegated in spring. Also it is the only fish that lays its eggs in a nest,which it builds of seaweed.

XLIII. The swallow-fish flies just exactly like a bird, and so does thekite-fish. The fish on this account called the lamp-fish rises to the surface ofthe sea, and on calm nights gives a light with its fiery tongue which itputs out from its mouth. The fish that has got its name from its horns raisesthese up about 18 inches out of the sea. The sea-snake, again, when caught andplaced on the sand, with marvellous rapidity digs itself a hole with its beak.

XLIV. We will now speak of the bloodless fishes. Of these there are threekinds: first those which are called soft fish, then those covered with thinrinds, and lastly those enclosed in hard shells. The soft are the cattle-fish,the sepia, the polyp and the others of that kind. They have the head between thefeet and the belly, and all of them have eight little feet. In the sepia and cuttle-fish two of these feet are extremely long and rough, and by means ofthese they carry food to their months, and steady themselves as with anchors ina rough sea; but all the rest are feelers which they use for catching theirprey.

XLV. The cuttle-fish even flies, raising itself out of the water, as alsodo the small scallops, like an arrow. The males of the genus sepia arevariegated and darker in colour, and they are more resolute: when a female isstruck with a trident they come to her assistance, whereas a female flees when amale is struck. But both sexes on perceiving they are being caught hold of pourout a dark fluid which these animals have instead of blood, so darkening thewater and concealing themselves.

XLVI. There are many sorts of polyp. The land kinds are larger than themarine. They use all their arms as feet and hands, but employ the tail, which isforked and pointed, in sexual intercourse. The polyps have a tube in their backthrough which they pass the seawater, and they shift this now to the right sideand now to the left. They swim with their head on one side, this while they arealive being hard as though blown out. Otherwise they remain adhering with a kindof suction, by means of a sort of suckers spread over their arms: throwingthemselves backward they hold on so that they cannot be torn away. They do notcling to the bottom of the sea, and have less holding-power when full-grown.They alone of the soft creatures go out of the water on to dry land, provided ithas a rough surface: they hate smooth surfaces. They feed on the flesh ofshellfish, the shells of which they break by enfolding them with theirtentacles; and consequently their lair can be detected by the shells lying infront of it. And though the polyp is in other respects deemed a stupid animal,inasmuch as it swims towards a man's hand, it has a certain kind of sense in itsdomestic economy: it collects everything into its home, and then after it haseaten the flesh puts out the refuse and catches the little fishes that swim upto it. It changes its colour to match its environment, and particularly when itis frightened. The notion that it gnaws its own arms is a mistake, for this isdone to it by the congers; but the belief that its tails grow again, as is thecase with the gecko and the lizard, is correct.

XLVII. But among outstanding marvels is the creature called the nautilus,and by others the pilot-fish. Lying on its back it comes to the surface of thesea, gradually raising itself up in such a way that by sending out all the waterthrough a tube it so to speak unloads itself of bilge and sails easily.Afterwards it twists back its two foremost arms and spreads out between them amarvellously thin membrane, and with this serving as a sail in the breeze whileit uses its other arms underneath it as oars, it steers itself with its tailbetween them as a rudder. So it proceeds across the deep mimicking the likenessof a fast cutter, if any alarm interrupts its voyage submerging itself bysucking in water.

XLVIII. One variety of the polypus kind is the stink-polyp, named fromthe disagreeable smell of its head, whichcauses it to be the special prey of the lamprey.

Polyps go into hiding for periods of two months. They do not live more than twoyears; but they always die of consumption, the females more quickly andusually as a result of bearing offspring.

We must also not pass over the facts as to the polyp ascertained whenLucius Lucullus was governor ofBaetica, and published by one of his staff,Trebius Niger; he says that they are extremely greedy for shell-fish, andthat these close their shells at a touch and cut off the polyp's tentacles, soretaliating by obtaining food from their would-be robber. Shell-fish do notpossess sight or any other sense except consciousness of food and danger.Consequently the polyps lie in wait for the shell-fish to open, and placing astone between the shells, not on the fish's body so that it may not be ejectedby its throbbing, thus go to work at their ease, and drag out the flesh, whilethe shell-fish try to shut up, but in vain, as they are wedged open: soclever are even the most stupid of animals. MoreoverNiger asserts that no animal is moresavage in causing the death of a man in the water; for it struggles with him bycoiling round him and swallows him with its sucker-cups and drags him asunder byits multiple suction, when it attacks men that have been shipwrecked or arediving. But should it be turned over, its strength gets feebler; for when polypsare lying on their backs they stretch themselves out. The rest of the factsreported by the same authority may possibly be thought to approximate to themiraculous. In the fishponds at Carteia a polyp was in the habit of getting intotheir uncovered tanks from the open sea and there foraging for salted fisheventhe smell of which attracts all sea creatures in a surprising way, owing towhich even fish-traps are smeared with themand so it brought on itself thewrath of the keepers, which owing to the persistence of the theft was beyond allbounds. Fences were erected in its way, but it used to scale these by making useof a tree, and it was only possible to catch it by means of the keen scent ofhounds. These surrounded it when it was going back at night, and aroused theguards, who were astounded by its strangeness: in the first place its size wasunheard of and so was its colour as well, and it was smeared with brine and hada terrible smell; who would have expected to find a polyp there, or who wouldrecognize it in such circumstances? They felt they were pitted against somethinguncanny, for by its awful breath it also tormented the dogs, which it nowscourged with the ends of its tentacles and now struck with its longer arms,which it used as clubs; and with difficulty they succeeded in despatching itwith a number of three-pronged harpoons. They showed its head to Lucullusit was as big as a cask andheld 90 gallons,--and (to use the words of Trebius himself) `its beards which one could hardly clasp round with bothone's arms, knotted like clubs, 30 ft. long, with suckers or cups like basinsholding three gallons, and teeth corresponding to its size. Its remains, keptas a curiosity, were found to weigh 700 lbs. Trebius also states thatcuttlefish of both species of the same size have been driven ashore on thatcoast. In our own seas one kind is taken that measures 7½ ft. in length and theother kind 3 ft. These fish also do not live more than two years.

XLIX.Mucianus has stated that hehas also seen in the Dardanelles another creature resembling a ship under sail: it is ashell with a keel like a boat, and a curved stern and beaked bow. In this (hesays) thenauplius, a creature like the cuttlefish, secretes itself, merely byway of sharing the game. The manner in which this takes place is twofold: incalm weather the carrier shell strikes the water by dipping its flappers likeoars, but if the breezes invite, the same flappers are stretched out to serve asa rudder and the curves of the shells are spread to the breeze. The formercreature delights (he continues) to carry and the latter to steer, and thispleasure penetrates two senseless things at onceunless perhaps human calamityforms part of the motive, for it is an established fact that this is adisastrous omen for mariners.

L. In the bloodless class, the langouste is protected by a fragile rind.Langoustes stay in retirement for five months in each year; and likewisecrabs, which go into hiding at the same season; and both species discard theirold age at the beginning of spring in the same way as snakes do, by renewingtheir skins. All other aquatic species swim, but langoustes float about in themanner of reptiles; if no danger threatens they go forward in a straight coursewith their horns, which are buttoned by their own rounded ends, stretched out attheir sides, but at a moment of alarm they advance slanting sideways with theirhorns held erect. They use their horns in fighting one another. The langouste isthe only animal whose flesh is of a yielding texture with no hardness, unless itis boiled alive its hot water. Langoustes live in rocky places, whereas crabslive on soft mud. In winter they haunt sunny shores, but in summer they retireinto the dim depths of the sea. All creatures of this class suffer in winter,but get fat in autumn and spring, and more so at full moon, because the moonmellows them with its warm glow by night.

LI. The kinds of crab are the carabus, the crayfish, thespider-crab, the hermit-crab, the Heraclean crab, the lion-crab and otherinferior species. The carabus differs from the other crabs by its tail; inPhoenicia it is called the horse-crab, being so swift that it is impossible toovertake it. Crabs are long-lived. They have eight feet, all curved crooked; thefront foot is double in the female and single in the male. They also have twoclaws with denticulated nippers; the upper half of the forepart of these movesand the lower half is fixed. The right claw is the larger in every specimen.Sometimes crabs all collect together in a flock. They cannot make the mouth ofthe Black Sea against the current, and consequently when they are going out ofit they travel round in a circle and appear to be following a beaten track. Theone called the pea-crab is the smallest of the whole tribe, and consequentlyvery liable to injury. It has the cunning to stow itself in empty bivalve shellsand to shift into roomier ones as it grows bigger. When alarmed crabs canretreat backwards with equal speed. They fight duels with one another likerams; charging with horns opposed. They afford a remedy against snake-bite. Itis related that when the sun is passing through the sign of Cancer the bodies ofcrabs also when they expire are transformed into scorpions during the drought.

The sea-urchin, which has spines instead of feet, belongs to the samegenus. These creatures can only go forward by rolling over and over, andconsequently they are often found with their prickles worn off. Those of themwith the longest spines are calledechinus cidaris, and the smallest arecalled cups. They have not all the same transparent colour: in the district ofTorone some are born white, with a small spine. The eggs of all have a bittertaste; they are laid in clutches of five. Their mouths are in the middle oftheir body, on the under side. lit is said that they can forecast a rough seaand that they take the precaution of clutching stones and steadying theirmobility by the weight: they do not want to wear away their spines by rollingabout. When sailors see them doing this they at once secure their vessels withmore anchors.

In the same family are water and land snails, that protrude out of their abodeand shoot out and draw in two horns as it were. They have no eyes, andconsequently explore the way in front of them with their little horns.

Sea-scallops are held to belong to the same class, which also retire into hidingat seasons of extreme cold and extreme heat; and piddocks, which shine as ifwith fire in dark places, even the mouth of persons eating them.

LII. We now come to the purples and the varieties of shell-fish, whichhave a stronger shell. The latter display in great variety nature's love ofsport: they show so many differences of colour, and also of shapebeing flat,hollow, long, crescent-shaped, circular, semi-circular, humped, smooth,wrinkled, serrated, furrowed; with the crest bent into the shape of a purple,the edge projecting into a sharp point, or spread outwards, or foldedinwards; and again picked out with stripes or with flowing locks or with curls,or parted in little channels or like the teeth of a comb, or corrugated liketiles, or reticulated into lattice-work, or spread out slant-wise or straight,close-packed, diffused, curled; tied up in a short knot, or linked up all downthe side, or opened so as to shut with a snap, or curved so as to make atrumpet. Of this species the Venus-shell sails like a ship, and projecting itshollow portion and setting it to catch the wind goes voyaging over the surfaceof the water. The scallop gives a leap and soars out of the water, and it alsouses its own shell as a boat.

LIII. But why do I mention these trifles when their moralcorruption and luxury spring from no other source in greater abundance than fromthe genus shell-fish? It is true that of the whole of nature the sea ismost detrimental to the stomach in a multitude of ways, with its multitude ofdishes and of appetizing kinds of fish to which the profits made by those whocatch them spell danger. But what proportion do these form when we considerpurple and scarlet robes and pearls! It had been insufficient, forsooth, for theseas to be stowed into our gullets, were they not carded on the hands and in theears and on the head and all over the body of women and men alike. Whatconnexion is there between the sea and our clothing, between the waves andwaters and woollen fabric? We only enter that element in a proper manner when weare naked! Granted that there is so close an alliance between it and ourstomach, but what has it to do with our backs? Are we not content to feed ondangers without also being clothed with them? Is it that the rule that we getmost satisfaction from luxuries costing a human life to procure holds good forthe whole of our anatomy?

LIV. The first place therefore and the topmost rank among allthings of price is held by pearls. These are sent chiefly by the Indian Ocean,among the huge and curious animals that we have described as coming across allthose seas over that wide expanse of lands from those burning heats of the sun.And to procure them for the Indians as well, men go to the islandsand thosequite few in number: the most productive is Ceylon, and also Stoidis, as we saidin our circuit of the world, and also the Indian promontory of Perimula; butthose round Arabia on the Persian Gulf of the Red Sea are specially praised.

The source and breeding-ground of pearls are shells not much differing fromoyster-shells. These, we are told, when stimulated by the generativeseason of the year gape open as it were and are filled with dewy pregnancy, andsubsequently when heavy are delivered, and the offspring of the shells arepearls that correspond to the quality of the dew received: if it was a pureinflow, their brilliance is conspicuous but if it was turbid, the product alsobecomes dirty in colour. Also if the sky is lowering (they say) the pearl ispale in colour: for it is certain that it was conceived from the sky, and thatpearls have more connexion with the sky than with the sea, and derive from it acloudy hue, or a clear one corresponding with a brilliant morning. If they arewell fed in due season, the offspring also grows in size. If there is lightning,the shells shut up, and diminish in size in proportion to their abstinence fromfood; but if it also thunders they are frightened and shut up suddenly,producing what are called 'wind-pearls,' which are only inflated with an empty,unsubstantial show: these are the pearls' miscarriages. Indeed a healthyoffspring is formed with a skin of many thicknesses, so that it may notimproperly be considered as a hardening of the body; and consequently expertssubject them to a cleansing process. I am surprised that though pearls rejoiceso much in the actual sky, they redden and lose their whiteness in the sun, likethe human body; consequently sea-pearls preserve a special brilliance, being toodeeply immersed for the rays to penetrate; nevertheless even they get yellowfrom age and doze off with wrinkles, and the rigour that is sought after is onlyfound in youth. Also in old age they get thick and stick to the shells, andcannot be torn out of these except by using a file. Pearls with only onesurface, and round on that side but flat at the back, are consequently termedtambourine pearls; we have seen them clustering together in shells that owing tothis enrichment were used for carrying round perfumes. For the rest, a largepearl is soft when in the water but gets hard as soon as it is taken out.

LV. When a shell sees a hand it shuts itself up and conceals itstreasures, as it knows that it is sought for on their account; and if the handis inserted first it cuts it off with its sharp edge, the most just penaltypossiblefor it is armed with other penalties also, as for the most part it isfound among rocks, while even in deep water it has sea-dogs a in attendanceyetnevertheless these do not protect it against women's ears. Some accounts saythat clusters of shells like bees have one of their number, a specially largeand old shell, as their leader, one marvellously skilful in taking precautions;and that these leader-shells are diligently sought for by pearl-divers, as whenthey are caught all the rest stray about and easily get shut up in the nets,subsequently a quantity of salt being poured over them in earthenware jars; thiseats away all the flesh, and a sort of kernels in their bodies, which arepearls, fall to the bottom.

LVI. There is no doubt that pearls are worn away by use, and that lack ofcare makes them change their colour. Their whole value lies in theirbrilliance, size, roundness, smoothness and weight, qualities of such raritythat no two pearls are found that are exactly alike: this is doubtless thereason why Roman luxury has given them the name of 'unique gems,' the word notexisting in Greece, and indeed among foreign races, who discovered this fact,the only name for them is margarita. There is also a great variety intheir actual brilliance; it is brighter with those found in the Red Sea, whereasthose found in the Indian Ocean resemble flakes of mica, though they excel others in size. The highest praise given to their colour is for them to becalled alum-coloured. The longer ones also have a charm of their own. Those thatend in a wider circle, tapering lengthwise in the shape of perfume-caskets, aretermed 'probes.' Women glory in hanging these on their fingers and using two orthree for a single-earring, and foreign names for this luxury occur, namesinvented by abandoned extravagance, inasmuch as when they have done this theycall them 'castanets,' as if they enjoyed even the sound and the mere rattlingtogether of the pearls; and now-a-days even poor people covet themit is acommon saying that a pearl is as good as a lackey for a lady when she walksabroad! And they even use them on their feet, and fix them not only to the lacesof their sandals but all over their slippers. In fact, by this time they are notcontent with wearing pearls unless they tread on them, and actually walk onthese unique gems!

There used to be commonly found in our own sea, and more frequently on thecoasts of the Thracian Bosphorus, small red gems contained in the shells calledmussels. But in Acarnania there grows what is termed the sea-pen; which showsthat pearls are not born in only one kind of shell, forJuba also records that the Arabs have ashell resembling a toothed comb, that bristles like a hedgehog, and has anactual pearl, resembling a hailstone, in the fleshy part; this kind of shell isnot imported to Rome. And there are not found in Acamania the formerlycelebrated pearls of an exceptional size and almost a marble colour. Better onesare found round Actium, but these too are small, and in sea-board Mauretania.Alexander the Encyclopaedist andSudines think that they grow old and lettheir colour evaporate.

LVII. It is clear that they are of a finesubstance, because no fall can break them. Also they are not always found in themiddle of the flesh, but in a variety of places, and before now we have seenthem even at the extreme edges, as though in the act of passing out of theshell; and in some cases we have seen four or five pearls in one shell. Inweight few specimens have hitherto exceeded half an ounce by more than onescruple. It is established that small pearls of poor colour grow in Britain,since the late lamentedJulius desiredit to be known that the breastplate which he dedicated to Venus Genetrix in hertemple was made of British pearls.

LVIII. I have seenLollia Paulina,who became the consort ofGaius, not atsome considerable or solemn ceremonial celebration but actually at an ordinarybetrothal banquet, covered with emeralds and pearls interlaced alternately andshining all over her head, hair, ears, neck and fingers, the sum total amountingto the value of 40,000,000 sesterces, she herself being ready at amoment's notice to give documentary proof of her title to them; nor had theybeen presents from an extravagant emperor, but ancestral possessions, acquiredin fact with the spoil of the provinces. This is the final outcome of plunder,it was for this thatMarcus Lolliusdisgraced himself by taking gifts from kings in the whole of the East, and wascut out of his list of friends byGaius Caesarson ofAugustus and drank poisonthathis granddaughter should be on show in the lamplight covered with 40,000,000 sesterces! Now let some one reckon up on one side of the account how muchCurius orFabricius carried in their triumphs, andpicture to himself the spoils they displayed, and on the other side Lollia, asingle little lady reclining at the Emperor's sideand would he not think itbetter that they should have been dragged from their chariots than have wontheir victories with this result? Nor are these the topmost instances of luxury.There have been two pearls that were the largest in the whole of history; bothwere owned byCleopatra, the last of theQueens of Egyptthey had come down to her through the hands of the Kings of theEast. When Antony was gorging daily at recherché banquets, she with a pride atonce lofty and insolent, queenly wanton as she was, poured contempt on all hispomp and splendour, and when he asked what additional magnificence could becontrived, replied that she would spend 10,000,000 sesterces on a singlebanquet.Antony was eager to learn howit could be done, although he thought it was impossible. Consequently bets weremade, and on the next day, when the matter was to be decided, she set before Antony a banquet that was indeed splendid, so that the day might not be wasted, but of the kind served every dayAntony laughing and expostulating at its niggardliness. But she vowed itwas a mere additional douceur, and that the banquet would round off the accountand her own dinner alone would cost 10,000,000 sesterces, and she ordered thesecond course to be served. In accordance with previous instructions theservants placed in front of her only a single vessel containing vinegar, thestrong rough quality of which can melt pearls. She was at the moment wearing inher ears that remarkable and truly unique work of nature.Antony was full of curiosity to see whatin the world she was going to do. She took one earring off and dropped the pearlin the vinegar, and when it was melted swallowed it.Lucius Plancus, who was umpiring thewager, placed his hand on the other pearl when she was preparing to destroy italso in a similar way, and declared thatAntonyhad lost the battlean ominous remark that came true. With this goes the storythat, when that queen who had won on this important issue was captured, thesecond of this pair of pearls was cut in two pieces, so that half a helping ofthe jewel might be in each of the ears of Venus in the Pantheon at Rome.

LIX. They will not carry off this trophy, and will be robbed even of therecord for luxury! A predecessor had done this at Rome in the case of pearls ofgreat value,Clodius, the son of thetragic actorAesopus, who had left himhis heir in a vast estate; so thatAntonycannot take too much pride in his triumvirate when compared with one who wasvirtually an actor, and who had indeed been led on to this display not by anywagerwhich would make it more royalbut to discover by experiment, for thehonour of his palate, what is the exact flavour of pearls; and when they proved marvellously acceptable, in order not to keep the knowledge to himself he gavehis guests also a choice pearl apiece to swallow.

Fenestella records that they came intocommon use at Rome after the reduction of Alexandria under our sway, but thatsmall and cheap pearls first came in about the period ofSulla which is clearly a mistake, asAelius Stilo states that the distinctivename was given to large pearls just at the time of the wars ofJugurtha.

LX. And nevertheless this article is an almost everlasting piece ofpropertyit passes to its owner's heir, it is offered for public sale like somelanded estate; whereas every hour of use wears away robes of scarlet and purple,which the same mother, luxury, has made almost as costly as pearls.

Purples live seven years at most. They stay in hiding like the murex for 30 daysat the time of the rising of the dog-star. They collect into shoals inspringtime, and their rubbing together causes them to discharge a sort of waxyviscous slime. The murex also does this in a similar manner, but it hasthe famous flower of purple, sought after for dyeing robes, in the middle of itsthroat: here there is a white vein of very scanty fluid from which that preciousdye, suffused with a dark rose colour, is drained, but the rest of the bodyproduces nothing. People strive to catch this fish alive, because it dischargesthis juice with its life; and from the larger purples they get the juice bystripping off the shell, but they crush the smaller ones alive with the shell,as that is the only way to make them disgorge the juice. The best Asiaticpurple is at Tyre, the best African is at Meninx and on the Gaetulian coast ofthe Ocean, the best European in the district of Sparta. The official rods andaxes of Rome clear a path, and it also marks the honourable estate ofboyhood; it distinguishes the senate from the knighthood, it is called in tosecure the favour of the gods; and it adds radiance to every garment,while in a triumphal robe it is blended with gold. Consequently even the madlust for the purple may be excused; but what is the cause of the prices paid forpurple-shells, which have an unhealthy odour when used for dye and a gloomytinge in their radiance resembling an angry sea?

The purple's tongue is an inch long; when feedingit uses it for piercing a hole in the other kinds of shell-fish, so hard is itspoint. These fish die in fresh water and wherever a river discharges into thesea, but otherwise when caught they live as much as seven weeks on their ownslime. All shellfish grow with extreme rapidity, especially the purple-fish;they reach their size in a year.

LXI. But if having come to this point our exposition were to pass overelsewhere, luxury would undoubtedly believe itself defrauded and would find usguilty of remissness. For this reason we will pursue the subjectof manufactures as well, so that just as the principle of foodstuffs is learntin food, so everybody who takes pleasure in the class of things in question maybe well-informed on the subject of that which is the prize of their mode oflife. Shellfish supplying purple dyes and scarletsthe material of these is thesame but it is differently blended--are of two kinds: the whelk is a smallershell resembling the one that gives out the sound of a trumpet, whence thereason of its name, by means of the round mouth incised in its edge; the otheris called the purple, with a channelled beak jutting out and the side of thechannel tube-shaped inwards, through which the tongue can shoot out; moreover itis prickly all round, with about seven spikes forming a ring, which are notfound in the whelk, though both shells have as many rings as they are years old.The trumpet-shell clings only to rocks and can be gathered round crags.

Another name used for the purple is 'pelagia.'There are several kinds, distinguished by food and the ground they live on. Themud-purple feeds on rotting slime and the seaweed-purple on seaweed, both beingof a very common quality. A better kind is the reef-purple, collected on thereefs of the sea, though this also is lighter and softer as well. Thepebble-purple is named after a pebble in the sea, and is remarkably suitable forpurple dyes; and far the best for these is the melting-purple, that is, one fedon a varying kind of mud. Purples are taken in a sort of littlelobster-pot of fine ply thrown into deep water. These contain bait, cockles thatclose with a snap, as we observe that mussels do. These when half-killed but putback into the sea gape greedily as they revive and attract the purples, which gofor them with outstretched tongues. But the cockles when pricked by their spikeshut up and nip the creatures nibbling them. So the purples hang suspendedbecause of their greed and are lifted out of the water.

LXII. It is most profitable for them to be taken after the rising of thedog-star or before springtime, since when they have waxed themselves over withslime, they have their juices fluid. But this fact is not known to the dyers'factories, although it is of primary importance. Subsequently the vein of whichwe spoke is removed, and to this salt has to be added, about a pint for everyhundred pounds; three days is the proper time for it to be steeped (asthe fresher the salt the stronger it is), and it should be heated in a leadenpot, and with 50 lbs. of dye to every six gallons of water kept at a uniform andmoderate temperature by a pipe brought from a furnace some way off. This willcause it gradually to deposit the portions of flesh which are bound tohave adhered to the veins, and after about nine days the cauldron is strainedand a fleece that has been washed clean is dipped for a trial, and the liquid isheated up until fair confidence is achieved. A ruddy colour is inferior to ablackish one. The fleece is allowed to soak for five hours and after it has beencarded is clipped again, until it soaks up all the juice. The whelk by itself isnot approved of, as it does not make a fast dye; it is blended in a moderatedegree with sea-purple and it gives to its excessively dark hue that hard andbrilliant scarlet which is in demand; when their forces are thus mingled, theone is enlivened, or deadened as the case may be, by the other. The total amountof dye-stuffs required for 1,000 lbs. of fleece is 200 lbs. of whelk and l11lbs. of sea-purple; so is produced that remarkable amethyst colour. For Tyrian purple the wool is first soaked with sea-purple for a preliminary pale dressing, and then completely transformed with whelk dye. Its highest glory consists in the colour of congealed blood, blackish at first glance but gleaming when held up to the light; this is the origin of Homer's phrase, 'blood of purple hue.'

LXIII. I notice that the use of purple at Rome dates from the earliesttimes, but that Romulus used it only for a cloak; as it is fairly certain thatthe first of the kings to use the bordered robe and broader purple stripe wasTullus Hostilius, after the conquest ofthe Etruscans.Cornelius Nepos, who diedin the principate of the late lamentedAugustus,says: 'In my young days the violet purple dye was the vogue, a pound of whichsold at 100 denarii; and not much later the red purple of Taranto. This wasfollowed by the double-dyed Tyrian purple, which it was impossible to buy for1000 denarii per pound. This was first used in a bordered robe byPublius Lentulus Spinther,curuleaedile, but met with disapproval, though who does not use this purple forcovering dining-couches now-a-days?'Spintherwas aedile in the consulship ofCicero,63 BC. Stuff dipped twice over used at that time to be termed'double-dyed,' and was regarded as a lavish extravagance, but now almost all themore agreeable purple stuffs are dyed in this way.

LXIV. In a purple-dyed dress the rest of the process is the same exceptthat trumpet-shell dye is not used, and in addition the juice is dilutedwith water and with human urine in equal quantities; and only half the amount ofdye is used. This produces that much admired paleness, avoiding deepcolouration, and the more diluted the more the fleeces are stinted.

The prices for dyestuff vary in cheapness with theproductivity of the coasts, but those who buy them at an enormous price shouldknow that deep-sea purple nowhere exceeds 50 sesterces and trumpet-shell 100sesterces per 100 lbs.

LXV. But every end leads to fresh starts, and men make a sport ofspending, and like doubling their sports by combining them and re-adulteratingnature's adulterations, for instance staining tortoiseshells, alloying goldwith silver to produce amber-metal ware, and adding copper to these to makeCorinthian ware. It is not enough to have stolen for a dye the name of a gem,'sober-stone,' but when finished it is made drunk again with Tyrian dye, so asto produce from the combination an outlandish name and a twofold luxury at onetime; and when they have made shell-dye, they think it an improvement for it topass into Tyrian. Repentance must have discovered this first, the artificeraltering a product that he disapproved of; but reason sprang up next, and adefect was turned into a success by marvellous inventions, and a double pathpointed out for luxury, so that one colour might be concealed by another, beingpronounced to be made sweeter and softer by this process; and also a method toblend minerals, and dye with Tyrian a fabric already dyed with scarlet, toproduce colour. The kermes, a red kernel of Galatia, as we shall say whendealing with the products of the earth, or else in the neighbourhood of Meridain Lusitania, is most approved. But, to finish off these famous dyes at once,the kernel when a year old has a viscous juice, and also after it is four yearsold the juice tends to disappear, so that it lacks strength both when fresh andwhen getting old.

We have amply dealt with the method whereby the beauty of men and women alikebelieves that it is rendered most abundant.

LXVI. The genus shell-fish also includes the fan-mussel. It occurs inmarshy places, always in an upright position, and never without a companionwhich is called the pea-crab, or by others the sea-pen-protector: this is asmall shrimp, elsewhere called a crab, its attendant at the feast. The sea-penopens, presenting the dark inside of its body to the tiny fishes; these at oncedart forward, and when their courage has grown by license, they fill up thesea-pen. Her marker having watched for this moment gives her a signal with agentle nip. She by shutting up kills whatever she has enclosed, and bestows ashare on her partner.

LXVII. This makes me all the more surprised that some people haveheld the view that aquatic animals possess no senses. The torpedo knowsher power, and does not herself possess the torpor she inflicts; she hides byplunging into the mud, and snaps up any fish that have received a shock whileswimming carelessly above her. No tender morsel is preferred to the liver ofthis fish. The sea-frog called the angler-fish is equally cunning: it stirs upthe mud and puts out the little horns that project under its eyes, drawing themback when little fishes frisk towards them till they come near enough for it tospring upon them. In a similar manner the skate and the turbot while in hidingput out their fins and wave them about to look like worms, and so also do thefish called rays. For the stingray acts as a freebooter, from its hiding placetransfixing fish passing by with its sting, which is its weapon; there areproofs of this cunning, because these fish, though the slowest there are, arefound with mullet, the swiftest of all fish, in their belly.

Thescolopendra, which resembles the land animal called the centipede,when it has swallowed a hook vomits up the whole of its inwardsuntil it succeeds in disgorging it, and then sucks them back again. Sea-foxeson the other hand in a similar emergency gulp down more of the line tillthey reach its weak part where they may easily gnaw it off. The fish called thecatfish more cautiously nibbles at hooks from behind and strips them of the baitwithout swallowing them.

The sea-ram goes around like a brigand, and now hides in the shadow of thelarger vessels riding at anchor and waits in case somebody may be tempted by thepleasure of a swim, now raises its head out of the water and watches forfishermen's boats, and secretly swimming up to them sinks them.

LXVIII. For my own part I hold the viewthat even those creatures which have not got the nature of either animals orplants, but some third nature derived from both, possess sense-perceptionI meanjellyfish and sponges.

Jellyfish roam about and change their place bynight. These have the nature of a fleshy leaf, and they feed on flesh. The itchthey cause has a biting power, just like that of the land nettle. Consequentlythis creature draws itself in as stiffly as possible and when a little fishswims in front of it spreads out its leaf and enfolding it devours it. In othercases it looks as if it were withering up, and allows itself to be tossed aboutby the waves like seaweed, and attacks any fish that touch it as they try toscrape away the itch by rubbing against a rock. The same creature by night huntsfor scallops and sea-urchins. When it feels a hand approach it, it changescolour and draws itself together. When touched it sends out a burning sting, andif there is a moment's interval hides. It is reported to have mouths in its rootand to evacuate its excretions by a narrow tube through its topmost parts.

LXIX. We are informed that there are threekinds of sponge: a thick and very hard and rough one is called goat-thornsponge, a less thick and softer one loose-sponge, and a thin one of closetexture, used for making paintbrushes, Achilles sponge. They all grow on rocks,and feed on shells, fish and mud. These creatures manifestly possessintelligence, because when they are aware of a sponge-gatherer they contract andmake it much more difficult to detach them. They do the same when much beaten bythe waves. The tiny shells found inside them clearly show that they live byeating food. It is said that in the neighbourhood of Torone they can be fed onthese shell-fish even after they have been pulled off the rocks, and that freshsponges grow again on the rocks from the roots left there; also the colour ofblood remains on them, especially on the African ones that grow on thesandbanks. Very large but very soft thin sponges grow round Lycia, though thosein deep and calm water are softer; the rough kind grows in the Dardanelles, andthe close-textured round Cape Malea. Sponges decay in sunny places, andconsequently the best are found in deep pools. Live sponges have the sameblackish colour as sponges in use have when wet. They do not cling to the rockwith a particular part nor with their entire surface, for they have certainempty tubes, about four or five in number, running through them, through whichit is believed that they take their food. They also have other tubes, but theseare closed at the upper end; and it is understood that there is a sort of thinskin on the under side of their roots. It is established that they live a longtime. The worst of all the species of sponge is one called in Greek the dirtysponge, because it cannot be cleaned; it contains large tubes, and the rest ofit is of a very close texture.

LXX. The number of dog-fish specially swarming round sponges beset themen that dive for them with grave danger. These persons also report that a sortof 'cloud' thickens above their headsthis a live creature resemblingflatfishpressing them down and preventing them from getting back, and thatbecause of this they have very sharp spikes attached to cords, because the'clouds' will not withdraw unless stabbed through in this waythis story beingthe result, as I believe, of darkness and fear; for nobody has ever heard of anysuch creature in the list of animals as the 'cloud' or 'fog,' which is the namethe divers give to this plague. Divers have fierce fights with the dog-fish;these attack their loins and heels and all the white parts of the body. The onesafety lies in going for them and frightening them by taking the offensive; fora dog-fish is as much afraid of a man as a man is of it, and so they are onequal terms in deep water. When they come to the surface, then the man is incritical danger, as the policy of taking the offensive is not available while heis trying to get out of the water, and his only safety Is in his comrades. Thesehaul on the rope tied to his shoulders; this, as he carries on the duel, heshakes with his left hand to give a signal of danger, while his right handgrasps his dagger and is occupied in fighting. Most of the time they haulgently, but when he gets near the boat, unless with a quick heave they suddenlysnatch him out of the water, they have to look on while he is made away with.And often when divers have already begun to be hauled up they are snatched outof their comrades' hands, unless they have themselves supplemented the aid ofthose hauling by curling up into a ball. Others of the crew of course thrust outharpoons, but the vast beast is crafty enough to go under the vessel and socarry on the battle in safety. Consequently divers devote their whole attentionto keeping a watch against this disaster; the most reliable token of safety isto have seen some flatfish, which are never found where these noxious creaturesareon account of which divers call them the holy fish.

LXXI. It must be agreed that creatures enclosed in a flinty shell, suchas oysters, have no senses. Many have the same nature as a bush, forinstance the sea-cucumber, the sea-lung, the starfish. And to no such anextent is it the case that everything grows in the sea, that even the creaturesfound in inns in summertimethose that plague us with a quick jump or thosethat hide chiefly in the hairoccur there, and are often drawn out of the waterclustering round the bait; and their irritation is thought to disturb the sleepof fish in the sea at night. Indeed on some kinds of fish these vermin actuallybreed as parasites; the herring is believed to be one of these.

LXXII. Nor are there wanting dire poisons, as in the sea-hare which inthe Indian Ocean infects even by its touch, immediately causing vomitingand laxity of the stomach, and in our own seas the shapeless lump resembling ahare in colour only, whereas the Indian variety is also like a hare in size andin fur, only its fur is harder; and there it is never taken alive. An equally pestiferous creature is the weaver, which wounds with the sharp point of itsdorsal fin. But there is nothing in the world more execrable than the stingprojecting above the tail of the stingray which our people call theparsnip-fish; it is five inches long, and kills trees when driven into the root,and penetrates armour like a missile, with the force of steel and with deadlypoison.

LXXIII. We are not told that the various kinds of fish suffer fromendemic diseases, as do all other even wild animals; but that individuals amongthem are liable to illness is proved by the emaciated condition of some fishcontrasted with the extreme fatness of others. of the same kind when caught.

LXXIV. The curiosity and wonder of mankinddoes not allow us to postpone the consideration of these animals' method ofreproduction. Fish couple by rubbing their bellies together so quickly as toescape the sight; dolphins and the rest of the large marine species couple in asimilar manner, but with rather longer contact. At the coupling season thefemale fish pursues the male, nudging his belly with her nose, but directlyafter the eggs are born the males similarly pursue the females and eat theireggs. Copulation is not enough in itself to cause the birth of offspring, unlesswhen the eggs are laid the males swim to and fro sprinkling them withlife-giving milk. This is not achieved with all the eggs in so great amultitudeotherwise the seas and marshes would be completely filled, since theuterus of a single fish holds a countless number of eggs.

Fishes' eggs in the sea grow in size, some withextreme rapidity, for instance those of themurena, some a little more slowly.Flat fish not possessing a tail, and sting-ray and tortoises, cover the femalein mating, polyps couple by attaching a single feeler to the female's nostrils,the two varieties of cuttle-fish with their tongues, linking their arms togetherand swimming in opposite directions; they also spawn through the mouth. Butpolyps couple with their head turned towards the ground, all the other softfishes with their backs--for instance sea-dogs, and also langoustes and prawns;crabs with their mouth. Frogs cover the female, the male grasping hershoulder-blades with his forefeet and her buttocks with his hind feet. Theyspawn very small lumps of dark flesh that are called tadpoles, possessing onlyeyes and a tail; but soon feet are formed by the tail dividing into two hindlegs. And strange to say, after six months of life they melt invisibly back intomud, and again in the waters of springtime are reborn what they were before,equally owing to some hidden principle of nature, as it occurs every year. Alsomussels and scallops are produced by spontaneous generation in sandy waters;fish with harder shells, like the two varieties of purple-fish, are generated bya sticky juice like saliva, as gnats are by moisture turning sour; the anchovyby sea-foam growing warm when rain gets into it; but fish protected by a flintycovering, like oysters, are generated by rotting mud, or by the foam round shipsthat stay moored for some time, and especially round stakes fixed in the ground,and timber. It has recently been discovered in oyster-beds that a fertilizingmoisture flows out of these fish like milk. Eels rub against rocks and thescrapings come to life; this is their only way of breeding. Different kinds offish do not mate together, except the skate and the ray, the cross between whichis like a ray in front, and bears in Greece a name derived from the names ofboth parents.

Some creatures are born at a fixed season of the year, water species as well asthose on land: scallops of and slugs and leeches in the spring; these also passaway at a fixed season. Among fish the wolf-fish and the sardine breed twice ayear, and so do all the rock-fish; some breed three times, for instance theherring; carp six times; sea-scorpions and twice, in spring and autumn: of theflat fish only the skate twice, in the autumn and at the setting of the Pleiades;most fish in the three months of April, May and June; the stockfish in theautumn, theaargus, the torpedo and thesqualus at the season ofthe equinox; soft fish in the spring; the cuttlefish in all the monthsits eggsstick together with an inky gum like a bunch of grapes, and the maledirects his breath upon them, otherwise they are barren. Polyps mate in winterand lay eggs in spring that cluster in a twisting coil; and they are so prolificthat when they are killed the cavity of their head will not hold the multitudeof eggs that they carried in it when pregnant. They lay them after seven weeks,many of them perishing because of their number. Langoustes rind the rest of thespecies with rather thin shells deposit their eggs underneath them and so hatchthem; the female polyp now sits on the eggs and now forms a closed cavern withher tentacles intertwined in a lattice. The sepia lays on land among reeds orwherever there is seaweed growing, and hatches after a fortnight. The cuttlefish produces its eggs in deep water clustered together like those of thesepia. The purple-fish, the murex and their kind spawn in spring. Sea-urchinshave eggs at the full moons in winter, and snails are born in the winter time.

LXXV. The electric ray is found having broods numbering eighty; also itproduces exceedingly small eggs inside it, shifting them to another part of thewomb and emitting them there; and similarly all the species that we havedesignated cartilaginous: thus it comes about that these are the onlyfish kinds that are both viviparous and oviparous. With the catfish alone of allspecies the male guards the eggs, often for as long as 50 days at a time, toprevent their being eaten by other fish. The females of all the other speciesspawn in thee days if a male has touched them.

LXXVI. The horn-fish or garfish is the only fish so prolific that itsmatrix is ruptured when it spawns; after spawning the wound grows together,which is said to happen in the case of blindworms also. The sea-mouse digs atrench in the ground to lay its eggs in and covers it again with earth, and amonth later digs the earth up again and opens the trench and leads its broodinto the water.

LXXVII. The red mullet and the sea-perch are said to have wombs.The species called by the Greeks hoop-fish is said to practiseself-impregnation. The offspring of all aquatic animals are blind at birth.

LXXVIII. There has recently been sent to us a remarkable case oflongevity in fishes. In Campania not far from Naples, there is a country housenamed Posilipo;Annaeus Seneca writesthat inCaesar's fishponds on thisproperty a fish thrown in byPolio Vediushad died after reaching the age of 60, while two others of the same breed thatwere of the same age were even then living. The mention of fishponds reminds meto say a little more on this topic before leaving the subject of aquaticanimals.

LXXIX. Oyster ponds were first invented bySergius Orata on the Gulf of Baiae, inthe time of the oratorLucius Crassus,before the Marsian war his motive was not greed but avarice, and he made a greatprofit out of his practical ingenuity, as he was the first inventor ofshower-bathshe used to fit out country houses in this way and then sell them. Hewas the first to adjudge the best flavour to Lucrine oystersbecause the samekinds of fish are of better quality In different places, for example wolf-fishin the Tiber between the two bridges, turbot at Ravenna, lamprey in Sicily,sturgeon at Rhodes, and other kinds likewisenot to carry out this census of thelarder to its conclusion. The coasts of Britain were not yet in service when Orata used to advertise the fame of the products of the Lago Lucrino; butsubsequently it was deemed worth while to send to the end of Italy, to Brindisi,for oysters, and to prevent a quarrel between the two delicacies the plan haslately been devised of feeding away in the Lago Lucrino the hunger caused by thelong porterage from Brindisi.

LXXX. In the same period the elderLicinius Murena invented fishponds for all the other sorts of fish, andhis example was subsequently followed by the celebrated record ofPhilip andHortensius.Lucullus had built a channel that costmore than a country house, by actually cutting through a mountain near Naplesand letting in the sea; this was whyPompeythe Great used to call him 'Xerxes in Roman dress.' After his decease thefish from this pond sold for 4,000,000 sesterces.

LXXXI. The first person to devise a separate pond for lampreys wasGaius Hirrius, who added to thetriumphal banquets ofCaesar lampreys tothe number of 6000as a loan, because he would not exchange them for money orfor any other commodity. His less than moderate country estate was sold by itsfishponds for 4,000,000 sesterces. Subsequently affection for individual fishescame into fashion. At Baculo in the Baiae district the pleaderHortensius had a fishpond containing alamprey which he fell so deeply in love with that he is believed to have weptwhen it expired. At the same country houseDrusus's wifeAntonia adorned herfavourite lamprey with earrings, and its reputation made some people extremelyeager to visit Baculo.

LXXXII. Ponds for keeping snails were first made byFulvius Lippinus in the Trachinadistrict a little before the civil war fought withPompey the Great; indeed he kept thedifferent kinds of snails separate, with different compartments for the whitesnails that grow in the Rieti territory and for the Illyrian varietydistinguished for size, the African for fecundity and the Solitane for breed.Moreover he devised a method of fattening them with new wine boiled down andspelt and other kinds of fodder, so that gastronomy was enriched even byfattened oysters; and according toMarcus Varrothis ostentatious science was carried to such lengths that a single snail-shellwas large enough to hold 80 quarts.

LXXXIII. Moreover some wonderful kinds of fish are reported byTheophrastus. He says that (1) where therivers debouch around the water-meadows of Babylon a certain fish stays incaverns that contain springs and goes out from them to feed, walking with itsfins by means of a repeated movement of the tail, and guards against beingcaught by taking refuge in its caves and remaining in them facing towards theopening, and that these fishes' heads resemble a sea-frog's and the rest of itsparts a goby's, though the gills are the same as in other fish. (2) In theneighbourhood of Heraclea and Cromna and in many parts of the Black Sea thereis one kind that frequents the water at the edge of rivers and makes itselfcaverns in the ground and lives in these, and also in the shore of tidal riverswhen left dry by the tide; and consequently they are only dug up when themovement of their bodies shows that they are alive. (3) In the sameneighbourhood of Heraclea at the outflow of the river Lycus fishes are born fromeggs left in the mud that seek their fodder by flapping with their little gills,and this makes them not need moisture, which is the reason why eels also livecomparatively long when taken out of the water, while eggs mature in a dryplace, for instance tortoise's eggs. (4) In the same region of the Black Sea thefish most frequently caught in the ice is the goby, which is only made to revealthe movement of life by the heat of the saucepan. These accounts indeed, howevermarvellous, do nevertheless embody a certain principle. The same authorityreports that in Paphlagonia earth-fish extremely acceptable for food are dug outof deep trenches in places where there is no overflow from streams; and afterhimself expressing surprise at their being propagated without coupling, hegives the view that at all events they have a supply of moisture in them similarto that in wellsbut as if fish were found in any wells! Whatever the fact is asto this, it certainly makes the life of moles, an underground animal, lessremarkable, unless perhaps these fishes also possess the nature of earth-worms.

LXXXIV. But credibility is given to all these statements by the floodingof the Nile, with a marvel that surpasses them all: this is that, whenthe river withdraws its covering, water-mice are found with the work ofgenerative water and earth uncompletedthey are already alive in a part of theirbody, but the most recently formed part of their structure is still of earth.

LXXXV. Nor is it proper to omit the stories about theanthias fishthat I notice to have won general acceptance. We have mentioned the SwallowIslands, situated off a promontory of Mt. Taurus in the rocky sea of Asia; thisfish is frequent there, and is quickly caught, in one variety. A fisherman sailsout a certain distance in a small boat, wearing clothes that match the boat incolour, and at the same time for several days running, and throws out bait; butif any alteration whatever be made, the prey suspects a trick and avoids thething that has frightened it. When this has been done a number of times, at lastone anthias is tempted by familiarity to try to get the bait. This one ismarked down with careful attention as a foundation for hope and as a decoy for acatch; and it is not difficult to mark it, as for several days only this oneventures to come close. At last it finds others as well, and gradually enlargingits company finally brings shoals too big to count, as by this time all theoldest fish have got used to recognizing the fisherman and snatching the baitout of his hand. Then he throws a hook fixed in the bait a little beyond hisfingers, and catches or rather rushes them one by one, snatching them with ashort jerk away from the shadow of the boat so that the others may not noticeit, while another man in the boat receives the catch in some rags so that noflapping or noise may drive away the others. It pays to know the decoy fish forthis purpose, so that he may not be caught, as thenceforward the shoal will swimaway. There is a story that a disaffected partner in a fishery lay in wait forthe leader fish, which was very well known, and caught it, with maliciousintent;Mucianus adds that it wasrecognized in the market by the partner who was being victimized, and thatproceedings for damage were instituted and a verdict given for the prosecutionwith damages as assessed. Moreover it is said that when these fishes see one oftheir number hooked they cut the line with the sawlike prickles that they have on their back, while the one held by the line draws it taut so as to enable it to be severed. With thesatgus kind however the captive itself rubs theline against the rocks.

LXXXVI. Besides these eases I observe that authors renowned fortheir wisdom express surprise at there being a star in the sea: that is theshape of the fish which has rather little, flesh inside it but a rather hardrind outside. They say that this fish contains such fiery heat that it scorchesall the things it touches in the sea, and digests all food immediately. Icannot readily say by what experiments this has been ascertained, and I shouldconsider a fact that there is daily opportunity of experiencing to be much moreworth recording.

LXXXVII. The class shellfish includes the piddock, namedfinger-mussel from its resemblance to a human fingernail. It is the nature ofthese fish to shine in darkness with a bright light when other light is removed,and in proportion to their amount of moisture to glitter both in the mouth ofpersons masticating them and in their hands, and even on the floor and on theirclothes when drops fall from them, making it clear beyond all doubt that theirjuice possesses a property that we should marvel at even in a solid object.

LXXXVIII. There are also remarkable factsas to their quarrels and their friendship. Violent animosity rages between themullet and the wolf-fish, and between the conger and the lamprey, which gnaweach other's tails. The langouste is so terrified of the polyp that it dies ifit merely sees one near to it, and so does the conger if it sees a langouste;while on the other hand congers tear a polyp to pieces.Nigidius states that the wolf-fish gnawsat the tail of the mullet, although they are friendly together in certainmonths, but that all the mullets with their tails amputated in this way continueto live. But on the other hand instances of friendship, in addition to thecreatures whose alliance we have mentioned, are the whale and the sea-mouse:because the whale's eyes are overburdened with the excessively heavy weight ofits brows the seamouse swims in front of it and points out the shallowsdangerous to its bulky size, so acting as a substitute for eyes.

I. THE next subject is the Nature of Birds. Of these the largest species,which almost belongs to the class of animals, the ostrich of Africa or Ethiopia,exceeds the height and surpasses the speed of a mounted horseman, its wingsbeing bestowed upon it merely as an assistance in running, but otherwise it isnot a flying creature and does not rise from the earth. It has talons resemblinga stag's hooves, which it uses as weapons; they are cloven in two, and areuseful for grasping stones which when in flight it flings with its feet againstits pursuers. Its capacity for digesting the objects that it swallows downindiscriminately is remarkable, but not less so is its stupidity in thinkingthat it is concealed when it has hidden its neck among bushes, in spite of thegreat height of the rest of its body. The eggs of the ostrich are extremelyremarkable for their size; some people use them as vessels, and the feathers foradorning the crests and helmets of warriors.

II. They say that Ethiopia and the Indies possess birds extremelyvariegated in colour and indescribable, and that Arabia has one that is famousbefore all others (though perhaps it is fabulous), the phoenix, the only one inthe whole world and hardly ever seen. The story is that it is as large as aneagle, and has a gleam of gold round its neck and all the rest of it is purple,but the tail blue picked out with rose-coloured feathers and the throat pickedout with tufts, and a feathered crest adorning its head. The first and the mostdetailed Roman account of it was given byManilius, the eminent senator famed for his extreme and varied learningacquired without a teacher: he stated that nobody has ever existed that has seenone feeding, that in Arabia it is sacred to the Sun-god, that it lives 540years, that when it is growing old it constructs a nest with sprigs of wildcinnamon and frankincense, fills it with scents and lies on it till it dies;that subsequently from its bones and marrow is born first a sort of maggot, andthis grows into a chicken, and that this begins by paying due funeral rites tothe former bird and carrying the whole nest down to the City of the Sun near Panchaia and depositing it upon an altar there.Manilius also states that the period of the Great Year coincides with thelife of this bird, and that the same indications of the seasons and stars returnagain, and that this begins about noon on the day on which the sun enters thesign of the Ram, and that the year of this period had been 215, as reported byhim, in the consulship ofPubliusLicinius andGnaeus Cornelius.Cornelius Valerianus reports that aphoenix flew down into Egypt in the consulship ofQuintus Plautius andSextus Papinius; it was even brought toRome in the Censorship of the EmperorClaudius,a.u.c. 800 and displayed in the Comitium, a fact attested by the Records,although nobody would doubt that this phoenix was a fabrication.

III. Of the birds known to us the eagle is the most honourable and alsothe strongest. Of eagles there are six kinds. The one called bythe Greeks the black eagle, and also the hare-eagle is smallest in size and ofoutstanding strength; it is of a blackish colour. It is the only eagle thatrears its own young, whereas all the others, as we shall describe, drive themaway; and it is the only one that has no scream or cry. Its haunt is in themountains. To the second kind belongs the white-rump eagle found in towns andin level country; it has a whitish tail. To the third the morphnos,which Homer also calls thedusky eagle, and some the plangos and also the duck-eagle; it is secondin size and strength, and it lives in the neighbourhood of lakes. Phemonoe, who was styled Daughter ofApollo, has stated that it possesses teeth, but that it is mute and voiceless;also that it is the darkest of the eagles in colour, and has an exceptionallyprominent tail.Boethus also agrees. Ithas a clever device for breaking tortoiseshells that it has carried off, bydropping them from a height; this accident caused the death of the poetAeschylus, who was trying to avoid a disaster of this nature that had beenforetold by the fates, as the story goes, by trustfully relying on the open sky.Next, the fourth class comprises the hawk-eagle, also called the mountain stork,which resembles a vulture in having very small wings but exceeds it in the sizeof its other parts, and yet is unwarlike and degenerate, as it allows a crow toflog it. It is always ravenously greedy, and keeps up a plaintive screaming. Itis the only eagle that carries away the dead bodies of its prey; all the othersafter killing alight on the spot. This species causes the fifth kind to becalled the' true eagle,' as being the genuine kind and the only pure-bred one;it is of medium size and dull reddish colour, and it is rarely seen. Thereremains the osprey, which has very keen eyesight, and which hovers at a greatheight and when it sees a fish in the sea drops on it with a swoop and cleavingthe water with its breast catches it. The species that we made the third huntsround marshes for water-birds, which at once dive, till they become drowsy andexhausted, when it catches them. The duel is worth watching, the bird making forrefuge on the shore, especially if there is a dense reed-bed, and the eagledriving it away from the shore with a blow of its wing; and when it is huntingits quarry in a lake, soaring and showing its shadow to the bird swimming underwater away from the shore, so that the bird turns back again and comes to thesurface at a place where it thinks it is least expected. This is the reason whybirds swim in flocks, because several are not attacked at the same time, sincethey blind the enemy by splashing him with their wings. Often even the eaglesthemselves cannot carry the weight of their catch and are drowned with it. Thesea-eagle only compels its still unfledged chicks by beating them to gaze fullat the rays of the sun, and if it notices one blinking and with its eyeswatering flings it out of the nest as a bastard and not true to stock, whereasone whose gaze stands firm against the light it rears. Sea-eagles have no breedof their own but are born from crossbreeding with other eagles; but theoffspring of a pair of sea-eagles belongs to the osprey genus, from which springthe smaller vultures, and from these the great vultures which do not breed atall. Some people add a species of eagle which they call the bearded eagle, butwhich the Tuscans call anossifrage.

IV. The three first and the fifth kinds of eagle have the stone calledeagle-stone (named by somegagites) built into their nests, whichis useful for many cures, and loses none of its virtue by fire. The stonein question is big with another inside it, which rattles as if in a jar when youshake it. But only those taken from a nest possess the medicinal power referredto. They build their nests in rocks and trees, and lay as many as three eggs ata time, but they shut out two chicks of the brood, and have been seen onoccasion to eject even three. They drive out the other chick when they are tiredof feeding it: indeed at this period nature has denied food to the parent birdsthemselves as a precaution, so that the young of all the wild animals should notbe plundered; also during those days the birds' talons turn inward, and theirfeathers grow white from want of food, so that with good reason they hate theirown offspring. But the chicks thrown out by these birds are received by thekindred breed, the bearded eagles, who rear them with their own. However theparent bird pursues them even when grown up, and drives them far away, doubtlessbecause they are competitors in the chase. And apart from this a single pair ofeagles in order to get enough food requires a large tract of country to huntover; consequently they mark out districts, and do not poach on theirneighbours' preserves. When they have made a catch they do not carry it off atonce, but first lay it on the ground, and only fly away with it after firsttesting its weight. They meet their end not from old age nor sickness but fromhunger, as their upper mandible grows to such a size that it is too hooked forthem to be able to open it. They get busy and fly in the afternoon, but in theearlier hours of the day they perch quite idle till the market-places fill witha gathering of people. If eagles' feathers have the feathers of any other birdsmixed with them, they swallow them up. It is stated that this is the only birdthat is never killed by a thunderbolt; this, is why custom has deemed the eagleto be Jupiter's armour-bearer.

V. The eagle was assigned to the Roman legions as their special badge by Gaius Marius in his secondconsulship. Even previously it had been their first badge, with four others,wolves, minotaurs, horses and boars going in front of the respective ranks; buta few years before the custom had come in of carrying the eagles alone intoaction, the rest being left behind in camp.Marius discarded them altogether. Thenceforward it was noticed thatthere was scarcely ever a legion's winter camp without a pair of eagles being inthe neighbourhood.

The first and second kinds not only carry off the smaller four-footed animalsbut actually do battle with stags. The eagle collects a quantity of dustby rolling in it, and perching on the stag's horns sakes it off into its eyes,striking its head with its wings, until it brings it down on to the rocks. Noris it content with one foe: it has a fiercer battle with a great serpent, andone that is of much more doubtful issue, even though it is in the air. Theserpent with mischievous greed tries to get the eagle's eggs; consequently theeagle carries it off wherever seen. The serpent fetters its wings by twiningitself round them in manifold coils so closely that it falls to the grounditself with the snake.

VI. At the city of Sestos the fame of an eagle is celebrated, the storybeing that it was reared by a maiden and that it repaid its gratitude bybringing to her first birds and soon afterwards big game, and when finally shedied it threw itself upon her lighted pyre and was burnt with her. On account ofthis the inhabitants made what is called aheroon in that place, which isnamed the Shrine of Jupiter and the Maiden, because the bird is assigned to thatdeity.

VII. Of vultures the black are the strongest. No one has everreached their nests, and consequently there have actually been persons who havethought that they fly here from the opposite side of the globe. This is amistake: they make their nests on extremely lofty crags. Their chicks indeed areoften seen, usually in pairs. The most learned augur of our age, Umbricius, states that they lay thirteeneggs, but use one of them for cleaning the remaining eggs and the nest and thenthrow it away; but that three days before they lay the eggs they fly to someplace where there will be dead bodies.

VIII. There is great question among the Roman augurs about thesanqualis and theimmnsulus. Some think that the immusulus is the chick of thevulture and the sanqualis of the bearded vulture.Masurius says that the sanqualis is abearded vulture and the immusulus an eagle's chick before its tail turns white.Some persons have asserted that they have not been seen at Rome since the timeof the augurMucius, but for my own partI think it more probable that in the general slackness that prevails they havenot been recognized.

IX. Of hawks we find sixteen kinds, and among these theaegithus, which when lame in one foot is of very fortunate omen for marriagecontracts and for property in cattle, and thetriorchis, named from the numberof its testicles, the bird to whichPhemonoegave primacy among auguries. The Roman name for it isbuteo, which isalso the surname of a family, assumed because one perched on an admiral's shipwith good omen. The Greeks give the name ofmerlin to the only species thatappears at every season, whereas all the others go away in winter. Thevarieties of hawks are distinguished by their appetite for food: some onlysnatch a bird off the pound, others only one fluttering round a tree, others onethat perches high in the branches, others one flying in the open. Consequentlyeven the doves know the risks that they run from hawks, and when They see oneThey alight, or else fly upward, safeguarding themselves by going counter tothe hawk's nature. The hawks of the whole of Massaesylia lay their eggs on theground in Cerne, an island of Africa in the Ocean, and they do notbreed elsewhere, as they are accustomed to the natives of that island.

X. In the district of Thrace inland from Amphipolis men and hawks have asort of partnership for fowling: the men put up the birds from woods andreed-beds and the hawks flying overhead drive them down again; the fowlers sharethe bag with the hawks. It is reported that when the birds have been put up thehawks intercept them in the air, and when it is time for a catch invite thesportsmen to take the opportunity by their screaming and their way of flying.Wolf-fish at the Maeotic Marsh act somewhat in the same way, for unless they gettheir share from fishermen they tear their nets when spread.

Hawks do not eat the hearts of birds. The night-hawk is calledcybindis; it is rare even in forests, and cannot see very wellin the daytime. It wages war to the death with the eagle, and they are oftentaken clinging together in each other's clutches.

XI. The cuckoo seems to be made by changing its shape out of a hawkat a certain season of the year, as the rest of the hawks do not appearthen, except on a very few days, and the cuckoo itself also after being seen fora moderate period of the summer is not observed afterwards. But the cuckoo isalone among the hawks in not having crooked talons, and also it is not like theother hawks in the head or in anything else but colour: it rather has thegeneral appearance of the pigeon. Moreover a hawk will eat a cuckoo, if everboth have appeared at the same time: the cuckoo is the only one of all the birdsthat is killed by its own kind. And it also changes its voice. It comes out inthe spring and goes into lung at the rising of the dog-star, betweenwhich dates it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, usually wood-pigeons,for the most part one egg at a time, as does no other bird; it seldom lays two.Its reason for foisting its chicks on other birds is supposed to be that itknows itself to be hated by the whole of the birds, for even the very smallbirds attack it; consequently it thinks that a progeny will not be secured forits race unless it has escaped notice, for which reason it makes no nest; it isa timid creature in general. Therefore the brooding hen in the nest thuscuckolded rears the changeling. The young cuckoo being by nature greedy snatchesthe bits of food away from the rest of the chicks, and so gets fat and attractsthe mother bird to itself by its sleek appearance. She delights in its beautyand admires herself for having borne such a child, while in comparison with itshe convicts her own chicks of not belonging to her, and lets them be eaten upeven under her own eyes, until finally the cuckoo, now able to fly, seizes themother bird herself as well. At this stage no sort of bird will compare with ayoung cuckoo for savoury flavour.

XII. Kites belong to the same genus as hawks but differ in size.It has been noticed in regard to this species. That though a most rapacious birdand always hungry it never steals any edible from the oblations at funerals norfrom the altar at Olympia and not even out of the hands of the people bringingthe offsprings except with a gloomy portent for the slaves performing thesacrifice. Also it seems that this bird by its manipulation of its tail taughtthe art of steersmanship, nature demonstrating in the sky what was required inthe deep. Kites themselves also are not seen in the winter months, though notdeparting before the swallow; it is reported however that they suffer from gouteven from midsummer onward.

XIII. The primary distinction between birds is established especially bythe feet; for either they have hooked talons or claws or they are in theweb-footed class like geese and water-fowl generally. If they have hooked talonsthey live for the most part only on flesh;

XIV. though crows eat other food as well, as if a nut is so hard that itresists their beak they fly up aloft and drop it two or more times on to rocksor roof-tiles, till it is cracked and they can break it open. The bird itselfhas a persistent croak that is unlucky, although some people speak well of it.It is noticed that from the rising of Arcturus to the arrival of the swallows itis rarely seen in groves and temples of Minerva and never at all elsewhere, asis the case at Athens; it is most unlucky at its breeding season, that is, aftermidsummer. Moreover this bird alone continues feeding its chicks for some timeeven when they can fly;

XV. whereas all the other birds of the same class drive their chicks outof the nests and compel them to fly, as also do ravens. These not only feed onflesh themselves too, but also drive away their chicks when strong to aconsiderable distance. Consequently in small villages there are not more thantwo pairs of ravens, and in fact in the neighbourhood of Crannon in Thessalythere is one pair permanently in each place; the parents retire to make room fortheir offspring.

There are certain points of difference between this bird and the one mentionedabove. Ravens breed before midsummer, also they have 60 days of ill-health,principally owing to thirst, before the figs ripen in the autumn; whereas thecrow is seized with sickness from that day onward.

Ravens produce broods of five at most. There is a popular belief that they layeggs, or else mate, with the beak (and that consequently if women with child eata raven's egg they bear the infant through the mouth, and that altogether theyhave a difficult delivery if raven's eggs are brought into the house); butAristotle says that this is not true ofthe raven, any more indeed than it is of the ibis in Egypt, but that the billingin question (which is often noticed) is a form of kissing, like that which takesplace between pigeons. Ravens seem to be the only birds that have anunderstanding of the meanings that they convey in auspices; for when the guestsof Medus were murdered, all the ravens in the Peloponnese and Attica flew away.It is a specially bad omen when they gulp down their croak as if they werechoking.

XVI. Night birds also have hooked talons, for instance the littleowl, the eagle-owl and the screech-owl. All of these are dim-sighted in thedaytime. The eagle-owl is a funereal bird, and is regarded as an extremely badomen, especially at public auspices; it inhabits deserts and places that are notmerely unfrequented but terrifying and inaccessible; a weird creature of thenight, its cry is not a musical note but a scream. Consequently when seen incities or by daylight in any circumstances it is a direful portent; but I knowseveral cases of its having perched on the houses of private persons withoutfatal consequences. It never flies in the direction where it wants to go, buttravels slantwise out of its course. In the consulship of Sextus Palpellius Hister andLucius Pedanius an eagle-owl entered thevery shrine of the Capitol, on account of which a purification of the city washeld on March 7th in that year.

XVII. There is also a bird of ill-omen called the fire-bird, on accountof which we find in the annals that the city has often had a ritualpurification, for instance in the consulship of Lucius Cassius andGaius Marius, in which year the appearance of an eagle-owl also occasioned a purification. What this bird was I cannot discover, and it is not recorded. Some persons give this interpretation, that the fire-bird was any bird that was seen carrying a coal from an altar or altar-table; others call it a 'spinturnix,' but I have not found anybody who professes to know what particular species of bird that is. I also notice that the bird named by the ancients 'clivia' is unidentifiedsomecall it 'screech-owl,' Labeo 'warning owl'; and moreover a bird is cited in Nigidius that breaks eagles' eggs. Thereare besides a number of kinds described in Tuscan lore that have not been seenfor generations, though it is surprising that they should have now becomeextinct when even kinds that are ravaged by man's greed continue plentiful.

XVIII. On the subject of the auguries of foreign races the writings of anauthor named Hylas are deemed tobe the most learned. He states that the night-owl, eagle-owl, woodpecker,trygona and raven come out of the egg tail first, because the eggs axe turnedthe wrong way up by the weight of the heads and present the hinder part of thechicks' bodies to the mother to cherish.

X1X. Night-owls wage a crafty battle against other birds. When surroundedby a crowd that outnumbers them they lie on their backs and defend themselveswith their feet, and bunching themselves up close are entirely protected bytheir beak and claws. Through a kind of natural alliance the hawk comes to theiraid and takes part in the war. Nigidiusrelates that night-owls hibernate for 60 days every winter, and that they havenine cries.

XX. There are also small birds with hooked claws, for instance thevariety of woodpeckers called Birds of Mars that are important in takingauguries. In this class are the tree-hollowing woodpeckers that climb nearlystraight upright in the manner of cats, hut also the others that cling upsidedown, which know by the sound of the bark when they strike it that there isfodder underneath it. They are the only birds that rear their chicks in holes.There is a common belief that when wedges are driven into their holes by ashepherd the birds by applying a kind of grass make them slip out again. Trebius states that if you drive a nailor wedge with as much force as you like into a tree in which a woodpecker has anest, when the bird perches on it it at once springs out again with a creak ofthe tree. Woodpeckers themselves have been of the first importance amongauguries in Latium from the time of the king a who gave his name to this bird.One presage of theirs I cannot pass over. WhenAelius Tubero, City Praetor, was giving judgements from the bench in theforum, a woodpecker perched on his head so fearlessly that he was able to catchit in his hand. In reply to enquiry the seers declared that disaster wasportended to the empire if the bird were released, but to the praetor if it werekilled.Tubero however at once tore thebird in pieces; and not long afterwards he fulfilled the portent.

XXI. Many birds in this class feed also on acorns and fruit, but thosethat eat only flesh do not drink, excepting the kite, and for a kite to drinkcounts in itself as a direful augury. The birds having talons never live inflocks, and each hunts for itself. But they almost all except the night-birdsamong them fly high, and the bigger ones higher. All have large wings and asmall body. They walk with difficulty. They rarely perch on rocks, as the curveof their talons prohibits this.

XXII. Now let us speak about the second class, which is divided into twokinds, songbirds and plumage-birds. The former kind are distinguished bytheir song and the latter by their size; so the latter shall come first in orderalso, and among them before all the rest will come the peacock class, bothbecause of its beauty and because of its consciousness of and pride in it. Whenpraised it spreads out its jewelled colours directly facing the sun, because inthat way they gleam more brilliantly; and at the same time by curving its taillike a shell it contrives as it were reflexions of shadow for the rest of itscolours, which actually shine more brightly in the dark, and it draws togetherinto a cluster all the eyes of its feathers, as it delights in having themlooked at. Moreover when it moults its tail feathers every year with the fall ofthe leaves, it seeks in shame and sorrow for a place of concealment until othersare born again with the spring flowers. It lives for 25 years, but it begins toshed its colours at the age of three. The authorities relate that this creatureis not only ostentatious but also spiteful, just as the goose is said to bemodest--since some writers have added these characteristics also in that species,though I do not accept them.

XXIII. The first person at Rome to kill a peacock for the table was theorator Hortensius, at the inauguralbanquet of his priesthood. Fattening peacocks was first instituted about thetime of the last pirate war byMarcusAufidius Lurco, and he made 60,000 sesterces profit from this trade.

XXIV. Nearly equally proud and self-conscious are also our Romannight-watchmen, a breed designed by nature for the purpose of awakening mortalsfor their labours and interrupting sleep. They are skilled astronomers, and theymark every three-hour period in the daytime with song, go to bed with the sun,and at the fourth camp-watch recall us to our business and our labour anddo not allow the sunrise to creep upon us unawares, hut herald the coming daywith song, while they herald that song itself with a flapping of their wingsagainst their sides. They lord it over their own race, and exercise royal swayin whatever household they live. This sovereignty they win by duelling with oneanother, seeming to understand that weapons grow upon their legs for thispurpose, and often the fight only ends when they die together. If they win thepalm, they at once sing a song of victory and proclaim themselves the champions,while the one defeated hides in silence and with difficulty endures servitude.Yet even the common herd struts no less proudly, with uplifted neck and combsheld high, and alone of birds casts frequent glances at the sky, also rearingits curved tail aloft. Consequently even the lion, the noblest of wild animals,is afraid of the cock. Moreover some cocks are born solely for constant wars andbattlesby which they have even conferred fame on their native places, Rhodesor Tanagra; the fighting cocks of Melos and Chalcidice have been awarded secondhonoursso that the Roman purple confers its high honour on a bird full worthyof it. These are the birds that give the Most-Favourable Omens; thesebirds daily control our officers of state, and shut or open to them their ownhomes; these send forward or hold back the Roman rods of office, and order orforbid battle formation, being the auspices of all our victories won all overthe world; these hold supreme empire over the empire of the world, being asacceptable to the gods with even their inward parts and vitals as are thecostliest victims. Even their later and their evening songs contain portents;for by crowing all the nights long they presaged to the Boeotians that famousvictory against the Spartans, conjecture thus interpreting the sign because thisbird when conquered does not crow.

XXV. Cocks when gelt stop crowing; the operation is performed in twowaysby searing with a glowing iron either the loins or the bottom parts of thelegs, and then smearing the wound with potter's clay. This operation makes themeasier to fatten. At Pergamum every year a public show is given of cocksfighting like gladiators. It is found in theAnnals that in the consulshipMarcusLepidus andQuintus Catulus, atthe country house ofOalerius in theRimini district, a farmyard cock spokethe only occasion, so far as I know, onwhich this has occurred.

XXVI. The goose also keeps a careful watch, as is evidencedby its defence of the Capitol during the time when our fortunes werebeing betrayed by the silence of the dogs; for which reason food for the geeseis one of the first contracts arranged by the censors. Moreover there is thestory of the goose at Aegium that fell in love with the supremely beautiful boyAmphilochus of Olenus, and also thegoose that lovedGlauce, the girl thatplayed the harp for KingPtolemy, whomat the same time also a ram is said to have fallen in love with. These birds maypossibly be thought also to possess the power of understanding wisdom: thusthere is a story that a goose attached itself continually as a companion to thephilosopherLacydes, never leaving hisside by night or day, either in public or at the baths.

XXVII. Our countrymen are wiser, who know the goose by theexcellence of its liver. Stuffing the bird with food makes the liver grow to agreat size, and also when it has been removed it is made larger by being soakedin milk sweetened with honey. Not without reason is it a matter of enquiry whowas the discoverer of so great a boonwas itScipio Metellus the consular, or his contemporaryMarcus Seius, Knight of Rome? But it isan accepted fact thatMessalinus Cotta,son of the oratorMessala, invented therecipe for taking from geese the soles of the feet and grilling them andpickling them in dishes with the combs of domestic cocks; for I will award thepalm scrupulously to each man's culinary achievement. A remarkable feat in thecase of this bird is its coming on foot all the way to Rome from the Morini inGaul: the geese that get tired are advanced to the front rank, and so all therest drive them on by instinctively pressing forward in their rear.

White geese yield asecond profit in their feathers. In some places they are plucked twice a year,and clothe themselves again with a feather coat. The plumage closest to the bodyis softer, and that from Germany is most esteemed. The geese there are a brightwhite, but smaller; the German word for this bird is Gans; the price of theirfeathers is five-command of auxiliary troops frequently get into pence perpound. And owing to this officers in trouble for having sent whole cohorts awayfrom outpost sentry duty to capture these fowls; and luxury has advanced to sucha pitch that now not even the male neck can endure to be without goose-featherbedding.

XXVIII. The part of Syria called Commagene has made another discovery,goose-fat mixed with cinnamon in a bronze bowl, covered with a quantity of snowand steeped in the icy mixture, to supply the famous medicine that is calledafter the tribe Commagenum.

XXIX. To the goose kind belong the sheldrake and the barnacle-goose, thelatter the most sumptuous feast that Britain knows; both are rathersmaller than the goose. The black grouse also makes a fine show with its glossand its absolute blackness, with a touch of bright scarlet above the eyes.Another variety of these exceeds the size of vultures and also reproduces theircolour, nor is there any bird except the ostrich that attains a greater weightof body, growing to such a size that it is actually caught motionless on theground. They are a product of the Alps and the northern region. When kept infishponds they lose their flavour, and obstinately hold their breath till theydie. Next to these are the birds that Spain callstardae and Greeceotides, which are condemned as an article of diet, because when the marrowis drained out of their bones a disgusting smell at once follows.

XXX. The race of Pygmies have a cessation of hostilities on thedeparture of the cranes that, as we have said, carry on war with them. Itis a vast distance, if one calculates it, over which they come from the easternsea. They agree together when to start, and they fly high so as to see theirroute in front of them; they choose a leader to follow, and have some of theirnumber stationed in turns at the end of the line to shout orders and keep theflock together with their cries. At night time they have sentries who hold astone in their claws, which if drowsiness makes them drop it falls and convictsthem of slackness, while the rest sleep with their head tucked under their wing,standing on either foot by turns; but the leader keeps a lookout with neck erectand gives warning. (The same birds when tamed are fond of play, and executecertain circles in a graceful swoop, even one bird at a time). It is certainthat when they are going to fly across the Black Sea they first of all make forthe straits between the two promontories of Ramsbrow and Carambis, and proceedto ballast themselves with sand; and that when they have crossed the middle ofthe sea they throw away the pebbles out of their claws and, when they havereached the mainland, the sand out of their throats as well.Cornelius Nepos, who died in theprincipate of the late lamentedAugustus,when he wrote that the practice of fattening thrushes was introduced alittle before his time, added that storks were more in favour than cranes,although the latter bird is now one of those most in request, whereas nobodywill touch the former.

XXXI. Where exactly storks come from or where they go to has not hithertobeen ascertained. There is no doubt that they come from a distance, in the samemanner as do cranes, the former being winter visitors and the latter arriving insummer. When about to depart they assemble at fixed places, and forming acompany, so as to prevent any of their class being left behind (unless onecaptured and in slavery), they withdraw as if at a date fixed in advance by law.No one has seen a band of storks departing, although it is quite clear that theyare going to depart, nor do we see them arrive, but only see that they havearrived; both arrival and departure take place in the night-time, and althoughthey fly to and fro across the country, it is thought that they have neverarrived anywhere except by night. There is a place in Asia called Snakesdorpwith a wide expanse of plains where cranes meet in assembly to hold a palaver,and the one that arrives last they set upon with their claws, and so theydepart; it. has been noticed that they have not frequently been seen there afterthe first fortnight of August. Some persons declare that storks have no tongue.They are held in such high esteem for destroying snakes that in Thessaly to killthem was a capital crime, for which the legal penalty was the same as forhomicide.

XXXII. Geese and swans also migrate on a similar principle, but theflight of these is seen. They travel in a pointed formation like fast galleys,so cleaving the air more easily than if they drove at it with a straight front;while in the rear the flight stretches out in a gradually widening wedge, andpresents a broad surface to the drive of a following breeze. They place theirnecks on the birds in front of them, and when the leaders are tired they receivethem to the rear. (Storks return to the same nest. They nourish their parents'old age in their turn.) A story is told about the mournful song of swans attheir deatha false story as I judge on the strength of a certain number ofexperiences. Swans are cannibals, and eat one another's flesh.

XXXIII. But this migration of birds of passage over seas and lands doesnot allow us to postpone the smaller breeds as well that have a similar nature.For however much the size and strength of body of the kinds above mentionedmay appear to invite them to travel, the quails always actually arrive beforethe cranes, though the quail is a small bird and when it has come to us remainson the ground more than it soars aloft; but they too get here by flying in thesame way as the cranes; not without danger to seafarers when they have come nearto land: for they often perch on the sails, and they always do this at night,and sink the vessels. Their route follows definite resting places. They do notfly in a south wind, doubtless because it is damp and rather heavy, yet theydesire to be carded by the breeze, because of the weight of their bodies andtheir small strength (this is the reason for that mournful cry they give whileflying, which is wrung from them by fatigue); consequently they fly mostly in anorth wind, a landrail leading the way. The first quail approaching land isseized by a hawk; from the place where this happens they always return and tryto get an escort, and the tongue-bird, eared-owl and ortolan arepersuaded to make the journey with them. The tongue-bird takes its name from thevery long tongue that it puts out of its beak. At the start the charm oftravelling lures this bird to sail on eagerly, but in the course of the flightrepentance comes to it, no doubt with the fatigue; but it does not like toreturn unaccompanied, and it goes on following, though never for more than onedayat the next resting place it deserts. But day after day the company findanother one, left behind in a similar manner the year before. The ortolan is more persevering, and hurries on actually to complete the journey to the lands which they are seeking; consequently it rouses up the birds in the night and reminds them of their journey. The eared owl is smaller than the eagle-owl and larger than night-owls; it has projecting feathery ears, whence its namesome give it the Latin name 'axio'; moreover it is a bird that copies other kinds andis a hanger-on, and it performs a kind of dance. Like the night-owl it is caughtwithout difficulty if one goes round it while its attention is fixed on somebodyelse. If a wind blowing against them begins to hold up a flight of these birds,they pick up little stones as ballast or fill their throat with sand to steadytheir flight. Quails are very fond of eating poison seed, on account of whichour tables have condemned them; and moreover it is customary to spit at thesight of them as a charm against epilepsy, to which they arc the only livingcreatures that are liable besides man.

XXXIV. Swallows, the only flesh-eating bird among those that have nothooked talons, also migrate in the winter months; but they only retire to placesnear at hand, making for the sunny gulleys in the mountains, and they havebefore now been found there moulted and bare of feathers. It is said that theydo not enter under the roofs of Thebes, because that city has been so oftencaptured, nor at Bizye in Thrace on account of the crimes ofTereus. A man of knightly rank atVolterra, Caecina, who owned a racing four-in-hand, used to catch swallows andtake them with him to Rome and despatch them to take the news of a win to hisfriends, as they returned to the same nest; they had the winning colour paintedon them. AlsoFabius Pictor records inhisAnnals that when a Romangarrison was besieged by the Ligurians a swallow taken from her nestlings wasbrought to him for him to indicate by knots made in a thread tied to its foothow many days later help would arrive and a sortie must be made.

XXXV. Blackbirds, thrushes and starlings also migrate in a similar way toneighbouring districts; but these do not moult their plumage, and do not go intohiding, being often seen in the places where they forage for winter food.Consequently in Germany thrushes are most often seen in winter. The turtledovegoes into hiding in a truer sense, and moults its feathers. Woodpigeons also gointo retreat, though in their case also it is not certain exactly where. It isa peculiarity of the starling kind that they fly in flocks and wheel round in asort of circular ball, all making towards the centre of the flock. The swallowis the only bird that has an extremely swift and swerving flight, owing to whichit is also not liable to capture by the other kinds of birds. Also the swallowis the only bird that only feeds when on the wing.

XXXVI. There is a great difference in the seasons of birds; some stay allthe year round,e.g. pigeons, some for six months,e.g. swallows,some for three months,e.g. thrushes and turtledoves and those thatmigrate when they have reared their brood, such as woodpeckers and hoopoes.

XXXVII. Some authorities state that every year birds fly from Ethiopia toTroy and have a fight at Memnon's tomb, and consequently they call them 'Memnon's daughters.'Cremutius recordshaving discovered that every four years they do the same things in Ethiopiaround the royal palace of Memnon.

XXXVIII. Themeleagridesa in Boeotia fightin a similar manner; this is a kind of hen belonging to Africa, hump-backed andwith speckled plumage. This is the latest of the migratory birds admitted to themenu, because of its unpleasant pungent flavour; but the Tomb of Meleager hasmade it famous.

XXXIX. There is a species called birds of Seleucis for whose arrivalprayers are offered to Jupiter by the migranta, inhabitants of Mount Cadmus whenlocusts destroy their crops; it is not known where they come from, nor wherethey go to when they depart, and they are never seen except when theirprotection is needed.

XL. Also the people of Egypt invoke their ibis to guard against thearrival of snakes, and those of Ellis invoke the god Myiacores when a swarm offlies brings plague, the flies dying as soon as a sacrifice to this god has beenperformed.

XLI. But in the matter of the withdrawal of birds, it is stated that evennight-owls go into retreat for a few days. It is said that this kind does notexist in the island of Crete and even that if one is imported there it diesoff. For this also is a remarkable point of variety established by nature: tovarious places she denies various species of animals as well as of crops andshrubs. For those animals not to be born there is in the ordinary course ofthings, but their dying off when imported there is remarkable. What is thefactor adverse to the health of a single genus that is involved, or what is thejealousy of nature that is indicated? Or what frontiers are prescribed forbirds? Rhodes does not possess the eagle; Italy north of the Po gives the nameof Como to a lake near the Alps graced with a wooded tract to which storks donot come; and similarly jays and jackdawsa bird whose unique fondness forstealing especially silver and gold is remarkablethough swarming in enormousnumbers in the adjacent region of the Insubrians, do not come within eight milesof Lake Como. It is said that Mars's woodpecker is not found in the district ofTaranto. The kinds of pie called chequered pies and distinguished for their longtail, though hitherto rare, have lately begun to be seen between the Apenninesand Rome; this bird has the peculiarity of moulting its feathers yearly at thetime when the turnip is sown. Partridges do not fly across the frontier ofBoeotia into Attica; nor does any bird fly across the temple dedicated toAchilles on the island of the Black Sea where he is buried. In thedistrict of Fidenae near Rome storks do not hatch chicks or make nests. But aquantity of pigeons every year fly from the sea to the district of Volterra.Neither flies nor dogs enter the temple of Hercules in the Cattle-market atRome. There are many similar facts besides, which I am continually careful toomit in my account of the several kinds, to avoid being wearisomefor exampleTheophrastus states that even pigeonsand peacocks and ravens are not indigenous in Asia. nor croaking frogs in Cyrenaica.

XLII. There is another remarkable factabout songbirds; they usually change their colour and note with the season, andsuddenly become differentwhich among the larger class of birds only cranes do,for these grow black in old age. The blackbird changes from black to red; and itsings in the summer, and chirps in winter, but at midsummer is silent; also thebeak of yearling blackbirds, at all events the cocks, is turned to ivory colour.Thrushes are of a speckled colour round the neck in summer but self-coloured inwinter.

XLIII. Nightingales pour out a ceaseless gush of song for fifteendays and nights on end when the buds of the leaves are swellinga bird not inthe lowest rank remarkable. In the first place there is so loud a voice and sopersistent a supply of breath in such a tiny little body; then there is theconsummate knowledge of music in a single bird: the sound is given out withmodulations, and now is drawn out into a long note with one continuous breath,now varied by managing the breath, now made staccato by checking it, or linkedtogether by prolonging it, or carried on by holding it back; or it is suddenlylowered, and at times sinks into a mere murmur, loud, low, a bass, treble, withtrills, with long notes, modulated when this seems goodsoprano, mezzo,baritone; and briefly all the devices in that tiny throat which human sciencehas devised with all the elaborate mechanism of the flute, so that there can beno doubt that this sweetness was foretold by a convincing omen when it mademusic on the lips of the infant Stesichorus. And that no one maydoubt its being a matter of science, the birds have several songs each, and notall the same but every bird songs of its own. They compete with one another, andthere is clearly an animated rivalry between them; the loser often ends her lifeby dying, her breath giving out before her song. Other younger birds practisetheir music, and are given verses to imitate; the pupil listens with closeattention and repeats the phrase, and the two keep silence by turns: we noticeimprovement in the one under instruction and a sort of criticism on the part ofthe instructress.

Consequently they fetchthe prices that are given for slaves, and indeed larger prices than were paidfor armour-bearers in old days. I know of one bird, a white one it is true,which is nearly unprecedented, that was sold for 600,000 sesterces to be givenas a present to the emperorClaudius'sconsortAgrippina. Frequent cases havebeen seen before now of nightingales that have begun to sing when ordered, andhave sung in answer to an organ, as there have been found persons who couldreproduce the birds' song with an indistinguishable resemblance by putting waterinto slanting reeds and breathing into the holes or by applying some slightcheck with the tongue. But these exceptional and artistic trills after afortnight gradually cease, though not in such a way that the birds could be saidto be tired out or to have had enough of singing; and later on when the heat hasincreased their note becomes entirely different, with no modulations orvariations. Their colour also changes, and finally in winter the bird itself isnot seen. Their tongues do not end in a point like those of all other birds.They lay in early spring, six eggs at most.

XLIV. It isotherwise with the fig-pecker, as it changes its shape and colour at thesame time; it has this name in the autumn, but afterwards is called theblackcap. Similarly also the bird known aserithacus in winter is calledredstart in summer.

The hoopoe also changes its appearance, as the poetAeschylus records; it is moreover afoul-feeding bird, noticeable for its flexible crest, which it draws togetherand raises up along the whole length of its head.

XLV. The wheatear indeed actually has fixeddays of retirement: it goes into hiding at the rising of the dog-star and comesout after its setting, doing both on the actual days, which is surprising. Alsothe golden oriole, which is yellow all over, is not seen in winter but comes outabout midsummer. Blackbirds are born white at Cyllene in Arcadia, but nowhereelse. The ibis is black only in the neighbourhood of Pelusium, being white inall other places.

XLVI. Songbirds apart from some exceptions do not ordinarily breed beforethe spring equinox or after the autumn one; and their eggs laid before midsummerare doubtful, but those after midsummer are fertile.

XLVII. Kingfishers are especially remarkable for this: the seas and thosewho sail them know the days when they breed. The bird itself is a little largerthan a sparrow, sea-blue in colour and reddish only on the underside, blendedwith white feathers in the neck, with a long slender beak? There is another kindof kingfisher different in size and note; this smaller kind sings in beds ofrushes. A kingfisher is very rarely seen, and only at the setting of the Pleiades and about midsummer and midwinter, when it occasionally flies round aship and at once goes away to its retreat. They breed at midwinter, on what arecalled 'the kingfisher days' during which the sea is calm and navigable,especially in the neighbourhood of Sicily. They make their nests a week beforethe shortest day, and lay a week after it. Their nests are admired for theirshape, that of a ball slightly projecting with a very narrow mouth, resemblingvery large sponges; they cannot be cut with a knife, but break at astrong blow, like dry sea-foam; and it cannot be discovered of what areconstructed: people think they are made out of the spines of fishes' prickles,for the birds live on fish. They also go up rivers. They lay five eggs at atime.

XLVIII. Gulls nest on rocks, divers also in trees. They lay at most threeeggs at a time, sea-mews laying in summer and divers at the beginning of spring.

XLIX. The conformation of the kingfisher's nest reminds one ofthe skill of all the other birds as well; and the ingenuity of birds is in noother department, more remarkable. Swallows build with clay andstrengthen the nest with straw; if ever there is a lack of clay, they wet theirwings with a quantity of water and sprinkle it on the dust. The nest itself,however, they carpet with soft feathers and tufts of wool, to warm the eggs andalso to prevent it from being hard for the infant chicks. They dole out food inturns among their offspring with extreme fairness. They remove the chicks'droppings with remarkable cleanliness, and teach the older ones to turn roundand relieve themselves outside of the nest. There is another kind of swallowthat frequents the country and the fields, which seldom nests on houses, andwhich makes its nest of a different shape though of the same materialentirelyturned upward, with orifices projecting to a narrow opening and a capaciousinterior, and adapted with remarkable skill both to conceal the chicks and togive them a soft bed to lie on. In Egypt, at the Heracleotic Mouth of the Nile,they block the outflow of the river with an irremovable mole of contiguous nestsalmost two hundred yards long, a thing that could not be achieved by humanlabour. Also in Egypt near the town of Coptos there is an island sacred to Isiswhich they fortify with a structure to prevent its being destroyed by the sameriver, strengthening its point with chaff and straw when the spring days begin,going on for three days all through the nights with such industry that it isagreed that many birds actually die at the work; and this spell of duty alwayscomes round again for them with the returning year. There is a third kind ofswallows a that make holes in banks and so construct their nests in theground. (Their chicks when burnt to ashes are a medicine for a deadly throatmalady and many other diseases of the human body.) These birds do not buildproper nests, and if a rise of the river threatens to reach their holes, theymigrate many days in advance.

L. There is a species of titmouse thatmakes its nest of dry moss finished off in such a perfect ball that its entrancecannot be found. The bird called the thistle-finch weaves its nest out of flaxin the same shape. One of the woodpeckers hangs by a twig at the very end of theboughs, like a ladle on a peg, so that no four-footed animal can get to it. Itis indeed asserted that the witwall purposely takes its sleep while hangingsuspended by the feet, because it hopes thus to be safer. Again, it is a commonpractice of them all carefully to choose a flooring of branches to support theirnest, and to vault it over against the rain or roof it with a penthouse of thickfoliage. In Arabiad a bird calledcinnamolgus makes a nest of cinnamon twigs; thenatives bring these birds down with arrows weighted with lead, to use them fortrade. In Scythia a bird of the size of a bustard lays two eggs at a time in ahare-skin, which is always hung on the top boughs of trees. When magpies noticea person observing their nest with special attention, they transfer the eggssomewhere else. It is reported that in the case of these birds, as their clawsare not adapted for grasping and carrying the eggs, this is effected in aremarkable manner: they place a sprig on the top of two eggs at a time, andsolder it with glue from their belly, and placing their neck under the middle ofit so as to make it balance equally on both sides, carry it off somewhere else.

LI. Nor yet are those species less cunning which, because the weight oftheir body forbids their soaring aloft, make their nests on the ground. The nameof bee-eater is given to a bird that feeds its parents in their lair; its wingsare a pale colour inside and dark-blue above, reddish at the tip. It makes itsnest in a hole dug in the ground to a depth often feet.

Partridges fortify their retreat with thorn and bush in such a way as to becompletely entrenched against wild animals; they heap a soft covering of dust ontheir eggs. and they do not sit on them at the place where they laid them butremove them somewhere else, lest their frequently resorting there should causesomebody to suspect it. Hen partridges in fact deceive even their own mates,because these in the intemperance of their lust break the hens' eggs so thatthey may not be kept away by sitting on them; and then the cocks owing to theirdesire for the hens fight duels with each other; it is said that the one wholoses has to accept the advances of the victor. Trogus indeed says this alsooccurs occasionally with quails and farmyard cocks, but that wild partridges arepromiscuously covered by tame ones, and also new-corners or cocks that have beenbeaten in a fight. They are also captured owing to the fighting instinct causedby the same lust, as the leader of the whole flock sallies out to battle againstthe fowler's decoy, and when he has been caught number two advances, and so onone after another in succession. Again about breeding time the hens are caughtwhen they sally out against the fowlers' hen to hustle and drive her away. Andin no other creature is concupiscence so active. If the hens stand facing thecocks they become pregnant by the afflatus that passes out from them, while ifthey open their beaks and put out their tongue at that time they are sexuallyexcited. Even the draught of air from cocks flying over them, and often merelythe sound of a cock crowing, makes them conceive. And even their affection fortheir brood is so conquered by desire that when a hen is quietly sitting on hereggs in hiding, if she becomes aware of a fowler's decoy hen approaching hercock she chirps him back to her and recalls him and voluntarily offers herselfto his desire. Indeed they are subject to such madness that often with a blindswoop they perch on the fowler's head. If he starts to go towards a nest, themother bird runs forward to his feet, pretending to be tired or lame, and in themiddle of a run or a short flight suddenly falls as if with a broken wing ordamaged feet, and then runs forward again, continually escaping him just as heis going to catch her and cheating his hope, until she leads him away in adifferent direction from the nests. On the other hand if the hen thus scared isfree and not possessed with motherly anxiety she lies on her back in a furrowand catches hold of a clod of earth with her claws and covers herselfwith it.

LII. Next to partridges the habits of pigeons are most noticeable for asimilar reason. These possess the greatest modesty, and adultery isunknown to either sex; they do not violate the faith of wedlock, and they keephouse in companyunless unmated or widowed a pigeon does not leave its nest.Also they say that the cock pigeon is domineering, and occasionally even unkind,as he is suspicious of adultery although not himself prone to it; in this statehis throat is full of complaining and his beak deals savage pecks, and upon hissatisfaction there follows billing and fawning with repeated twirlings of hisfeet during his entreaties for indulgence. Both partners have equal affectionfor their offspring; this also often gives occasion for chastisement, when thehen is too slack in coming home to the chicks. When she is producing a brood shereceives comfort and attendance from the cock. For the chicks at first theycollect saltish earth in their throat and disgorge it into their beaks, to getthem into proper condition for food. It is a peculiarity of this species and ofthe turtledove not to raise the neck backward when drinking, and to takecopious draughts like cattle.

We have authorities for saying that woodpigeons live to be thirty and in somecases forty years old, only with the single inconvenience of their clawsthisalso a sign of old agewhich have to be cut to prevent damage. The cooing of allis alike and the same, composed of a phrase repeated three times and then a sighat the close; in winter they are silent, but begin singing in spring. Nigidius thinks that a woodpigeon whensitting on her eggs under a roof will leave her nest in answer to her name. Theylay after midsummer. Pigeons and turtledoves live eight years. On the otherhand the sparrow, their equal in salaciousness, has a very small span of life:the cocks are said not to last longer than a year, the proof being that at thebeginning of spring no black colouring is seen on their beak, which begins withsummer; but the hens have a rather longer span of life. However pigeons actuallypossess a certain sense of vanityyou would fancy them to be conscious of theirown colours and the pattern of their marking; indeed this can be inferred fromtheir flightit is observed that they flap their wings in the sky and trace avariety of lines. During this display they expose themselves to the hawk as iffettered, folding their wings with a flapping noise that is only produced fromthe actual wing joints, though otherwise when flying freely they are muchswifter. The highwayman hawk watches concealed in foliage, and seizes theexultant pigeon in the very act of showing off. For that reason the bird calledkestrel must be classed with these; for it defends the pigeons, and scares thehawks by its natural powerfulness so much that they fly from sight and sound ofit. For this reason woodpigeons have a special love for kestrels, and they saythat if kestrels put in new jars with their mouths sealed up are hidden in thefour corners of the dovecot the pigeons do not change their abode (a result thatsome people have also sought to obtain by cutting the joints of their wings withgold, the only way of making a wound that does no harm), although otherwise thepigeon is a bird much given to straying. For they have a trick of exchangingblandishments and enticing other pigeons and coming back with a larger companywon by intrigue.

LIII. Moreover also they have acted as go-betweens in important affairs,when at the siege of ModenaDecimusBrutus sent to theconsuls' camp despatches tied to their feet; what use toAntony were his rampart and watchfulbesieging force, and even the barriers of nets that he stretched in the river,when the message went by air. Also pigeon-fancying is carried to insane lengthsby some people: they build towers on their roofs for these birds, and tellstories of the high breeding and pedigrees of particular birds, for which thereis now an old precedent: beforePompey'scivil war Lucius Axius, Knight of Rome,advertised pigeons for sale at 400 denarii per bracesoMarcus Varro relates. Moreover thelargest birds, which are believed to be produced in Campania, have conferredfame on their native place.

LIV. The flight of these birds. prompts one to turn to the considerationof the other birds as well. All the rest of the animals have one definite anduniform mode of progression peculiar to their particular kind, but birdsalone travel in a variety of ways both on land and in the air. Some walk, ascrows; others hop, as sparrows and blackbirds; run, as partridges and blackgrouse; throw out their feet in front of them, as storks and cranes. Some spreadtheir wings and at rare intervals let them droop and shake them; others do somore frequently, but also only the tips of the wings; others flap the whole oftheir sides; but there are some that fly with their wings for the greater partfolded, and after giving one stroke, or others also a repeated stroke, are borneby the air: by as it were squeezing it tight between their wings, they shootupward or horizontally or downward. Some you would think to be flung forward,or again in some cases to fall from a height and in other cases to leap upward.Only ducks and birds of the same kind soar up straight away, and move skywardfrom the start, and this even from water; and consequently they alone when theyhave fallen into the pits that we use for trapping wild animals get out again.Vultures and the heavier birds in general cannot fly upward except after a runforward or when launching from a higher eminence; they steer with their tail.Some birds turn their gaze round, others bend their necks; and some eat thingsthey have snatched with their feet. Many do not fly without a cry, others on thecontrary are always silent when in flight. They move upward, downward, slanting,sideways, straight forward, and some even with the head bent backward;consequently if several kinds are seen at the same time, they might be thoughtnot to be travelling in the same element.

LV. The greatest flyers are the species resembling swallows called (because they lack the use of feet) and by others 'cypseli.' They build theirnests on crags. These are the birds seen all over the sea, and ships never goaway from land on so long or so unbroken a course that they do not haveapodes flying round them. All the other kinds alight and perch, but thesenever rest except on the nest: they either hover or lie on a surface.

LVI. Birds' dispositions also are equally varied, especially in respectof food. Those called goat-suckers, which resemble a rather large blackbird,are night thievesfor they cannot see in the daytime. They enter the shepherds'stalls and fly to the goats' udders in order to suck their milk, which injuresthe udder and makes it perish, and the goats they have milked in this waygradually go blind. There is a bird called the shoveller-duck which flies up tothe sea-divers and seizes their heads in its bill till it wrings theircatch from them. The same bird after filling itself by swallowing shells bringsthem up again when digested by the warmth of the belly and so picked out fromthem the edible parts, discarding the shells.

LVII. Farmyard hens actually have a religious ritual: after laying an eggthey begin to shiver and shake, and purify themselves by circling round, andmake use of a straw as a ceremonial rod to cleanse themselves and the eggs. Thesmallest of birds, the goldfinches, perform their leader's orders, not only withtheir song but by using their feet and beak instead of hands. One bird in theArles district, called the bull-bird although really it is small in size,imitates the bellowing of oxen. Also the bird whose Greek name is 'flower,' whendriven away from feeding on grass by the arrival of horses, imitates theirneighing, in this way taking its revenge.

LVIII. Above all, birds imitate the human voice, parrots indeed actuallytalking. India sends us this bird; its name in the vernacular issiptaces;its whole body is green, only varied by a red circlet at the neck. It greetsits masters and repeats words given to it, being particularly sportive over thewine. Its head is as hard as its beak; and when it is being taught to speak itis beaten on the head with an iron rodotherwise it does not feel blows. When italights from flight it lands on its beak, and it leans on this and so reducesits weight for the weakness of its feet.

LIX. A certain kind of magpie is less celebrated, because it does notcome from a distance, but it talks more articulately. These birds get fond ofuttering particular words, and not only learn them but love them, andsecretly ponder them with careful reflexion, not concealing their engrossment.It is an established fact that if the difficulty of a word beats them thiscauses their death, and that their memory fails them unless they hear the sameword repeatedly, and when they are at a loss for a word they cheer upwonderfully if in the meantime they hear it spoken. Their shape is unusual,though not beautiful: this bird has enough distinction in its power of imitatingthe human voice. But they say that none of them can go on learning except onesof the species that feeds on acorns, and among these those with five claws onthe feet learn more easily, and not even they themselves except in the two firstyears of their life. All the birds in each kind that imitate human speech haveexceptionally broad tongues, although this occurs in almost all species;Claudius Caesar's consortAgrippina had a thrush that mimickedwhat people said, which was unprecedented. At the time when I was recordingthese cases, the young princes a had a starling and also nightingalesthat were actually trained to talk Greek and Latin, and moreover practiseddiligently and spoke new phrases every day, in still longer sentences. Birds aretaught to talk in private and where no other utterance can interrupt, with thetrainer sitting by them to keep on repeating the words he wants retained, andcoaxing them with morsels of food.

LX. Let us also repay due gratitude to the ravens thegratitude that is their due, evidenced also by the indignation and notonly by the knowledge of the Roman nation. WhenTiberius was emperor, a young raven from a brood hatched on the top ofthe Temple of Castor and Pollux flew down to a cobbler's shop in the vicinity,being also commended to the master of the establishment by religion. It soonpicked up the habit of talking, and every morning used to fly off to thePlatform that faces the forum and saluteTiberius and then Germanicus andDrusus Caesar by name, and next theRoman public passing by, afterwards returning to the shop; and it becameremarkable by several years' constant performance of this function. This birdthe tenant of the next cobbler's shop killed, whether because of his neighbour'scompetition or in a sudden outburst of anger, as he tried to make out, becausesome dirt had fallen on his stock of shoes from its droppings; this caused sucha disturbance among the public that the man was first driven, out of thedistrict and later actually made away with, and the bird's funeral wascelebrated with a vast crowd of followers, the draped bier being carried on theshoulders of two Ethiopians and in front of it going in procession aflute-player and all kinds of wreaths right to the pyre, which had been erectedon the right hand side of the Appian Road at the second milestone on the groundcalled Rediculus's Plain. So adequate a justification did the Roman nationconsider a bird's cleverness to be for a funeral procession and for thepunishment of a Roman citizen, in the city in which many leading men had had noobsequies at all, while the death ofScipioAemilianus after he had destroyed Carthage and Numantia notbeen avenged by a single person. The date of this was 28 March, AD 36, inthe consulship ofMarcus Servilius andGaius Cestius. At the present day alsothere was in the city of Rome at the time when I was publishing this book a crowbelonging to a Knight of Rome, that came from Sonthern Spain, and was remarkablein the first place for its very black colour and then for uttering sentences ofseveral words and frequently learning still more words in addition. Also therewas recently a report of oneCratessurnamedMonoceros in the district ofEriza in Asia hunting with the aid of ravens, to such an extent that he used tocarry them down into the forests perched on the crest's of his helmet and on hisshoulders; the birds used to track out and drive the game, the practice beingcarried to such a point that even wild ravens followed him in this way when heleft the forest. Certain persons have thought it worth recording that a ravenwas seen during a drought dropping stones into a monumental urn in which somerain water still remained but so that the bird was unable to reach it; in thisway as it was afraid to go down into the urn, the bird by piling up stones inthe manner described raised the water high enough to supply itself with a drink.

LXI. Nor will I pass by the birds ofDiomede.Juba calls themPlungers-birds, also reporting that they have teeth, and that their eyesare of a fiery red colour but the rest of them bright white. He states that theyalways have two leaders, one of whom leads the column and the other brings upthe rear; that they hollow out trenches with their beaks and then roof them overwith lattice and cover this with the earth that they have previously dug fromthe trenches and in these they hatch their eggs; that the trenches of all ofthem have two doors, that by which they go out to forage facing east and that bywhich they return west; and that when about to relieve themselves they alwaysfly upwards and against the wind. These birds are commonly seen in only oneplace in the whole world, in the island which we spoke of as famous for the tomband shrine of Diomede, off the coast ofApulia, and they resemble coots. Barbarian visitors they beset with loudscreaming, and they pay deference only to Greeks, a remarkable distinction, asif paying this tribute to the race of Diomede;and every day they wash and purify the temple mentioned by filling their throatswith water and wetting their wings; which is the source of the legend that thecomrades ofDiomede were transformedinto the likeness of these birds.

LXII. In a discussion of mental faculties it must not be omitted thatamong birds swallows and among land animals mice are unteachable, whereaselephants execute orders and lions are yoked to chariots, and in the sea sealsand ever so many kinds of fish can be tamed.

LXIII. Birds of the kinds that have longnecks drink by suction, stopping now and then and so to speak pouring the waterinto themselves by bending their head back. Only theporphyrio drinks bybeakfuls; it also eats in a peculiar way of its own, continually dipping allits food in water and then using its foot as a hand with which to bring it toits beak. The most admired variety of sultana-hen is in Commagene; this has ared beak and very long red legs.

LXIV. The long-legged plover has the same, a much smaller bird althoughwith equally long legs. It is born in Egypt. It stands on three toes of eachfoot. Its food consists chiefly of flies. When brought to Italy it lives onlyfor a few days.

LXV. All the heavier birds feed also on grain, but the scaring species onflesh only, and so among aquatic birds the cormorants, who regularly devour whatthe rest disgorge.

LXVI. Pelicans have a resemblance to swans, and would be thoughtnot to differ from them at all were it not that they have a kind of secondstomach in their actual throats. Into this the insatiable creature stowseverything, so that its rapacity is marvellous. Afterwards when it has doneplundering it gradually returns the things from this pouch into its mouth andpasses them into the true stomach like a ruminant animal. These birds come to usfrom the extreme north of Gaul.

LXVII. We have been told of strange kinds birds in the Hereynian Forestof Germany whose feathers shine like fires at nighttime; but in the otherforests nothing noteworthy occurs beyond the notoriety caused by remoteness. Themost celebrated water-bird in Parthian Seleucia and in Asia is thephalaris-duck, the most celebrated bird in Colchis the pheasantit droops andraises its two feathered earsand in the Numidian part of Africa the Numidicfowl all of these are now found in Italy.

LXVIII.Apicius, the mostgluttonous gorger of all spendthrifts, established the view that theflamingo's tongue has a specially fine flavour. The francolin of Ionia isextremely famous. Normally it is vocal, though when caught it keeps silent. Itwas once considered one of the rare birds, but now it also occurs in Gaul andSpain. It is even caught in the neighbourhood of the Alps, where also cormorantsoccur, a bird specially belonging to the Balearic Islands, as the chough, blackwith a yellow beak, and the particularly tasty willow-grouse belong to the Alps.The latter gets its name of 'hare-foot' from its feet which are tufted like ahare's, though the rest of it is bright white; it is the size of a pigeon.Outside that region it is not easy to keep it, as it does not grow tame in itshabits and very quickly loses flesh. There is also another bird with the samename that only differs from quails in size, yellow-coloured, very acceptable forthe table. Egnatius Calvinus, Governorof the Alps, has stated that also the ibis, which properly belongs to Egypt, hasbeen seen by him in that region.

LXIX. There also came into Italy during the battles of the civil warround Bedriacum north of the Po the `new birds' for so they are stillcalledwhich are like thrushes in appearance and a little smaller than pigeonsin size, and which have an agreeable flavour. The Balearic Islands send the porphyrio, an even more splendid bird than the one mentioned above. In thoseislands the buzzard of the hawk family is also in repute for the table, and thevipio as wellthat is their name for the smaller crane.

LXX. The pegasus bird with a horse's head and the griffin with ears and aterrible hooked beakthe former said to be found in Scythia and the latter inEthiopia judge to be fabulous; and for my own part I think the same about thebearded eagled attested by a number of people, a bird larger than an eagle,having curved horns on the temples, in colour a rusty red, except that its headis purple-red. Nor should the sirens obtain credit, although Dinon the father of the celebratedauthorityClitarchus declares that theyexist in India and that they charm people with their song and then when they aresunk in a heavy sleep tear them in pieces. Anybody who would believe that sortof thing would also assuredly not deny that snakes by licking the ears of theaugur Melampus gave him the power tounderstand the language of birds, or the story handed down byDemocritus, who mentions birds from amixture of whose blood a snake is born, whoever eats which will understand theconversations of birds, and the things that he records about one crested lark inparticular, as even without these stories life is involved in enormousuncertainty with respect to auguries.Homermentions a kind of bird called thescops; many people speak of its comicdancing movements when it is watching for its prey, but I cannot easily graspthese in my mind, nor are the birds themselves now known. Consequently adiscussion of admitted facts will be more profitable.

LXXI. The people of Delos began the practice of fattening hens, which hasgiven rise to the pestilential fashion of gorging fat poultry basted with itsown gravy. I find this first singled out in the old interdicts dealing withfeasts as early as the law of the consulGaiusFannius eleven before the Third Panic War, prohibiting the serving of anybird course beside a single hen that had not been fatteneda provision that wassubsequently renewed and went on through all our sumptuary legislation. And away round so as to evade them was discovered, that of feeding male chickens alsowith foodstuffs soaked in milk, a method that makes them esteemedas much more acceptable. As for hens, they are not all chosen forfattening, and not unless they have fat skin on the neck. Subsequently cameelaborate methods of dressing fowls, so as to display the haunches, so as tosplit them along the back, so as to make them fill the dishes by spreading themout from one foot. Even the Parthians bestowed their fashions on our cooks. Andnevertheless with all this showing off, no entire dish finds favour, only thehaunch or in other cases the breast being esteemed.

LXXII. Aviaries with cages containing all kinds of birds were first setup byMarcus LaeniusStrabo of the Order of Knighthoodat Brindisi. From him began our practice of imprisoning within bars livingcreatures to which Nature had assigned the open sky. Nevertheless the mostremarkable instance in this record is the dish belonging to the tragic actorClodius Aesop, rated at the value of100,000 sesterces, in which he served birds that sang some particular song ortalked with human speech, which he acquired at the price of 6000 sestercesapiece, led by no other attraction except the desire to indulge in a sort ofcannibalism in eating these birds, and not even showing any respect for thatlavish fortune of his, even though won by his voicein fact a worthy father of ason whom we have spoken of as swallowing pearls, though not so much so as tomake me wish to give a true decision in the competition in baseness between thetwo, unless in so far as it is a smaller thing to have dined on the mostbounteous resources of Nature than on the tongues of men.

LXXIII. The reproductive system of birds appears to be simple, although even this possesses marvels of its own, since even four-footed creatures produce eggschamaeleons and lizards and those wehave specified among aquatic species, and also snakes. But among featheredcreatures those that have hooked talons are unfertile. Of these only the lesserkestrel produces more than four eggs at a time. Nature has bestowed on the birdkind the attribute that the species among them that are shy are more prolificthan the brave ones; only ostriches, hens and partridges bear very numerousbroods. Birds have two methods of coupling, the hen sitting on the ground as inthe case of the domestic fowl or standing up as in the case of the crane.

LXXIV. The eggs are in some cases white, aswith the dove and partridge, in others pale-coloured, as with waterfowl, inothers spotted, as those of the guinea-hen, in others of a red colour, as in thecase of the pheasant and the lesser kestrel. The inside of every bird's egg isof two colours; in that of the aquatic birds there is more yellow than white,and that yellow is brighter than with the other species. Fishes' eggs are of onecolour, which contains no bright white. Birds' eggs are made easily breakable byheat, snakes' eggs are made flexible by cold, and fishes' eggs are softened byliquid. Aquatic species have round eggs, but almost all others oval-shaped ones.They are laid with their roundest part in front, the shell of whatever portionsthey emerge with being soft but becoming hard immediately after the process.Long-shaped eggs are thought byHoraceto have a more agreeable flavour. Eggs of a rounder formation produce a henchicken and the rest a cock. The navel in eggs is at the top end, projectinglike a speck in the shell.

Some birds mate in any season, for instance the domestic fowl, and lay, exceptin the two midwinter months. Of these kinds the young hens lay more eggs thanthe old, but smaller ones, and in the same brood those laid first and last arethe smallest. But they are so fertile that some even lay eggs sixty times, somelay daily, some twice daily, some so much that they die of exhaustion. Adria birds are most highly spoken of. Pigeons lay ten times a year, some even eleventimes, while in Egypt they even lay in a midwinter month. Swallows andblackbirds and woodpigeons and turtledoves lay twice a year, all other birds asa rule only once. Thrushes build their nests of mud in an almost continuous masson the tops of trees, and breed in retirement. The eggs grow to full size in theuterus in ten days from pairing, but in the case of the domestic fowl and thepigeon, if the hen is disturbed by having a feather torn out or by some similardamage, it takes longer. In all eggs the middle of the yolk contains a smalldrop of a sort of blood, which people think is the heart of birds, supposingthat the heart is the first part that is produced in every body: in an eggundoubtedly this drop beats and throbs. The animal itself is formed out of thewhite of the egg, but its food is in the yolk. In all cases at the beginningthe head is larger than the whole body, and the eyes, which are pressedtogether, are larger than the head. As the chick grows in size the white turnsto the middle and the yolk spreads round it. If on the twentieth day the egg bemoved, the voice of the chick already alive is heard inside the shell. At thesame time it begins to grow feathers, its posture being such that it has itshead above its right foot but its right wing above its head. The yolk graduallydisappears. All birds are born feet first, the opposite way to the remaininganimals. Some domestic hens lay all their eggs in pairs, and according toCornelius Celsus occasionally hatch twinchicks, one larger than the other; though some assert that twin chicks are neverhatched out. They lay down a rule that the hen should not be required to sit onmore than 25 eggs at a time. Hens begin to lay at midwinter, and breed bestbefore the spring equinox: chickens born after midsummer do not attain theproper size, and the later they are hatched the more they fall short of it.

LXXV. It pays best for eggs to be sat on within ten days of laying; olderor fresher ones are infertile. An odd number should be put under the hen. Ifthree days after they began to be sat on the top of the eggs held in the tips ofthe fingers against the light shows a transparent colour of a single hue, theeggs are judged to be barren, and others should be substituted for them. Theymay also be tested in water: an empty egg floats, and consequently people prefereggs that sink, that is, are full, to put under the hens. But they warn againsttheir being tested by shaking, on the ground that if the vital veins aredisplaced the eggs are sterile. The ninth's day after a new moon is assigned forstarting a hen's sitting, as eggs begun earlier do not hatch out. The chicks arehatched more quickly when the days are warm, and consequently eggs will hatchout in 18 days in summer but 24 in winter. If it thunders while the hen issitting the eggs die, and if she hears the cry of a hawk they go bad. A remedyagainst thunder is an iron nail placed under the straw in which the eggs lie, orsome earth from the plough. In some cases Nature hatches of her own accord evenwithout the hen sitting, as on the dunghills of Egypt. We find a clever storyabout a certain toper at Syracuse, that he used to go on drinking for as long atime as it would take for eggs covered with earth to produce a hatch.

LXXVI. Moreover eggs can be hatched even by a human being.Julia Augusta in her earlywomanhood was with child withTiberius CaesarbyNero, and being speciallyeager to a bear a baby of the male sex she employed the following method ofprognostication used by girlsshe cherished an egg in her bosom and when she hadto lay it aside passed it to a nurse under the folds of their dresses, so thatthe warmth might not be interrupted; and it is said that her prognosticationcame true. It was perhaps from this that the method was lately invented ofplacing eggs in chaff in a warm place and cherishing them with a moderate fire,with somebody to keep turning them over, with the result that all the live broodbreaks the shell at once on a fixed day. It is recorded that a certainpoultry-keeper had a scientific method of telling which egg was from which hen.It is related also that when a hen has died the cocks of the farmyard have beenseen taking on her duties in turn and generally behaving in the manner of abroody hen, and abstaining from crowing. Above all things is the behaviour of ahen when ducks' eggs have been put under her and have hatched outfirst hersurprise when she does not quite recognize her brood, then her puzzled sobs asshe anxiously calls them to her, and finally her lamentations round the marginof the pond when the chicks under the guidance of instinct take to the water.

LXXVII. Marks of good breeding in hens are an upstanding comb, which isoccasionally double, black feathers, red beak, and uneven claws, sometimes onelying actually across the four others. Fowls with yellow beak and feet seem notto be unblemished for purposes of religion, and black ones for the mysteryrites. Even the dwarf variety is not sterile in the case of the domestic fowl,which is not the case in any other breeds of birds, though with the dwarf fowlreliability in laying is unusual, and sitting on the eggs is harmful to the hen.

LXXVIII. But the worst enemy of every kind is the pip, and especiallybetween the time of harvest and vintage. The cure is in hunger, and theymust lie in smoke, at all events if it be produced from bay-leaves orsavin, afeather being inserted right through the nostrils and shifted daily; diet garlicmixed with spelt, either steeped in water in which an owl has been dipped orelse boiled with white vine seed, and certain other substances.

LXXIX. Pigeons go through a special ceremony of kissing before mating.They usually lay two eggs at a time, nature so regulating as to make someproduce larger chicks and others more numerous. The woodpigeon and theturtledove lay at most three eggs at a time, and never more than twice in aspring, and keeping a rule that, if the former lay goes bad, even although theylay three eggs they never rear more than two chicks; the third egg, which isunfertile, they call a wind-egg. The hen woodpigeon sits from noon till thenext morning and the cock the rest of the time. Pigeons always lay a male and afemale egg, the male first and the female a day later. In this species bothbirds sit, the cock in the daytime and the hen at night. They hatch in aboutthree weeks, and they lay four days after mating. In summer indeed theysometimes produce three pairs of chickens every two months, for they hatch onthe 17th day and breed immediately; consequently eggs are often foundamong the chickens, and some are beginning to fly just when others are breakingthe egg. Then the chicks themselves begin laying when five months old. Howeverin the absence of a cock hen birds actually mate with one another indifferently,and produce unfertile eggs from which nothing is produced, which the Greeks callwind-eggs.

The peahen begins to lay when three months of old. In the first year it lays oneegg or a second one, but in the following year four or five at a time,and in the remaining years twelve at a time, but not more, with intervals of twoor three days between the eggs, and three times in the year, provided that theeggs are put under farmyard hens to sit on. The male peacock breaks the eggs,out, of desire for the female sitting on them; consequently the hen bird lays atnight, and in hiding or when perching on a high placeand unless the eggs arecaught on a bed of straw they are broken. One cock can serve five hens, and whenthere have been only one or two hens for each cock their fertility is spoiled byits salaciousness. The chickens are hatched in 27 days or at latest on the 29th.

Geese mate in the water; they lay in spring, or if they mated in midwinter,after midsummer; they lay nearly 40 eggs, twice in a year if the hens turn thefirst brood out of the nest, otherwise sixteen eggs at the most and seven at thefewest. If somebody removes the eggs, they go on laying till they burst. They donot turn strange eggs out of the nest. It pays best to put nine or eleven eggsfor them to sit on. The hens sit only 30 days at a time, or if the days arerather warm, 25. The touch of a nettle is fatal to goslings, and not less so istheir greediness, sometimes owing to their excessive gorging and sometimes owingto their own violence, when they have caught hold of a root in their beak and intheir repeated attempts to tear it off break their own necks before theysucceed. A nettle-root put under their straw after they have lain in it is acure for nettle-sting.

There are three kinds of heron, the white, the speckled and the dark. Thesebirds suffer pain, in mating, indeed the cocks give loud screams and evenshed blood from their eyes; and the broody hens lay their eggs with equaldifficulty. The eagle sits on her eggs for thirty days at a time, and so do thelarger birds for the most part, but the smaller ones, for instance the kite andhawk, sit for twenty days. A kite's brood usually numbers two chicks, never morethan three, that of the bird called themerlin as many as four, and the raven'soccasionally even five; they sit for the same number of days. The hen crow isfed by the cock while sitting. The magpie's brood numbers nine, the blackcap'sover twenty and always an odd number, and no other bird has a larger brood: somuch more prolific are the small species. A swallow's first chicks are blind, asare those of almost all species that have a comparatively large brood.

LXXX. Unfertile eggs, which we have designated wind-eggs, are conceivedby the hen birds mating together in a pretence of sexual intercourse, or elsefrom dust, and not only by hen pigeons but also by farmyard hens, partridges,peahens, geese and ducks. But these eggs are sterile, and of smaller size andless agreeable flavour, and more watery. Some people think they are actuallygenerated by the wind, for which reason they are also called Zephyr's eggs; butwind-eggs are only produced in spring, when the hens have left off sitting:another name for them is addle-eggs. When steeped in vinegar eggs become so muchsofter that they can be passed through rings. It pays best to keep them in beanmeal, or else chaff in winter and bran in summer; it is believed that keepingthem in salt drains them quite empty.

LXXXI. The only viviparous creature that flies is the bat, whichactually has membranes like wings; it is also the only flyer that nourishes itsyoung with milk, bringing them to its teats. It bears twins, and flits aboutwith its children in its arms, carrying them with it. The bat is mid to have asingle hipbone. Gnats are its favourite fodder.

LXXXII. On the other hand among landanimals, the snake is oviparous; we have not yet described this species. Snakesmate by embracing, intertwining so closely that they could be taken to be asingle animal with two heads. The male viper inserts its head into the femaleviper's mouth, and the female is so enraptured with pleasure that she gnaws itoff. The viper is the only land animal that bears eggs inside it; they are ofone colour and soft like fishes' roe. After two days she hatches the younginside her uterus, and then bears them at the rate of one a day, to the numberof about twenty; the consequence is that the remaining ones get so tired of thedelay that they burst open their mother's sides, so committing matricide. Allthe other kinds of snakes incubate their eggs in a clutch on the ground, andhatch out the young in the following year. Crocodiles take turns to incubate,male and female. But let us give an account of the mode of reproduction of theremaining land animals as well.

LXXXIII. Man is the only viviparous biped. Man is the only animal withwhich mating for the first time is followed by repugnance, which is doubtlessan augury of life as sprung from regrettable source. All the other animals havefixed seasons of the year for mating, but man, as has been said,mates at every hour of the day and night. All the others experience satiety incoupling, but with man this is almost entirely absent.Claudius Caesar's consortMessalina, thinking that this would be atruly regal triumph, selected for a competition in it a certain maid who was themost notorious of the professional prostitutes, and beat her in a twenty-fourhours' match, with a score of twenty-five. In the human race the males havedevised every out-of-the-way form of sexual indulgence, crimes against nature,but the females have invented abortion. How much more guilty are we in thisdepartment than the wild animals!Hesiodhas stated that men have stronger sexual appetites in winter and women insummer.

Species with the genital organs behind them, elephants, camels, tigers, lynxes,the rhinoceros the lion, the hairy-footed and the common rabbit coupleback to back. Camels even make for deserts or else places certain to be secret,and one is not allowed to interrupt them without disaster; the coupling lasts awhole day, and this is the case with these alone of all animals. With thesolid-hooved species in the quadruped class the males are excited by scentingthe female. Also dogs, seals and wolves turn away in the middle of coupling andstill remain coupled against their will. Among the above-mentioned species, ofhares the females usually cover first, but with all the others the males; butbears, as was said, couple, like human beings, lying down, hedgehogs bothstanding up and embracing each other, eats with the male standing and the femalelying beneath it, foxes lying down on their sides and the female embracing themale. Cows and does resent the violence of the bulls and stags, and consequentlywalk forward in pairing. Stags pass across to other hinds and return to theformer ones alternately. Lizards like the creatures without feet practiseintercourse by intertwining.

All animals are less fertile the larger they are in bulk. Elephants, camels andhorses produce off-spring one at a time, but the thistle-finch, the smallest ofbirds, twelve at a time. Those that produce most young bear them most quickly;the larger the animal, the longer it takes to be shaped in the womb; the morelong-lived ones are cared for longer by the mother. Also animals are not of an agesuitable for procreation while they are still growing. Solidhoofed animalsbear one child at a time, those with cloven hooves also bear two, but thosewhose feet are divided into separate toes also produce a larger number. Butwhereas all those above bear their offspring fully formed, these produce themunfinishedin this class being lionesses and bears; and a fox bears its youngin an even more unfinished state than the species above-mentioned, and it israre to see one in the act of giving birth. Afterwards all these species warmtheir offspring and shape them by licking them. Their litters number four at themost. Dogs, wolves, panthers and jackals bear their young blind.

There are several kinds of dogs. The Spartan hounds breed when both sexes areseven months old; the bitches carry for 60 days, and 63 at most. Thebitches of the other breeds are willing to couple, even when six months old.They all conceive from a single coupling. Those that are bred from before theproper time have puppies that stay blind longer, and all of them for the samenumber of days. They are believed to raise the leg in making water when aboutsix months old; this is a sign of fully matured strength. Bitches relievethemselves sitting. The most prolific have litters of twelve, but usually theyhave five or six, and sometimes only one: this is considered portentous, as arelitters that are all males or all females. Male puppies are born first in eachlitter, whereas in all other animals the sexes come in turns. Bitches couplefive months after their last litter. The Spartan hounds have litters of eight.The males of that breed are marked by keenness for work. Spartan dog hounds liveten years, bitches twelve; all the other breeds live fifteen years, some timeseven twenty. But they do not breed all their lives, ceasing usually at the ageof twelve.

The cat and the mongoose resemble dogs in other respects, but their length oflife is ten years. Rabbits breed in every month of the year, and superfetate,as do hares; after giving birth they pair again at once. They conceivealthough still suckling their previous litter, but the young are blind.Elephants, as we have said, bear one young one at a time, of the size of a threemonths old calf. Camels carry their young twelve months; they begin breeding atthe age of three, in the spring, and mate again a year after giving birth. Mareson the other hand are believed not to be profitably sired till three years old,and not before a year after their last foaling; when they are unwilling,compulsion is used. It is believed that she-asses conceive quite easily even aweek after delivery. It is said that mares' manes ought to be clipped to makethem submit to allow coupling with asses, as having long manes makes them proudand high-spirited. Mares are the only animals that after coupling run in anortherly or southerly direction according as they have conceived a male or afemale foal. Immediately afterwards they change the colour of their coat for adeeper red or a darker hue of whatever their colour is: this marks their ceasingto be able to couple, even if willing to do so. Some are not hindered from workby foaling, and are in foal without its being known. We find it on record that amare in foal belonging to a Thessalian namedEchecratides won a race at Olympia. It is stated by exceptionallycareful authorities that horses, dogs and swine like mating in the morning, butthat the females make approaches in the afternoon; that mares that have beenbroken are in heat 60 days sooner than those running with the herd; that swineonly foam at the mouth when mating; that when a boar-pig has heard a sow in heatgrunting it refuses food to the point of losing flesh entirely unless it ]sadmitted to her, while sows get so fierce that they will gore a human being,especially one wearing white clothes. This madness can be reduced by sprinklingthe organs with vinegar. It is believed that desire for mating is alsostimulated by articles of diet, for instance rocket in the case of a man andonions in the case of cattle. It is a remarkable fact that wild species whendomesticated refuse to breed, for instance wild geese, and wild boars and stagsdo so reluctantly and only if they have been reared from infancy. Female animalsrefuse intercourse when pregnant, except the mare and the sow; but only thecommon rabbit and the hairy-footed rabbit allow superfetation.

LXXXIV. All viviparous species produce their young head foremost, theembryo turning round shortly before delivery, but otherwise lying stretched atlength in the womb. Four-footed species are carried with the legs stretched outto full length and folded against their own belly, but the human embryo curledup in a ball, with the nostrils placed between the two knees. It is thought thatmoon calves, about which we have spoken before, are produced when awoman has conceived not from a male but from herself alone, and that they do notcome alive because they are not produced from two parents, and they possess theself-nourishing vitality that belongs to plants and frees. Of all the speciesbearing fully developed offspring pigs alone have litters that are numerous aswell as developed, for it is against the nature of those with solid or clovenhoofs to produce several young.

LXXXV. The most prolific of all animals whatever is the mouseonehesitates to state its fertility, even though on the authority ofAristotle and the troops ofAlexander the Great.It is stated that with it impregnation takes place by licking and not bycoupling. There is a record of 120 being born from a single mother, and inPersia of mice already pregnant being found in the parent's womb; and it isbelieved that they are made pregnant by tasting salt. Accordingly it ceases tobe surprising how so large an army of field-mice ravages the crops; and in thecase of field-mice it is also hitherto unknown exactly how this vast multitudeis suddenly destroyed: for they are never found dead, and nobody exists who everdug up a mouse in a field in winter. Vast numbers thus appear in the Troad, andthey have by now banished the inhabitants from that country. They appear duringdroughts. It is also related that when a mouse is going to die a worm grows inits head. The mice in Egypt have hard hair like hedgehogs, and also they walk ontwo feet, as also do the Alpine mice.When animals of a different kind pair, theunion is only fertile when the two species have the same period of gestation.There is a popular belief that of the oviparous quadrupeds the lizard bearsthrough the mouth, but this is denied byAristotle. Lizards do not hatch their eggs, but forget where they laidthem, as this animal has no memory; and consequently the young ones break theshell without assistance.

LXXXVI. We have it from many authoritiesthat a snake may be born from the spinal marrow of a human being. For a numberof animals spring from some hidden and secret source, even in the quadrupedclass, for instance salamanders, a creature shaped like a lizard, covered withspots, never appearing except in great rains and disappearing in fine weather.It is so chilly that it puts out fire by its contact, in the same way as icedoes. It vomits from its mouth a milky slaver, one touch of which on any part ofthe human body causes all the hair to drop off, and the portion touched changesits colour and breaks out in a tetter.

LXXXVII. Consequently some creatures are born from parents thatthemselves were not born and were without any similar origin, like the onesmentioned above and all those that are produced by the spring and a fixed seasonof the year. Some of these are infertile, for instance the salamander, and inthese there is no male or female, as also there is no sex in eels and all thespecies that are neither viviparous nor oviparous; also oysters andthe other creatures clinging to the bottom of shallow water or to rocks areneuters. But self-generated creatures if divided into males and females doproduce an offspring by coupling, but it is imperfect and unlike the parent andnot productive in its turn: for instance flies produce maggots. This is shownmore clearly by the nature of the creatures called insects, all of which aredifficult to describe and must be discussed in a work devoted specially to them.Consequently the psychology of the before said creatures, and the remainder ofthe discussion, must be appended.

LXXXVIII. Among the senses, that of touchin man ranks before all the other species, and taste next; but in the remainingsenses he is surpassed by many other creatures. Eagles have clearer sight,vultures a keener sense of smell, moles acuter hearingalthough they are buriedin the earth, so dense and deaf an element of nature, and although moreover allsound travels upward, they can overhear people talking, and it is actually saidthat if you speak about them they understand and run away. Among men, when oneis first of all denied hearing he also is robbed of the power of talking, andthere are no persons deaf from birth who are not also dumb. The sea-oysterprobably has no sense of hearing; but it is said that the razor-shell dives at asound: consequently people fishing make a practice of silence.

LXXXIX. Fish indeed have no auditory organs or passages, but neverthelessit is obvious that is they hear, inasmuch as it can be observed that in somefishponds wild fish have a habit of flocking together to be fed at the sound ofclapping, and in the Emperor's aquarium the various kinds of fish come in answerto their names, or in some cases individual fish. Consequently it is also statedthat the mullet, the wolf-fish, the stork-fish and thechromis hear veryclearly, and therefore live in shallow water.

XC. It is clearly obvious that fish possess a sense of smell, as they arenot all attracted by the same food, and they smell a thing before they seize it.Some fish even when hiding in caves are driven out by a fisherman who smears themouth of the crag with brine used in picklingthey run away as it were from therecognition of their own dead body; and they also flock together from the deepwater to certain smells, for instance a burnt cuttlefish or polyp, which arethrown into wicker creels for this purpose. Indeed the stench of a ship's bilgemakes them flee far away, but most of all the blood of fishes. The polyp cannotbe dragged away from the bait; but when a sprig of marjoram is broughtnear to it, it at once darts away from the scent. Purple-fish also can be caughtby means of things with a foul smell. As to the rest of the animal classwho could have any doubt? Snakes are driven away by the stench of burnt stag'shorn, but especially by that of styrax-tree gum; the scent of marjoram or limeor sulphur kills ants. Gnats seek for sour things and are not attracted by sweetthings.

All creatures have the sense of touch, even those that have none of the others;it is possessed even by molluscs, and also, among land animals, by worms.

XCI. I am inclined to believe that all possess the sense of taste also;for why are different species attracted by different flavours? In the matter oftaste nature's handicraft is outstanding: some creatures catch their prey withtheir teeth, others with their claws, others snatch their food with the curve ofthe beak, others root it up with the flat of the beak, others dig it out withthe point; some suck it in, others lick it, sup it up, chew it, gulp it down.Nor is there less variety in the service rendered by their feet, in snatching,tearing asunder, holding, squeezing, hanging, or incessantly scratching theearth.

XCII. Wild goats and quails, the most peaceful of creatures, growfat, as we have said, on poisons, but snakes batten on eggs, serpentshaving a remarkably skilful trickthey either gulp the eggs down whole, if theirthroats have grown large enough to hold them, and then break them inside them byrolling themselves up in a coil, and so cough out the bits of eggshell, or ifthey are young snakes as yet of too tender an age, they catch hold of the eggsin the ring of their coil and squeeze them so gradually and forcibly that partis cut off as if with a knife from the remainder which is held in their foldsand then they stick it in. In a like manner they swallow birds whole and thenwith a heave bring up again the feathers and the bones.

XCIII. Scorpions live on earth. Snakes are specially fond of wine whenthey have the chance, though otherwise they need little drink; they also needvery little food, and almost none at all when they are kept shut up;just as do spiders also, which otherwise live by suction. Consequently novenomous creature dies of hunger or thirst; for they have neither heat norblood, nor yet sweat, which increases appetite by its natural salt. All in thisclass are more deadly if they have eaten their own kind before they attacksomebody. The class of dog-headed apes and orang-utans stores food in therecesses of the jawbones, and then gradually takes it out from there with itshands to chew itand what with ants is an annual ceremony is for these a dailyor hourly practice. The only animal with toes that lives on grass is the hare;solid-hooved animals live on grass and corn, and among animals with cloven feetthe pig eats all kinds of fodder and also roots. Rolling on the ground ispeculiar to animals with solid hooves. All species with serrated teeth arecarnivorous. Bears also eat grain, leaves, grapes and fruits and bees, and evencrabs and ants. Wolves, as we have said, when hungry even eat earth.Cattle grow fat with drinking, and consequently salt is specially suitable forthem. So also do beasts of burden, although they also fatten on corn and grass;in fact they eat in proportion to what they have drunk. Beside the ruminantsalready mentioned, of forest animals stags ruminate when they are kept by us;but they all ruminate lying down in preference to standing, and in winter morethan in summer, for a period of about seven months. The mice of Pontus alsoremasticate their food in a similar manner.

XCIV. In drinking, animals with serrated teeth lap, and so does ourcommon mouse, though it really belongs to another class; those with teeththat touch suck for instance horses and cattle; bears do neither, but gulp wateras well as food in bites. In Africa the greater part of the wild animals do notdrink at all in summer, owing to lack of rains for which reason Libyan mice incaptivity die if given drink. The perpetually dry parts of Africa producethe antelope, which owing to the nature of the region goes without drink inquite a remarkable fashion, for the assistance of thirsty people, as theGaetulian brigands rely on their help to keep going, bladders containingextremely healthy liquid being found in their body.

In Africa also leopards crouch in the thick foliage of the trees and hidden bytheir boughs leap down on to animals passing by, and stalk their prey from theperches of birds. Then how silently and with what a light tread do cats creep upto birds! how stealthily they watch their chance to leap out on tiny mice! Theyscrape up the earth to bury their droppings, realizing that the smell of thesegives them away.

XCV. Consequently it is easily manifestthat there are also certain senses other than those mentioned above.

For animals have certain kinds of warfare and of friendships, and the feelingsthat result from them besides the various facts that we have stated about eachspecies in their places. There are quarrels between swans and eagles; betweenthe raven and the golden oriole when searching for one another's eggs by night;similarly between the raven and the kite when the former snatches the latter'sfood before he can get it; between crows and owls, the eagle and thegold-crestif we can believe it, as the eagle is called the king of birds;between owls and the other smaller birds; again birds with land animalstheweasel and the crow, the turtle-dove and thepyrallis, ichneumon-fliesand spiders; the water-birdsbrenthos and gull and goshawk and buzzard;shrew-mice and herons lying in wait for each other's young; that very tiny birdthe titmouse with the ass, which by rubbing itself against thorns for the sakeof scratching dislodges the nests of the titmouse, which is so scared that whenit merely hears the sound of an ass braying it throws its eggs out of the nest,and the chicks themselves in fear fall out, and consequently the bird flies atthe ass and hollows out its sores with its beak; foxes and kites; snakes andweasels and pigs. There is a small bird called the aesalon that breaks a raven'seggs, whose chicks are preyed upon by foxes, and it retaliates by pecking thefox-cubs and the vixen herself; when the ravens see this they come to their aidagainst the aesalon as against a common foe. Also the gold-finch lives inthorn-bushes and consequently it also hates asses that devour the flowers of thethorn; but the yellow wagtail hates the titmouse so bitterly that people believethat their blood will not mix, and consequently they give it a bad name as usedfor many poisons. Thethos and the lion quarrel. Also the smallest animalsquarrel as much as the largest: a tree infested with ants is hollowed out bycaterpillars; a spider swings by a thread on to the head of a snake stretchedout beneath the shade of its tree, and nips its brain with its jaws so violentlythat it at once gives a hiss and whirls giddily round, but cannot even break thethread by which the spider hangs, much less get away, and there is no end to itbefore its death.

XCVI. On the other hand friendships occur between peacocks and pigeons,turtle-doves and parrots, blackbirds and turtle-doves, the crow and the littleheron in a joint enmity against the fox kind and the goshawk and kite againstthe buzzard. Why, are there not signs of affection even in snakes, the mosthostile kind of animals? we have mentioned the story that Arcady tells about the snake that savedhis master's life and recognized him by his voice. Let us place to the credit ofPhylarchus a marvellous tale about anasp: he relates that in Egypt, when it used to come regularly to be fed atsomeone's table, it was delivered of young ones, and that its hosts' son waskilled by one of these; and that when the mother came back for its usual meal itrealized the young one's guilt and killed it, and never came back to the houseagain afterwards.

XCVII. The question of sleep does not involve any obscure conjecture. Itis clear that among land animals all those that closethe eyes sleep. That also water animals sleep at all events a little is heldeven by those who doubt about the other kinds; they do not infer this from theeyes, as these creatures have no eyelids, but merely by their quietness: theyare seen reposing as if sunk in slumber, and only moving their tails, and wakingup in alarm at any disturbance. It is affirmed with more confidence abouttunny-fish, because they sleep close to banks or rocks; while flatfish sleep inshallow water, so that they are often taken out by hand. Dolphins and whales, infact, are heard actually snoring. That insects also sleep is shown by theirsilence, and by their not even being roused by having lights brought near them.

XCVIII. Man when born is beset by sleep for some months, and then day byday his waking period gets longer. An infant begins to dream at once, for itwakes up in a fright, and also imitates sucking. But some children neverdream, and with these we find instances in which their dreaming contrary totheir usual habit was a sign of approaching death. Here an important topicinvites us and one fully supplied with arguments on both sideswhether there arecertain cases of foreknowledge present in the mind during repose, and whatcauses them, or whether it is a matter of chance like most things. If thequestion be argued by instances, these would doubtless be found to be equal onboth sides. It is practically agreed that dreams occurring directly afterdrinking wine and eating food, and those that come in dozing off to sleep asecond time, are false; but sleep is really nothing but the retirement of themind into its innermost self. It is manifest that, beside human beings, horses,dogs, oxen, sheep and goats dream; it is consequently believed that, dreams alsooccur in all viviparous species. As to the oviparous creatures it is uncertain,but it is certain that they sleep.

But let us also pass to insects, for these remain creatures of immeasurably minute structure.

I. THERE remain some creatures of immeasurably minute structure cm factsome authorities have stated that they do not breathe and also that they areactually devoid of blood. These are of great number and of many kinds; they havethe habits of land-animals and of flying animals, some lacking wings, forinstance centipedes, others winged, for instance bees, others of both kinds, forinstance ants, some lacking both wings and feet; and all are rightly termedinsects, from the incisions which encircle them in some cases in the region oftheir necks and in others of their chests and stomach and separate off theirlimbs, these being only connected by a thin tube, with some however the creaseof the incision not entirely encircling them, but only at the belly or higherup, with flexible vertebrae shaped like gutter-tilesshowing a craftsmanship onthe part of Nature that is more remarkable than in any other case: inasmuch asin large bodies or at all events the larger. ones the process of manufacture wasfacilitated by the yielding nature of the material, whereas in these minutenothings what method, what power, what labyrinthine perfection is displayed!Where did Nature find a place in a flea for all the senses?and other smallercreatures can be mentioned,but at what point in its surface did she placesight? where did she attach taste? implant that truculent and relatively veryloud voice? with what subtlety she attached the wings, extended the legs thatcarry the feet, placed a ravenous hollow to serve as a stomach, kindled a greedythirst for blood and especially human blood! Then with what genius she provideda sharp weapon for piercing the skin, and as if working on a large object,although really it is invisibly minute, created it with alternating skill so asto be at once pointed for digging and tubed for sucking! What teeth she attachedto the wood-borer for boring through timber, with the accompanying sound asevidence and made its chief nutriment to consist of wood! But we marvel atelephants' shoulders carrying castles, and bulls' necks and the fierce tossingsof their heads, at the rapacity of tigers and the manes of lions, whereas reallyNature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallestcreations. I consequently beg my readers not to let their contempt for many ofthese creatures lead them also to condemn to scorn what I relate about them,since in the contemplation of Nature nothing can possibly be deemed superfluous.

II. Many people have asserted that insects do not breathe, also arguingin support of this from the fact that they do not possess the internal organs ofa respiratory system, and saying that consequently, they live like plants andtrees, whereas there is a very great difference between breathing andliving; it is for the same reason, they argue, that they do not containblood either, as this is found in no species lacking a heart and a liver;similarly, they say, things that have not got lungs do not breathe. This givesrise to a long list of questions. For the same people actually say that thesecreatures have not got a voice, in spite of all the buzzing of bees and chirpingof tree-crickets, and make other statements the value of which will be judged intheir places. For when I have observed Nature she has always induced me to deemno statement about her incredible; nor do I see why such creatures should bemore able to live without breathing than to breathe without vital organs, whichwe have proved to occur even in the case of marine creatures in spite of thefact that their breath is barred by the density and depth of the water. At allevents that any creatures fly and yet have no capacity of breathing in spite oftheir living in the very breath of the air, and that they have consciousness ofnutrition, generation and work, and even interest in the future, and thatalthough they have no organs to carry the senses as in a vessel, theynevertheless possess hearing, smell, taste, and those outstanding gifts ofnature, intelligence, brain, science, into the bargainwho would easily believethis? I admit that they have not got blood, as even land animals have not allgot blood of the same kind; but just as in the sea the black fluid of thecuttlefish takes the place of blood, as also does the famous juice of the genuspurple-fish that supplies a dye, similarly also whatever is the life-givingfluid possessed by insects, this will be their blood. Finally let each man formhis own opinion, but our purpose is to point out the manifest properties ofobjects, not to search for doubtful causes.

III. So far as is perceptible, insects do not appear to possess sinews orbones or spines or cartilage or fat or flesh, and not even a fragile rind, suchas some sea creatures have, nor anything that can properly be termed a skin, buta substance of a nature intermediate between all of these, as it were dried up,softer in the sinew but harder or rather more durable in all the otherparts. And this is all that they possess, and nothing else in addition; theyhave no internal organs except, in the case of quite a few, a twisted intestine.Consequently when torn asunder they display a remarkable tenacity of life, andthe separate parts go on throbbing, because whatever their vital principle is itcertainly does not reside in particular members but in the body as a wholeleastof all in the head, and this alone does not move unless it has been torn offwith the breast. No other kind of creature has a greater number of feet, and ofthis species the ones that have more feet live longer when torn asunder, as wesee in the case of the multipede. But they possess eyes, and also of the othersenses touch and taste, and some have smell as well, and a few hearing also.

IV. But among all of these species the chief place belongs to the bees,and this rightly is the species; chiefly admired, because they alone of thisgenus have been created for the sake of man. They collect honey, thatsweetest and most refined and most health-giving of juices, they model combs andwax that serves a thousand practical purposes, they endure toil, they constructworks, they have a government and individual enterprises and collective leaders,and, a thing that must occasion most surprise, they have a system of mannersthat outstrips that of all the other animals, although they belong neither tothe domesticated nor to the wild class. Nature is so mighty a power that out ofwhat is almost a tiny ghost of an animal she has created something incomparable!What sinews or muscles can we match with such efficacy and industry as that ofthe bees? What men, I protest, can we rank in rationality with these insects,which unquestionably excel mankind in this, that they recognize only the commoninterest? Not raising the question of breath, suppose we agree as to theirpossessing even blood; yet what a tiny quantity can there be in these tinycreatures! After these points let us estimate their intelligence.

V. In winter insects go into retirement for whence could they obtainstrength to endure frost and snow and the blasts of the north wind?all speciesalike, no doubt, but not for so long a period the ones that hide in ourhouse-walls .and are warmed earlier than others are. In regard to bees, eitherseasons or else climates have changed, or previous writers have been mistaken.They go into retirement after the setting of the Pleiades and remain in hidingtill after their rise so not till the beginning of spring, as writers havesaidand nobody in Italy thinks about hives before the bean is in flower. Theygo out to their works and to their labours, and not a single day is lost inidleness when the weather grants permission. First they construct combsand mould wax, that is, construct their homes and cells, then produce offspring,and afterwards honey, wax from flowers, bee-glue from the droppings of thegum-producing treesthe sap, glue and resin of the willow, elm and reed. Theyfirst smear the whole interior of the hive itself with these as with a kind ofstucco, and then with other bitterer juices as a protection against the greed ofother small creatures, as they know that they are going to make something thatmay possibly be coveted; with the same materials they also build wider gatewaysround the structure.

VI. The first foundations are termed by expertscommosis,the secondpissoceros, the third propo1is, between the outer coverand the wax, substances of great use for medicaments. Commosis is the firstcrust, of a bitter flavour. Pissoceros comes above it, as in laying on tar, asbeing more fluid than wax. Propolis is obtained from the milder gum of vines andpoplars, and is made of a denser substance by the addition of flowers, andthough not as yet wax it serves to strengthen the combs; with it all approachesof cold or damage are blocked, and besides it has itself a heavy scent, being infact used by most people as a substitute for galbanum.

VII. Besides these things a collection is made of which somepeople call sandarach and others bee-bread; this will serve as food for thebees while they are at work, and it is often found stored up in the hollows ofthe combs, being itself also of a bitter flavour, but it is produced out ofspring dew of trees like the gums. It is obtained in fig treesblacker in colourwhen an east wind is blowing and of better quality and a reddish colour whennorth winds blowand in the largest quantity in Greek nut-trees. Menecrates says that it is a flower, buthe is the only authority that makes that statement.

VIII. They make their wax from the flowersof all trees and plants except the sorrel and the echinopod; these are kinds ofherbs. It is a mistake to say that esparto grass is also an exception, because agreat deal of the honey obtained in the broom-thickets in Spain tastes of thatplant. I also think that olives are wrongly excepted, as it is certain that thelargest swarms are produced where olive-trees are growing. No harm is done toany kind of fruit. They do not settle even on dead flowers, let alone deadbodies. They work within a range of sixty paces, and subsequently when theflowers in the vicinity have been used up they send scouts to further pastures.If overtaken by nightfall on an expedition they camp out, reclining on theirbacks to protect their wings from the dew.

IX. Nobody must be surprised that love for bees inspired Aristomachus of Soli to devote himselfto nothing else for 58 years, andPhiliscusof Thasos to keep bees in desert places, winning the name of the Wild Man; bothof these have written about them.

X. Their work is marvellously mapped out on the following plan: a guardis posted at the gates, after the manner of a camp; they sleep till dawn, untilone bee wakes them up with a double or triple buzz as a sort of bugle-call;then they all fly forth in a body, if the day is going to be finefor they forecast winds and rain, in case of which they keep indoors; and consequentlymen consider this inaction on the part of the bees as one of the prognostics ofthe weather. When the band has gone out to its tasks, some bring home flowers intheir feet and others water in their mouth and drops clinging to the down allover their body. While the youthful among them go out to their tasks and collectthe things mentioned above, the older ones work indoors. Those collectingflowers with their front feet load their thighs, which are covered with scalesso as to serve this purpose, and with their beak load their front feet, and whenfully loaded return bulging with their burden. Each is received by three or fourothers who relieve him of his load: for indoors also the duties are dividedsomebuild, others polish, others bring up material, others prepare food from what isbrought to them; for they do not feed separately, so that there shall be noinequality of work or food or time. In building they begin with the vaulting ofthe hive, and they bring down as it were a web from the top of a loom, with twobalks round each square of work, so that some may come in and others go out. Thecombs hang firmly attached to the upper part and also a little to the sides atthe same time, but they do not reach to the floor of the hive; sometimes theyare oblong and sometimes round, according as the shape of the hive requires, andoccasionally also of both kinds, when two swarms whose members are friendly havedifferent customs. They prop up combs that are inclined to fall, the party-wallsbetween the pillars being arched from the ground level so as to supply accessfor the purpose of repairing. The first three rows or so are arranged empty, sothat there may not be any obvious temptation to a thief; the last ones arefilled fullest with honey; consequently the combs are taken out from the back ofthe hive. Carrier bees wait for favourable breezes. If a storm arises, theysteady themselves with the weight of a little pebble held in their feet; someauthorities say that it is placed on their shoulders.

However in a wind against them they fly close to the ground, carefully avoidingthe brambles. They keep a wonderful watch on the work in hand; they mark theidleness of any who are slack and chastise them, and later even punish them withdeath. They are wonderfully clean: they remove everything out of the way and norefuse is left lying among their work; indeed the droppings of those workinginside are heaped in one place so that they may not have to retire too far, andthey carry them out on stormy days and when work is suspended. When eveningapproaches, the buzzing inside the hive grows less and less, till one bee fliesround as though giving the order to take repose with the same loud buzz withwhich she woke them, and this in the manner of a military camp; thereupon theyall suddenly become quiet.

They build homes for the commonalty first, and for the kings afterwards.If a specially large production of honey is expected, quarters are added for thedrones as well; these are the smallest of the cells, but those for theworker-bees themselves are larger.

XI. The drones have no stings, being so to say imperfect bees andthe newest made, the incomplete product of those that are exhausted and nowdischarged from service, a late brood, and as it were the servants of the truebees, who consequently order them about, and drive them out first to the works,punishing laggards without mercy. And the drones are of service to the bees notonly in work but also when breeding, as their crowd contributes much to theirwarmth: it is certain that the larger number of drones there has been, thelarger production of swarms also occurs. When the honey has begun to ripen, thebees drive the drones away, and falling on them many to one kill them. Moreoverthis class of bee is only seen in spring. If a drone is stripped of its wingsand afterwards thrown back into the hive it itself strips the wings off theothers.

XII. They build large and splendid separate palaces for those who are tobe their rulers, in the bottom of the hive; these project with a protuberance,and if this be squeezed out, no offspring is born. All the cells are hexagonal,each side being made by one of the bee's six feet. None of these tasks are doneat a fixed time, but they snatch their duties on fine days. They fill theircells with honey on one or at most two days.

Honey comes out of the air, and is chiefly formed at the rising of the stars,and especially when the Dog-star itself shines forth, and not at all before therising of the Pleiades, in the periods just before dawn. Consequently at thatseason at early dawn the leaves of trees are found bedewed with honey, and anypersons who have been out under the morning sky feel their clothes smeared withdamp and their hair stuck together, whether this is the perspiration of the skyor a sort of saliva of the stars or the moisture of the air purging itself. Andwould it were pure and liquid and homogeneous, as it was when it first floweddown But as it is, falling from so great a height and acquiring a great deal ofdirt as it comes and becoming stained with vapour of the earth that itencounters, and moreover having been sipped from foliage and pastures and havingbeen collected into the stomachs of beesfor they throw it up out of theirmouths, and in addition being tainted by the juice of flowers, and soaked in the corruptions of the belly, and so often transformed, nevertheless it brings withit the great pleasure of its heavenly nature.

XIII. It is always of the best quality where it is stored in the calycesof the best flowers. This takes place at Hymettus and Hybla in the region ofAttica and of Sicily, which are sunny localities and also on the island ofCalydna. But at the start it is honey diluted as it were with water, and in thefirst days it ferments like must and purifies itself, while on the twentieth dayit thickens and then is covered with a thin skin which forms from the foam ofthe actual boiling. The best kind and that least stained with the foliage issucked from the leaves of the oak and lime and of reeds.

XIV. Indeed it is constituted on a supreme principle of excellence, as wehave said, in a variety of ways. In some places honeycombs distinguished fortheir wax are formed, as in Sicily and the Abruzzi, in other places for quantityof honey, as in Crete, Cyprus, Africa, in others for size, as in the northerncountries, a comb having before now been seen in Germany that was 8 ft. long,and black in its hollow part. Yet in any region there are three kinds of honey.There is spring honey with the comb made from flowers, which is consequentlycalled flower-honey. Some people say this ought not to be touched, so that aprogeny made strong by plentiful nourishment may be produced; but others leaveless of this honey than of any other kind for the bees, on the ground that agreat profusion follows at the rising of the great stars, and also at thesolstice, when thyme and grapevines begin to flower, the outstandingmaterial for the cells. It is however necessary to practice economy in takingaway the combs, as lack of food causes the bees to despair and die or fly away,and on the other hand a large supply brings sloth, and then the bees feed on thehoney and not on bee-bread; consequently the more careful beekeepers leave afifteenth part of this vintage to the bees. The day fixed for beginning by a sortof law of nature, if only men would know or keep it, is the thirtieth after theleading out of the swarm; and this vintage usually falls within the month ofMay.

The second kind of honey is summer honey, theGreek name for which consequently is 'ripe honey,' because it is produced in themost favourable season, when the dog-star is shining in its full splendour, aboutthirty days after midsummer. In respect of this, immense subtlety on the part ofnature has been displayed to mortals, did not man's dishonesty spoil everythingwith its banefulness. For after the rising of each star, but particularly theprincipal stars, or of a rainbow, if rain does not follow but the dew is warmedby the rays of the sun, not honey but drugs are produced, heavenly gifts for theeyes, for ulcers and for the internal organs. And if this substance is kept whenthe dog-star is rising, and if, as often happens, the rise of Venus or Jupiter orMercury falls on the same day, its sweetness and potency for recalling mortals'ills from death is equal to that of the nectar of the gods.

XV. Honey is obtained more copiously at full moon, and of thickersubstance in fine weather. In all honey the portion that has flowed by itselflike must and olive oilit is called honey-vinegaris the most commendable. Allsummer honey is reddish, as it has been made in a comparatively dry period.White honey is not made where there is thyme, but honey made from thyme isthought most suitable for the eyes and for ulcersit is of a gold colour and hasan extremely agreeable taste. The fat honey from violets and the thick kind fromrosemary can be seen to condense, but honey that thickens is least praised.Honey from thyme does not condense, and when touched sends out very thinthreads, which is the first proof of goodness; it is considered a mark of poorquality for the drops to break off at once and fall back. The next test is forit to have a fragrant scent and a sweet taste leaving a tang, and to be stickyand transparent.Cassius Dionysius holdsthat a tenth part of the summer honey-crop should be left to the bees, if thehives were full, and that if they were not, a proportionate amount should beleft, or if they were empty, they should not be touched at all. The populationof Attica have given the first ripening of the wild fig as the regnal forthis vintage, but others say Vulcan's holy day.

A third, very little valued, kind of honey is wild honey, called heath-honey. Itis collected after the first autumn rains, when only the heath is in flower inthe woods, and consequently it resembles sandy honey. It is produced mostly bythe rise of Arcturus after September 12. Some people advance the summerhoney-making to the rise of Arcturus, since that leaves fourteen days to theautumnal equinox, and in the forty-eight days from the equinox to the setting ofthe Pleiades heath is most plentiful. The Athenian name for it istetralice,and the Euboeansisyrus, and they believe it to be very acceptable tobees, perhaps because at that season there is no other supply for them.Consequently this honey-gathering is roughly in the period between the end ofvintage and the setting of the Pleiades on November 13. Reason advises leavingtwo-thirds of the honey then procured for the bees, and always the parts of thecombs that contain bee-bread. In the sixty days from midwinter to the rising ofArcturus they live on sleep, without any food; in the warmer period from therising of Arcturus to the spring equinox they now keep awake, but still keepinside the hive and have recourse to the food kept for this time. But in Italythey do the same after the rising of the Pleiades, sleeping till then. Somepeople in taking out the honey weigh the hives, so separating the amountto be left behind. There is indeed a bond of equity even in the case of bees,and it is said that if the partnership is defrauded the hives perish.Consequently it is one of the first rules that people must wash themselves cleanbefore they take the honey; also bees hate scurf, and women's menstruation. Whenhoney is being removed it is very useful for the bees to be driven away bysmoke, so that they may not get angry or greedily devour it themselves. Alsodenser smoke is employed to arouse their sloth to their tasks, for if they havenot gone on incubating, the combs they make are discoloured. On the other handexcessive smoke kills them, as honey very quickly undergoes deterioration ifturned sour by the least touch of moisture; and for this reason among the kindsof honey there is a special sort called by the Greek word meaning 'smokeless.'

XVI. There has been a great deal of minute enquiry among the learned asto the manner in which bees reproduce their species; for sexual on to.intercourse among them has never been observed. A majority of authorities haveheld the view that the offspring are formed in the mouth, by blending togetherblossoms of the reed and the olive; some think it is by copulation with a singlemale which in each swarm is called the king; and that this is the only male, andis of exceptional size, so as not to grow weary; and that consequently offspringis not produced without him, and the rest of the bees accompany him as womenaccompany a husband, not as their leader. This view, though probable on othergrounds, is refuted by the production drones; for what reason can there be whythe same act of union should engender some perfect offspring and othersimperfect? The former opinion would be nearer to the truth, were it not thatagain another difficulty meets us: it is a fact that sometimes larger bees areborn in the extremities of the combs which drive away all the rest. Thismischievous creature is called a gadflybeing born in what possible manner ifthe female bees themselves shape it? One certain fact is that they sit ontheir eggs in the way that hens do. The offspring hatched at first looks like awhite maggot, lying crosswise and sticking so closely to the wax that it seemsto be part of it. The king is from the start of the colour of honey, as if madefrom a special blossom chosen out of the whole supply, and is not a maggot buthas wings from the start. The remaining throng when they begin to take shape arecalled pupae, while the sham ones are called sirens or drones. If anybody takesthe heads off specimens of either kind before they have wings, they serve asvery acceptable food for their mothers. As time goes on they give them drops offood and sit on them, buzzing more than at any other time, with the object, itis thought, of producing the warmth needed for hatching out the grubs, untilthey break the membranes that enclose each of them like eggshells and the wholeband emerges. This was observed at Rome on the suburban estate of a certainex-consul, who had hives made of the transparent horn of a lantern. The broodgrows up in about six weeks. In some hives what is called a wart is formed, ahard lump of bitter wax, when the bees have not produced offspring out of thecomb, owing to disease or sloth or natural infertility; this is the bees' formof abortion. But as soon as they are hatched out they get to work with theirmothers under some sort of tuition, and the youthful king is escorted by aretinue of his peers. Several kings are begun to be produced, so that there maynot be a lack of them; but afterwards, when the offspring sprung fromthese has begun to be grown up, by a unanimous vote they kill the worst of themso that they may not divide up the forces. They are of two kinds, the bettersort red and the inferior kind black or speckled. All of them are alwaysexceptionally well-formed and twice as large as the others; their wings areshorter, their legs straight, their bearing more lofty, and they have a spot ontheir brow that shines white in a kind of fillet; they also differ from thecommon herd a great deal by their brilliant colour.

XVII. Now let somebody raise the questions whether Hercules wasone person and how many Father Libers there were, and all the other puzzlesburied beneath the litter of antiquity! Here on a trifling matter connected withour own country-houses, a thing constantly in evidence, there is no agreementamong the authoritiesthe question whether the king bee alone has no sting andis armed only with the grandeur of his office, or whether nature has indeedbestowed one upon him but has merely denied him the use of it. It is a wellestablished fact that the ruler does not use a sting. The commons surround himwith a marvellous obedience. When he goes in procession, the whole swarmaccompanies him and is massed around him to encircle and protect him, notallowing him to be seen. During the rest of the time, while the people areengaged in labour, he himself goes the circuit of the works inside, with theappearance of urging them on, while he alone is free from duty. He is surroundedby certain retainers and lictors as the constant guardians of his authority. Heonly issues abroad when the swarm is about to migrate; intelligence of this isgiven long before, as a buzzing noise has been going on for some days in thehive, a sign of their preparation while they are selecting a suitable day. Ifanybody should cut off one of his wings, the swarm would not run away. When theyhave started, each one wants to be next him and delights to be seen on duty;when he is tired they support him with their shoulders, and carry him entirelyif he is more completely exhausted. Any bee that falls out from weariness orhappens to stray from the main body, follows on by scent. Wherever the kingalights is the camping place of the whole body.

XVIII. Moreover they supply private andpublic portents when a cluster of them hangs suspended in houses and temples,portents that have often been expiated by great events. They alighted on themouth ofPlato even when he was still aninfant, portending the charm of that matchless eloquence; and they alighted inthe camp ofGeneral Drusus on theoccasion of the very successful battle of Arbaloas there are certainlyexceptions to the interpretation of the augurs, who invariably think this adireful portent. The capture of the leader holds up the whole body, and whenthey have lost him they separate and migrate to other lords; in any case theyare unable to be without a king. But when the kings have become too numerousthey reluctantly destroy them, and by preference they destroy their homes whilethey are being born. If a supply of honey is despaired of, then they even driveaway the drones. Nevertheless I see that there is a doubt about these also, andthat some persons think them to form a breed of their own, like the robber-bees,the largest in size among the drones but black and with a broad belly, whichhave this designation because they steal and devour the honey. It is certainthat the drones are killed by the bees; at all events they do not have a king inthe same way as the other bees do; but whether they are born without a sting isa doubtful point.

Bees breed better in a damp spring, but producemore honey in a dry one. If there is a dearth of food for some hives, they makea raid on their neighbours for the purpose of plunder; but the bees attackedform in line of battle to resist, and if the beekeeper is present whicheverside thinks that he favours it does not attack him. They also often fightbattles for other reasons, and form in two opposing lines under two commanders,the chief source of quarrel arising while they are collecting flowers, and eachparty calling out their friends; but the combat can be entirely scattered bysome dust being thrown on it or by smoke, while a reconciliation can be effectedby some milk or water sweetened with honey.

XIX. There are also wild and forest bees, which are of a bristlyappearance, and are much more irascible but of superior industry and diligence.Domesticated bees are of two kinds; the best are short and speckled and of acompact round shape, and the inferior ones are long and have a resemblance towasps, and also the worst among them are hairy. In Pontus there is a white kindthat makes honey twice in a month; and in the neighbourhood of the river Thermodon there are two kinds, one that makes honey in trees and the other thatmakes it underground in a threefold arrangement of combs. and is most lavishlyproductive.

Nature has given bees a sting attached to thestomach, designed for a single blow; certain persons think that when they haveplanted their sting they at once die, while some hold that this only occurs ifit is driven in so far that some of the gut follows it, but that afterwards thebees are drones and do not make honey, as though their strength had beencastrated, and they cease at the same time both to hurt and to benefit. There isa case of a horse being killed by bees. Bees hate foul smells and flee far awayfrom them, even those not due to natural causes; consequently they attack peoplescented with perfumes. They themselves are liable to injuries from very manycreatures. Wasps and hornets which are degenerate species of the same natureattack them, as also do the species of gnat called mule-flies. Swallows and someother birds ravage them. Frogs lie in wait for them when they are getting water,which is their most important task at the period when they are producingoffspring. And not only the frogs that beset ponds and rivers but also toadscome of their own accord and crawling up to the doorways blow through them;thereupon the guard flies out and is immediately snapped up; and it is said thatfrogs do not feel a bee's sting. Sheep too are the enemies of bees, which withdifficulty disentangle themselves from their wool. Also the smell of crabs beingboiled near them is fatal to them.

XX. Moreover bees suffer diseases due to their own nature. A symptom ofthese is a gloomy torpidity, both when they are brought out before thedoorway into the warmth of the sun and food is served to them by others and whenthey die and the others carry them out and escort their obsequies in the mannerof persons conducting a funeral. When this pestilence carries off the king thecommons mourn with abject grief, not collecting food and not going out of thehive; they only mass themselves round his body with a sorrowful buzzing.Consequently the throng is separated and he is taken away from it; otherwisethey keep gazing at his lifeless body and never stop mourning. Then also, unlesshelp is brought to them, they die of hunger. Consequently their health is judgedby their gaiety and brightness.

There are also diseases that affect their work: when they do not fill the combsfull, it is calledclaron, andblapsigonia, if they do not bringtheir offspring to maturity.

XXI. Also an echo is detrimental to bees with its repercussion thatalarms them by striking them with an alternating blow; fog too is detrimental.Also spiders are in the highest degree hostile; when they have succeeded inweaving a web over the combs they kill the grubs. Even the moth, thatcowardly and ignoble creature that flutters up to lamps when they are lit,brings disaster, and not in one way only, for it both devours the combs itselfand leaves excrement from which grubs are produced; also wherever it walks itweaves a covering of cobwebs chiefly made from the down on its wings. Moreovermoths are born in the wood itself that specially attack the combs. And anotherbane is their greed for food, as their belly is moved, specially in the springtime, by their devouring a surfeit of flowers. Olive oil indeed kills not onlybees but all insects, especially if they are placed in the sun after their headhas been anointed. Sometimes also they themselves cause their own death, bygreedily devouring honey when they perceive that it is being taken away, whereasnormally they are extremely thrifty and make a practice of driving away wastefuland greedy bees just the same as lazy and slothful ones. Also their own honey isnoxious to them, and if it is smeared on their backs they die. To so many foesand so many disastersand how small a fraction of them I am recounting!is thisbeneficent creature exposed. The remedies we will speak of in their properplaces; for at present we are discussing their nature.

XXII. They delight in the clash and clang of bronze, and collect togetherat its summons; which shows that they also possess the sense of hearing. Whentheir work is done and their brood reared, though they have accomplished alltheir duty they nevertheless have a ritual exercise to perform, and they rangeabroad in the open and soar on high, tracing circles in flight, and only whenthis is finished do they return to take food. Their life at longest, grantedthat hostile attacks and accidents are encountered successfully, lasts sevenyears. It is stated that the hives have never lasted in their entiretybeyond ten years. Some people think that dead bees come to life again if theyare kept indoors in winter and then exposed to the heat of the sun in spring andkept warm with hot fig-wood ashes;

XXIII. but that when entirely lost they can be restored by being coveredwith fresh ox-paunches together with mud, or according toVirgil with the dead body of bullocks,just as wasps and hornets are brought to life from horses' bodies and beetlesfrom those of asses, since nature can change some things from one kind intoanother. But all these creatures are seen to pair, and nevertheless theiroffspring possess almost the same nature as that of bees.

XXIV. Wasps make their nests high up, of mud, and in them makecells of wax; hornets make them in caverns or underground; all of these havehexagonal cells, and make their combs of bark, like spiders' webs. The actualoffspring are not uniform but varyone flies out while another is in the pupaand another in the grub; and all of these stages are in the autumn, not thespring. They grow chiefly at full moon. The wasps called ichneumon-fliestheyare smaller than the otherskill one kind of spider calledphalangium andcarry them to their nests and then smear them over, and from these by incubatingproduce their own species. Moreover they all feed on flesh, contrary to beeswhich never touch a body. But wasps hunt larger flies and after cutting offtheir heads carry away the rest of the body.

The forest variety of hornets live in hollow trees, hibernating in winter likethe rest of insects; they do not live beyond the age of two. Their sting israrely not followed by fever. Some authorities state that twenty-seven ahornet-stings will kill a human being. Another kind that seems less fierce hastwo classesworkers, smaller in size, which die in winter, and mothers, whichlast two years: these are not fierce at all. They make nests in spring, usuallywith four entrances, in which to breed the workers. When these have been reared,they then make other larger nests, in which they may now produce those who areto be mothers. Then the workers begin to function, and feed the mothers. Themothers are of a wider shape, and it is doubtful whether they possess stings,because they do not come out. These also have their drones. Some people hold theview that all these insects lose their stings towards winter. Neither the hornetnor the wasp kind have kings, nor do they swarm, but their numbers arecontinually renewed by offspring.

XXV. Among these is a fourth genus, the silk-moth, which occurs inAssyria; it is larger than the kinds mentioned above. Silk-moths make theirnests of mud like a sort of salt; they are attached to a stone, and areso hard that they can scarcely he pierced with javelins. In these nests theymake combs on a larger scale than bees do, and then produce a bigger grub.

XXVI. These creatures are also produced in another way. Aspecially large grub changes into slit. a caterpillar with two projecting hornsof a peculiar kind, and then into what is called a cocoon, and this turns into achrysalis and this in six months into a silk-moth. They weave webs like spiders,producing a luxurious material for women's dresses, called silk. The process ofunravelling these and weaving the thread again was first invented in Cos by awoman namedPamphile, daughter ofPlateas, who has the undeniabledistinction of having devised a plan to reduce women's clothing to nakedness.

XXVII. Silk-moths are also reported to beborn in the island of Cos, where vapour out of the ground creates life in theblossom of the cypress, terebinth, ash and oak that has been stripped off byrain. First however, it is said, small butterflies are produced that are bare ofdown, and then as they cannot endure the cold they grow shaggy tufts of hair andequip themselves with thick jackets against winter, scraping together the downof leaves with the roughness of their feet; this is compressed by them intofleeces and worked over by carding with their claws, and then drawn out intowoof-threads, and thinned out as if with a comb, and afterwards taken hold ofand wrapped round their body in a coiled nest. Then (they say) they are takenaway by a man, put in earthenware vessels and reared with warmth and a diet ofbran, and so a peculiar kind of feathers sprout out, clad with which they aresent out to other tasks; but tufts of wool plucked off are softened withmoisture and then thinned out into threads with a rush spindle. Nor have evenmen been ashamed to make use of these dresses, because of their lightness insummer: so far have our habits departed from wearing a leather cuirass that evena robe is considered a burden! All the same we so far leave the Assyriansilk-moth to women.

XXVIII. To these may be not ineptly joined the nature of spiders, whichdeserves even exceptional admiration. There are several kinds of spiders, butthey need not be described, as they are so well known. The name ofphalangiumis given to a kind of spider that has a harmful bite and a small bodyof variegated colour and pointed shape, and advances by leaps and bounds. Asecond species of spider is black, with very long fore legs. All spiders havelegs with two joints. Of the wolf-spiders the smallest do not weave a web, butthe larger ones live in the ground and spin tiny ante-rooms in from of theirholes. A third kind of the same species is remarkable for its scientific methodof construction; it sets up its warp-threads, and its own womb suffices tosupply the material needed for this considerable work, whether because thesubstance of its intestines is thus resolved at a fixed time, asDemocritus holds, or becauseit has inside it some power of producing wool: with such careful use of its clawand such a smooth and even thread it spins the warp, employing itself as aweight. It starts weaving at the centre, twining in the woof in a circularround, and entwists the meshes in an unloosable knot, spreading them out atintervals that are always regular but continually grow less narrow. Howskilfully it conceals the snares that lurk in its chequered net! Howunintentional appears to be the density of the close warp and the plan of thewoof, rendered by a sort of scientific smoothing automatically tenacious! Howits bosom bellies to the breezes so as not to reject things that come to it! Youmight think the threads had been left by a weary weaver stretching in front atthe top; but they are difficult to see, and, like the cords in hunting-nets,when the quarry comes against them throw it into the bosom of the net. With whatarchitectural skill is the vaulting of the actual cave designed! and how muchmore hairy it is made, to give protection against cold! How distant it is fromthe centre, and how its intention is concealed, although it is really so roofedin that it is impossible to see whether somebody is inside or not! Then itsstrengthwhen is it broken by the winds? what quantity of dust weighs it down?When the spider is practising its art and learning to weave, the breadth of theweb often reaches between two trees and the length of the thread stretches downfrom the top of the tree and there is a quick return right up the thread fromthe ground, and the spider goes up and brings down the threads simultaneously.But when a catch falls into the web, how watchfully and alertly it runs to it!although it may be clinging to the edge of the net, it always runs to themiddle, because in that way it entangles the prey by shaking the whole. When theweb is torn it at once restores it to a finished condition by patching it. Andspiders actually hunt young frogs and lizards, first wrapping up their mouthwith web and then finally gripping both lips with their jaws, giving a showworthy of the amphitheatre when it comes off. Also auguries are obtained fromthe spider: for instance, when the rivers are going to rise they raise theirwebs higher; also they weave their web in fine weather and reweave it in cloudyweather, and consequently a number of spiders' webs is a sign of rain. Peoplethink that it is the female that weaves and the male that hunts, and that thusthe married pair do equal shares of service.

XXIX. Spiders couple with the haunches, and produce grubs resemblingeggsfor their mode of reproduction also must not be deferred, as insects havescarcely any other method; and they lay them all into their webs, but scattered,because they jump about and lay them in the process. The phalangiumspiders only incubate in the actual cave a large number of grubs which whenhatched out devour the mother, and often the father too, for he helps toincubate. They produce broods of as many as three hundred, whereas all the otherkinds produce fewer; and they sit on the eggs three days. They take four weeksto become full-grown spiders.

XXX. Land scorpions also like spiders produce grubs resembling eggs anddie in the same way as spiders; they are a horrible plague, poisonous likesnakes, except that they inflict a worse torture by despatching the victim witha lingering death lasting three days, their wound being always fatal to girlsand almost absolutely so to women, but to men only in the morning, when they arecoming out of their holes, before they emit their yet unsated poison by someaccidental stroke. Their tail is always engaged in striking and does not stoppractising at any moment, lest it should ever miss an opportunity; itstrikes both a sideway stroke and one with the tail bent up.Apollodorus states that these insectsemit a white poison, and he divides them into nine kinds, chiefly by theircolours, a superfluous task, since he does not let us know which he pronouncesto be the least deadly. He says that some have a pair of stings, and that themales are fiercestfor he attributes coupling to these creaturesbut that theycan be recognized by their long slender shape; and that all are poisonous atmidday, when they have got hot from the warmth of the sun, and also that whenthey are thirsty they cannot have their fill of drinking. It is also agreed thatthose with six joints in the tail are more savagefor the majority have five.This curse of Africa is actually given the power of flight by a south wind,which supports their arms when they spread them out like oars;Apollodorus before mentioned definitelystates that some possess wings. The Psylli tribe, who by importing the poisonsof all the other countries for their own profit have filled Italy with foreignevils, have tried to bring these creatures here also, but they have provedunable to live this side of the climate of Sicily. Nevertheless they aresometimes seen in Italy, though these are harmless, and in many other places,for instance in the neighbourhood of Pharos in Egypt. In Scythia they kill evenpigs, which normally are exceptionally immune to such poisons, black pigs indeedmore quickly, if they plunge into water. For a human victim the ashes of thecreatures themselves drunk in wine are thought to be a cure. It is thought thatto be dipped in oil is a great disaster to geckoes as well as scorpions; butgeckoes at least are harmless; these too are bloodless, and are shaped like alizard; equally scorpions are believed to do no harm whatever to any bloodlesscreatures. Some think that they also devour their own offspring, and that onlyone is left, a specially clever one that by perching on his mother's haunchessecures himself by this position against both her tail and her bite; and thatthis one is the avenger of the rest, as he finally kills their parent with ablow from above. They are produced in broods of eleven.

XXXI. These geckoes in a certain manner have the nature ofchameleons, living only on dew and on spiders as well.

XXXII. The life-history of the cicada is similar. Of this thereare two kinds: the smaller ones that come out first and perish latestthesehowever are mute; subsequent is the flight of those that sing: they are calledSingers, and the smaller ones among them grass-hoppers, but the former are morevocal. The males in either class sing, but the females are silent. Thesecreatures are used as food by the Eastward races, even the Parthians with theirabundant resources; they prefer the males before mating and the femalesafterwards, being seduced by their eggs, which are white. They couple lying ontheir backs. They have a very sharp prickliness on the back, with which theyhollow a place in the ground for their offspring. This is produced first as agrub, and then from this comes what is called the larva; at the period of thesolstices they break the shell of this and fly out, always at night; at firstthey are black and hard. This is the only living creature actually without amouth; they have instead a sort of row of prickles resembling tongues, this alsobeing on the breast, with which they lick the dew. The breast itself forms apipe; the singers use this to sing with, as we shall say. For the rest, there isnothing on the belly. When they are disturbed and fly away, they give outmoisture, which is the only proof that they live on dew; moreover they are theonly creatures that have no aperture for the bodily excreta. Their eyes are sodim that if anybody comes near to them contracting and straightening out afinger, they pass by as if it were a leaf flickering. Some people make two otherclasses of tree-crickets, the twig-cricket which is the larger, and thecorn-cricket, which others call the oat-cricket, because it appears at the sametime as the crops begin to dry. Tree-crickets do not occur where trees arescarceconsequently they are not found at Cyrenae except in the neighbourhood ofthe townnor in plains or in chilly or shady woods. These creatures also makesome difference between localities; in the district of Miletus they occur infew places, but there is a river in Cephallania which makes a boundary with afew of them on one side and many on the other; again in the Reggio territorythey are all silent but beyond the river in the region of Locri they sing. Theyhave the same wing-structure as bees, but larger in proportion to the body.

XXXIII. Of insects some have two wings, for instance, flies, and somefour, for instance bees. The tree-cricket also flies with its membranes. Thosearmed with a sting in the belly have four wings, but none having a weapon in themouth has more than two wings to fly with, for the former have this weaponbestowed on them for the sake of vengeance but the latter for the purpose ofgreed. No insects' wings when torn off grow again. None that has a sting in thebelly is two-winged.

XXXIV. In some species the wings are protected by an outer covering ofshell, for instance beetles; in these species the wing is thinner andmore fragile. They are not provided with a sting, but in one largevariety of them there are very long horns, with two prongs and toothed claws atthe point which close together at pleasure for a bite; they are actually hunground children's necks as amulets; Nigidiuscalls these Lucanian oxen. Another kind of them again is one that rolls upbackwards with its feet vast balls of mud and nests its brood of little grubs inthese against the rigour of winter. Others flutter about with a loud murmur or ashrill noise, and others giving out a buzz bore numerous holes in hearths andwalls in the night. Glow worms shine like fires at night time owing to thecolour of their sides and loins, now giving a flash of light by opening theirwings and now darkened by closing them; they are not much seen before the cropsare ripe or after they have been cut. The cockroaches' life on the contrary is anurseling of the shadows, and they fly the light, being mostly produced in thedamp warmth of bathhouses. The reddish and very large beetles of the same kinddig dry earth and mould combs that resemble a small porous sponge and containpoisoned honey. There is a small place near Olynthus in Thrace that is fatal tothis animal, and is consequently called Beetle-bane. The wings of all insectshave no cleft. None has a tail except the scorpion. This is the onlyinsect that has arms, and also a spike in the tail; some of the rest have asting, for instance the gadfly (or if you like, 'breeze'), and also the gnatand some flies, but with all of these it is in the mouth and settles as a tongue.With some these stings are blunt, and do not serve for pricking but forsuctionfor instance with a sort of fly, in which the tongue is evidently atube; and this sort of insect have no teeth. Others, for instance butterflies,have useless little horns projecting in front of their eyes. Some insects, forinstance the centipede, have no wings.

XXXV. Insects that have feet can move sideways. Of some,for instance locusts, the hind feet are longer and curve outward.

Locusts in the autumn season give birth to clusters of eggs, by lowering thetube of the prickle to the earth. The eggs last for the winter, but in theensuing year at the end of spring send out small insects, that are blackish andhave no legs, and crawl with their wing-feathers. Consequently spring rains killthe eggs, whereas in a dry spring there are larger broods. Others record thatthey have two breeding seasons and two seasons when they die offbearing at therise of the Pleiades and then dying at the rise of the Dog-star, others being bornin their place; some say that this second brood is born at the setting ofArcturus. It is certain that the mothers die when they have given birth to abrood, a maggot immediately forming inside them in the region of the throat thatchokes them. The males die at the same time. And although dying for such atrifling reason a single locust when it likes can kill a snake by gripping itsthroat with its teeth. They are born only in places with chinks in them. Thereare said to be locusts in India three feet long, with legs and thighs that whenthey have been dried can be used as saws. They also have another way of dying:they are carried away in swarms by the wind and fall into the sea or a marsh.This happens purely by accident and not, as was believed by ancient writers,owing to their wings being drenched by the dampness of night. The same peopleindeed have also stated that they do not fly by night because of the coldnotbeing aware that they cross even wide seas, actually, which is most surprising,enduring several days' continuous hunger, to remedy which they know how to seekfodder abroad. This plague is interpreted as a sign of the wrath of the gods;for they are seen of exceptional size, and also they fly with such a noise ofwings that they are believed to be birds, and they obscure the sun, making thenations gaze upward in anxiety lest they should settle all over their lands. Infact their strength does not fail, and as though it were not enough to havecrossed the seas, they pass over immense tracts of land and cover them with acloud disastrous for the crops, scorching up many things with their touch andgnawing away everything with their bite, even the doors of the houses as well.

Italy is infested by swarms of them, comingprincipally from Africa, the Roman nation having often been compelled by fear ofdearth to resort to remedies prescribed by theSibylline Books. In the district of Cyrene there is actually a law to make war upon them three times a year, thefirst time by crushing the eggs, then the grubs and last the fully growninsects, with the penalty of a deserter for the man who shirks. Also in theIsland of Lemnos there is a rule prescribing a definite quantity of locustskilled that each man has to bring in to the magistrates. Also they keep jays forthis purpose, which meet them by flying in the opposite direction, to theirdestruction. In Syria as well people are commandeered by military order to killthem. In so many parts of the world is this plague abroad; but with theParthians even the locust is an acceptable article of diet.

The locust's voice appears to come from the back of the head: it is believedthat in that place at the juncture of the shoulder-blades they have a sort ofteeth, and that they produce a grating noise by rubbing them together, chieflyabout the two equinoxes, as grasshoppers do about midsummer. Locusts couple inthe same manner as all insects that pair, the female carrying the male with theend of her tail bent back to him, and with slow separation. In all this classthe males are smaller than the females.

XXXVI. Most of the insects give birth to a maggot; ants for exampleproduce in spring one that resembles an egg, these too sharing their labour asdo bees, but bees make the food stuffs, whereas ants collect theirs. And ifanybody compared the loads that ants carry with the size of their bodies, hewould confess that no creatures have proportionally greater strength; they carrythem held in their mouths, but they move larger loads with their hind feet,turning their backs to them and heaving against them with their shoulders. Antsalso have a system of government, and possess memory and diligence. They nibbletheir seeds before they store them away, so that they may not sprout up againout of the earth and germinate; they divide the larger seeds so as to get themin; when they have been wetted by rain they bring them out and dry them. Theyeven work at night when there is a full moon, although when there is no moonthey stop. Again what industry and what diligence is displayed in their work!and since they bring their burdens together from opposite directions, and areunknown to one another, certain days are assigned for market so that they maybecome acquainted. How they flock together on these occasions! How busily theyconverse, so to speak, with those they meet and press them with questions! Wesee rocks worn by their passage and a path made by their labours, so that nobodymay doubt how much can be accomplished in any matter by even a trifling amountof assiduity! They are the only living creatures beside man that bury theirdead.Winged ants do not occur in Sicily.

The horns of an Indian ant fixed up in the Temple of Hercules were one of thesights of Erythrae. These ants carry gold out of caves in the earth in theregion of the Northern Indians called the Dardae. The creatures are of thecolour of cats and the size of Egyptian wolves. The gold that they dig up inwinter time the Indians steal in the hot weather of summer, when the heat makesthe ants hide in burrows; but nevertheless they are attracted by their scent andfly out and sting them repeatedly although retreating on very fast camels: suchspeed and such ferocity do these creatures combine with their love of gold.

XXXVII. Many insects however are born in other ways as well, and in thefirst place from dew. At the beginning of spring this lodges on the leaf of aradish and is condensed by the sun and shrinks to the size of a millet seed. Outof this a small maggot develops, and three days later it becomes a caterpillar,which as days are added grows larger; it becomes motionless, with a hard skin,and only moves when touched, being covered with a cobweb growthat this stage itis called a chrysalis. Then it bursts its covering and flies out as a butterfly.

XXXVIII. In this way some creatures are generated from rain in the earthand some even in wood. For not only is the goatmoth caterpillar born in wood,but also the horse-fly springs from wood, and other creatures, wherever there isexcessive damp,

XXXIX. just as tapeworms thirty feet in length, sometimes even more,grow inside a human being. Again worms are born in the flesh of dead bodies andalso in the hair of living people, a foul growth that caused the death of thedictatorSulla and also of one of themost famous of Greece poets, Alernan.This indeed also infests birds, and actually kills pheasants unless theysprinkle themselves with dust; and of hairy animals it is believed that only theass and sheep are immune from this evil. They also breed in one kind of clothingespecially, woollen made from sheep that have been killed by wolves. Also I findin the authorities that some springs of water in which we bathe are speciallyproductive of this kind of creature; inasmuch as even wax generates what isbelieved to be the smallest of animals. Others again are generatedout of dirt by the rays of the sun, creatures that hop with a frisk of theirhind legs, and others out of damp dust, that fly about in caves.

XL. There is an animal belonging to thesame season that always lives with its head fixed in the blood of a host, andconsequently goes on swelling, as it is the only animal that has no vent for itsfood; with gorging to excess it bursts, so dying of its very nutriment. Thiscreature never grows in carthorses but occurs frequently in oxen andoccasionally in dogs in which all creatures breed, whereas this alone occurs insheep and goats. Equally remarkable is the thirst for blood that is even felt byleeches in marshy water; for they too penetrate with the whole of their head.Dogs have a special pest of their own, a maggot that lances particularly, theirears, which they cannot protect by their bite.

XLI. Similarly, dust in woollens and in clothes breeds moths,especially if a spider is shut up with them; for being thirsty andsucking up all the moisture it increases the dryness. This is also noticed inpapers. There is a kind of moths that carry their own coats in the same way assnails; but the moths have visible feet. If stripped of their coats they die, but if they grow up, they form a chrysalis. The wild fig-tree breeds fig-gnats;beetles are produced by the maggots of figs and of the pear tree, pine, dog-roseand rose. This poisonous creature brings its remedies with itthe wings have ahealing power; but with these removed it is deadly. Again, other kinds, namelygnats, are bred by a substance growing sour, and in fact white ones are foundeven in snow, and also in snow that has been lying for some time maggots, whichin a moderate depth of snow at all events are ruddyfor even snow itself turnsreddish with lapse of time; these have shaggy hair and are of considerablesize, and torpid.

XLII. Some creatures are generated also by the opposite natural element.Thus in the copper foundries of Cyprus even in the middle of thefire there flies a creature with wings and four legs, of the size of arather large fly; it is called thepyrallis, or by some thepyrotocon.As long as it is in the fire it lives, but when it leaves it on arather long flight it dies off.

XLIII. The river Bug on the Black Sea at midsummer brings downsome thin membranes that look like berries out of which burst a four-leggedcaterpillar in the manner of the creature mentioned above, but it does not livebeyond one day, owing to which it is called the hemerobius. The rest of thissort of creatures have from start to finish seven-day periods, but the gnat andmaggots have twenty-one-day, and those whose offspring are fully formedtwenty-eight-day periods. Their changes and transformations into other shapestake place every three or every four days. The remaining kinds of this classpossessing wings usually die in autumn of decay of the wings, buthorseflies die of blindness also. When flies have been killed by damp they canbe resuscitated by being buried in ashes.

XLIV. Now let our investigation treat of the various parts of bodiesbesides the ones already mentioned, taking limb by limb.

All creatures that have blood have a head. On the head a few kinds, and theseonly birds, have crests, of different sorts it is truewith the phoenix it is arow of feathers spreading out from the middle of the head in a differentdirection, peacocks have bushy tufts, the bird of Stymphalus a crest, thepheasant little horns, as moreover has the small bird that was formerly namedfrom this peculiarity the crested lark and subsequently was called by the Gallicwordalauda and gave that name also to the legion so entitled. We havealso said which bird has been endowed by nature with a folding crest.Nature has also bestowed a crest that slopes backwards from the beak down themiddle of the neck on the coot species, and also a tufted crest on Mars'swoodpecker and on the Balearic crane, but she has given the most distinguisheddecoration to the poultry-cockits fleshy, notched comb; and this cannot rightlybe described as flesh or gristle or hard skin, but is a gift peculiar to it: forno one can be found who has ever seen serpents' crests.

XLV. Many of the water and marine and snake species are furnishedin various ways with horns of a sort, but horns in the proper sense of the termonly belong to the genus quadrupeds; for I deem the story of Actaeon,and also that of Cipus in the history of Latium, to be fabulous. And in no otherfield does nature allow herself more sport; with the weapons of animals she hasmade a gamedividing some into branches, for instance, the horns of stags;assigning simple horns to others, for instance, the species in the same genuscalled from this feature 'flute-stags,' spreading those of others into palms andmaking fingers shoot ont from these, the origin of the designation 'broad-horn.'To goats she has given branching but small horns, and these she has not made tobe shed; to the ram class horns twisted into a crooked shape, as if providingthem with weighted gauntlets for boxing; to bulls horns for attackingin thisclass indeed she has also bestowed horns on the females, although in many sheonly gives them to the males; to chamois horns curved over the back, toantelopes horns curved the opposite way; but to the crook-horn, the African namefor which is addax, upright horns twisted with a coil of wrinkles andsharpened at the end into a smooth point, so as to make them suitable for lyres;also horns that are movable, like ears, to the cattle of Phrygia; hornspointing towards the ground to those belonging to the Cave-dwellers, whichconsequently graze with the neck bent sideways; to other creatures a singlehorn, and this placed in the middle of the head or between the nostrils, as wehave said; moreover some have strong horns for charging, others for striking;some horns curved forward, some backward, some for tossing in various wayscurving backward, curving together, curving outward; all ending in a point; inone kind horns used instead of hands for scratching the body; with snails usedfor exploring the way in advancethese fleshy, as those of the homed snake;these creatures sometimes have one horn, snails always two, so as both to bestretched forward and to spring back.

The northern barbarians use the horns of the aurochs for drinking, and fill thetwo horns of a single head with wine; others point their spears with horn tips.With us horn is cut into transparent plates to give a wider diffusion to a lightenclosed in it, and it is also applied to many other articles of luxury,sometimes dyed, sometimes painted, sometimes what is called from a certain kindof picture 'engraved.' All animals' horns are hollow and solid solely at thetip, but only stags have horns that are entirely solid and that are shed everyyear. Farmers heal the hooves of their oxen when worn by greasing the horn ofthe hoof with fat; and the substance of horn is so ductile that even the hornsof living cattle can be bent with boiling wax, and they can be slit at birth andtwisted in opposite directions, so as to produce four horns on one head.

The females usually have thinner horns, as is thecase with many in the cattle class, but the females of sheep and of stags havenone, nor have those of the animals with cloven hooves, nor any of those withsolid hooves except the Indian ass that is armed with a single horn. Nature hasbestowed two horns on the kinds with cloven hooves, but on no kind having frontteeth in the upper jaw: but those who think that the material to form upperteeth is entirely used up in horns are easily refuted by the nature of does,which have no teeth that stags have not also and nevertheless have no horns. Thehorns of all other kinds are attached to the bones, but those of stags alonegrow out of the hide.

XLVI. The heads of fishes are very large in proportion to their bodies,perhaps so as to enable them to dive. The shell-fish kind have no heads, norhave sponges nor virtually any of the other creatures which only possess thesense of touch. Some kinds, for instance crabs, have the head not separated fromthe body.

XLVII. Of all the animals man has most hairon the head: indeed this is the case indiscriminately with males and females,at all events with the races that do not cut the hair; and the Longhair tribesof the Alps and Gallia Comata have actually derived their names from this,though nevertheless there is in this respect some difference between countries:in fact the people of Mykoni are born devoid of hair, like the persons with anaffection of the spleen at Caucus. (Also some kinds of animals are bald bynature, for instance ostriches and cormorants; the Greek name for the latter isderived from this peculiarity.) With these races loss of the hair is rare in thecase of a woman and unknown in eunuchs, and never occurs in any case beforesexual intercourse has taken place; and they are never bald below the brainpanor the crown of the head, or round the temples and the ears. Man is the onlyspecies in which baldness occurs, except in cases of animals born without hair,and only with human beings and horses does the hair turn grey, in the formercase always starting at the forehead and only afterwards at the back of thehead.

XLVIII. In human beings only a double-crowned skull occurs in somecases. The bones of the human skull are flat and thin and have no marrow; theyare constructed with iuterlockings serrated like the teeth of a comb. Whenbroken they cannot form again, but the removal of a moderate piece is notfatal, as its place is taken by a scar of flesh. The skull of the bear is theweakest and that of the parrot the hardest, as we have stated in the properplace.

XLIX. All blooded animals have a brain, and so also have thesea-creatures that we have designated the soft species, although they arebloodless, for instance the polypus [octopus]. Man however has the largest brainin proportion to his size and the most moist one, and it is the coldest of allhis organs; it is wrapped in two membranes above and below, the fracture ofeither of which is fatal. For the rest a man's brain is larger than a woman's.With all human beings it has no blood or veins, and in some cases no fat. Thelearned teach that it is distinct from marrow because boiling makes it hard. Inthe middle of the brain of all species there are tiny little bones. With manalone the brain throbs in infancy, and does not become firm before the childfirst begins to talk. The brain is the highest of the organs in position, and itis protected by the vault of the head; it has no flesh or blood or refuse. It isthe citadel of sense-perception, and the focus to which all the flow of theveins converges from the heart and at which it stops; it is the crowningpinnacle, the seat of government of the mind. But the brain of all animalsslopes forward, because our senses also stretch in front of us. It is the sourceof sleep and the cause of drowsy nodding; species without a brain do not sleep.

Stags are stated to have maggots to the number of twenty in the head beneath thehollow of the tongue and in the neighbourhood of the juncture of the head withthe neck.

L. Only man is unable to move the ears. (The family surnameFlabby comes from them.) Also women spend more money on their ears, in pearlearrings, than on any other part of their person; in the East indeed it isconsidered becoming even for men to wear gold in that place. Some animals havelarger and others smaller ears; only stags have cleft and as it were dividedears; the shrewmouse has shaggy ears; but all species, at all events viviparousones, have some ears, except the seal and dolphin, and those which we havedesignated a cartilaginous, and vipers: these have only holes in place of ears,except the cartilaginous species and the dolphin, although the latter isobviously able to hear; for dolphins are charmed even by music, and are caughtwhile bewildered by the sound. Their precise method of hearing is a riddle. Theyalso have no indications of smell, although they possess a very keen scent. Offeathered creatures only the eagle-owl and eared owl have feathers that serve asears, the rest have apertures for hearing; and similarly with the scalycreatures and with snakes. In horses and every kind of cattle the ears displaysigns of their feelings, drooping when they are tired, twitching when they arefrightened, pricked up when they are angry and relaxed when they are sick.

LI. Only man has a face, all other animals have a muzzle or beak. Othersalso have a brow, but only with man is it an indication of sorrow and gaiety,mercy and severity. The eyebrows in man can be moved in agreement with it,either both together or alternately, and in them a portion of the mind issituated: with them we indicate assent and dissent, they are our chief means ofdisplaying contempt; pride has its place of generation elsewhere, but here isits abode: it is born in the heart, but it rises to the eyebrows and hangssuspended therehaving found no position in the body at once loftier and steeperwhere it could be sole occupant.

LII. Beneath the brows lie the eyes, the most precious part of thebody and the one that distinguishes life from death by the use it makes ofdaylight. Not all animals have these organs: oysters have no eyes, and some ofthe shellfish doubtful ones, as scallops, if somebody moves his fingers towardsthem when they are open, shut up as though seeing them, and razor-shells hurryaway from iron hooks brought near them. Of four-footed creatures moles have nosight, although they possess the semblance of eyes if one draws off the coveringmembrane. And among birds the variety of the heron class called in Greekwhite herons are said to lack one eye, and to be a very good omen whenthey fly North or South, as they tell that dangers and alarms are beingdissipated.Nigidius says that alsolocusts and cicadas have no eyes. For snails their pair of horns all the placeof eyes by feeling in front of them. Earth-worms also and worms in general haveno eyes.

LIII. Man alone has eyes of various colours, whereas with allother creatures the eyes of each member of a species are alike. Some horses toohave grey eyes; but in man the eyes are of extremely numerous variety anddifferencelarger than the average, medium, small; prominent, which are thoughtto be dimmer, or deep-set, which are thought to see most clearly, as are thosewith the colour of goats' eyes.

LIV. Moreover some people have long sight. but others can only seethings brought close to them. The sight of many depends on the brilliance of thesun, and they cannot see clearly on a cloudy day or after sunset; others havedimmer sight in the day time but are exceptionally keen-sighted at night. Wehave already said enough about double pupils, or persons who have the evil eye.Blue-grey eyes see more clearly in the dark. It is stated thatTiberius Caesar alone of all mankind wasso constituted that if he woke up in the night for a short time he could seeeverything just as in bright daylight, although darkness gradually closed overhim. The late lamentedAugustus had greyeyes like those of horses, the whites being larger than usual in a human being,on account of which he used to be angry if people watched his eyes too closely;Claudius Caesar's eyes were frequentlybloodshot and had a fleshy gleam at the corners; the EmperorGaius had staring eyes;Nero's eyes were dull of sight exceptwhen he screwed them up to look at objects brought close to them. In thetraining-school of the EmperorGaiusthere were 20,000 gladiators, among whom there were only two that did not blinkwhen faced by some threat of danger and were consequently unconquerable: s6difficult it is for a human being to stare steadily, whereas for most people itis natural to keep on blinking, and these are traditionally supposed to be morecowardly. Nobody has eyes of only one colour: with everyone the general surfaceis white but there is a different colour in the middle. No other part of thebody supplies greater indications of the mindthis is so with all animals alike,but specially with manthat is, indications of self-restraint, mercy, pity,hatred, love, sorrow, joy. The eyes are also very varied in their lookfierce,stern, sparkling, sedate, leering, askance, downcast, kindly: in fact the eyesare the abode of the mind. They glow, stare, moisten, wink; from them flows thetear of compassion, when we kiss them we seem to reach the mind itself, they arethe source of tears and of the stream that bedews the cheek. What is the natureof this moisture that at a moment of sorrow flows so copiously and so promptly?Or where is it in the remaining time? In point of fact it is the mind that isthe real instrument of sight and of observation; the eyes act as a sort ofvessel receiving and transmitting the visible portion of the consciousness.This explains why deep thought blinds the eyes by withdrawing the vision inward,and why when the mind is clouded during an attack of epilepsy the eyes thoughopen discern nothing. Moreover hares sleep with the eyes wide open, and so domany human beings while in the condition which the Greeks term 'corybantic.'

Nature has constructed them with thin and multiple membranes, and with outsidewrappers that are callous against cold and heat, which sherepeatedly cleanses with moisture from the tear-glands, and she has made theeyes slippery against objects that encounter them, and mobile.

LV. The horny skin in the centre of the eye nature has furnished with thepupil as a window, the narrow opening of which does not allow the gaze to roamuncertain, but so to speak canalizes its direction, and easily averts objectsthat encounter it on the way; the pupil is surrounded with circles which withsome people are coloured black, with others grey and with others blue, so thatthe light from the surrounding radiance both may be received in a suitableblend and having its reflexion moderated may not be jarring; and the efficacy ofthe mirror is made so perfect by these means that the small pupil can reflectthe entire image of a human being. This is the reason why commonly birds whenreleased from men's hands go first of all for their eyes, because they seetheir own likeness reflected in them and try to reach as it were a desiredobject that is akin to themselves. Beasts of burden only experience diseases atcertain phases of the moon. Man alone is cured of blindness by the emission offluid from the eye. Many have had their sight restored after 20 years ofblindness; some have been blind at birth owing to no defect in the eyes;similarly, many have suddenly lost their sight without any previous injury. Themost learned authorities state that the eyes are connected with the brain by avein; for my own part I am inclined to believe that they are also thus connectedwith the stomach: it is unquestionable that a man never has an eye knocked outwithout vomiting. There is a solemn ritual custom among Roman citizens to closethe eyes of the dying and to open them again on the funeral pyre, custom havingestablished that it is not right for the eyes to be seen by a human being at thelast moment and also wrong for them not to be displayed to the heavens. Man isthe only animal whose eyes are liable to distortion, which is the origin of thefamily names Squint-eye and Blinky. From the eyes also came the name of One-eyethat used to be given to persons born blind in one eye, and that of Eyelet givento persons both of whose eyes were small; the One-eye family a received the nameof an injury done to one of them. The eyes of night-roaming animals like catsshine and flash in the dark so that one cannot look at them, and those of thewild-goat and the wolf gleam and shoot out light; the eyes of the sea-calf andof the hyena change frequently into a thousand colours; moreover those of manyfishes shine out even in the dark, like oak-tree stumps when dry and rotten withage. We have stated that creatures that do not direct their gaze by slanting theeyes but by turning the head round do not wink. It is reported that the chameleon's eyes turn themselves entirely round. Crabs look sideways, havingtheir eyes enclosed in a fragile shell. Lobsters and shrimps mostly have veryhard eyes projecting under a protection of the same kind. Creatures with hardeyes have less keen sight than those whose eyes are moist. It is stated that ifone removes the eyes of young snakes and swallow chicks, they grow again. Theeyes of all insects and of creatures with a covering of shell move like the earsof quadrupeds. Those with fragile coverings have hard eyes. All such creatures,and also fish and insects, have no eyelids and do not close their eyes; withalthe eye is covered with a membrane that is transparent like glass.

LVI. Human beings have eyelashes on both eyelids. Women actuallyhave them dyed every day: such is their desire to achieve beauty that theycolour even their eyes; but really the lashes were bestowed by nature foranother purpose, as a sort of fence to the sight and a barrier projectingagainst insects meeting the eye, or other things accidentally falling into them.It is said that sexual excess causes them to drop off, not undeservedly. None ofthe other species have them excepting those with hair on the rest of the body aswell, but quadrupeds have them only on the upper lid, birds on the lower, asalso do creatures with a soft skin, for instance snakes, and oviparousquadrupeds, for instance lizards. The ostrich is the only bird with lashes onboth eyelids like a human being.

LVII. Not all species have eyelids either, and also onlyviviparous creatures can wink. The heavier birds close the eye with the lowerlid, and also wink with a skin that covers the eye from the corner. Pigeons andsimilar birds close the eyes with both lids. But oviparous quadrupeds, such astortoises and crocodiles, do so only with the lower lid, without any winkingbecause their eyes are extremely hard. The old name for the edge of the uppereyelid was cilium; hence our word for the brows. When the eyelid is cleftby a wound it does not grow together again, as is the case with a few otherparts of the human body.

LVIII. Only man has cheeks below the eyes (the old word for the cheekswasgenae, used in the Twelve Tables in the prohibition of women'slacerating them). The cheeks are the seat of modesty: on them a blush is mostvisible.

LIX. The face between the cheekbones displays merriment andlaughter, and higher up, but in man only, stands the nose, which modern fashionhas made the organ of sly mockery. No other animal has projecting nostrils,birds, snakes and fishes only having apertures for smelling, without nostrilsand this is the origin of the surnames Snubby and Pug. Seven-month children havefrequently been born lacking the apertures of the ears and nostrils.

LX. The viviparous species have lipswhence the surnames Lippy andBlubber-lipsand a well-shaped or rather harsh mouth. Instead of ups birds havepointed beaks of horn, which are hooked in birds of prey, straight in those thatlive by pecking, and broad in those that dig up grass and mud, like the snoutsof the swine class. Cattle use their mouths instead of a hand for gatheringfodder. Beasts that live by tearing up their prey have mouths that open wider.

No creature but man has a chin, any more than cheeks. The crocodile moves onlythe upper jaw; four-footed laud animals open the mouth in the same way as allother creatures and in addition move the lower jaw sideways.

LXI. There are three kinds of teethserrated or continuous orprojecting: serrated teeth closing together like the teeth of a comb, so as notto be worn away by direct collision, as in snakes, fishes and dogs; continuous,as in man and the horse; projecting, as in the boar, hippopotamus and elephant.Of continuous teeth those that separate the food (incisors), are called thebroad or sharp teeth, those that masticate it double teeth, and those betweenthese dog-teeth. The latter are longest in creatures with serrated teeth.Continuous teeth are either in both jaws, as with the horse, or else there areno front teeth in the upper jaw, as with oxen and sheep and all the ruminants.The goat has no upper teeth except the pair in front. Species having serratedteeth have no projecting teeth, and a female rarely has them, and when she hasthem does not use them; consequently though boars gore, sows bite. No specieswith horns has projecting teeth, but all have curved ones; all the other specieshave solid teeth. All kinds of fish have serrated teeth except theparrot-fishthis is the only aquatic species that has level teeth. Many of themhowever have teeth on the tongue and all over the mouth, so as to soften bymeans of a multiplicity of wounds objects that they are unable to reduce bymastication. Many also have teeth on the palate [and also on the tail] and alsoturned further into the mouth, so as to prevent morsels of food from fallingout, as they have no apparatus for retaining it.

LXII. The asp and serpent have similar teeth, but two extremely long oneson the right and left side of the upper jaw, perforated by a slender tube likethe stings of the scorpion, which inject poison. The most accurate authoritieswrite that this poison is nothing else than the serpents' gall, and that veinspass from the gall-bladder under the spine to the mouth; certain writers saythat it is only one tooth, and that as it is hooked it is sloped backward whenit has inflicted a bite; some authorities state that it then falls out andafterwards grows again, as it is very easy to dislodge, and that the snakes thatwe see handled lack this tooth; and that the scorpion has this tooth in itstailas according to most authorities it has three. The vipers' teeth areconcealed in its gum. Their gum is charged with the same poison, and whensqueezed by the pressure of the teeth pours out its venom into the bitesinflicted. No winged creature except the bat has teeth. The camel is the onlyanimal without horns that has not got front teeth in the upper jaw. No hornedanimal has serrated teeth. Even snails have teeth; this is proved by the factthat even the smallest of them gnaw vetches. But I wonder what possible groundthere is for the view that among marine species shell-fish and cartilaginousfish have front teeth, and also that sea-urchins have five. Insects have stingsinstead of teeth. The monkey has teeth like those of a human being. The elephanthas four inner teeth for masticating, and besides these the prominent tusks thatare bent backward in the male and slope straight downward in the female. Thesea-mouse that swims in front of the whale has no teeth, but instead of them itsmouth inside and also its tongue and palate are set with bristles. Of landanimals very small quadrupeds have two extremely long front teeth in each jaw.

LXIII. All the other animals are born withteeth, but man grows them six months after birth. All the rest keep their teethpermanently, but man, the lion, the beasts of burden, dogs and ruminant animalsshed them; with the lion and dog however this only applies to those calleddog-teeth. The right dog-tooth of a wolf is held to be valuable as an amulet. Noanimal sheds its maxillary teeth, the ones next to the dog-teeth. In man thosecalled wisdom-teeth grow latest, at about the age of twenty, and in many caseseven at eighty, with females as well, but only in the case of persons who didnot grow them in youth. It is certain that in old age they fall out and thengrow again.Mucianus has stated that hesaw a Samothracian namedZocles who grewa new set of teeth when 110 years old. For the rest, males have more teeth thanfemales in the case of man, ox, goat and pig.Timarchus son ofNicocles atPaphos had two rows of maxillaries; his brother did not shed his front teeth,and consequently wore them down. There is a case of a person even growing atooth in the palate. Any of the dog teeth lost by some accident never growagain. With all other species the teeth get red in old age, but in the horsealone they become whiter.

LXIV. In beasts of burden the teeth are asign of their age. A horse has forty teeth; when two-and-a-half years old itloses two front ones in each jaw, and in the following year the same number ofthe teeth next these, when they are replaced by those called grinders; at thebeginning of its fifth year it looses two teeth, which grow again in its sixthyear; in its seventh year it has all of its second teeth and also its permanentones. A horse previously gelt does not shed its teeth. The ass family likewiselooses teeth when two-and-a-half years old, and again six months later; thosethat have not foaled before they shed their last teeth are sure to be barren.Oxen change their teeth at the age of two. Pigs never shed theirs.

When this indication has come to an end, old age in horses and other beasts ofburden is inferred from prominence of the teeth and greyness of the brows andhollows round them, when they are judged to be about sixteen years old.

Human teeth contain a kind of poison, for they dim the brightness of a mirrorwhen bared in front of it and also kill the fledglings of pigeons. The rest ofthe facts about the teeth have been told in the passage dealing with humanreproduction. Infants when cutting their teeth are specially liable toillnesses. The animals with serrated teeth have the severest pain in teething.

LXV. Not all species have tongues on the same plan. With snakes thetongue is extremely slender and three-forked, darting, black in colour, and ifdrawn out to full length extremely long; with lizards it is cleft in two andhairy, and with seals also it is double; but with the species above mentioned itis of the fineness of a hair. With the rest it is available for licking roundthe jaws, but with fish it adheres through a little less than its whole length,and with crocodiles the whole of it. In aquatic species on the other hand thefleshy palate serves instead of the tongue in tasting. With lions, leopards, andall the species of that genus, even cats, the tongue is rough and corrugatedlike a file, and can scrape away the human skin by licking, which provokes eventhose that have been tamed to madness when their saliva gets through to theblood. We have spoken of the tongues of the purple-fishes. In frogs the tip ofthe tongue is attached but the inner part is loose from the throat; it is withthis that the males croak, at the time when they are called croakers; thishappens at a fixed season, when they are calling the females to mate. In thisprocess they just drop the lower lip and take into the throat a moderate amountof water and let the tongue vibrate in it so as to make it undulate, and acroaking sound is forced out; during this the curves of the cheeks are distendedand become transparent, and the eyes stand out blazing with the exertion.Creatures with stings in their hinder part have teeth and a tongue as well, beeseven a very long tongue, and cicalas also a projecting one; but those with atubular sting in the mouth have neither tongue nor teeth. Some insects have atongue inside the month, for instance ants; moreover, the elephant's tonguealso is particularly little visible. With the rest of the animals according totheft kind the tongue is always quite free, but with man alone it is often sotightly bound by veins that they have to be cut. We find it recorded thatthe High PriestMetellus was sotongue-tied that he is believed to have suffered torture for many months whilepractising the formula to be spoken in dedicating the Temple of Wealth; but inall other cases of stammering the patient usually contrives to speak distinctlyafter reaching the age of six. Many people on the other hand are endowed withsuch skill in using the tongue that they can give imitations of the cries ofbirds and animals that are indistinguishable from the real thing.

With all the other species the tip of the tongue is the seat of taste, but withman this is also situated in the palate.

LXVI. Man has tonsils, the pig glands. Man alone has what iscalled the uvula hanging from the back of the palate between the tonsils. Nooviparous species possesses the lesser tongue below the uvula. Itsfunctions are twofold, placed as it is between two, tubes. Of these theinner one called the windpipe stretches to the lungs and the heart; this thelesser tongue closes while food is being eaten, as breath and voice passes alongit, lest if drink or food should pass into the wrong channel, it might causepain. The other, the outer tube, is of course called the gullet, down which foodand drink fall; this leads to the stomach, and the stomach to the abdomen. Thispassage the lesser tongue occasionally closes, when only breath or voice ispassing, so that an untimely rising of the stomach may not interfere. Thewindpipe consists of gristle and flesh, the gullet of sinew and flesh.

LXVII. No species except those possessing both windpipe and gullethave a nape; all the others, which have only a gullet, have a neck. But in thosepossessing a nape it is composed of a number of bones articulated in rings withjointed vertebrae, so as to be capable of bending to look round; only in thelion and wolf and hyena is it a stiff structure of a single straight bone.Moreover it is connected with the spine, and the spine with the loins, in a bonybut rounded structure, the marrow passing down from the brain through theorifices in the vertebrae. It is inferred that the spinal cord is of the samesubstance as the brain for the reason that, if its extremely slender membrane ismerely cut into, death follows immediately. Species with long legs also havelong necks; as also have aquatic species even though they have short legs, andsimilarly if they have hooked claws.

LXVIII. Man and swine alone suffer from swollen throat, usually due tobad drinking water. The top part of the gullet is called the pharynx and thebottom part the stomach. This name denotes the cavity attached to the spinebelow the fleshy part of the windpipe, bulging out lengthwise and breadthwiselike a flagon. Species without a pharynx, for instance fishes, have no stomacheither, and no neck nor throat, and the mouth is joined to the abdomen. The seatortoise has not got a tongue or teeth, but breaks up all its food with thepoint of its snout. Next comes the windpipe and the stomach, denticulated withridges of thick skin like bramble-thorns for the purpose of grinding up thefood, the interstices growing smaller in proportion as they are nearer to theabdomen: at the bottom it is as rough as a carpenter's rasp.

LXIX. The heart with the other animals is in the middle of thechest, but in man alone it is below the left breast, with its conical endprojecting forward. In fishes only it points towards the mouth. It is statedthat at birth the heart is the first organ formed in the womb, and next thebrain, just as the eyes develop latest, but that the eyes are the first to dieand the heart the last. The heart is the warmest part. It has a definite beatand a motion of its own as if it were a second animal inside the animal; it iswrapped with a very soft and firm covering of membrane, and protected bythe wall of the ribs and chest, so that it may give birth to the principle causeand origin of life. It provides the vital principle and the blood with theirprimary abodes inside it, in a winding recess which in large animals isthree-fold and in all others without exception double; this is thedwelling-place of the mind. From this source two large veins run apart to thefront and the back of the body, and diffuse the blood of life through othersmaller veins with a spreading system of branches to all the limbs. The heartalone is not tortured by the defects of the inner organs; and it does notprolong the torments of life, and when wounded at once brings death. When therest of the parts have been injured vitality continues in the heart.

LXX. The view is held that dull creaturesare those whose heart is stiff and hard, bold ones those whose heart is small,and cowardly ones those in which it is specially large; but it is largest inproportion to their size in mice, the hare, the ass, the stag, the leopard,weasels, hyenas, and all the species that are either timid or rendered dangerousby fear. Partridges in Paphlagonia have two hearts. Bones are occasionally foundin the heart of horses and oxen. The people of Egypt, who practise the custom ofmummification, have a belief that the human heart grows larger every year and atthe age of fifty reaches a weight of a quarter of an ounce, and from that pointloses weight at the same rate; and that consequently a man does not live beyonda hundred, owing to heart failure. It is stated that some people are born with ahairy heart, and that they are exceptionally brave and resolutean example beinga Messenian namedAristomenes who killedthree hundred Spartans. He himself when severely wounded and taken prisoner for.the first time escaped through a cave from confinement in the quarries byfollowing the routes by which foxes got in. He was again taken prisoner, butwhen his guards were fast asleep he rolled to the fire and burnt off his thongs,burning his body in the process. He was taken a third time, and the Spartans cuthim open alive and his heart was found to be shaggy.

LXXI. In victims whose organs are propitious there is a certain fatnesson the top of the heart. But the heart was not always considered as oneof the significant organs; it was after the 126th Olympiad, whenLucius Postumius Albinus, son ofLucius, was King of Sacrifices, afterKingPyrrhus had evacuated Italy, thatthe augurs began to inspect the heart among the organs. On the day whenCaesar as dictator first went inprocession dressed in purple and took his seat on a golden throne, when heperformed a sacrifice the heart was lacking among the organs; and this gave riseto much debate among the students of divination, as to whether the victim hadbeen able to live without that organ or had lost it at the time. It is statedthat at the cremation of persons who have died of heart disease the heart cannotbe burnt, and the same is said of persons that have been killed by poison;undoubtedly there is extant a speech ofVitellius that employs this argument to proveGnaeus Piso guilty of poisoning, andexplicitly uses the evidence that it had been impossible to cremate the heart ofGermanicus Caesar on account of poison.In replyPiso's defence was based on thenature of the disease.

LXXII. Below the heart are situated the lungs, the breathingapparatus, drawing in and sending back the breath, and consequently spongy insubstance and perforated with empty tubes. As has been said, few aquaticspecies possess lungs, and in the oviparous species they are small and containfroth, not blood; consequently these species do not experience thirst. The samecause makes it possible for frogs and seals to stay long under water. Also thelungs of the tortoise, although very large and spreading under the whole of itsshell, are nevertheless devoid of blood. The speed of a creature's movementvaries inversely with the size of its lungs. The chameleon's lungs are extremelylarge in proportion to its size, and it has no other internal organ.

LXXIII. The liver is on the right hand side; it contains what is calledthe head of the internal organs, which varies a great deal.Marcus Marcellus, near the time of hisdeath, when he was killed byHannibal, found the liver missing among the organs, but on the followingday a double liver was discovered. The liver was also missing withGaius Marius when he offered sacrificeat Utica, and also with the EmperorGaiuson January 1 at the commencement of his consulship in the year of his murder,and with his successorClaudius in themonth in which he was poisoned. When the late lamentedAugustus was sacrificing at Spoleto onthe first day he was in power the livers of six victims were found with thebottom of their tissue folded back inward, and this was interpreted to mean thathe would double his power within a year. It is also of gloomy omen when the headof the liver is accidentally cutexcept at a period of trouble and alarm, whenit removes anxieties. Hares with two livers are found in the district of Briletum and Thames and in the Chersonese on the Sea of Marmara, and surprisingto say, when the animals are moved to another place one of the two liversdisappears.

LXXIV. The liver also contains the gall-bladder, but not all animalspossess one. At Chalcis in Euboea the cattle have none, while at Naxos they havea very large double one, so that both facts seem portentous to a stranger.Horses, mules, asses, stags, wild goats, boars, camels and dolphins havenot got one; some mice have. Among human beings few lack one; those who do areexceptionally strong in health and long-lived. Some think that the horse has agall-bladder not indeed in the liver but in the belly, and that the stag has onein the tail or in the bowels, and that consequently they have such a bitterflavour that dogs will not touch them. But as a matter of fact it is onlyexcrement, and because of this the substance of this part also contains theworst portion of the blood. Unquestionably only sanguineous animals possess aliver. The liver receives the blood from the heart with which it is connected,and passes it into the veins.

LXXV. But with a human being black gall contains the cause of insanity,and when it is all excreted death follows. Hence the reproach madeagainst a man's character under the term 'bile': so powerful a poison iscontained in this part when it spreads to the mind. Moreover when it is diffusedall over the body it takes away the colour even of the eyes, and indeed, whenexcreted, even from bronze vessels, which turn black when touched by itso thatnobody need be surprised that snakes' gall is poison. (Animals in the Pontusthat eat wormwood are free from bile.) Again the gall-bladder is connected withthe kidneys and only on one side with the intestine in ravens, quails andpheasants, and in some only with the intestine, as in pigeons, the hawk,lampreys; and with a few birds it is in the liver. With snakes it isproportionally extremely copious, and so with fishes. But with birds it usuallyfills the whole intestine, as with the hawk and kite; moreover it is also in theliver, as in the case of all the large marine animals. Indeed in the case ofseals it is in high repute for many purposes as well. From bulls' gall a goldencolour is extracted. The augurs have consecrated the gall to Neptune and thepower of the watery element, and the late lamentedAugustus found a double gall-bladder onthe day on which he won the battle of Actium.

LXXVI. It is said that the filaments in the tiny livers of micecorrespond with the number of the days of the moon in the month, and are foundto correspond with its degree of light; and also that they grow larger withwinter. Rabbits are often found in Southern Spain with a double set of internalorgans. One of the two filaments of toads ants do not touch, because of theirpoison, as is believed. The liver is extremely capable of enduring age, and hasbeen proved by instances of sieges to last a hundred years.

LXXVII. Snakes and lizards have long internal organs. There is a recordthat when a person at Volterra namedCaecinawas performing a sacrifice, some snakes darted out from the internal organs ofthe victima joyful portent; and indeed it would seem nothing incredible tothose considering that on the day on which King Pyrrhus died the heads of his victims when cut off crawled about lickingup their own blood. In man the chief internal organs are separated from thelower part of the viscera by a membrane which is called thepraecordia(diaphragm), because it is stretchedprae (in front of) thecor(heart): the Greek word for it isphrenes. Indeed provident Nature hasenclosed all the principal internal organs with special membranes serving assheaths; but in the case of this membrane a special cause also was the proximityof the bowels, to prevent the food from pressing down on the vital principle.To this membrane unquestionably is due the subtlety of the intellect; itconsequently has no flesh, but is of a spare sinewy substance. In it also is thechief seat of merriment, a fact that is gathered chiefly from tickling thearmpits to which it rises, as nowhere else is the human skin thinner, andconsequently the pleasure of scratching is closest there. On this account therehave been cases in battle and in gladiatorial shows of death caused by piercingthe diaphragm that has been accompanied by laughter.

LXXVIII. In creatures possessing a stomach the abdomen is below it; it issingle in the other species but double in the ruminants. Species without bloodhave no stomach, because in some, for instance the cuttlefish and the polyp,the intestine beginning at the month bends back to the same point. In man theabdomen is connected with the bottom of the stomach, like the dog's. These arethe only animals in which it is narrower at the lower part, and consequentlythey are the only ones that vomit, because when the abdomen is full thisnarrowness prevents the food from passing, which cannot happen to those in whichthe roomy laxity of the abdomen passes the food on to the lower parts.

LXXIX. From this abdomen start in the sheep and in man the smaller intestines through which the food passes, and in the other species the entrails, from which the roomier intestines pass to the belly, and in the case of man in extremely winding coils. On this account species in which the distance from the belly is longer arc greedier for food; moreover those with a very fat abdomen are less clever. Birds also in some eases have two receptacles, one down which food just eaten passes to the throat, the other into which they pass the food from the throat when digestede.g. hens, ring-doves, pigeons andpartridges. Almost all the other species in most cases have not got this, butmake use of a more widely opened gullet, for instance jays, ravens and crows.Some species treat the food in neither manner, but have the abdomen very near;these are species that have specially long and narrow necks, for instance thesultana-hen. The abdomen of whole-hoofed annuals is rough and hard. In that ofsome land animals the roughness is denticulated, and in that of others it has alatticed bite. Species that are without teeth in both jaws and that do notruminate digest their food here and pass it down from here into the belly. Thisin all species is attached at its middle to the navel; in man at its lower partit resembles the belly of a pig; the Greeks call it the colon; it is the seat ofa great cause of pain. In dogs it is extremely narrow, and for this reason theycan only relieve it with a violent effort and not without severe pain. The mostravenous animals are those in whom the food passes directly from theabdomen right down the gut; this is the case with lynxes, and among birdscormorants. The elephant has four abdomens, but its other parts resemble thoseof pigs; its lungs are four times as large as those of an ox. Birds have afleshy and hard abdomen. In the abdomen of swallow chicks there are found whiteor red coloured pebbles, called swallow-stones; there are accounts of these inthe treatises on magic. Also in the second abdomen of heifers is found a roundball of blackish tufa that weighs nothing; this is thought to be a sovereignremedy for difficulty in childbirth if it has never been allowed to touch theground.

LXXX. The abdomen and bowels except in the oviparous species arewrapped in a fat thin caul. To this is attached the spleen on the left sideopposite the liver, with which it occasionally changes place, but thisconstitutes a portent. Some think that oviparous species contain a spleen, andalso snakes a rather small one; this undoubtedly appears to be so in the case ofthe tortoise, the crocodile, lizards and frogs. It is certain that thegoat's-head bird has not got a spleen, nor have the bloodless species. Sometimesit causes a peculiar impediment in running, owing to which runners who havetrouble have an operation to reduce it. Also cases are reported of animalsliving after it has been removed by an incision. There are some who think thatthis operation deprives a man of the power of laughing, and that inability tocontrol one's laughter is caused by enlargement of the spleen. It is said thatin a district in Asia called Scepsis the cattle have extremely small spleens,and that remedies for the spleen have been imported from there.

LXXXI. All viviparous quadrupeds a have kidneys, but among oviparous onesonly the tortoise, which has all the other internal organs also, but, as withman, its kidneys resemble those of the ox, and look like a cluster ofseveral kidneys. But at Briletum and Thame stags have four kidneys while thespecies possessing feathers and scales have none. For the rest, theyare attached to the top of the loins. In all cases the right kidney is higher,and not so fat, and drier; but with both the fat is discharged out of themiddle, except in the seal. Animals accumulate fat most in the kidneys, sheepindeed with fatal results, because the fat solidifies round them. Occasionallystones are found in the kidneys.

LXXXII. Nature has surrounded the heart and the vital parts withthe chest, a bony structure, but has made it stop at the abdomen which had to beallowed room to increase in size; no animal has bones round the abdomen. Manalone has a broad chest; with all the other animals it is keel-shaped, more sowith birds, and among them most of all with the aquatic species. Man has eightribs, pigs ten, horned animals thirteen and serpents thirty.

LXXXIII. Below the belly in front is the bladder, which occurs innone of the oviparous kinds except the tortoise, in none devoid of lungs filledwith blood, and in none without feet. Between the bladder and the belly are thetubes called the groin, stretching to the private parts. The bladder of the wolfcontains a stone namedsyrites; but in some human beings there continually formterribly painful stones and bristly fibres. The bladder consists of a membranethat when wounded does not form a solid scar; it is not the same as the one thatenfolds the brain or the heart, as there are several kinds of membrane.

LXXXIV. Women have all the same organs, and in addition,joined to the bladder, a small sac, called from its shape the uterus orwomb; another name for it is 'the parts,' and in the rest of the animalsit is called the matrix. This in the viper and the viviparous species is double; in the oviparous ones it is attached to the diaphragm; and in women it has two recesses on either side of the flanks, and it causes death whenever it is displaced and interferes with the breathing. It is said that cows when pregnant only carry in the right cavity of the womb, even when carrying twins. Sow's paunch is a better dish after a miscarriage than after a successful delivery; in the former case it is called 'miscarryings' and in the latter 'farrowings.' That of a sow farrowing for the first time is best, and thecontrary with those exhausted with breeding. After farrowing the paunch is a badcolour and lacking in fat, unless the sow was killed the same day; nor is thatof young sows thought much of, except from those farrowing for the first time,and the paunch of old sows is preferable provided they are not quite worn out,and not killed on the actual day of farrowing or the day before or the dayafter. The paunch next best to miscarryings is that of a sow slaughtered the dayafter farrowing; also its paps are the best, provided it has not yet suckled thelitter; the paps of a sow that has had a miscarriage are the worst. In old dayspeople called it sow's abdomen before it got hard, as they used not to slaughtersows when they were with young.

LXXXV. Horned animals with teeth in one and those that havepastern-bones in the feet put on fat in the form of suet, but in thosewith cloven hooves or feet divided into toes, and without horns, it formsgrease. This is of a solid substance and when it has cooled off can he brokenup, and it is always where the flesh ends; whereas fat is between the flesh andthe skin, and is moist and fluid. Some animals, for instance the hare and thepartridge, do not grow fat. All fat animals are more liable to barrenness, inthe case of both males and females; also excessively fat ones get old morequickly. All animals have some fat in the eyes. In all cases the greasy fat hasno sensation, because it does not possess arteries or veins; and in most animalsalso fatness of condition causes insensitiveness, and it is recorded thatbecause of this pigs have been gnawed by mice while still alive. It is also onrecord that the son of the consularLuciusApronius had his fat removed by an operation and relieved his body ofunmanageable weight.

LXXXVI. Marrow also appears to consist of the same substance,being of a red colour in youth and turning white in old age. It is only found inhollow bones, and there is none in the legs of oxen or dogs, in consequence ofwhich when they are fractured the bone does not join again, this being caused bythe flow of marrow from a fracture. But the marrow is fat in the animals thatcontain lard, suety in those with horns, sinewy and only present in the spine inthose without bones, like the fish kind; and bears have none, and the lion arather small amount in a few of the bones of the thighs, and forelegs, while theother bones are so hard that fire can be struck from them as from a flint.

LXXXVII. Also the animals that do not get fat have hard bones; those ofasses are resonant enough to use as flutes. Dolphins being viviparous have bonesand not spines, but snakes have spines. Soft aquatic species have no bones, butrings of flesh bound round the body, for instance the two kinds of cnttlefish.Insects also are said to be equally devoid of bones. The gristly aquatic specieshave marrow in the spine, and seals have gristle, not bones. Similarly with allthat have ears and nostrils that just project these are soft and flexible,nature thus insuring them against fracture. When gristle is burst it does notjoin up, and when bones are amputated they do not grow again, except the bonebetween the hoof and the hock in beasts of burden. Human beings grow taller tothe age of twenty-one and from then onward fill out; but more particularly atthe period of puberty they are noticed to get free from a sort of impediment totheir growth, and especially so in sickness.

LXXXVIII. The sinews starting from the heart, and in the ox actuallywrapped round the heart, have a similar nature and explanation, being in allanimals attached to the slippery bones and binding together the links of thebodily frame called joints, in some cases by coming between them, in others bysurrounding them and in others by passing from one to another, being at onepoint rounded and at another flattened as the conformation of the joint requiresin each case. The sinews also do not join again if cut, and, what is surprising,though extremely painful if wounded cause no pain at all if cut through. Someanimals, for instance fishes, have no sinews, as they are held together by theirarteries; although the soft species of the fish genus lack arteries as well.Where there are sinews, the inner ones contract the limbs and the ones on thesurface reverse the movement.

LXXXIX. Between the sinews lie the arteries, which are thepassages for the breath, and on these float the veins, which are the channelsfor the blood. The pulse of the arteries being particularly evident at theextremity of the limbs is usually a sign of diseases; with remarkable scientificskill it has been reduced by that high priest of medicine, Herophilus, todefinite rhythms and metrical rules throughout the periods of lifesteady orhurried or slow. This sign has been neglected because of its excessive subtlety,but yet really it supplies a rule for the guidance of life by observation of thepulse-beat, rapid or languid. The arteries have no sensation, for they even arewithout blood, nor do they all contain the breath of life; and when they are cutonly the part of the body concerned is paralysed. Birds have not got eitherveins or arteries, nor yet have snakes, tortoises and lizards, and they haveonly a very small amount of blood.

The veins spread underneath the whole skin, finally ending in very thin threads,and they narrow down into such an extremely minute size that the blood cannotpass through them nor can anything else but the moisture passing out from theblood in innumerable small drops which is called sweat. The junction andmeeting point of the veins is at the navel.

XC. Creatures whose blood is copious and thick are hot-tempered. Theblood of males is darker than that of females, and that of youth than that ofold age; and it is thicker in the lower part of the body. The blood alsocontains a large proportion of vitality, and when shed it draws the breath withit; but it has no sense of touch. The animals with denser blood are braver,those with thinner blood wiser, and those with very little blood, or none atall, more timid. The blood of bulls coagulates and hardens most quickly (andconsequently is noxious to drink); that of boars next quickly, but that of stagsand goats and antelopes does not thicken at all. Asses have the thickest bloodand man the thinnest. Species with more than four feet have no blood. Fatanimals have a smaller supply of blood, because it is used up in the fat. In thehuman race alone a flux of blood occurs in the males, in some eases at one ofthe nostrils, in others at both, with some people through the lower organs, withmany through the mouth; it may occur at a fixed period, as recently with a manof praetorian rank namedMacrinus Viscus,and every year with the City PrefectVolusiusSaturninus, who actually lived to be over 90. This alone of the bodilyaffections experiences an occasional increase, inasmuch as sacrificial victimsbleed more copiously if they have previously drunk.

XCI. Those animals which we have specified as going into hiding at fixedseasons have not any blood at those periods except quite scanty drops in theneighbourhood of the head, by a marvellous contrivance of nature, just as inman she causes the blood-supply to alter at the smallest impulses, the blood notonly being suffused with less matter by sleep but at each separate state ofmind, by shame, anger, and fear, there being various ways of turning pale, andalso of blushingas the blush of anger is different from that of modesty.For it is certain that in fear the blood retreats and is nowhere to be found,and that many creatures do not shed blood when stabbed, which happens only to ahuman being. For those which we have spoken of as changing their colour reallyassume the colour of some other object by a sort of reflexion; only man actuallychanges colour in himself. All diseases and death reduce the amount of blood.

XCII. There are persons who think that subtlety of mind is not due tothinness of the blood, but that animals are more or less brutish owing to theirskin and bodily coverings, as for instance molluscs and tortoises; and that thehides of oxen and bristles of pigs obstruct the thinness of the air when beinginhaled, and it is not transmitted pure and liquid; so also in man, when hisskin being thicker or more callous shuts it outjust as if crocodiles did notpossess both a hard hide and cunning.

XCIII. The skin of the hippopotamus is so thick that it is used for thepoints of spears, and yet its mind possesses a certain medical ability. Thehides of elephants also supply impenetrable bucklers (though nevertheless theyare credited with the most outstanding mental subtlety of all quadrupeds); andconsequently their skin itself is devoid of sensation, especially in the head.It does not heal up when wounded in any place where there is only skin and noflesh, as in the cheek and eyelid.

XCIV. Viviparous species have bristles, butoviparous ones have feathers or scales, or shells like tortoises, or bare skinlike snakes. Feathers in all cases have hollow stalks; when cut off they do notgrow again, but when plucked out others grow in their place. Insects use fragilemembranes to fly with, flying-fish fly over the sea with damp membranes andbats among houses with dry ones; the wings of bats also have joints.

Shaggy hair grows out of a thick skin, whereas women have finerhair; horses have abundant hair in the mane, lions on the shoulders, rabbits onthe cheeks inside and also under the feet, hair in both places being alsorecorded in the case of the hare byTrogus,who infers from this example that among human beings also the hairy ones aremore licentious: the hare is the shaggiest animal there is. Man alone grows hairon the private parts, and if this does not occur is sterile, this applying toboth sexes. Human beings have some hair at birth and grow some later; the latterdoes not grow with men who have been castrated, though the hair they had atbirth does not fall off; just as women also do not much lose their hair,although there have been cases of women afflicted with baldness, and also withdown on the face, when menstruation has ceased. With some men the hair thatcomes after birth does not grow readily. Four-footed animals shed their hair andgrow it again every year. With men the hair of the head grows fastest and nextthat of the beard. When the hair is cut it does not grow again from theincision, as plants and all other things do, but continues growing from theroot. The hair grows longer in some diseases, especially consumption, and in oldage too, and also on the bodies of the dead. Licentious people loose the hairthey had at birth earlier and grow fresh hair more quickly. With four-footedanimals the hair gets thicker with age and the wool thinner. Four-footed animalshave shaggy backs and bare bellies.

XCV. Man is the only species in which the male has teats; with the rest of theanimals there are only the marks of teats. But with the females also only thosehave teats on the breast that are able to lift their offspring up to them. Nooviparous species has teats; and only the viviparous have milk. Among flyingspecies only the bat has milk, as I think the story about screech-owls, thatthey drop milk from their teats into the mouths of babies, is a fabrication. Itis an acknowledged fact that even in old days the screech-owl was one of thecreatures under a curse, but what particular bird is meant I believe to beuncertain.

With asses the teats are painful after foaling,and consequently they refuse to suckle their foals after five months, whereasmares give suck almost a whole year. Whole-hooved species that never have morethan two foals all have two dugs, and these always between the thighs. Animalswith cloven feet and horns have the dugs in the same place, cows having four andsheep and goats two. Those that bear large litters and that have toes on thefeet have more dugs, and these in a double row the whole length of the bellyforinstance swine, of which the good breeds have twelve dugs and the common onestwo less; similarly with dogs. Some species have four dugs in the middle of thebelly, for instance leopards, others two, for instance lionesses. The elephanthas only two dugs beneath the shoulders and not on the breast but close to it,concealed under the shoulder-blades. None of the species with toes have dugsbeneath the thighs. Sows give their first dugs to the pigs born first in eachlitter, these being the dugs nearest to their throats, and each pig in thelitter knows its own dug in the order in which it was born, and gets its foodfrom that one and not at another. If its nurseling is taken away from it the dugat once goes dry and shrivels up, whereas if one out of the whole litter is leftthe dug that had been assigned to it at birth alone hangs down and does service.She-bears carry four dugs. Dolphins only have two nipples at the bottom of thebelly, which are not prominent and project slightly sideways; and the dolphin isthe only animal that gives suck while in motion. But whales and seals alsosuckle their young.

XCVI. A woman's milk produced before the seventh month isof no use, but from that month, when the embryo is alive, it ishealthy. With the females of most species milk flows from the whole of the dugsand even from the fold of the shoulder-blades. Camels have milk until they arein foal again; camel's milk is thought to be most agreeable if three parts ofwater are added to one of milk. A cow does not have milk before calving; andafter the first calving there are always biestings, which condense into a sortof foam unless water is mixed with them. Asses in foal begin to give milk atonce. Where the pasture is rich it is fatal for their foals to have tasted theirmothers' milk in the two days after birth; the name for the illness isbiestings-fever. Cheese is not made from species with teeth in both jaws, astheir milk does not curdle. Camel's milk is the thinnest and mares' milk thenext thin; asses' milk is thickest, so that it is used as a substitute forrennet. Asses' milk is actually thought to contribute something to the whitenessin women's skin; at all eventsDomitiusNero's wifePoppaea used to drag five hundredshe-asses with foals about with her everywhere and actually soaked her wholebody in a bathtub with ass's milk, believing that it also smoothed outwrinkles. All milk is made thicker by fire and turned into whey by cold. Cow'smilk makes more cheese than goat's milk, almost as much again from the samequantity. Animals with more than four dugs are not serviceable for cheese, andthose with two are better.

The curds of the roebuck, hare and goat arepraised, but that of the rabbit is the best, and is even a cure fordiarrhoeathe rabbit is the only animal with teeth in both jaws that has thisproperty. It is remarkable that the foreign races that live on milk for so manycenturies have not known or have despised the blessing of cheese, at mostcondensing their milk into agreeable sour curds and fat butter. Butter is a foamof milk of thicker and stickier substance than what is called whey; it must beadded that it possesses the quality of oil and is used for anointing by allforeigners and by ourselves in the case of children.

XCVII. Of cheese from the provinces the most highly praised at Rome,where the good things of all nations are estimated at first hand, is that of thedistrict of Nimes, coming from the villages of La Lozère and Gévaudan; but itonly wins approval for a short time and when fresh. The Alps prove the value oftheir pastures by two kinds of cheese: the Dalmatian Mountains send the Docleateand the Tarentaise the Vatusic. A larger number belong to the Apennines: thesesend Coebanum cheese from Liguria, chiefly made of sheep's milk, Sarsina cheesefrom Umbria, and Luni cheese from the borderland of Tuscany and Liguriathischeese is remarkable for its size, in fact it is actually made up to the weightof 1000 pounds the cheese; but nearest to Rome is the Vestinian, and the kindfrom the Caedician Plain is the most approved. Herds of goats also have theirspecial reputation for cheese, in the case of fresh cheese especially when smokeincreases its flavour, as with the supremely desirable cheese made in the cityitself; for the cheese of the Gallic goats always has a strong medicinal taste.But of cheeses from over seas the Bithynian is quite famous. That pasturescontain salt, even where it is not visible, is chiefly detected from the factthat all cheese as it gets old turns saltish, just as cheeses steeped in vinegarand thyme undoubtedly return to their original fresh flavour. It is recordedthatZoroaster in the desert lived fortwenty years on cheese that had been so treated as not to be affected by age.

XCVIII. Man is the only land two-footed animal, and the only one that hasa throat, shoulders instead of forequarters like the others, and elbows. Inanimals possessing hands, the hands only have flesh inside, the outsideconsisting of sinews and skin.

XCIX. Some people have six fingers on eachhand. It has come down to us that the two daughters of a man of patrician familynamedMarcus Coranius were called theMiss Six-Fingers on this account, and thatVoleatius Sedigitus was distinguished in poetry. The human fingers havethree joints and the thumb two, and it bends in the opposite direction to allthe fingers, stretching out by itself on a slant, and it is thicker than theothers. The thumb is equal to the smallest finger in length, and two of the restare equal to one another, between them the middle finger extending longest. Thefour-footed animals that live by plunder have five toes on the front feet andfour on the others. Lions, wolves, dogs and the leopard have five claws on thehind feet as well, with the one next the joint of the leg hanging down; theother species, which are smaller, have five toes also.

Not all people's arms are a pair; it is known that a Thracian gladiator namedStudiosus inGaius Caesar's training-school had hisright arm longer than his left. Some animals use the service of their front feetas hands, and sit moving their food to their mouth with them, for instancesquirrels. In fact the monkey tribes have a perfect imitation of a humanbeing in their face, nostrils, cars and eyelashesthey are the onlyfour-footed animals with eyelasheson the lower lid as well, also paps on thebreast, and arms and legs bending similarly in opposite directions, and nails ontheir hands, and fingers, and a longer middle finger. They differ a little fromhuman beings in their feet, for these are very long like their hands, but make afoot-print like the palm of a hand. They also have a thumb and knuckles like ahuman being; and besides a genital organ, and this in the males only, they alsohave all internal organs to pattern.

CI. It is believed that nails are theextremities at the end of sinews. All creatures have nails that also havefingers, but in the monkey they overlap like tiles, whereas in man they arebroad (and they continue to grow after a man is dead); and they are crooked inbeasts of prey but straight in the other animals, for instance dogs; exceptingthe nail that in most species hangs downward from the leg. All animals with feethave toes, except the elephant; for the elephant's toes are unshaped and thoughfive in number yet undivided and only slightly separated, and resembling hooves,not nails, and the fore feet are larger, the joints of the hind feet beingshort, and also an elephant's knees bend inward like a man's, whereas the otheranimals bend the knees of the hind legs in the opposite direction to those ofthe forelegs; for viviparous animals bend their knees in front of them and thejoints of the hocks backward.

CII. In man the knees and elbows bend in opposite directions, and thesame is the case with bears and the monkey tribe, which are consequently not atall swift. In the oviparous quadrupeds, the crocodile and the lizards,the front knees curve backward and the hind knees forward, but these specieshave legs that bend like the human thumb; and so also have the multipedes,except the hindermost legs of the species that jump. Birds curve their wingsforward like the front legs of quadrupeds but their thigh backward.

CIII. The kneesof a human being also possess a sort of religious sanctity in the usage of thenations. Suppliants touch the knees and stretch out their hands towards them andpray at them as at altars, perhaps because they contain a certain vitalprinciple. For in the actual joint of each knee, right and left, on the frontside there is a sort of twin hollow cavity, the piercing of which, as of thethroat, causes the breath to flow away. There is a religious sanctity belongingto other parts also, for instance in the right hand: kisses are imprintedon the back of it, and it is stretched out in giving a pledge. It was a customwith the Greeks in early days to touch the chin in entreaty. The memory isseated in the lobe of the ear, the place that we touch in calling a person towitness; similarly behind the right ear is the seat of Nemesis (a goddess thateven on the Capitol has not found a Latin name), and to it we apply the thirdfinger after touching our mouths, the month being the place where we locatepardon from the gods for our utterances.

CIV. Varicose veins in the legs occur only in a man but rarely ina woman.Oppius records thatGaius Marius who was seven times consulwas the only man who underwent an operation for the removal of varicose veinswithout lying down.

CV. All animals start walking with theright foot and lie down on the left side. Whereas the other animals walk as theylike, only the lion and the camel pace with one foot after the other, that iswith the left foot not passing but following the right foot. Human beings havethe largest feet; the females of all species have more slender feet; man alonehas calves and legs that are fleshy. We find it stated in the authorities that acertain person in Egypt had no calves. Man alone has an arched sole to the foot(with some exceptionsa deformity that is the origin of the surnames Flatfoot, Broadfoot, Splayfoot, Swellfoot, just as from the legs come the namesKnock-knee, Bowleg, Bandyleg, deformities that also occur in animals). Someanimals without horns have solid hooves: consequently in place of horns a kickof the hoof is their weapon. And the same animals have no pastern-bone, butthose with cloven hooves have one. Pastern-bones are also lacking in animalshaving toes, and no animal has them in the forefeet. The camel's pastern-bonesresemble those of the ox but are a little smaller; for the camel's foot isdivided in two by a very small cleft, and is fleshy at the tread like a bear's,for which reason a camel's feet are liable to split on too long a journeywithout shoeing.

CVI. Only with animals of the draught kind do the hooves grow again. Insome places in Illyria pigs have solid hooves. Horned animals mostly have clovenhooves. No species has both solid hooves and two horns; the only animal with onehorn is the rhinoceros, and the only one with one horn and cloven hooves theantelope. The rhinoceros is the only solid-hooved animal that has pastern-bones,for pigs are thought to belong to both classes, and consequently theirpastern-bones are misshapen. Persons who have thought that a human being haspastern-bones have been easily refuted. Of the animals with toes only the lynxhas something resembling a pastern-bone, and the lion a still more twisted one.But the true pastern-bone is at the ankle-joint, projecting with a hollow bulgeand attached with a ligature onto the joint.

CVII. Some birds have toes, others are web-footed, and othersintermediate, with separate toes but also broad feet; but all have four toes,three in front and one at the heelthe latter however absent in some long-leggedspecies; the wry-neck alone has two toes on either side of the foot. The samebird has a tongue like a snake's which it stretches out a long way, and it turnsits neck round towards its back; it has large claws like a jay's. Some of theheavier birds, though none of those with crooked talons, have spurs added on thelegs. The long-legged birds fly with their legs extended towards their tail, butthe short-legged ones draw them into their middle. Those who say that there isno bird without feet assert that black martins have specially short feet, andalso the Alpine swift, a bird that is very rarely seen. Even snakes with thefeet of geese have been seen before now.

CVIII. The insects with hard eyes have the front feet longer, so thatthey may occasionally rub their feet eyes with their feet, as we observe inhouseflies. Insects with long hind feet leap, for instance locusts. But allthese have six feet. Some spiders have two very long feet in addition. Each foothas two joints. We have said that some marine species also have eight feet,octopuses, cuttlefish of both varieties, and crabs, which move their fore-feetin the opposite direction to the others and their hind-feet in a circle orslantwise; they are also the only animals with feet of a rounded shape. All theother species have two guiding feet, only crabs have four. Land species thatexceed this number of feet, as most worms, have not less than twelve, and someas many as a hundred. No kind has an odd number of feet.

In the species with solid feet the legs are of the proper size at birth,afterwards more truly stretching out than growing. Consequently in infancy theyscratch their ears with their hind feet, which when older they are unable to do,because length of time increases the size of only the surface of their bodies.For this reason at the early stages they can only feed by bending their knees,and this goes on till their neck reaches full growth.

CIX. We have already specified the species of which the males havegenital organs behind them. These organs are bony in wolves, foxes, weasels andferrets, which also furnish sovereign remedies for stone in man. In the bear tooit is said, these organs become horny as soon as the animal dies. The easternpeoples think that this organ in the camel makes a most reliable bowstring.There are also certain racial distinctions in connexion with it, and evenvarieties of ritual, the Galli, priests of the Mother of the Gods, practisingamputation within the limits of injury. On the other hand in a few women thereis a curious resemblance to the male organ, [clitoris?] as there is inhermaphrodites of either sex, a thing that I believe first occurred with theclass of quadrupeds also in the principate ofNero: at all eventsNero used toshow off a team of hermaphrodite mares, that he had found in the Trier districtin Gaul, harnessed to his chariot, apparently deeming it a very remarkablespectacle to see the Emperor of the World riding in a miraculous carriage.

CX. The testicles in sheep and oxen hang down against the legs, but inpigs they are closely knit to the body. In the dolphin they are verylong, and stowed away in the lower part of the belly, and in the elephant alsothey are concealed. In oviparous creatures they are attached to the loins on theinside, these animals being very rapid in copulation. Fishes and snakes have notesticles, but instead of them two passages from the kidneys to the genitals.Buzzards have three. In man only they may be crushed owing to an injury or fromnatural causes, and this forms a third class, in distinction from hermaphroditesand eunuchs, the impotent. In every species except leopards and bears the maresare the stronger.

CXI. Almost all species except man and monkeys, both the viviparous andthe oviparous, have tails corresponding to the requirements of their bodies,bare with the hairy species, like boars, small with the shaggy ones, like bears,very long with the bristly, like horses. With lizards and snakes when cut offthey grow again. The tails of fishes steer their winding courses after themanner of a rudder, and even serve to propel them like a sort of oar by beingmoved to the right and left. Actual cases of two tails are found in lizards.Oxen's tails have a very long stem, with a tuft at the end, and in asses it islonger than in horses, but it is bristly in beasts of burden. A lion's tail isshaggy at the end, as with oxen and shrew-mice, but not so with leopards; foxesand wolves have a hairy tail, as have sheep, with which it is longer. Pigs curlthe tail, dogs of low breeds keep it between their legs.

CXII.Aristotle thinks that onlyanimals with lungs and windpipe, that is those that breathe, possess a voice;and that consequently even insects make a sound, but have not avoice, the breath passing inside them and making a sound when shut up there, andthat some, as bees, give out a buzz, others, as grasshoppers, a brief hiss,because the breath is received in two hollows under the chest and encountering amovable membrane inside makes a sound by rubbing against it. He thinks thatflies, bees and other similar creatures begin and cease to give an audible soundwhen they begin and cease to fly, as the sound is caused by friction and by theair inside them, not by breathing; and that locusts make a sound by rubbingtheir wings against their thighs. It is indeed believed that among aquaticcreatures scallops similarly make a rushing sound when they fly, but thatshell-fish and crustaceans have no voice nor sound of any kind. But the otherfishes, although they lack lungs and windpipe, are not entirely devoid of anysound at allpeople advance the quibble that their hiss is made with theteethand the fish in the river Achelous called the boar-fish has a grunt, andso have others about which we have spoken. Oviparous species have a hisssnakesa long one, tortoises an abrupt one. Frogs have a special kind of voice, as hasbeen said unless in their case also we are to allow some uncertainty, because'voice' means a sound formed in the month, not in the chest. Still in the caseof frogs the nature of the localities also makes a great deal of difference: thefrogs in Macedonia are reported to be dumb, and also the boars. Among birds thesmaller ones are more talkative, and particularly at the mating season. Somebirds,e.g. quails, give a cry when fighting, others,e.g. partridges, before afight, others,e.g. domestic fowls, when they have won. With the latter thecocks have a crow of their own, but with other birds, for instance thenightingale class, the hens also have the same note. Some birds sing all theyear, some at certain seasons, as has been said in dealing with the speciesseparately. The elephant squeezes out a sound like a sneeze from its actualmouth, not through the nostrils, but through the nostrils it emits a harshtrumpet sound. In oxen alone the lowing of the females is louder, but in everyother kind of animal the females' voice is not so loud as that of the males,even (in the case of the human race) those that have been castrated. The infantgives no sound at birth until it emerges entirely from the womb. It begins totalk when a year old; butCroesus had ason who spoke at six months and while still at the rattle stage, a portent thatbrought the whole of that realm to downfall. Infants that began to speak quickerare slower in starting to walk. The voice gets stronger at fourteen, but it getsweaker in old age; and it does not alter more often in any other animal.

There are other facts besides about the voice that deservemention. It is absorbed by the sawdust or sand that is thrown down on the floorin the theatre orchestras, and similarly in a place surrounded by rough walls,and it is also deadened by empty casks. Also it runs along a straight or concavesurface of wall and carries words although spoken in a low tone to the otherend, if no unevenness of the surface hinders it. In a human being the voiceconstitutes a large part of the external personality: we recognise a man by itbefore we see him just in the same way as we recognise him with our eyes; andthere are as many varieties of voices as there are mortals in the world, and aperson's voice is as distinctive as his face. This is the source of thedifference between all the races and all the languages all over the world, andof all the tunes and modulations and inflexions, but before all things of thepower of expressing the thoughts that has made us different from the beasts, andhas also caused another distinction between human beings themselves that is aswide as that which separates them from the lower animals.

CXIII. When animals are born with extra limbs are useless, as is alwaysthe case when a human being is born with a sixth finger. In Egypt it wasdecided to rear a monstrosity, a human being with another pair of eyes at theback of the head, though he could not sec with these.

CXIV. For my own part I am surprised thatAristotle not only believed but alsopublished his belief that our bodies contain premonitory signs of our career.But although I think this view unfounded, and not proper to be brought forwardwithout hesitation lest everybody should anxiously seek to find these auguriesin himself, nevertheless I will touch upon it, because so great a masterof the sciences asAristotle has notdespised it. Well then, he puts down as signs of a short life few teeth,very long fingers, a leaden complexion and an exceptional number of brokencreases in the hand; and on the other side he says that those people arelong-lived who have sloping shoulders, one or two long creases in the hand, morethan thirty-two teeth, and large ears. Yet he does not, I imagine, note allthese attributes present in one person, but separately, trifling things, as Iconsider them, though nevertheless commonly talked about. In a similar manneramong ourselves Trogus, himself alsoone of the most critical authorities, has added some outward signs of characterwhich I will append in his own words: 'When the forehead is large it indicatesthat the mind beneath it is sluggish; people with a small forehead have animble mind, those with a round forehead an irascible mind'as if this were avisible indication of a swollen temper! 'When people's eyebrows are level thissignifies that they are gentle, when they are curved at the side of thenose, that they are stern, when bent down at the temples, that they are mockers,when entirely drooping, that they are malevolent and spiteful. If people's eyesare narrow on both sides, this shows them to be malicious in character; eyesthat have fleshy corners on the side of the nostrils show a mark ofmaliciousness; when the white part of the eyes is extensive it conveys anindication of impudence; eyes that have a habit of repeatedly closing indicateunreliability. Large ears are a sign of talkativeness and silliness,' thus far Trogus.

CXV. The lion's breath contains a severe poison and the bear's ispestilential: no wild animal will touch things that have come in contact withits vapour, and things that it has breathed upon go bad more quickly. Of theremaining species nature has willed that in man alone the breath shall becorrupted in a great many ways, even by bad food and bad teeth, but most of allby old age. The old man cannot feel pain, he lacks all touch and taste, withoutwhich there is no sensation at all; his breath comes and goes, constantlyretiring from him, ultimately to depart from him and thereafter to be all thatremains out of a human being. The breath was a draught drawn from heaven; yetfor it also a penalty has been invented, so that even that which is the verymeans of living may not give us joy in life. This applies specially to the Parthian races, even from youth up, because of their lack of discrimination indiet, for even their mouths smell from too much wine. But their upper classesuse as a remedy the seed of the citron-tree, which has a remarkably sweet aroma,adding it to their food.

The breath of elephants attracts snakes out of their holes, that of stagsscorches them. We have mentioned the races of men that rid their bodies ofsnakes' poison by sucking it out. Moreover swine will eat snakes, and to otheranimals it is poison. The creatures we have designated insects can all be killedby sprinkling with oil; vultures are killed by ointment (they are attracted bythe scent, which repels other birds), and beetles by a rose. A scorpion killssome snakes. In Scythia the natives poison their arrows with vipers' venom andhuman blood; this nefarious practice makes a wound incurableby a light touch itcauses instant death.

CXVI. We have said which animals feed on poison. Some otherwise harmlessspecies after feeding on poisonous things become harmful themselves also. InPamphylia and the mountain regions of Cilicia people who eat boars when thesehave devoured a salamander die, for there is no indication in the smell ortaste; also water or wine when a salamander has died in it is fatal, and so iseven drinking from a vessel out of which one has drunk; and similarly with thekind of frog called a toad! so full of traps is life! Wasps devour a snakegreedily, and by so doing make their sting fatal. And so widely does diet varythat according toTheophrastus in adistrict where people live on fish the cattle also eat fish, but only live fish.

CXVII. Simple food is the most serviceable for a human being anaccumulation of flavours is unwholesome, and more harmful than sauces. But itis difficult completely to digest all the components contained in articles offood, all that is sharp or rough or unusual or varied, or excessive in quantityand swallowed greedily; and it is more difficult in summer than in winter, andin old age than in youth. The emetics that have been devised for digestivetroubles have a chilling effect on the body, and are extremely bad for the eyesand the teeth.

To digest one's food while asleep is more conducive to corpulence than tostrength, and consequently it is thought preferable for men in trainingto assist their digestion by taking a walk; at all events food is mostthoroughly assimilated while keeping awake.

CXVIII. Sweet and fat foods and drinking add bulk, whereas dry and leanand cold foods and thirst reduce it. Some animals and also domestic cattle inAfrica only drink once in three days. Starvation is not fatal to a human beingafter even five days; it is certain that a good many people have actuallyendured it more than ten days. Man is the only animal liable to the disease of acontinuously insatiable appetite.

CXIX. Again some things tasted in a very small quantity allay hunger andthirst and conserve the strength, for instance butter, mare's milk cheese,liquorice root. But anything in excess is exceedingly detrimental, even in alldepartments of life, but particularly to the body, and it pays better to reducethe quantity of what is in any manner burdensome.

I. SUCH are the generic and specific characteristics of all the animalsabout which it has been possible to obtain information. It remains to describethe things produced by the earth or dug up from itthese also not being devoidof vital spirit, since nothing lives without itand not to pass over in silenceany of the works of nature.

The riches of earth's bounty were for a long time hidden, and the trees andforests were supposed to be the supreme gift bestowed by her on man. These firstprovided him with food, their foliage carpeted his cave and their bark servedhim for raiment; there are still races which practise this mode of life. Thisinspires us with ever greater and greater wonder that starting from thesebeginnings man has come to quarry the mountains for marbles, to go as far asChina for raiment, and to explore the depths of the Red Sea for the pearl andthe bowels of the earth for the emerald. For this purpose has been devised thefashion of making wounds in the ears, because forsooth it was not enough forjewels to be worn on the hands and neck and hair without making them even piercethrough the body. Consequently it will be well to follow the biological orderand to speak of trees before earth's other products, and to bring forwardorigins for our customs.

II. Once upon a time trees were the temples of the deities, and inconformity with primitive ritual simple country places even now dedicatea tree of exceptional height to a god; nor do we pay greater worship to imagesshining with gold and ivory than to the forests and to the very silences thatthey contain. The different kinds of trees are kept perpetually dedicated totheir own divinities, for instance, the winter-oak to Jove, the bay to Apollo,the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus, the poplar to Hercules; nay, more, wealso believe that the Silvani and Fauns and various kinds of goddesses are as itwere assigned to the forests from heaven and as their own special divinities.Subsequently it was the trees with juices more succulent than corn that gavemellowness to man; for from frees are obtained olive oil to refresh thelimbs and draughts of wine to restore the strength, and in fine all the savoursthat come by the spontaneous generosity of the year, and the fruits that areeven now served as a second course, in spite of the fact that battle must bewaged with the wild beasts to obtain them and that fishes fattened on thecorpses of shipwrecked mariners are in demand. Moreover, there are a thousandother uses for those trees which are indispensable for carrying on life. We usea tree to furrow the seas and to bring the lands nearer together, we use a treefor building houses; even the images of the deities were made from trees, beforemen had yet thought of paying a price for the corpses of huge animals, orarranged that inasmuch as the privilege of luxury had originated from the gods,we should behold the countenances of the deities and the legs of our tables madeof the same ivory. It is stated that the Gauls, imprisoned as they were by theAlps as by a then insuperable bulwark, first found a motive for overflowing intoItaly from the circumstance that a Gallic citizen from Switzerland namedHelico, who had sojourned at Rome onaccount of his skill as an artificer, had brought with him when he came backsome dried figs and grapes and some samples of oil and wine; and consequently wemay pardon them for having sought to obtain these things even by means of war.

III. But who would not be justifiably surprised to hear that a tree hasbeen procured from another clime merely for the sake of shade? This tree is theplane, which was first imported into the Ionian Sea as far as the island of San Domenico to plant over the tomb ofDiomede,and which crossed from there to Sicily and was one of the first trees bestowedon Italy, and which has now travelled as far as Belgium and actually occupiessoil that pays tribute to Rome, so that the tribes have to pay rent even forshade. The elderDionysius, the tyrantof Sicily, imported plane-trees to the city of Rcggio as a marvel to adorn his palace, on the site where afterwards a gymnasium was built; and it is found in the authorities that these trees were not able to grow to full size, and that in all Italy there were no others except the 'Spania.'

IV. This took place at about the period of the capture of Rome; and somuch honour has since accrued to plane-trees that their growth is encouraged byhaving wine poured on them, as it has been found that this is of the greatestbenefit to the roots, and we have taught even trees to be winebibbers!

V. Famous plane-frees are: (1) one that grew in the walks of the Academyat Athens, the roots of which were 50 feet long and spread wider than thebranches; (2) at the present day there is a celebrated plane in Lycia, alliedwith the amenity of a cool spring; it stands by the roadside like adwelling-housewith a hollow cavity inside it 81 feet across, formingwith its summit a shady grove, and shielding itself with vast branches as big astrees and covering the fields with its long shadows, and so as to complete itsresemblance to a grotto, embracing inside it mossy pumice-stones in a circularrim of rocka tree so worthy to be deemed a marvel that Licinius Mucianus, who was three timesconsul and recently lieutenant-governor of the province, thought it worth handingdown to posterity also that he had held a banquet with eighteen members of hisretinue inside the tree, which itself provided couches of leafage on abounteous scale, and that he had then gone to bed in the same tree, shieldedfrom every breath of wind, and receiving more delight from the agreeable soundof the rain dropping through the foliage than gleaming marble, painteddecorations or gilded panelling could have afforded. (3) Another instance isconnected with the EmperorCaligula, whoon an estate at Velletri was impressed by the flooring of a single plane-tree,and benches laid loosely on beams consisting of its branches, and held a banquetin the treehimself constituting a considerable portion of the shadow than adining-room large enough to hold fifteen guests and the servants: thisdining-room the emperor called his `nest.' (4) There is a single plane-free atthe side of a spring at Gortyn in the island of Crete which is celebrated inrecords written both in Greek and Latin, as never shedding its leaves; and atypical Greek story about it has come down from early times, to the effect thatunderneath it Jupiter lay with Europajust as if really there were not anothertree of the same species in the island of Cyprus! Slips from this tree, however,planted first in Crete itselfso eager is human nature for a noveltyreproducedthe defect: for defect it was, because the plane has no greater recommendationthan its property of warding off the sun in summer and admitting it in winter.During the principate ofClaudius anextremely wealthy Thessalian eunuch, who was a freedman ofMarcellus Aeserninus but had for thesake of obtaining power got himself enrolled among the freedmen of the emperor,imported this variety of plane-tree from Crete into Italy and introduced it athis country estate near Romeso that he deserves to be called anotherDionysius! And these monstrosities fromabroad still last on in Italy also, in addition, that is, to those which Italyhas devised for herself.

VI. For there is also the variety called the ground-plane, stunted inheightsince we have discovered the art of producing abortions even intrees, and consequently even in the tree class we shall have to speak of theunhappy subject of dwarfs. The ground-plane is produced by a method of plantingand of lopping. Clipped arbours were invented within the last 80 years by amember of the Equestrian order named GaiusMatius, a friend of his late MajestyAugustus.

VII. The cherry and the peach and all thetrees with Greek or foreign names are also exotic; but those among them whichhave been naturalized here will be specified among the fruit-trees. For thepresent we will go through the real exotics, beginning with the one mostvaluable for health.

The citron or Assyrian apple, called by others the Median apple, is an antidoteagainst poisons. It has the leaves of the strawberry-tree, but with pricklesrunning among them. For the rest, the actual fruit is not eaten, but it has anexceptionally strong scent, which belongs also to the leaves, and whichpenetrates garments stored with them and keeps off injurious insects. The treeitself bears fruit at all seasons, some of the apples falling while others areripening and others just forming. Because of its great medicinal value variousnations have tried to acclimatize it in their own countries, importing it inearthenware pots provided with breathing holes for the roots (and similarly, asit will be convenient to record here so that each of my points may be mentionedonly once, all plants that are to travel a specially long distance are plantedas tightly as possible for transport); but it has refused to grow except inMedia and Persia. It is this fruit the pips of which, as we have mentioned, the Parthian grandees have cooked with their viands for the sake of sweetening theirbreath. And among the Medes no other tree is highly commended.

VIII. We have already described the wool-bearing trees of the Chinese inmaking mention of that race, and we have spoken of the large size of the treesin India. One of those peculiar to India, the ebony, is spoken of in glowingterms byVirgil, who states thatit does not grow in any other country.Herodotus, however, prefers it to be ascribed to Ethiopia, stating thatthe Ethiopians used to pay as tribute to the Kings of Persia every three years ahundred logs of ebony, together with gold and ivory. Nor also should we omit thefact, since that author indicates it, that the Ethiopians used to pay twentylarge elephant tusks on the same account. So high was the esteem in which ivorywas held in the 310th year of our city, the date at which that authorcomposed his history at Thurii in Italy; which makes all the more surprising thestatement which we accept on his authority, that nobody of Asia or Greece hadhitherto been seen who had ever seen the river Po. The exploration of thegeography of Ethiopia, which as we have said had lately been reported to theEmperorNero, showed that over a spaceof 1,996 miles from Syene on the frontier of the empire to Meroe trees are rare,and there are none except of the palm species. That is possibly the reason whyebony was the third most important item in the tribute paid.

IX. Ebony was exhibited at Rome byPompey the Great on the occasion of his triumph over Mithridates. According toFabius ebony does not give out a flame,yet burns with an agreeable scent. It is of two kinds: the better one, whichgrows as a tree, is rareit is of a smooth substance and free from knots, and ofa shiny black colour that is pleasing to the eye even in the natural statewithout the aid of art; whereas the other grows as a shrub like the cytisus, andis spread over the whole of India.

X. In India there is also a thorn the wood of which resembles ebony, butcan be detected even by the flame of a lantern, as the light at once shinesthrough people. The tree is called thepala, and the fruitariena. It is mostfrequent in the territory of the Sydraci, which was the farthest point reachedby the expeditions ofAlexander. Thereis also another tree resembling this one, the fruit of which is sweeter, butcauses derangement of the bowels.Alexanderissued an order in advance forbidding any member of his expedition to touch it.

XIII. The Macedonians have given accounts of kinds of trees that for themost part have no names. There is also one that resembles the terebinth in everyother respect but the fruit of which is like an almond, though smaller, and isremarkably sweet, at all events when grown in Bactria. This tree has beenconsidered by some persons to be a special kind of terebinth rather than anotherplant resembling it. The tree from which they make linen for clothing resemblesa mulberry by its leaves, but the calyx of the fruit is like that of a dog-rose.It is grown in the plains, and no other plantations add more to the beauty ofthe landscape.

XIV. The olive-tree of India is barren, except for the fruit of the wildolive. But trees resembling our junipers that bear pepper occur everywhere,although some writers have reported that they only grow on the southern face ofthe Caucasus. The seeds differ from those of the juniper by being in small pods,like those which we see in the case of the kidney-bean; these pods when pluckedbefore they open and dried in the sun produce what is called long pepper, but ifleft to open gradually, when ripe they disclose white pepper, which ifafterwards dried in the sun changes colour and wrinkles up. Even theseproducts, however, have their own special infirmity, and inclement weathershrivels them up and turns the seeds into barren husks, calledbregma,which is an Indian word meaning 'dead.' Of all kinds of pepper this is the mostpungent and the lightest, and it is pale in colour. Black pepper is moreagreeable, but white pepper is of a milder flavour than either the black or the`long' pepper.

The root of the pepper-tree is not, as some people have thought, the sameas the substance called ginger, or by otherszinpiberi, although it has asimilar flavour. Ginger is grown on farms in Arabia and Cave-dwellers' Countryit is a small plant with a white root. The plant is liable to decay veryquickly, in spite of its extreme pungency. Its price is six denarii a pound. Itis easy to adulterate long pepper with Alexandrian mustard. Long pepper is soldat 15 denarii a pound, white pepper at 7, and black at 4. It is remarkable thatthe use of pepper has come so much into favour, as in the case of somecommodities their sweet taste has been an attraction, and in Others theirappearance, but pepper has nothing to recommend it in either fruit or berry. Tothink that its only pleasing quality is pungency and that we go all the way toIndia to get this! Who was the first person who was willing to try it on hisviands, or in his greed for an appetite was not content merely to be hungry?Both pepper and ginger grow wild in their own countries, and nevertheless theyare bought by weight like gold or silver. Italy also now possesses a pepper-treethat grows larger than a myrtle, which it somewhat resembles. Its grains havethe same pungency as that believed to belong to myrtle-pepper, but when dried itlacks the ripeness that the other has, and consequently has not the samewrinkles and colouring either. Pepper is adulterated with juniper berries, whichabsorb its pungency in a remarkable manner, and in the matter of weight thereare several ways of adulterating it.

XV. There is also in India a grain resembling that of pepper, but largerand more brittle, called thecarvophyllon, which is reported to grow on theIndian lotus-tree; it is imported here for the sake of its scent. There is alsoa thorn-bush bearing an extremely bitter fruit that has a resemblance topepper; this shrub has small thickly clustering leaves like the cyprus;the branches are 4½ feet long, the bark of a pale colour, and the rootwide-spreading and woody, of the colour of box. This root boiled in water withthe seed in a copper vessel produces the medicine called lycion. The thorn inquestion also grows on Mount Pelion, where it is used for mixing with a drug, asalso are the root of the asphodel, ox-gall, wormwood, sumach and the lees ofolive oil. The best lycion for medicinal purposes is the kind that makes afroth; this is imported from India in leather bottles made of camel skin orrhinoceros hide. The shrub itself is sometimes known in Greece under the name ofChiron's buckthorn.

XVI. Another substance imported from India is macir, the red barkof the large root of a tree of the same name, which I have been unable toidentify. This bark boiled with honey is considered in medicine to be a valuablespecific for dysentery.

XVII. Arabia also produces cane-sugar, but that grown in India ismore esteemed. It is a kind of honey that collects in reeds, white like gum,and brittle to the teeth; the largest pieces are the size of a filbert. It isonly employed as a medicine.

XVIII. On the frontier of India is a race called the Arian, which has athorn-bush that is valuable for the juice that it distils, resembling myrrh. Itis difficult to get at this bush because it is hedged with thorns. In the samedistrict there is also a poisonous bush-radish, with the leaf of a bay-tree, thesmell of which attracts horses, and nearly robbedAlexander of his cavalry when he firstentered the region. This also happened in Gedrosia as well, on account of thefoliage of the bay-trees; and in the same district a thorn was reported thejuice of which sprinkled on the eyes caused blindness in all animals. There wasalso a plant with a very strong scent, that was full of tiny snakes whose bitewas instantly fatal. Onesicritus reportsthat in the valleys of Hyrcania there are trees resembling the fig, namedocchustrees, which for two hours every morning drip honey.

XIX. Adjoining India is the Bactrian country, in which is produced thehighly esteemed bdellium. The tree is black in colour, and the size ofthe olive; its leaf resembles that of the oak and its fruit that of the wildfig. The subsistence of the fruit is like gum; one name for it isbrochos,anothermalacha, and anothermaldaeos, while a black variety which is rolled upinto cakes has the name ofhadrobolos. It ought to be transparent like wax, tohave a scent, to exude grease when crumbled, and to have a bitter taste, thoughwithout acidity. When used in religions ritual it is steeped in wine, whichmakes its scent more powerful. This tree is native to Arabia and India, and alsoto Media and Babylon. Some people give to the bdellium imported from Media thename ofperaticum; this kind is more brittle and also harder and more bitterthan the others, whereas the Indian sort is moister, and gummy. Almonds are usedto adulterate Indian bdellium, but all the other sorts are adulterated also withthe bark of scordastum, that being the name of a tree that resembles thegum. But these adulterations can be detectedand it must be enough to state thisonce for all, to apply to all other perfumes as wellby smell, colour, weight,taste and the action of fire. The Bactrian bdellium is shiny and dry, and has anumber of white spots like fingernails; and also it has a specific weight ofits own and ought not to be heavier or lighter than this. The price of purebdellium is 3 denarii a pound.

XX. Adjoining the races above mentioned isPersia. On the Red Sea, which at this point we have called the Persian Gulf, thetides of which are carried a long way inland, the trees are of a remarkablenature; for they are to be seen on the coast when the tide is out, embracing thebarren sands with their naked roots like polypuses, eaten away by the salt andlooking like trunks that have been washed ashore and left high and dry. Alsothese trees when the tide rises remain motionless although beaten by the waves;indeed at high water they are completely covered, and the evidence of the factsclearly proves that this species of tree is nourished by the brackish water.They are of marvellous size, and in appearance they resemble thestrawberry-tree, but their fruit is like almonds outside and contains a spiralkernel.

XXI. In the same gulf is the island of Tyros, which iscovered with forests in the part facing east, where it also is flooded by thesea at high tide. Each of the trees is the size of a fig-tree; they have aflower with an indescribably sweet scent and the fruit resembles a lupine, andis so prickly that no animal can touch it. On a more elevated plateau in thesame island there are trees that bear wool, but in a different manner to thoseof the Chinese as the leaves of these trees have no growth on them, and might bethought to be vine-leaves were it not that they are smaller; but they beargourds of the size of a quince, which when they ripen burst open and discloseballs of down from which an expensive linen for clothing is made.

XXII. Their name for this tree is thegossypinus; it also grows ingreater abundance on the smaller island of Tyros, which is ten miles distantfrom the other.Juba says that thisshrub has a woolly down poring round it, the fabric made from which is superiorto the linen of India. He also says that there is an Arabian tree called thecynas from which cloth is made, which has foliage resembling a palm-leaf.Similarly the natives of India are provided with clothes by their own trees. Butin the Tyros islands there is also another tree with a blossom like a whiteviolet but four times as large; it has no scent, which may well surprise us inthat region of the world.

XXIII. There is also another tree which resembles this one but has morefoliage and a rose-coloured blossom, which it closes at nightfall and begins toopen at sunrise, unfolding it fully at noon: the natives speak of it as going tosleep. The same island also produces palm-trees and vines, as well as figs andall the other kinds of fruit-trees. None of the trees there sheds its leaves;and the island is watered by cold springs, and has a considerable rainfall.

XXIV. The country neighbouring on these islands, Arabia, calls for somedetailed account of its productsinasmuch as the parts of trees that areutilized include the root, the trunk, the bark, the juice, the gum, the wood,the shoots, the blossom, the leaves and the fruit.

XXV. In India a root and a leaf are held in the highest value. The rootis that of the costus, which has a burning taste and an exquisite scent,though in other respects the plant is of no use. In the island of Patale just inthe mouth of the river Indus, there are two kinds of costus plant, the black andthe white; the latter is the better; it sells at denarii a pound.

XXVI. About the leaf, which is that of the nard, it is proper tospeak at greater length, as it holds a foremost place among perfumes. The nardis a shrub, the root of which is heavy and thick but short and black, andalthough oily, brittle; it has a musty smell like the gladius, and an acridtaste; the leaves are small, and grow in clusters. The shoots of the nard sproutinto ears, and consequently both the spikes and the leaves of the nard arefamousa twofold product. Another kind of nard growing by the Ganges isentirely ruled out by its name, 'putrid nard,' having a poisonous smell. Nard isalso adulterated with a plant called bastard nard, which grows everywhere, andhas a thicker and broader leaf and a sickly colour inclining to white; and alsoby being mixed with its own root to increase the weight, and with gum andsilver-spume or antimony and gladiolus or husk of gladiolus. Unadulterated nardcan be detected by its light weight and its ruddy colour and sweet scent andparticularly by its taste, which dries up the mouth and leaves a pleasantflavour.

The price of nard is 100 denarii a pound. The nard-leaf market is gradedaccording to the size of the leaf: the kind calledhadrosphaerum in larger pillscosts 40 denarii; the smaller-leaved sort calledmesosphaerum sells at 60denarii; and the most highly spoken of,microsphaerum, is made of the smallestleaves and its price is 75 denarii. All the kinds have an agreeable scent,stronger when they are fresh. The better nard has a blacker colour, if it is oldwhen gathered. In our part of the world the next most highly praised kind is theSyrian, then that from Gaul, and in the third place is the Cretan, which somecallagrion and othersphun; it has a leaf like that of alexanders, a stalk 18inches long, knotted and coloured whitish purple, and a crooked hairy rootresembling birds' claws. Wild nard is called valerian; we shall speak about itamong flowers. All of these kinds of nard, however, are herbs except the Indian.Among them the Gallic kind is plucked `vith the root as well, and washed inwine, dried in a shady place, and done up with paper in small parcels; it doesnot differ much from the Indian nard, but it is lighter in weight than theSyrian. Its price is 3 denarii. In the case of these varieties the only way totest them is that the leaves must not be brittle and parched instead of merelydry. With Gallic nard there always grows the herb called little goat because ofits offensive smell, like the smell of a goat; it is very much employed toadulterate nard, from which it is distinguished by having no stem and smallerleaves, and by its root, which is not bitter and also has no smell.

XXVII. Hazelwort also has the property of nard, indeed some peopleactually call it 'wild nard.' It has the leaves of the ivy, only rounder andsofter, a purple flower, the root of Gallic nard, and seed like grape-stones,which has a warm taste with a flavour of wine. On shady mountains it flowerstwice a year. The best variety grows in Pontus, the next best in Phrygia and thethird in Illyricum. When it begins to shed its leaves it is dug up and dried inthe sun, as it quickly becomes mouldy and loses its strength. A plant has alsolately been found in Thrace the leaves of which do not differ at all from theIndian nard.

XXVIII. The clustered arnomum is much in use; it is obtained fromthe Indian wild-vine, or as other people have supposed from a twisted shrub ahand high, and it is plucked with its root and then gently pressed together intobundles, as it is liable to break at once. The kind most highly spoken of is theone with leaves like those of the pomegranate and devoid of wrinkles, colouredred. The second best kind is of a pale colour; the grass-coloured one is not sogood, and the white kind is the worst; it also goes white with age. The price ofclustered amomum is 60 denarii a pound, but as dust it fetches only 48 denarii.It grows in the part of Armenia called Otene, and also in Media and in Pontus.It is adulterated with the leaves of the pomegranate and with liquid gum tomake the leaves stick together and form a cluster like a bunch of grapes.

There is also another substance calledamomis, which is not so full ofveins and is harder and has less scent, showing that it is either a differentplant oramomum that has been gathered unripe.

XXIX. Resembling these substances both in name and in theshrub that produces it is cardamomum, the seeds of which are oblong in shape. Itis gathered in Arabia, in the same manner as amomum. It has four varieties: onevery green and oily, with sharp corners and awkward to crumblethis is the kindmost highly spoken ofthe next sort a whitish red, the third shorter and of acolour nearer black, while an inferior kind is mottled and easily friable, andhas little scentin the true kind the scent ought to be near to that of costus.Cardamomum also grows in the country of the Medes. The price of the best sort is3 denarii a pound.

XXX. Next in affinity to cardamomum would have come cinnamomum, were itnot convenient first to catalogue the riches of Arabia and the reasons that havegiven it the names of Happy and Blessed. The chief products of Arabia then arefrankincense and myrrh; the latter it shares also with the Cave-dwellers'Country, but no country beside Arabia produces frankincense, and not even thewhole of Arabia. About in the middle of that country are the Astramitae, adistrict of the Sabaei, the capital of their realm being Sabota, situated on alofty mountain; and eight days' journey from Sabota is a frankincense-producingdistrict belonging to the Sabaei called Saribaaccording to the Greeks the namemeans 'secret mystery.' The region faces north-east, and is surrounded byimpenetrable rocks, and on the right hand side bordered by a seacoast withinaccessible cliffs. The soil is reported to be of a milky white colour with atinge of red. The forests measure 20 schoeni in length and half thatdistance in breadthby the calculation ofEratosthenes a schoenus measures 40 furlongs, that is five miles,but some authorities have made the schoenus 32 furlongs. There are hillsrising to a great height, with natural forests on them running right down to thelevel ground. It is generally agreed that the soil is clay, and that there arefew springs and these charged with alkali. Adjacent to the Astramitae is anotherdistrict, the Minaei, through whose territory the transit for the export of thefrankincense is along one narrow track. It was these people who originated thetrade and who chiefly practise it, and from them the perfume takes the name ofMinaean; none of the Arabs beside these have ever seen an incense-tree,and not even all of these, and it is said that there are not more than 3000families who retain the right of trading in it as a hereditary property, andthat consequently the members of these families are called sacred, and are notallowed to be polluted by ever meeting women or funeral processions when theyare engaged in making incisions in the trees in order to obtain thefrankincense, and that in this way the price of the commodity is increasedowing to scruples of religion. Some persons report that the frankincense in theforests belongs to all these peoples in common, but others state that itis shared out among them in yearly turns.

XXXI. Nor is there agreement in regard to the appearance of theincense-tree itself. We have carried on operations in Arabia, and the arms ofRome have penetrated into a large part of it; indeed, Gaius Caesar, son ofAugustus, won great renown from thecountry; yet no Latin writer, so far as I know, has described the appearance ofthis tree. The descriptions given by the Greeks vary: some have stated that ithas the leaf of a pear-tree, only smaller and of a grass-green colour; othersthat it resembles the mastich and has a reddish leaf; some that it is a kind ofterebinth, and that this was the view of KingAntigonus, to whom a plant was brought.KingJuba in his volumes dedicated toGaius Caesar, son ofAugustus, whose imagination was fired bythe fame of Arabia, states that the tree has a twisted stem and branches closelyresembling those of the Pontic maple and that it gives a juice like that of thealmond; he says that trees of this description are to be seen in Carmania and inEgypt, where they were introduced under the influence of the Ptolemies when theyreigned there. It is well known that it has the bark of a bay-tree, and somehave said that the leaf is also like that of the bay; at all events that was thecase with the tree when it was grown at Sardisfor the Kings of Asia alsointerested themselves in planting it. The ambassadors who have come to Romefrom Arabia in my time have made all these matters still more uncertain, whichmay well surprise us, seeing that even some sprigs of the incense-treefind their way to Rome, on the evidence of which we may believe that the parenttree also is smooth and tapering and that it puts out its shoots from a trunkthat is free from knots.

XXXII. It used to be the custom, when there were fewer opportunities ofselling frankincense, to gather it only once a year, but at the present daytrade introduces a second harvesting. The earlier and natural gathering takesplace at about the rising of the Dog-star, when the summer heat is most intense.They make an incision where the bark appears to be fullest of juice anddistended to its thinnest; and the bark is loosened with a blow, but notremoved. From the incision a greasy foam spurts out, which coagulates andthickens, being received on a mat of palm-leaves where the nature of the groundrequires this, but in other places on a space round the tree that has beenrammed hard. The frankincense collected in the latter way is in a purer state,hut the former method produces a heavier weight; while the residue adhering tothe tree is scraped off with an iron tool, and consequently contains fragmentsof bark. The forest is divided up into definite portions, and owing to themutual honesty of the owners is free from trespassing, and though nobody keepsguard over the trees after an incision has been made, nobody steals from hisneighbour. At Alexandria, on the other hand, where the frankincense is worked upfor sale, good heavens! no vigilance is sufficient to guard the factories. Aseal is put upon the workmen's aprons, they have to wear a mask or a net with aclose mesh on their heads, and before they are allowed to leave the premisesthey have to take off all their clothes: so much less honesty is displayed withregard to the produce with them than as to the forests with the growers. Thefrankincense from the summer crop is collected in autumn; this is the purestkind, bright white in colour. The second crop is harvested in the spring, cutshaving been made in the bark during the winter in preparation for it; the juicethat comes out on this occasion is reddish, and not to be compared with theformer taking, the name for which iscarflathum, the other being calleddathiathum. Also the juice produced by a sapling is believed to be whiter, butthat from an older tree has more scent. Some people also think that a betterkind is produced on islands, butJubasays that no incense grows on islands at all.

Frankincense that hangs suspended in a globular drop we call male frankincense,although in other connexions the term 'male' is not usually employed where thereis no female; but it is said to have been due to religious scruple that the nameof the other sex was not employed in this case. Some people think that malefrankincense is so called from its resemblance to the testes. The frankincensemost esteemed, however, is the breast-shaped, formed when, while a previous dropis still hanging suspended, another one following unites with it. I find itrecorded that one of these lumps used to be a whole handful, in the days whenmen's eagerness to pluck them was less greedy and they were allowed to form moreslowly. The Greek name for frankincense formed in this manner is 'drop-incense'or 'solid incense,' and for the smaller kind 'chick-pea incense'; the fragmentsknocked off by striking the tree we callmanna. Even at the present day,however, drops are found that weigh as much as a third of a mina, thatis 28 denarii.Alexander the Great inhis boyhood was heaping frankincense on the altars in lavish fashion, when histutorLeonides told him that he mightworship the gods in that manner when he had conquered the frankincense-producingraces; but whenAlexander had won Arabia he sentLeonides a shipwith a cargo of frankincense, with a message charging him to worship the godswithout any stint.

Frankincense after being collected is conveyed to Sabota on camels, one of thegates of the city being opened for its admission; the kings have made it acapital offence for camels so laden to turn aside from the high road. At Sahotaa tithe estimated by measure and not by weight is taken by the priests for thegod they call Sabis, and the incense is not allowed to be put on the marketuntil this has been done; this tithe is drawn on to defray what is a publicexpenditure, for actually on a fixed number of days the god graciouslyentertains guests at a banquet. It can only be exported through the country ofthe Gebbanitae, and accordingly a tax is paid on it to the king of that peopleas well. Their capital is Thomna, which is l487½ miles distant from the town ofGaza in Judea on the Mediterranean coast; the journey is divided into 65 stageswith halts for camels. Fixed portions of the frankincense are also given to thepriests and the king's secretaries, but beside these the guards and theirattendants and the gate-keepers and servants also have their pickings: indeedall along the route they keep on paying, at one place for water, at another forfodder, or the charges for lodging at the halts, and the various octrois; sothat expenses mount up to 688 denarii per camel before the Mediterranean coastis reached; and then again payment is made to the customs officers of ourempire. Consequently the price of the best frankincense is 6, of the secondbest 5, and the third best 3 denarii a pound. It is tested by itswhiteness and stickiness, its fragility and its readiness to catch fire from ahot coal; and also it should not give to pressure of the teeth, and shouldrather crumble into grains. Among us it is adulterated with drops of whiteresin, which closely resemble it, but the fraud can be detected by the meansspecified.

XXXIII. Some authorities have stated that myrrh is the product of a treegrowing in the same forests among the frankincense-trees, but the majority saythat it grows separately; and in fact it occurs in many places in Arabia, aswill appear when we deal with its varieties. A kind highly spoken of is alsoimported from islands, and the Sabaei even cross the sea to the Cave-dwellers'Country to procure it. Also a cultivated variety is produced which is muchpreferred to the wild kind. The plant enjoys being raked and having the soilround it loosened, as it is the better for having its roots cool.

XXXIV. The tree grows to a height of nearly eight feet; it has thorns onit, and the trunk is hard and twisted, and thicker than that of thefrankincense-tree, and even thicker at the root than in the remaining part ofit. Authorities state that the bark is smooth and resembles that of thestrawberry-tree, and others that it is rough and prickly; and they say that theleaf is that of the olive, but more wrinkled and with sharp pointsthoughJuba says it is like that of the alexanders. Some say that it resembles the juniper, only that it is rougher andbristling with thorns, and that the leaf is rounder but tastes like juniper.Also there have been writers who have falsely asserted that thefrankincense-tree produces myrrh as well as frankincense.

XXXV. The myrrh-producing tree also is tapped twice a year at the sameseasons as the frankincense-tree, but in its case the incisions are made all theway up from the root to those of the branches that are strong enough to bear it.But before it is tapped the tree exudes of its own accord a juice calledstaete,which is the most highly valued of all myrrh. Next after this comes thecultivated kind, and also the better variety of the wild kind, the one tapped insummer. No tithes are given to a god from myrrh, as it also grows in othercountries; however, the growers have to pay a quarter of the yield to the kingof the Gebbanitae. For the rest it is bought up all over the district from thecommon people and packed into leather bags; and our perfumiers have nodifficulty in distinguishing the different sorts by the evidence of the scentand consistency. There are a great many varieties, the first among the wildkinds being the Cave-dweller myrrh, next the Minaean, which includes theAstramitic, Gebbanitic and Ausaritic from the kingdom of the Gebbanitae; thethird quality is the Dianite, the fourth a mixture from various sources, thefifth the Sambracene from a seaboard state in the kingdom of the Sabaei, andthe sixth the one called Dusirite. There is also a white kind found in one placeonly, which is brought into the town of Mesalum for sale. The Cave-dweller kindis distinguished by its thickness and because it is rather dry and dusty andforeign in appearance, but has a stronger scent than the other sorts. TheSambracene variety is advertised as surpassing other kinds in its agreeablequality, but it has not a strong scent. Broadly speaking, however, the proof ofgoodness is given by its being in small pieces of irregular shape, forming inthe solidifying of the juice as it turns white and dries up, and in its showingwhite marks like fingernails when it is broken, and having a slightly bittertaste. The second best kind is mottled inside, and the worst is the one that isblack inside; and if it is black outside as well it is of a still inferiorquality.

The prices vary with the supply of buyers; that of staete ranges from 3 to 50denarii a pound, whereas the top price for cultivated myrrh is 11 denariiand for Erythrean 16this kind is passed off as Arabianand for the kernel ofCave-dweller 16½, but for the variety called scented myrrh 12. Myrrh isadulterated with lumps of lentisk and with gum, and also with cucumber juice to give it a bitter taste, as it is with litharge of silver toincrease its weight. The rest of the impurities can be detected by taste,and gum by its sticking to the teeth. But the adulteration mostdifficult to detect is that practised in the case of Indian myrrh, which iscollected in India from a certain thorn-bush; this is the only commodityimported from India that is of worse quality than that of other countriesindeedit is easily distinguished because it is so very inferior.

XXXVI. Consequently Indian myrrh passes over into mastich, whichis also obtained from a thorn in India, and in Arabia as well; it is calledlaina. Of mastich also there are two kinds, since in Asia and Greece there isalso found a plant sending out from its root leaves and a prickly head like anapple, full of seed and of juice which spurts out when an incision is made inthe top, so that it can scarcely be distinguished from true mastich. Moreover,there is also a third kind in Pontus which is more like bitumen; but the kindmost highly praised is the white mastich of Chios, which fetches a price of 10denarii a pound, while the black kind costs 2 denarii. It is said that the Chianmastich exudes from the lentisk like a kind of gum. Like frankincense it isadulterated with resin.

XXXVII. Arabia also still boasts of herladanum. A considerable numberof writers have stated that this becomes aromatic entirely byaccident and owing to an injury; goats, they say, an animal very destructive offoliage in general, but especially fond of scented shrubs, as if understandingthe prices they fetch crop the stalks of the shoots, which swell with anextremely sweet fluid, and wipe off with the nasty shaggy hair of their beardsthe juice dropping from the stalks in a random mixture, and this forms lumps inthe dust and is baked by the sun; and that is the reason why goats' hairs arefound in ladanum; though they say that this does not take place anywhere elsebut in the territory of the Nabataei, a people from Arabia who border on Syria. The more recent of the authorities call this substance 'storbon,' and say thatthe trees in the Arabs' forests are broken by the goats when browsing, and sothe juice sticks to their hairs; but that the true ladanum belongs to the islandof Cyprusto mention the various kinds of scents incidentally even though not inthe order of their localities of provenance. It is reported that the same thingtakes place there too, and that there is a substance called oesypum which sticksto the beards and shaggy knees of the goats, but that it is produced by theirnibbling down the flower of the ivy while they are browsing in the morning, whenCyprus is wet with dew; and that subsequently when the sun has driven away themist the dust clings to their damp fleeces and thus ladanum can be combed out ofthem.

Some people call the plant in Cyprus from which ladanum is produced 'leda,' as in fact these call the scent 'ledanum'; they say that its fat juices sweat out,and consequently the plant is rolled up in bundles by tying strings round it,and so made into cakes. Therefore there are two varieties in each kind, thenatural sort mingled with earth and the artificial; the earthy sort is friable,whereas the artificial sort is tough.

It is also stated that there is a ladanum shrub in Garmania and beyond Egypt,where plants of it were introduced through the agency of the Ptolemies, or, asothers say, it is a throwback from the incense-tree; and that it is collectedlike gum by making a cut in the bark and received in goatskin sacks. The mosthighly approved kind is sold at a price of 40 asses a pound. It isadulterated with myrtle berries and with filth from the fleeces of other animalsbeside the goat. When genuine it ought to have a fierce scent, somehowsuggesting the smell of the desert, and though looking dried up it should softenimmediately to the touch, and when set light to flare up with an agreeablescent; but when adulterated with myrtle-berries it can be detected by itsunpleasant smell, and it crackles in the fire. Moreover, the genuine ladannmhas dust or rather bits of stone from the rocks clinging to it.

XXXVIII. In Arabia there is also an olive endowed with a sort of tear outof which a medicine is made, called in Greekenhaemon, because of its remarkableeffect in closing the scars of wounds. These trees grow on the coast and arecovered by the waves at high tide without this doing any harm to the berry,although accounts agree that salt is left on the leaves.

These trees are peculiar to Arabia, and it also has a few in common with othercountries, which we must mention elsewhere because in their ease it does nothold the first place. Also in Arabia there is a surprising demand for foreignscents, which are imported from abroad: so tired do mortals get of things thatare their own, and so covetous are they of what belongs to other people.

XXXIX. Consequently they send to the Elymaei for the wood of the bratum,a tree resembling a spreading cypress, with very white branches, and giving anagreeable scent when burnt. It is praised in theHistories ofClaudius Caesar as having a marvellousproperty: he states that the Parthians sprinkle its leaves into their drinks,and that it has a scent very like cedar, and its smoke is an antidoteagainst the effects of other woods. It grows beyond the River Karun on MountScanchrus in the territory of the city of Sostrata.

XL.They also import from Carmania the stobrus tree, to use for the purpose offumigation; it is soaked in palm wine and then set alight. The vapour is thrownback from the ceiling to the floor; it has an agreeable scent, but it causesheadache, which is not however severe enough to be painful: it is used as asoporific for invalids. For these trades they have opened up the city ofCarrhac, which is the market town of these parts. From Carrhac everybody usedformerly to go on to Gabba, a journey of twenty days, and to Palestine in Syria;but afterwards, according toJuba, theybegan to make for Charax and the Parthian kingdom for the sake of the perfumetrade. But my own view is that they used to convey those commodities to thePersians even before they took them to Syria or Egypt, this being attested byHerodotus, who records thatthe Arabs used regularly to pay a yearly tribute of a thousand talents ofincense to the kings of the Persians. From Syria they bring back styrax, whichthey burn on their hearths, for its powerful scent to dispel their dislike fortheir own scents. For the rest, no other kinds of wood are in use among themexcept those that are scented; and the Sabaei even cook their food withincense-wood, and other tribes with that of the myrrh-tree, so that the smokeand vapour of their towns and districts is just like that which rises fromaltars. In order therefore to remedy this smell they obtain styrax in goatskinsand fumigate their houses with it: so true it is that there is nopleasure the continued enjoyment of which does not engender disgust. They alsoburn styrax to drive away the snakes which abound in the forests ofperfume-producing trees.

XLI. These people have not got cinnamon or casia, and nevertheless Arabiais styled 'Happy'a country with a false and ungrateful appellation, asshe puts her happiness to the credit of the powers above, although she owes moreof it to the power below. Her good fortune has been caused by the luxury ofmankind even in the hour of death, when they burn over the departed the productswhich they had originally understood to have been created for the gods. Goodauthorities declare that Arabia does not produce so large a quantity of perfumein a year's output as was burned by the EmperorNero in a day at the obsequies of his consort Poppaea. Then reckon up thevast number of funerals celebrated yearly throughout the entire world, and theperfumes such as are given to the gods a grain at a time, that are piled up inheaps to the honour of dead bodies. Yet the gods used not to regard with lessfavour the worshippers who petitioned them with salted spelt,but rather, as the facts show, they were more benevolent in those days.But the title 'happy' belongs still more to the Arabian Sea, for from it comethe pearls which that country sends us. And by the lowest reckoning India, Chinaand the Arabian peninsula take from our empire 100 million sesterces everyyearthat is the sum which our luxuries and our women cost us; for what fractionof these imports, I ask you, now goes to the gods or to the powers of the lowerworld?

XLII. In regard to cinnamomum and casia a fabulous story has beenrelated by antiquity, and first of all byHerodotus, that they are obtained from birds' nests, and particularlyfrom that of the phoenix, in the region where Father Liber was brought up, andthat they are knocked down from inaccessible rocks and trees by the weight ofthe flesh brought there by the birds themselves, or by means of arrows loadedwith lead; and similarly there is a tale of casia growing round marshes underthe protection of a terrible kind of bats that guard it with their claws, and ofwinged serpentsthese tales having been invented by the natives to raise theprice of their commodities. However, there goes with them a story that under thereflected rays of the sun at midday an indescribable sort of collective odour isgiven off from the whole of the peninsula, which is due to the harmoniouslyblended exhalation of so many kinds of vapour, and that the first news of Arabiareceived by the fleets ofAlexander the Greatwas carried by these odours far out to seaall these stories being false,inasmuch as cinnamomum, which is the same thing as cinnamon, grows in Ethiopia,which is linked by intermarriage with the Cave-dwellers. The latter buy it fromtheir neighbours and convey it over the wide seas in ships that are neithersteered by rudders nor propelled by oars or drawn by sails, nor assisted by anydevice of art: in those regions only man and man's boldness stands in place ofall these things. Moreover they choose the winter sea about the time of theshortest day, as an east wind is then chiefly blowing. This carries them on astraight course through the bays, and after rounding a cape a west-north-westwind brings them to the harbour of the Gebbanitae called Ocilia. On this accountthat is the port most resorted to by these people, and they say that it isalmost five years before the traders return home and that many perish on thevoyage. In return for their wares they bring back articles of glass and copper,clothing, and buckles, bracelets and necklaces; consequently that trafficdepends principally on having the confidence of the women.

The actual shrub of the cinnamon is only about three feet high at themost, the smallest being only a span high, and four inches thick, and itthrows out shoots as low as six inches from the ground; it has a dried upappearance, and while it is green has no scent; the leaf is like that of thewild marjoram; it likes a dry soil and is less fertile in wet weather; and itstands constant clipping. Though it grows on level ground, it flourishes amongthe thickest bushes and brambles, and is difficult to gather. It can only be cut'with the leave of the god'which some understand to mean Jove, but theEthiopian name for him is Assabinus. They sacrifice 44 oxen, goats and rams toobtain leave to cut it, though this does not include permission to do so beforesunrise or after sunset. A priest divides the twigs with a spear, and sets asidea portion for the god, while the rest is packed up in clumps by the dealer.Another account is also given, that a share is assigned to the sun, and that thewood is divided into three portions, and then lots are cast twice to assign theshares, and the share that falls to the sun is left, and bursts out in flames ofits own accord.

The finest quality with cinnamon belongs to the thinnest parts of the boughs,for about a span's length; the second best to the next pieces for a shorterlength, and so on in order; the worst in quality is the part nearest to theroots, because it has the least amount of bark, which is the part mostfavoured, and consequently preference is given to the tops of the plants, wherethere is most bark. The actual wood, however, is held in no esteem, because ithas the bitter taste of wild marjoram: it is called wood-cinnamon; it fetches 10denarii a pound. Some writers mention two kinds of cinnamon, one lighter and theother darker in colour; and in former days the light kind was preferred, but nowon the other hand the dark is praised, and even a mottled kind is preferred tothe pure white. Still, the most certain test of value is that it must not berough, and that when rubbed together it must crumble slowly. The lowest value isattached to it when it is soft or when the bark is falling of.

The right of controlling the sale of cinnamon is vested solely in the king ofthe Gebbanitae, who opens the market by public proclamation. The prices formerlywere 1000 denarii a pound, but this was raised to half as much again after theforests had been burnt, so it is said, by infuriated barbarians; but it is notabsolutely certain whether this was incendiarism provoked by injustice on thepart of those in power or was due to accident, as we find it stated in theauthorities that the south winds that blow there are so hot that they set lireto the forests in summer. His Majesty the emperorVespasian was the first person todedicate in the Temples of the Capitol and of Peace chaplets of cinnamonsurrounded with embossed gold. We once saw in the Temple of the Palatineerected in honour of his late MajestyAugustusby his consort Augusta a very heavy cinnamon-root placed in a golden bowl, outof which drops used to distil every year which hardened into grains; this wenton until the shrine in question was destroyed by fire.

XLIII. Casia also is a shrub, and it grows close to the plains ofcinnamon, but on the mountains; it has thicker stalks, and a thin skinrather than bark, which, in the opposite way to what we said in the case ofcinnamon gains value when it falls off and thins away. This shrub grows to aheight of 4½ feet and it has three colours: when it first sprouts up, to thelength of a foot it is white, then for the next six inches it is reddish, andbeyond that point it is black. The black part is most highly esteemed, and nextthe part nearest to it, but the white part has no value at all. They cut theshoots to the length of two inches, and then sew them up in newly flayed hidesof animals slaughtered for the purpose, so that as they rot maggots may gnawaway the wood and hollow out the whole of the bark, which is protected from themby its bitter taste. The bark is valued most highly when fresh, when it has avery pleasant smell and is hardly at all hot to the taste, and rather gives aslight nip with its moderate warmth; it must be of a purple colour, andthough bulky weigh very little, and the pores of the outer coats should be shortand not liable to break. This kind of casia is called by a foreign name,lada.Another kind is near-balsam, so called because it has a scent like that ofbalsam, but ithas a bitter taste and consequently is more useful for medicinal purposes. justas the black kind is more employed for unguents. No substance has a wider rangeof pricethe best qualities sell at 50 denarii a pound and the others at 5. Tothese varieties the dealers have added one which they call Daphnis's casia, withthe further designation of near-cinnamon, and they price it at 300 denarii. Itis adulterated with styrax, and with very small sprigs of bay because of thesimilarity of the barks. It is also grown in our part of the world, and I haveseen it on the extreme edge of our empire, where the Rhine washes our frontier,planted among beehives; but there it has not the scorched colour producedby the sun, and for the same reason also it has not the same scent as thesouthern product.

XLIV. From the border of the casia and cinnamon district gum-resin andaloe-wood are also imported, but they come by way of the NabataeanCave-dwellers, who are a colony from the Nabataei.

XLV. The same place is also a centre for the collection of serichatum andgabalium, the supply of which is used up by the Arabs in their owncountry, so that they are only known by name to our part of the world, althoughgrowing in the same country as cinnamon and casia. However, serichatum doesoccasionally get through to us, and is employed by some persons as an ingredientin unguents. It fetches up to 6 denarii a pound.

XLVI. The Cave-dweller country and the Thebaid and Arabia where itseparates Judea from Egypt all alike have the myrobalanum, which is grown forscent, as is shown by its name itself, which also indicates in addition that itis a nut; it is a tree with a leaf that resembles that of the heliotrope, whichwe shall describe among the herbaceous plants, and a fruit the size of ahazel-nut. The variety growing in Arabia is called the Syrian nut, and is whitein colour, whereas the Thebaid kind is black; the former is preferred for theexcellent quality of the oil extracted from it, but the Thebaic for its largeyield. The Cave-dweller kind is the worst among the varieties. Some personsprefer to these the Ethiopian behen, which has a black oily nut and a slenderkernel, but the liquid squeezed out of it has a stronger scent; it grows inlevel districts. It is said that the Egyptian nut is even more oleaginons andhas a thicker shell of a reddish colour, and that though it grows on marshyground the plant is shorter and drier, whereas the Arabian variety, on thecontrary, is green in colour and also smaller in size and more compact in shapebecause it likes mountain regions; but the Petraean kind, coming from the townmentioned above, is a long way the bestit has a black rind and a whitekernel. Perfumiers, however, only extract the juice from the shells, butmedical men also crush the kernels, gradually pouring warm water on them whilepounding them.

XLVII. The palm-tree growing in Egypt called theadipsos is used in asimilar way to the behen-nut in perfumery, and is almost as much in request; itis green in colour, with the scent of a quince, and has no kernel inside it. Itis gathered in autumn, a little before it begins to ripen. If left on the treelonger, it is called the palm-nut, and it turns black and has the property ofmaking people who eat it intoxicated. The behen-nut is priced at two denarii apound. The retailers also give the name of behen to the dregs of the unguentmade from it.

XLVIII. The scented reed which also grows in Arabia is shared withthe Indies and Syria, the one growing in the latter country being superior toall the other kinds. About 17 miles from the Mediterranean, between MountLebanon and another range of no importancenot Counter-Lebanon as some havesupposedthere is a moderately wide valley near a lake the shallow parts ofwhich dry up in summer, where 3½ miles from the lake the scented reed andscented rush grow. For clearly we may speak about the rush also, although I havedevoted another volume to herbaceous plants, as here we are only dealing withplants that supply material for unguents. These plants then do not differ atall in appearance from the rest of their class, but the reed has a speciallyfine scent which attracts people even from a long way off, and is softer to thetouch; the better variety is the one that is less brittle and that breaks insplinters rather than like a radish. Inside the tube there is a sort of cobwebwhich is called the flower; the plant containing most of this is the best. Theremaining tests of its goodness are that it should be blackwhite varieties arethought inferiorthat it is better the shorter and thicker it is and if itis pliant in breaking. The price of the reed is one denarius and that of therush 5 denarii a pound. It is reported that scented rush is also found inCampania.

We have now left the countries looking on the ocean to come to those thatconverge towards our seas.

XLIX. Well, Africa, which lies below Ethiopia, in its sandy desertsdistils tear-like drops of a substance calledhammoniacum; this is also theorigin of the name of the Oracle of Hammon, near to which this substance isproduced from a tree calledmetopon, after the manner of resin or gum. There aretwo kinds of hammoniacum: one calledthrauston (friable), which is like malefrankincense and is the kind most approved, and the other, greasy and resinous,which they callphyrama (paste). It is adulterated with sand, which looks as ifit has stuck to it while growing; consequently it is preferred in extremelysmall lumps and these as pure as possible. The price of the best hammoniacum is40 asses a pound.

L. The sphagnos valued most highly is found in the province of Cyrenaica,south of these regions: others call itbryon. The second place is held bythe Cyprian kind, and the third by the Phoenician. It is also said to grow inEgypt, and indeed in Gaul as well, and I am not prepared to doubt this; forthere are grey tufts that bear this name growing on trees, resembling thegrowths that we principally see on the oak, but having a superior scent. Themost highly esteemed are the whitest and most widely spreading mosses, and thebright red ones are in the second class, but no value at all is attached to theblack variety; moreover, the mosses that grow on islands and on rocks are notesteemed, nor are all those that have the scent of palm-trees and not that oftheir own kind.

LI. A tree found in Egypt is the cypros, which has the leaves of thejujube-tree and the white, scented seed of the coriander. Cypros-seed is boiledin olive oil and afterwards crushed, producing the cypros of commerce, whichsells at 5 denarii a pound. The best is made from the tree grown at Canopus onthe banks of the Nile, the second best at Ascalon in Judea, and the thirdquality on the island of Cyprus, which has a sort of sweet scent. The cypros issaid to be the same as the thorn called privet in Italy.

LII. In the same region grows the aspalathus, a white thorn of thesize of a moderate-sized tree, with the flower of a rose; the root is in requestfor unguents. People say that any shrub over which a rainbow forms its archgives out a scent as sweet as that of the aspalathus, but that if this happensin the case of an aspalathus a scent rises that is indescribably sweet. Somecall this shrub red sceptre and others sceptre. The test of its genuineness liesin its fiery red colour, firmness to the touch and scent like that ofbeaver-oil. It is sold for 5 denarii a pound.

LIII. Cat-thyme also grows in Egypt, though not so good a kind asthe Lydian variety, its leaves being larger and variegated; those of the Lydianare short and very small, and have a strong scent.

LIV. But every other scent ranks below balsam. The only country to whichthis plant has been vouchsafed is Judea. where formerly it grew in only twogardens, both belonging to the king; one of them was of not more than twentyingera in extent and the other less. This variety of shrub was exhibited to thecapital by the emperorsVespasian andTitus; and it is a remarkable fact thatever since the time ofPompey the Greateven trees have figured among the captives in our triumphal processions. Thebalsam-tree is now a subject of Rome, and pays tribute together with the raceto which it belongs; it differs entirely in character from the accounts that hadbeen given of it by Roman and foreign writers, being more like a vine than amyrtle: it has quite recently been taught to grow from mallet-shoots tied up ontrellises like a vine, and it covers whole hillsides as vineyards do. A balsamunsupported by a trellis and carrying its own weight is pruned in a similarmanner when it puts oat shoots; the use of the rake makes it thrive and sproutrapidly, bearing in its third year. Its leaf is very near that of thetuber-apple, and it is an evergreen. The Jews vented their wrath upon this plantas they also did upon their own lives, but the Romans protected it against them,and there have been pitched battles in defence of a shrub. It is now cultivatedby the treasury authorities, and was never before more plentiful; but its heighthas not advanced beyond three feet.

There are three varieties of balsam-tree: one with thin foliage like hair,called easy-to-gather; another with a rugged appearance, curving over, of abushy growth and with a stronger scentthey call this rough balsam, and thethird tall balsam because it grows higher than the rest; this has a smooth bark.This last is the second best in quality, and the easy-to-gather kind is thelowest grade. Balsam-seed tastes very like wine, and has a red colour and arather greasy consistency; that contained in a husk, which is lighter in weightand greener in colour, is inferior. The branch is thicker than of thatof a myrtle; incision is made in it with a piece of glass or a stone, or withknives made of boneit strongly dislikes having its vital parts wounded withsteel, and dies off at once, though it can stand having superfluous branchespruned with a steel knife. The hand of the operator making the incision has tobe poised under skilful control, to avoid inflicting a wound going below thebark. The juice that oozes out of the incision is calledopobalsamum; it isextremely sweet in taste, but exudes in tiny drops, the trickle being collectedby means of tufts of wool in small horns and poured out of them into a newearthenware vessel to store; it is like rather thick olive-oil and in theunfermented state is white in colour; later on it turns red and at the same timehardens, having previously been transparent. WhenAlexander the Great was campaigning inthat country, it was considered a fair whole day's work in summer to fill asingle shell, and for the entire produce of a rather large garden to be six congii and of a smaller one congius, at a time moreover when its price was twiceits weight in silver: whereas at the present day even a single tree produces alarger flow. The incision is made three times in every summer, and afterwardsthe tree is lopped. There is a market even for the twigs too; within five yearsof the conquest of Judea the actual loppings and the shoots fetched 800,000sesterces. These trimmings are called wood of balsam; they are boiled down inperfumes, and in manufacture they have taken the place of the actual juice ofthe shrub. Even the bark fetches a price for drugs; but the tears are valuedmost, the seed coming second, the bark third and the wood lowest. Of the woodthe sort resembling boxwood is the best, and also has the strongest scent; thebest seed is that which is largest in size and heaviest in weight, which has abiting taste and is hot in the mouth. Balsam is adulterated with the ground-pineof Petra, which can be detected by its size, hollowness and long shape and byits weak scent and its taste like pepper. The test of tear of balsam is that itshould be thinning out in consistency, and slightly reddish, and give a strongscent when rubbed. The second quality is white in colour, the next inferior isgreen and thick, and the worst kind black, inasmuch as like olive oil itdeteriorates with age. Out of all the incisions the oil that has flowed outbefore the formation of the seed is considered the best. Also another mode ofadulteration is by using the juice of the seed, and the fraud can be withdifficulty detected by the greater bitterness of the taste; for the proper tasteis smooth, without a trace of acidity, the only pungency being in the smell. Itis also adulterated with oil of roses, of cyprus, of mastich, of behen-nut, ofthe turpentine-tree and of myrtle, and with resin, galbanum and wax of Cyprus,just as occasion serves; but the worst adulteration is with gum, since thisdries up on the back of the hand and sinks in water, which is a double test ofthe genuine articlepure tear of balsam ought to dry up likewise, but the sortwith gum added to it turns brittle and forms a skin. It can also be detected bythe taste; or when adulterated with wax or resin, by means of a hot coal, as itbums with a blacker flame. When mixed with honey, its quality altersimmediately, as it attracts flies even when held in the hand. Moreover a drop ofpure balsam thickens in warm water, settling to the bottom of the vessel,whereas when adulterated it floats on the top like oil, and if it has beentampered with by using almond-oil, a white ring forms round it. The best test ofall is that it will cause milk to curdle and will not leave stains on cloth. Inno other case is more obvious fraud practised, inasmuch as every pint bought ata sale of. confiscated property for 300 denarii when it is sold again makes 1000denarii: so much does it pay to increase the quantity by adulteration. The priceof wood-balsam is six denarii a pound.

LV. The region of Syria beyond Phoenicia nearest to Judea producesstyrax in the part round Gabala and Marathus and Mount Casius in Seleucia. Thetree has the same name; it is similar to a quince. Its tears have apleasant, almost pungent scent, and inside it resembles a reed, and is full ofjuice. About the rising of the Dog-star certain little maggots with wingsflutter about this tree, gnawing away the wood, and consequently it is fouledwith their scrapings. The styrax esteemed next to the above-named growths cpmesfrom Pisidia, Side, Cyprus and Cilicia, and that from Crete is rated lowest;that from Mount Amanus in Syria is valued by the medical profession, but evenmore by perfumiers. In every nation a red colour and a sticky consistency arepreferred, and styrax that is brown and covered with white mould is consideredinferior. It is adulterated with cedar resin or gum, and another way employshoney or bitter almonds; all these adulterations can be detected by their taste.The price of the best styrax is 17 denarii. It is also produced in Pamphylia,but this is a drier and less juicy kind.

LVI. Syria also supplies galbanum, which also grows on Mount Amanus; itcomes from a kind of fennel which they callstagonitis, like the resin of thesame name. The kind of galbanum most esteemed is cartilaginous, clear likehammonia-cuxa and free from all woody substance. Even so it is adulterated withbeans or with sacopenium. Pure galbanum, if burnt, drives away snakes with itssmell. It is sold at 5 denarii a pound.

LVII. Pure galbanum is only useful for medicinal purposes; but Syriaproduces all-heal which is used for guents as well. It also grows at Psophis inArcadia and round the spring of Erymanthus, and in Africa and in Macedonia also.It has a peculiar stalk 7½ feet long; this throws out first four leaves and thensix lying on the ground, which are very large and of a round shape, but theleaves on the top of the plant are like those of the olive; the seed hangs intufts like that of the fennel. The juice is got by means of incisions made inthe stalk at harvest time and at the root in autumn. It is valued for whitenesswhen it coagulates, the next grade being assigned to juice of a pale colour,while the black is held of no value. The price of the best quality is twodenarii a pound.

LVIII. From this fennel the one called bear's-wort fennel differs only inthe leaf, which is smaller, and has divisions like a plane-leaf. It only growsin shady places. Its seed, bearing the same name, resembles that of hart-wort;it is only useful for medicine.

LIX. Syria also supplies the malobathrum, a tree with a folded leaf, thecolour of a leaf that has dried up; from it oil is pressed to use for unguents,Egypt also producing it in still greater quantity. But the kind that comes fromIndia is valued more highly; it is said to grow there in marshes, like thelentil, with a scent stronger than that of saffron, a darkish rough appearance,and a sort of salt taste. The white variety is less highly spoken of; it veryquickly acquires a musty smell with age. Malobathrurn when placed under thetongue ought to taste like nard; but its scent when it is put in slightly warmedwine surpasses any others. In point of price at all events it approaches themarvellous, the pound ranging from one denarius to four hundred, while the leafitself reaches 60 denarii a pound.

LX. There is also the oil of unripe berries, which is made in twovarieties and by two processes, one kind being made from the olive and one fromthe vine. The olive is pressed while still white, or an inferior oil isobtained from the druppawhich is the name given to an olive not yet ripe enoughto eat but already beginning to change colourthe difference being that theinferior kind is green and the other white. It is made either from the psithianvine or from the vine of Aminaea. The vine is plucked when the grapes are thesize of a chick-pea, before the rising of the Dog-star, when the first bloom ison them, and the unripe juice is obtained; after which the, remaining pulp isleft to dry in the sunprecaution being taken against nocturnal dews, by storingthe grapes in an earthenware vesselwhile the unripe juice is collected and atonce also put to keep in a Cvprian bronze jar. The best kind is thatwhich is red in colour and rather bitter and dry to the taste. Omphaeium sellsat 6 denarii a pound. There is also another way of making it, by pounding upunripe grapes in mortars; the grapes are afterwards dried in the sun and dividedup into lozenges.

LXI. To the same family also belongs bryon, obtained from the catkins ofthe white poplar. The best kind grows in the neighbourhood of Cnidus or Caria,in waterless districts or on dry rough ground, and a second best quality growson the cedar in Lycia. To the same group also belongs oenanthe, obtained fromthe cluster of the wild vine. It is picked when it flowers, which is the timewhen it has the best scent, and it is dried in the shade on a linen sheet spreadout for the purpose, and then put into casks to store. The best kind comes fromParapotamia, the second best from Antiochia and Laodicea in Syria, and the thirdbest from the mountains in Media; the last kind is more useful for medicines.Some people prefer the kind that grows in the island of Cyprus to all of these.As for the oenanthe produced in Africa it is only used by the doctors, and iscalledmassaris. But all the oenanthe obtained from the white wild vine issuperior to that from the black.

LXII. There is also another tree that likewise serves for producingunguents, which is called by some people an elatethe Latin for which is'fir'and by others a palm and by others again a spatula. That of Hammonium ismost highly spoken of, next the Egyptian variety, and then the Scythian. It onlyhas a scent if it grows in regions devoid of water; it has tears of a greasyconsistency, which are added to unguents to overcome the hardness of the oil.

LXIII. Syria also produces the kind of cinnamon called comacum*;this is a juice squeezed out of a nut, and is quite different from the juice ofthe true cinnamon, although it is almost equally agreeable. Its price is 40asses a pound.

I. THIS is the degree to which the forests are valuable in the matter ofscents; and their various products were not sufficiently remarkable bythemselves, and luxury took pleasure in mixing them all up together and makinga single scent out of the combination: thus perfumes were invented. It isnot recorded who first discovered them. In the days of the Trojan Warthey did not exist, and incense was not used when prayers were made to the gods:even in the rites of religion people only knew the scent of cedar and citruswood, trees of their own country, or more truly the reek, as it rose in wreathsof smoke, though attar of roses had already been discovered, for it also isspecified as an ingredient in commending olive oil. Perfume ought by right to beaccredited to the Persian race: they soak themselves in it, and quench the odour produced from dirt by its adventitious attraction. The first case that I amable to discover was when a chest of perfumes was captured byAlexander among the rest of the propertyof KingDarius when his camp was taken.Afterwards the pleasure of perfume was also admitted by our fellow-countrymen aswell among the most elegant and also most honourable enjoyments of life, andeven began to be an appropriate tribute to the dead; and consequently we willenlarge on the subject. Those among perfumes which are not the product of shrubswill for the present only be indicated by their names; however, an accountwill be given of their nature in their proper places.

II. Perfumes have received their names in some cases from their countriesof origin, in others from the juices of which they are made, in others fromtrees, and in others front other causes; and the first thing proper toknow about them is that their importance changes, quite often their fame havingpassed away. The perfume most highly praised in the old days was made on theisland of Delos, but later that from the Egyptian town of Mendes ranked thehighest. Nor was this only the result of the blending and combination ofseveral scents, but the same juices gained supremacy or degenerated in variousways in different places. The sword-lily perfume of Corinth was extremelypopular for a long time, but afterwards that of Cyzicus, and similarly the attarof roses made at Phaselis, but this distinction was later taken from it byNaples, Capua and Palestrina. Oil of saffron from Soli in Cilicia was for a longtime praised most highly, but subsequently that of Rhodes; vine-flower scentmade in Cyprus was preferred, but afterwards that from Adramytteum, and scentof marjoram made in Cos, but afterwards quince-blossom unguent from the sameplace, and cyprus-scent made in Cyprus, but subsequently that made in Egypt; atthis point scent from Mendes and almond-oil suddenly became more popular, butlater on Phoenicia appropriated these two scents and left the credit for cyprus-scent to Egypt. Athens has persistently maintained the credit of her'all-Athenian' perfume. There was also once an unguent called panther-scent atTarsus, even the recipe for compounding which has disappeared; narcissus-scenthas also ceased to be made from the narcissus flower.

The recipe for making unguents contains two ingredients, the juice and the solidpart, the former which usually consists of various sorts of oil and the latterof scented substances, the oils being called 'astringents' and the scents 'sweetenings.' Together with these there is a third factor that many peopleneglectthat of colour, for the sake of which cinnabar and alkanetshould be added. A sprinkle of salt serves to preserve the properties of theoil, but to scents containing an admixture of alkanet salt is not added. Resinor gum are added to retain the scent in the solid part, as it evaporates anddisappears very quickly if these are not added.

The unguent most quickly made and probably the first invented was made of bryonand behen-oil, of which we have spoken above. Later the Mendes scent came in,made of behen-oil, resin and myrrh, and at the present day metopium is even morepopular; this is an oil made in Egypt, pressed out of bitter almonds, with theaddition of omphacium, cardamom, rush, reed, honey, wine, myrrh, seed of balsam,galbanum and terebinth-resin. One of the commonest unguents indeedand at thepresent day it is consequently believed also to be one of the oldestis one madeof myrtle-oil, reed, cypress, cyprus, mastic-oil and pomegranate rind. But I aminclined to believe that the scents most widely used are those made from therose, which grows in great abundance everywhere; and so the simplest compoundwas for a long time that of oil of roses, though additional ingredients used areomphacium, rose and saffron blossoms, cinnabar, reed, honey, rush, flower ofsalt or else alkanet, and wine. A similar method also is used in the case of oilof saffron with the addition of cinnabar, alkanet and wine, and also a similarmethod in the case of oil of marjoram, by mixing in omphacium and reed; this isbest in Cyprus and at Mitylene, where marjoram is very plentiful. Also cheaperkinds of oil are compounded out of myrtle and laurel with the addition ofmarjoram, lilies, fenugreek, myrrh, casia, nard, rush and cinnamon. There isalso an oil made from the common quince and the sparrow-quince, as we shall saylater; it is called melinum, and is used as an ingredient in unguentswith a mixture of omphacium, oil of cyprus, oil of sesame, balsam, rush, casiaand southernwood. The most fluid of them all is susinum, made of lilies, oil ofbehen-nut, reed, honey, cinnamon, saffron and myrrh; and next is oil of cyprus,made of cyprus, omphacium, cardamom, reed, rosewood and southernwood; somepeople also add oil of cyprus and myrrh and all-heal; the best is that made atSidon and the next best in Egypt. But if oil of sesame is added, the mixturewill last as long as four years; and its scent is brought out by the addition ofcinnamon.

Unguent of fenugreek is made of fresh olive-oil, cyprus, reed, melilot,fenngreek, honey, cat-thyme amd scent of marjoram. This was much the mostcelebrated unguent in the time of Menander, the author of comedies; butafterwards its place was taken by megalium, so called because of its celebrityas this was made of behen-nut oil, balsam, reed, rush, wood-balsam, casia andresin. A peculiarity of this unguent is that it must be constantly stirred whileboiling until it ceases to have any odour, and when it becomes cold it recoversits scent.

There are also some juices which separately produce famous perfumesin the firstplace cinnamon-leaf, then the Illyrian iris and the sweet marjoram of Cyzicus,both of the herb class. Some few other ingredients are united with these,different ones by different makers, those who use the most mixing with one orthe other honey, flower of salt, omphacium, leaves of the agnus castus,all-heal, and all sorts of foreign substances. Also unguent of cinnamon fetchesenormous prices; to cinnamon is added behennut oil, wood-balsam, reed, seeds ofrush and balsam, myrrh and scented honey. This is the thickest in consistency ofall the unguents; its prices range from 35 to 300 denarii. Spikenard orleaf-unguent is made of omphacium or else behen-nut oil, rush, costus, nard,amomum, myrrh and balsam.

Under this heading it will be suitable to recall that we mentioned nine speciesof plants that resemble the Indian nard: such a large supply of material isavailable for purposes of adulteration. They can all be rendered more pungent bythe addition of costus and amomum, which have an extremely powerful scent, andthicker in consistency and sweeter by means of myrrh, while their utility formedicine is increased by adding saffron; but they will be rendered extremelypenetrating in themselves by means of amomumthis actually causes headache. Somepeople hold it enough to add a sprinkle of the most expensive ingredients to theothers after boiling them down, as an economy, but the mixture has not the samestrength unless they are all boiled down together. Myrrh even when used byitself without oil makes an unguent, provided that the staete kind isusedotherwise it produces too bitter a flavour. Unguent of cyprus produces agreen colour, lily unguent gives a greasy consistency, oil of Mendes makes themixture black, attar of roses white, and myrrh gives a pale hue.

These are the kinds of perfumes invented in early times, and the subsequentpilferings of the factories. We will now speak of what is the very climax ofluxury and the most important example of this commodity.

What then is called the 'royal' unguent, because it is a blend prepared for thekings of Parthia, is made of behen-nut juice, costus, amomum, Syrian cinnamon,cardamom, spikenard, cat-thyme, myrrh, cinnamon-bark, styrax-tree gum, ladanum,balm, Syrian reed and Syrian rush, wild grape, cinnamon-, serichatum,cyprus, rosewood, all-heal, saffron, gladiolus, marjoram, lotus, honey und wine.And none of the components of this scent is grown in Italy, the conqueror of theworld, and indeed none in the whole of Europe excepting The iris in Illyria andnard in Gaulfor as to wine and roses and myrtle leaves and olive oil, they maybe taken as belonging to pretty well all countries in common.

III. What are called sprinkling powders are made of dried scents, thedregs of unguents being termed 'magma.' Among all the scents employed the oneadded last is the most powerful. Unguents keep best in alabaster boxes, scentswhen mixed with oil, and the fatter it is, as for instance oil of almonds, thebetter it helps to preserve them for a long time; and the unguents themselvesimprove with age. Sunshine is detrimental to them, and therefore they are storedin the shade, in vessels made of lead. When being tested they are put on theback of the hand, to avoid their being damaged by the warmth of the fleshy part.

IV. Perfumes serve the purpose of the most superfluous of all forms ofluxury; for pearls and jewels do nevertheless pass to the wearer's heir,and clothes last for some time, but unguents lose their scent at once, and diein the very hour when they are used. Their highest recommendation is that when awoman passes by her scent may attract the attention even of persons occupied insomething elseand their cost is more than 400 denarii per pound! All that moneyis paid for a pleasure enjoyed by somebody else, for a person carrying scentabout him does not smell it himself. Still, if even these matters deserveto be graded after a fashion, we find in the works left byMarcusCicero that unguents that have an earthy scent are more agreeable thanthose smelling of saffron, inasmuch as even in a class of things wherecorruption is most rife, nevertheless some degree of strictness in vice itselfgives more enjoyment. But there are people who get most pleasure from unguent ofa dense consistency, which they call thick essence, and who enjoy smearingthemselves with perfume and not merely pouring it over them. We have even seenpeople put scent on the soles of their feet, a practice said to have been taughtto the emperorNero byMarcus Otho; pray, how could it benoticed or give any pleasure from that part of the body? Moreover, we have heardthat somebody of private station gave orders for the walls of his bathroom to besprinkled with scent, and that the EmperorCaligula had the bathtubs scented, and so also later did one of theslaves ofNeroso that this must not beconsidered a privilege of princes! Yet what is most surprising is that thisindulgence has found its way even into the camp: at all events the eagles andthe standards, dusty as they are and bristling with sharp points, are anointedon holidaysand I only wish we were able to say who first introduced thiscustom! No doubt the fact is that our eagles were bribed by this reward toconquer the world! We look to their patronage forsooth to sanction our vices, soas to have this legitimation for using hair-oil under a helmet!

V. I could not readily say when the use of unguents first made its way toRome. It is certain that in 189 BC the censors Puhlius Licinius Crassus andLuciusJulius Caesar issued a proclamation forbidding any sale of 'foreignessences'that being the regular name for them. But, good heavens! nowadayssome people actually put scent in their drinks, and it is worth the bitterflavour for their body to enjoy the lavish scent both inside and outside. It isa well-known fact that Lucius Plotius,the brother ofLucius Plancus who wastwice consul and censor, when proscribed by the Triumvirs was given away in hishiding-place at Salerno by the scent of the unguent he had been usinga disgracethat acquitted the entire proscription of guilt, for who would not consider thatpeople of that sort deserved to die?

VI. In other respects Egypt is of all the countries in the world the bestadapted for the production of unguents, but Campania with its abundance ofroses runs it close. But Judea is even more famous for its palm-trees, thenature of which will now be described. It is true that there are also palms inEurope, and they are common in Italy, but these are barren. In the coastalregions of Spain they do bear fruit, but it does not ripen, and in Africathe fruit is sweet but will not keep for any time. On the other hand in the eastthe palm supplies the native races with wine, and some of them with bread, whilea very large number rely on it also for cattle fodder. For this reason,therefore, we shall be justified in describing the palms of foreign countries;there are none in Italy not grown under cultivation, nor are there in any otherpart of the earth except where there is a warm climate, while only in really hotcountries does the palm bear fruit.

VII. It grows in a light sandy soil and for the most part in onecontaining nitrates. It likes running water, and to drink all the year round,though it loves dry places. Some people think that dung actually does it harm,while a section of the Assyrians think that this happens if they do not mix thedung with water from a stream. There are several kinds of palm, beginning withkinds not larger than a shruba shrub that in some cases is barren,though in other districts it too bears fruitand having a short branch. Innumber of places this shrub-palm with its dome of leaves serves instead ofplaster for the walls of a house, to prevent their sweating. Also the tallerpalms make a regular forest, their pointed foliage shooting out from the actualtree all round them like a combthese it must be understood are wild palms,though they also have a wayward fancy for mingling among the cultivatedvarieties. The other kinds are rounded and tall, and have compact rows of knobsor circles in their bark which render them easy for the eastern races to climb;they put a plaited noose round themselves and round the tree, and the noose goesup with the man at an astonishingly rapid speed. All the foliage is at the topof the tree, and so is the fruit, which is not among the leaves as in allother trees, but hanging in bunches from shoots of its own between the branches,and which has the nature of both a cluster and a single fruit. The leaves have aknife-like edge at the sides and are divided into two flanges that fold together;they first suggested folding tablets for writing, but at the present day theyare split up to make ropes and plaited wickerwork and parasols.

The most devoted students of nature report that trees, indeed all the productsof the earth and even grasses, are of both sexes, a fact which it may at thisplace be sufficient to state in general terms although in no trees is it moremanifest than in the palm. A male palm forms a blossom on the shoot, whereas afemale merely forms a bud like an ear of corn, without going on to blossom. Inboth male and female, however, the flesh of the fruit forms first and the woodycore afterwards; this is the seed of the treewhich is proved by the fact thatsmall fruits without any core are found on the same shoot. The seed is oblongin shape and not rounded like an olive-stone, and also it is split at the backby a bulging cleft, and in most cases shaped like a navel at the middle of thebulge: it is from here that the root first spreads out. In planting the seed islaid front-side downward, and a pair of seeds are placed close together withtwo more above them, since a single seed produces a weak plant, but the fourshoots unite in one strong growth. This woody core is divided from the fleshyparts by a number of white coats, others clinging closely to its body; and it isloose and separate, only attached by a thread at its top end. The flesh takes ayear to ripen, though in some places, for instance, Cyprus, it has a pleasantsweet flavour even though it does not reach maturity. In Cyprus the leaf isbroader and the fruit rounder than it is elsewhere, though people there do noteat the body of the fruit, but spit it out after merely squeezing out the juice.Also in Arabia the palm is said to have a sickly sweet taste, althoughJuba states that he prefers the palmthat grows in the territory of the Tent-dweller Arabs, which they call thedablas, to all other kinds for flavour. For the rest, it is statedthat in a palm-grove of natural growth the female trees do not produce if thereare no males, and that each male tree is surrounded by several females with moreattractive foliage that bend and bow towards him; while the male bristling withleaves erected impregnates the rest of them by his exhalation and by the meresight of him, and also by his pollen; and that when the male tree is felled thefemales afterwards in their widowhood become barren. And so fully is theirsexual union understood that mankind has actually devised a method ofimpregnating them by means of the flower and down collected from the males, andindeed sometimes by merely sprinkling their pollen on the females.

VIII. Palms are also propagated by layering, the trunk for a length ofthree feet from the actual brain of the tree being divided by incisions and duginto the ground. Also a slip torn off from the root makes a hardy growth whenplanted, and so does one from the youngest of the branches. In Assyria the treeitself, too, is laid in a moist soil and throws out roots along its wholelength, but these grow into shrubs and not into a tree; consequently the growersplant cuttings, and transplant the young trees when a year old and again whentwo years old, for they like a change of positionthis is done in the spring inother countries, but in Assyria about the rising of the Dog-star. Also therethey do not touch the young trees with a knife, but tie back the leafy shoots tomake them grow upward to a considerable height. When the trees are strong theyprune them down so as to make them grow thicker, leaving the stumps of thebranches six inches long; to lop them at any other point kills the mother tree.We have said above that palms like a salt soil; consequently in places where theground is not of that nature they sprinkle salt on it, not at the rootsof the trees but a little farther off. Some palms in Syria and Egypt divide intotwo trunks, and in Crete even into three, and some even into five. These beginto bear in three years, but the palms in Cyprus, Syria and Egypt bear when fouryears old, and others when five, the tree being then the height of a man; aslong as the trees are young the fruit has no woody part inside, and consequentlythey are called 'eunuchs.'

IX. Palm-trees are of many varieties. The barren kinds are used inAssyria and throughout the whole of palm. Persia for building timber and for themore luxurious articles of manufacture. Also there are forests of palms grownfor timber which when felled send out shoots again from the root; the pith ofthese at the top, which is called their 'brain,' has a sweet taste, and after ithas been removed the trees continue to live, which is not the case with othersorts of palm. The name of this tree is thechamaerops, and it has anexceptionally broad soft leaf which is extremely useful for wickerwork; itgrows in large numbers in Crete, but even more in Sicily. Palm-wood makescharcoal that lasts a long time and burns slowly. In the palms that bear fruitthe core of the fruit is shorter in some cases than in others and also softer;in some cases it is of a bony substance, and when polished with the edge of afile is used by superstition as a charm against witchcraft. The core is wrappedin several coats which in some cases vary in number and in others in thickness.Consequently there are forty-nine kinds of palm, if one cared to go through thenames of them all, including those that have foreign names, and the varieties ofwine that are extracted from them. The most famous of all is honoured by thename of the royal palm, because it used to be reserved for the kings of Persiaalone; it grew only at Babylon in the Garden of Bagoüsthe Persian word for aeunuch, some of these having actually been kings in Persia. This garden wasalways kept within the precincts of the ruler's court.

In the southern part of the world the kind calledin Greek the wild-boar date is held in the highest repute, and next to it ranksthe Maldive nut date. The latter is a short, rounded fruit of a white colour,more like a grape than a Phoenician date, for which reason it has also receivedthe name of pearl-date. It is said that only one palm-tree of this kind exists,at Chora, and the same is the case with the wild-boar date; and a remarkablestory has come to us about this tree, to the effect that it dies off and thencomes to life again of itselfa peculiarity which it shares with the phoenix,which is thought to have taken its name from the suggestion of this palm-tree:the tree was bearing fruit at the time when this book was published. The actualfruit is large, hard and prickly, and differs from all the other kinds by havinga gamey sort of smell that is most noticed in wild boars, which is the reasonfor its name. The sandalis date, so called from its resemblance to a sandal,ranks fourth; of this kind again there are said to be at the most five trees inexistence, on the border of Ethiopia, and they are as remarkable for thesweetness of their fruit as they are for their rarity. Next to these the mostfamous are the caryotae, which supply a great deal of food but also of juice,and from which the principal wines of the East are made; these strongly affectthe head, to which the date owes its name. But not only are these trees abundantand bear largely in Judea, but also the most famous are found there, and not inthe whole of that country but specially in Jericho, although those growing inthe valleys of Arehelais and Phaselis and Livias in the same country are alsohighly spoken of. Their outstanding property is the unctuous juice which theyexude and an extremely sweet sort of wine-flavour like that of honey. TheNicholas date belonging to this class is not so juicy but exceptionally large insize, four put end to end making a length of eighteen inches. The date thatcomes next in sweetness is less attractive to look at, but in flavour is thesister of the caryotae and consequently is called in Greek the sister-dates Thethird class among these, the pateta, has too copious a supply of juice, and theexcess of liquor of the fruit itself bursts open even while on the parent tree,looking like dates that have been trodden on.

Of the many drier dates the finger-date forms a class of its own: it is a verylong slender date, sometimes of a curved shape. The variety of this class whichwe offer to the honour of the gods is called ehydaeus by the Jews, a race remarkable for their contempt for the divine powers. All over the Thebaid andArabia the dates are dry and small, with a shrivelled body, and as they arescorched by the continual heat their covering is more truly a rind than a skin.Indeed in Ethiopia itself the climate is so dry that the skin of these dates isrubbed into powder and kneaded to make loaves of bread like flour. This dategrows on a shrub, with branches eighteen inches long, a rather broadleaf, and fruit of a round shape, but larger than the size of an apple. TheGreek name for this date iskoix; it comes to maturity in three years, and theshrub always has fruit on it. another date sprouting in place of onepicked. The date of the Thebaid is packed into casks at once, before it has lostthe aroma of its natural heat; if this is not done, it quickly loses itsfreshness and dries up unless it is warmed up again in an oven.

Of the rest of the date kind the Syrian variety,called sweetmeats, seem to be a low-class fruit; for those in the other part ofPhoenicia and Cilicia have the local name of acorn-dates, also used by us. Thesetoo are of several kinds, differing in shape, some rounder and others longer,and also in colour, some being blacker and others reddish; indeed, they arereported to have as many varieties of colour as the fig! though the white onesare the most in favour. They also differ in size, many having reached half ayard in length while some are no larger than a bean. The best kinds for keepingare those that grow in salt and sandy soils, for instance in Judea and theCyrenaic district of Africa; the dates in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria and Seleucia inAssyria do not keep, and consequently are used for fattening swine and otherstock. It is a sign that the fruit is spoilt or old if the white excrescence bywhich the dates are attached to the cluster has fallen off. Soldiers ofAlexander were choked by eating greendates; this effect was produced in the Gedrosi country by the quality of thefruit, and occurs elsewhere from eating it to excess, for fresh dates are sosweet that people will not stop eating them except because of the danger.

X. Syria has several trees that are peculiar to it beside this date; inthe class of nuts the pistachio is well-known: it is reported that taken eitherin food or in drink it is a remedy for snakebite. In the fig class Syria hasthe Carians and smaller figs of the same class calledcottana, also the plumthat grows on Mount Damascus and themyxa, both now acclimated in Italy. InEgypt the myxa is also used for making wine.

XI. Phoenicia has a small variety of cedar that resembles a juniper. Itis of two kinds, the Lycian and the Phoenician, which have different leaves; theone with a hard, prickly, pointed leaf is called theoxycedros, while the otheris a branchy tree and the wood is full of knots and has a better scent. Theybear fruit the size of a myrtle-berry, with a sweet taste. The larger cedar alsohas two kinds, of which the flowering one bears no fruit, while the one thatbears fruit does not flower, and in its case the previous fruit is replaced by anew one. Its seed is like that of the cypress. Some people call this tree thecedarpine. From it is obtained the resin held in the highest favour, while itsactual timber lasts for ever, and consequently it has been the regular practiceto use it even for making statues of the godsthe Apollo Sosianus in a shrine atRome, which was brought from Seleucia, is made of cedar-wood. There is a treeresembling the cedar in Arcadia, and a shrub in Phrygia is called thecedrys.

XII. Syria also has the turpentine-tree. Of this the male variety has nofruit, but the female has two kinds of fruit, one of them ruddy and thesize of a lentil, while the other is pale, and ripens at the same time as thegrape; it is no larger in size than a bean, has a rather agreeable scent, and issticky to the touch. Round Mount Ida in the Troad and in Macedonia this is alow-growing shrub-like tree, but at Damascus in Syria it is big. Its wood isfairly flexible and remains sound to a great age; it is of a shiny black colour.The flower grows in clusters like the olive, but is crimson in colour, and thefoliage is thick. It also bears follicles out of which come insects resemblinggnats, and which produce a sticky resinous fluid which also bursts out from itsbark.

XIII. Also the male sumach-tree of Syria is productive, the femalebeing barren; the leaf is that of an elm only a little longer, covered withdown, and the footstalks of the leaves always lying alternately in oppositedirections; the branches are slender and short. The sumach is used for bleachingleather. The seed, which resembles a lentil, turns red at the same time as thegrapes; it is calledrhus and is required for certain drugs.

XIV. Egypt also has many kinds of trees notfound anywhere else, before all a fig, which is consequently called the Egyptianfig. The tree resembles a mulberry in foliage, size and appearance; it bears itsfruit not on the branches but on the trunk itself, and this is an exceedinglysweet fig without seeds inside it. There is an extremely prolific yield, butonly if incisions are made in the fruit with iron hooks, otherwise it does notripen; but when this is done, it can be plucked three days later, another figforming in its place, the tree thus scoring seven crops of extremely juicy figsin a summer. Even if the incisions are not made new fruit forms under the oldand drives out its predecessor before it is ripe four times in a summer. Thewood of this fig is of a peculiar kind, and is one of the most useful there is.As soon as it is cut it is plunged into a marsh, and at first sinks to thebottom, but afterwards begins to float, and it is clear that moisture notbelonging to it, which soaks into all other timber, drains the sap out of this.When it begins to float on the surface, this is its sign that the timber isready for use.

XV. A tree to some extent resembling the Egyptian fig is one in Cretecalled the Cyprian fig, as it also bears fruit on its actual trunk and on itsbranches when they have grown to thickness. But the Cyprian fig puts out a budwithout any leaves, resembling a root. The trunk of the tree is like a poplar,and the leaf like an elm. It bears fruit four times a year, and also buds thesame number of times, but its unripe figs will not ripen unless an incision ismade in them to let out the juice. They have the sweet taste and the inside ofthe common fig, and are the size of a service-tree berry.

XVI. Another similar tree is the one called by the Ionians theceronia,which also buds from the trunk, the fruit being a pod, which has consequentlybeen called by some the Egyptian fig. But this is clearly a mistake, as it doesnot grow in Egypt but in Syria and Ionia, and also in the neighbourhood ofCnidus and on the island of Rhodes. It is always in full foliage, and it has awhite flower with a powerful scent. It sends out shoots at the lower parts, andconsequently is of a yellow colour above ground, as the suckers drain away thesap. If the fruit of the preceding year is picked about the rising of theDog-star, it at once grows a second crop, after which it blossoms throughthe period of the Bear-ward, and the winter nourishes its fruit.

XVII. Egypt also possesses a tree of a peculiar kind called the perseawhich resembles a pear but is an evergreen. It bears fruit without intermission,as when it is plucked a fresh crop sprouts the next day, but its season forripening is when the midsummer winds are blowing. The fruit is longer than apear, and is enclosed in a shell like an almond and a rind the colour of grass,but where the almond has a kernel this has a plum, which differs from an almondkernel in being short and soft, and although temptingly sweet and luscious, isquite wholesome. The wood is just like that of the lotus for goodness andsoundness and, also in its black colour, and it too has habitually been used formaking statues. The timber of the tree we have mentioned called the acorn-date,although reliable, is not so highly valued, as a large proportion of it has atwisted grain, so it is only used for shipbuilding.

XVIII. But on the contrary the wood of the cucus is in great esteem; thistree resembles a palm in that its leaves are also used for textiles, but itdiffers because it spreads out into branches like arms. The fruit is of a sizethat fills the hand; its colour is yellow and its juice has an attractive sweettaste, with a touch of astringency. It has a large and very hard shell inside,which is used by turners for making curtain-rings, and inside the shell is akernel which has a sweet taste while fresh, but which when dried goes on gettingcontinually harder and harder, so that it can only be eaten after being soakedin water for several days. The wood has a rather uneven grain that is mostattractive, and it is consequently very much admired by the Persians.

XIX. Also thorn-wood is equally esteemed in the same country, that is,the wood of a black thorn, as it lasts without decaying even in water, and isconsequently extremely serviceable for the ribs of ships; timbers made of awhite thorn rot easily. It has sharp thorns even on the leaves, and seed in podsthat is used instead of oak-galls in dressing leather. The blossom has apleasing effect in garlands and also makes a valuable medicine; also the treedistils gum. But its most valuable property is that when cut down it shoots upagain two years later. This thorn grows in the neighbourhood of Thebes, whereoak, persea and olive are also found, in a forest region nearly 40 miles fromthe Nile, watered by springs that rise in it. This region also contains theEgyptian plum-tree, which is not unlike the thorn last mentioned; its fruitresembles a medlar, and ripens in the winter, and the tree is an evergreen. Thefruit contains a large stone, but the fleshy part, owing to its nature and tothe abundance in which it grows, provides the natives with quite a harvest, asafter cleaning it they crush it and make it into cakes for storage. There wasalso once a forest region round Memphis with such huge trees that three mencould not join hands round The trunks; and one of them was particularlyremarkable, not because of its fruit or its utility for some purpose, but onaccount of the circumstance that it has the appearance of a thorn, but leavesresembling wings, which when somebody touches the branches at once fall off andafterwards sprout again.

XX. It is agreed that the Egyptian thorn supplies the best kind of gum;it is of a streaked appearance, grey in colour, clean and free from bark, and itsticks to the teeth; its price is 3 denarii per pound. The gum produced from thebitter almond and the cherry is inferior, and that from plum-trees is the worstkind of all. A gum also forms in the vine which is extremely valuable forchildren's sores, and the gum sometimes found in the olive-tree is good fortoothache; but the gun's also found in the elm on Mount Corycus in Gilicia andin the juniper are of no use for anything, indeed elm-tree gum there even breedsgnats. Also a gum exudes from thesarcocolla that is the name of the tree andalso of the gumwhich is extremely useful both to painters and to medical men;it resembles incense dust, and for the purposes mentioned the white kind isbetter than the red; its price is the one mentioned above.

XXI. We have not yet touched on the marsh-plants nor the shrubsthat grow by rivers. But before we leave Egypt we shall also describe the natureof papyrus, since our civilization or at all events our records depend verylargely on the employment of paper. According toMarcus Varro we owe even the discoveryof paper to the victory ofAlexander the Great,when he founded Alexandria in Egypt, before which time paper was not used. Firstof all people used to write on palm-leaves and then on the bark of certaintrees, and afterwards folding sheets of lead began to be employed for official muniments, and then also sheets of linen or tablets of wax for privatedocuments; for we find inHomer that theuse of writing-tablets existed even before the Trojan period, but when he waswriting even the land itself which is now thought of as Egypt did not exist assuch, while now paper grows in the Sebennytic and Saitic nomes of Egypt, theland having been subsequently heaped up by the Nile, inasmuch asHomer wrote that the island of Pharos,which is now joined to Alexandria by a bridge, was twenty-four hours' distanceby sailing-ship from the land. Subsequently, also according toVarro, when owing to the rivalrybetween KingPtolemy and King Eumenes about their librariesPtolemy suppressed the export of paper,parchment was invented at Pergamum; and afterwards the employment of thematerial on which the immortality of human beings depends spreadindiscriminately.

XXII. Papyrus then grows in the swamps of Egypt or else in the sluggishwaters of the Nile where they have overflowed and lie stagnant in pools not morethan about three feet in depth; it has a sloping root as thick as a man's arm,and tapers gracefully up with triangular sides to a length of not more thanabout 15 feet, ending in a head like a thyrsus; it has no seed, and is ofno use except that the flowers are made into wreaths for statues of the gods.The roots are employed by the natives for timber, and not only to serve asfirewood but also for making various utensils and vessels; indeed the papyrusitself is plaited to make boats, and the inner bark is woven into sail-cloth andmatting, and also cloth, as well as blankets and ropes. It is also used aschewing-gum, both in the raw state and when boiled, though only the juice isswallowed.

Papyrus also grows in Syria on the borders of the lake round which grows thescented reed already mentioned, and KingAntiochus would only allow ropes made from this Syrian papyrus to be usedin his navy, the employment of esparto not yet having become general. It hasrecently been realized that papyrus growing in the Euphrates near Babylon canalso be used in the same way for paper; nevertheless up to the present theParthians prefer to embroider letters upon cloths.

XXIII. The process of making paper from papyrus is to split it with aneedle into very thin strips made as broad as possible, the best qualitybeing in the centre of the plant, and so on in the order of its splitting up.The first quality used to be called 'hieratic paper' and was in early times devoted solely to books connected with religion, but in a spirit of flattery it was given the name of Augustus, just as the second best was called 'Livia paper' after his consort, and thus the name'hieratic' came down to the third class. The next quality had been given thename of 'amphitheatre' paper, from the place of its manufacture. This paper wastaken over by the clever workshop of Fannius at Rome, and its texture was madefiner by a careful process of insertion, so that it was changed from commonpaper into one of first-class quality, and received the name of the maker; butthe paper of this kind that did not have this additional treatment remained inits own class as amphitheatre paper. Next to this is the Saitic paper named fromthe town where it is produced in the greatest abundance, being made fromshavings of inferior quality, and the Taeneotic, from a neighbouring place, made from material still nearer the outside skin, in the case of which we reach a variety that is sold by mere weight and not for its quality. As for what is called 'emporitic' paper, it is no good for writing but serves to provide coversfor documents and wrappers for merchandise, and consequently takes its name fromthe Greek word for a merchant. After this comes the actual papyrus, and itsoutermost layer, which resembles a rush and is of no use even for making ropesexcept those used in water.

Paper of all kinds is 'woven' on a board moistenedwith water from the Nile, muddy liquid supplying the effect of glue. First anupright layer is smeared on to the table, using the full length of papyrusavailable after the trimmings have been cut off at both ends, and afterwardscross strips complete the lattice-work. The next step is to press it in presses,and the sheets are dried in the sun and then joined together, the next stripused always diminishing in quality down to the worst of all. There are nevermore than twenty sheets to a roll.

XXIV. There is a great difference in the breadth of the various kinds ofpaper: the best is thirteen inches wide, the hieratic two inches less, the Fannian measures ten inches and the amphitheatre paper one less, while theSaitic is still fewer inches across and is not as wide as the mallet used inmaking it, as the emporitic kind is so narrow that it does notexceed six inches. Other points looked at in paper are fineness, stoutness,whiteness and smoothness. The status of best quality was altered by the emperorClaudius. The reason was that the thinpaper of the period ofAugustus was notstrong enough to stand the friction of the pen, and moreover as it let thewriting show through there was a fear of a smudge being caused by what waswritten on the back, and the great transparency of the paper had an unattractivelook in other respects. Consequently the foundation was made of leaves of second quality and the woof or cross layer of leaves of the first quality. Claudius also increased the width of the sheet, making it a foot across. There were also eighteen-inch sheets called 'maerocola,' but examination detected a defect in them, as tearing off a singlestrip damaged several pages. On this accountClaudius paper has come to be preferred to all other kinds, although theAugustus kind still holds the field forcorrespondence; but Livia paper, having no quality of a first-class kind, butbeing entirely second class, has retained its position.

XXV. Roughness is smoothed out with a piece of ivory or a shell, but thismakes the lettering apt to fade, as owing to the polish so given the paper doesnot take the ink so well, but has a shinier surface. The damping process ifcarelessly applied often causes difficulty in writing at first, and it can bedetected by a blow with the mallet, or even by the musty smell if the processhas been rather carelessly carried out. Spottiness also may be detected by theeye, but a bad porous strip found inserted in the middle of the pasted joins,owing to the sponginess of the papyrus, sucks up the ink and so can scarcely bedetected except when the ink of a letter runs: so much opportunity is there forcheating. The consequence is that another task is added to the process ofpaper-weaving.

XXVI. The common kind of paste for paper is made fine flour of the bestquality mixed with boiling water, with a very small sprinkle of vinegar;for carpenter's paste and gum make too brittle a compound. But a more carefulprocess is to strain the crumb of leavened bread in boiling water; this methodrequires the smallest amount of paste at the seams, and produces a paper softerthan even linen. But all the paste used ought to be exactly a day oldnot morenor yet less. Afterwards the paper is beaten thin with a mallet and run overwith a layer of paste, and then again has its creases removed by pressure and isflattened out with the mallet. This process may enable records to last a longtime; at the house of the poet and most distinguished citizen Pomponius Secundus I have seen documentsin the hand ofTiberius andGaius Gracchus written nearly twohundred years ago; while as for autographs ofCicero, of his late MajestyAugustus,and ofVirgil, we see them constantly.

XXVII. There are important instances forthcoming that make against theopinion ofMarcus Varro in regard to thehistory of paper.Cassius Hemina, ahistorian of great antiquity, has stated in hisAnnals, Book IV, that the secretary Gnaeus Terentius, when digging over hisland on the Janiculan, turned up a coffer that had contained the body ofNuma, who was king at Rome, and that inthe same coffer were found some books of histhis was in the consulship of Publius 181 BC.Cornelius Cethegus, son ofLucius, and ofMarcus Baebius Tamphilus, son ofQuintus, dating 535 years after theaccession ofNuma; and the historiansays that the books were made of paper, which makes the matter still moreremarkable, because of their having lasted in a hole in the ground, andconsequently on a point of such importance I will quote the words ofHemina himself: 'Other people wonderedhow those books could have lasted so long, but Terentius's explanation was that about in the middle of the coffer therehad been a square stone tied all round with waxed cords, and that the threebooks had been placed on the top of this stone; and he thought this position wasthe reason why they had not decayed; and that the books had been soaked incitrus-oil, and he thought that this was why they were not moth-eaten. Thesebooks contained the philosophical doctrines ofPythagoras'and Hemina said thatthe books had been burnt by the praetorQuintusPetilius because they were writings of philosophy [prob. aninterpolation]. The same story is recorded byPiso the former Censor in hisCommentaries, Book I, but he says that there were seven volumes ofpontifical law and the same number of Pythagorean philosophy; whileTuditanus in Book XIII says that therewere twelve volumes of theDecrees of Numa;Varro himself says that there wereseven volumes ofAntiquities of Man,and Antias in his Second Book speaksof there having been twelve volumesOn MattersPontifical written in Latin and the same number in Greek containingDoctrines of Philosophy; Antias also quotes in Book III aResolution of the Senate deciding that these volumes were to be burnt. It ishowever universally agreed that the Sibyl brought three volumes to Tarquin the Proud, of which two wereburnt by herself while the third was destroyed in the burning of the Capitol intheSulla crisis. Moreover theMucianus who was three times consul hasstated that recently, when governor of Lycia, he had read in a certain temple aletter ofSarpedon written on paper atTroywhich seems to me even more remarkable if even whenHomer was writing, Egypt did not yetexist: otherwise why, if paper was already in use, is it known to have been thecustom to write on folding tablets made of lead or sheets of linen, or why hasHomer stated that even in Lycia itselfwooden tablets, and not letters, were given to Bellerophon? This commodity alsois liable to dearth, and as early as the principate ofTiberius a shortage of paper led to theappointment from the senate of umpires to supervise its distribution, asotherwise life was completely upset.

XXVIII. Ethiopia, which is on the borders of Egypt, has virtually noremarkable trees except the wool- tree, like the one described among the trees ofIndia and Arabia. However, the Ethiopian variety has a much woollierconsistency, and a larger pod, like that of a pomegranate, and also the treesthemselves resemble each other. Beside the wool-tree there are also palms ofthe kind which we have described. The trees and the scented forests of theislands round the coast of Ethiopia have been spoken of when those islands werementioned.

XXIX. Mount Atlas is said to possess a forest of a remarkable character,about which we have spoken. Adjoining Mount Atlas is Mauretania, which producesa great many citrus-treesand the tablemania which the ladies use as a retortto the men against the charge of extravagance in pearls. There till exists atable that belonged toMarcus Cicero forwhich with his slender resources and, what is more surprising, at that date, hepaid half-a-million sesterces; and also one is recorded as belonging toGallus Asinius that cost a million. Alsotwo hanging tables were sold at auction by KingJuba, of which one fetched 1,200,000 sesterces and the other a littleless. A table that was lately destroyed in a fire came down from the Cethegi andhad changed hands at 1,300,000 sestercesthe price of a large estate, supposingsomebody preferred to devote so large a sum to the purchase of landed property.The size of the largest tables hitherto has been: one made byPtolemy, king of Mauretania, out of twosemicircular slabs of wood joined together, 4½ ft. in diameter and 3 in.thickand the invisibility of the join makes the table more marvellous as a workof art than it could possibly have been if a product of nature--and a single slabbearing the name of Nomius a freedmanof the Emperor which is 3 ft. 11¼ in. across and 11¼ in. thick. Under this headit seems proper to include a table that belonged to the EmperorTiberius which was 4 ft. 2¼ in. across,and 1½ in. thick all over, but was only covered with a veneer of citrus-wood,although the one belonging to his freedman Nomius was so sumptuous. The materialis an excrescence of the root, and is very greatly admired when it growsentirely underground, and so is more uncommon than the knobs that grow aboveground, on the branches as well as on the trunk; and the timber bought at sohigh a price is in reality a disease of the trees, the size and the roots ofwhich can be judged from the circular tabletops. In foliage, scent and theappearance of the trunk these trees resemble the female cyprus, which is also aforest tree. A mountain called Ancorarius in Hither Mauretania provided the mostcelebrated citrus-wood, but the supply is now exhausted.

XXX. The outstanding merit of citrus-wood tables is to have wavy marksforming a vein or else little spirals. The former marking produces a longishpattern and is consequently calledtiger-wood, while the latter gives a twistedpattern and consequently slabs of that sort are called panther-tables. Also somehave wavy crinkled markings, which are more esteemed if they resemble the eyesin a peacock's tail. Besides the kinds previously mentioned, great esteem,though coming after these, belongs to those veined with a thick cluster of whatlook like grains, these slabs being consequently called parsley-wood, from theresemblance. But the highest value of all resides in the colour of the wood, thecolour of meed being the most favoured, shining with the wine that is proper toit. The next point is size: nowadays tables made of whole trunks are admired, orseveral trunks mortised together in one table.

The faults in a table are woodinessthat is the name given to a dull patternlessuniformity in the timber, or uniformity arranged like the leaves of aplane-tree, and also to a grain resembling the veining or colouring of theholm-oakand to flaws or hairy lines resembling flaws, a fault to which heat andwind have rendered the timber particularly liable; next comes a colour runningacross the wood in a black streak like a lamprey and marked with irregularraven-scratchings as on a poppy and in general rather approaching black, orblotches of various colours. The natives bury the timber in the ground whilestill green, giving it a coat of wax; but carpenters lay it in heaps of corn forperiods of a week with intervals of a week between, and it is surprising howmuch its weight is reduced by this process. Also wreckage from ships hasrecently shown that this timber is dried by the action of sea water, andsolidified with a hardness that resists decay, no other method producing thisresult more powerfully. Citrus-wood tables are best kept and polished by rubbingwith the dry hand, especially just after a bath; and they are not damaged byspilt wine, as having been created for the purpose of wine-tables.

Few things that supply the apparatus of a more luxurious life rank with thistree, and consequently it seems desirable to dwell on it for a little as well.It was known even toHomerthe Greekname for it beingthyon, otherwisethya. Well,Homer has recorded its being burut amongunguents as one of the luxuries of Circe, whom he meant to be understood as agoddessthose who take the word thyon to mean perfumes being greatly inerror, especially as in the same verse he says that cedar and larch were burntat the same time, which shows that he was only speaking of trees. AlreadyTheophrastus, who wroteimmediately after the period ofAlexander theGreat, about 314 B.C., assigns a high rank to this tree, statingthat it was recorded that the flooring of the old temples used to be made of itand that its timber when used in roofed buildings is virtually everlasting,being proof against all causes of decay; and he says that no wood is more markedwith veins than the root, and that no products made of any other material aremore valuable. The finest citrus, he says, is round the Temple of Hammon, but italso grows in the interior of Cyrenaica. He makes no mention, however, of tablesmade of citrus-wood, and indeed there is no older record of one before that ofthe time ofCicero, which proves theirnovelty.

XXXI. There is another tree with the same name, bearing fruitwhich some people abhor for its scent and bitter taste while other peopleare fond of it; this wood is also used for decorating houses, but it does notneed further description.

XXXII. Africa also, where it faces in our direction, produces aremarkable tree, the lotus, called in the vernacularcelthis, which alsohas been naturalized in Italy, though it has been altered by the change of soil.The finest lotus is found round the Syrtes and the district of the Nasamones. Itis the size of a pear, althoughCornelius Neposstates that it is a short fruit. The incisions in the leaf resemble thosein the holm-oak, except that they are more numerous. There are several varietiesof lotus, differing chiefly in their fruits. This one is the size of a bean andsaffron-coloured, but it changes colour several times before it is ripe, likegrapes. It grows in thick clusters on the branches like myrtle-berries and notlike cherries as it does in Italy; in its own country it is so sweet to eat thatit has even given its name to a race of people and to a land which is toohospitable to strangers who come there, making them forget their native land. Itis reported that chewing this lotus prevents gastric diseases. The better kindhas no stone inside it, those of the other variety having a kernel of a bonyappearance. Also a wine is pressed from this fruit that resembles mead, whichagain according to Nepos will not keep for more than ten days; he states that the berries are chopped up with spelt and stored in casks for food. Indeed we are told that armies have been fed on this while marching to and fro through Africa. The wood is of a black colour, and is in demand for making melodious flutes, while out of the root are devised knife-handles and other short implements.

This is the nature of the lotus-tree in Africa. But the same name also belongsto a herbaceous plant, as well as to a colewort in Egypt belonging to the classof marsh-plants. This springs up when the flood waters of the Nile retire; itresembles a bean in its stalk and in its leaves, which grow in large, thickclusters, although they are shorter and more slender than the leaves of a bean.The fruit grows in the head of the plant and resembles the fruit of the poppy inits indentations and in every other way; it contains grains like millet-seeds.The natives pile these heads in heaps to rot, and then separate the seeds bywashing and dry them and crush them, and use them to make bread. There is afurther remarkable fact reported, that when the sun sets these poppies shut upand fold their leaves round them, and at sunrise open again, this going on tillthey ripen and the flower, which is white, falls off. A further point reportedis that in the Euphrates both the head itself and the flower at the evening goon submerging till midnight, and disappear entirely into the depth so that theycannot be found even by plunging the hand in, and then return and by degreesstraighten up again, and at sunrise come out of the water and open their flower,and still go on rising so that the flower is raised up quite a long way abovethe water. The lotus has a root of the size of a quince, enclosed in a blackskin like the shell of a chestnut; inside it has a white body, agreeable to eatraw but still more agreeable when boiled in water or roasted in the ashes. Itspeelings are more useful than any other fodder for fattening pigs.

XXXIII. The region of the Cyrenaica ranks the lotus below its ownChrist's-thorn. This is more in the nature of a shrub, and its fruit is redder,and contains a kernel that is eaten by itself, as it is agreeable alone;it is improved by being dipped in wine, and moreover its juice improves wine.The interior of Africa as far as the Garamantes and the desert is covered withpalms remarkable for their size and their luscious fruit, the most celebratedbeing in the neighbourhood of the temple of Ammon.

XXXIV. But the country in the neighbourhood of Carthage claims by thename of Punic apple what some call the pomegranate; this it has also split upinto classes, by giving the name ofapyrenum to the variety that lacks awoody kernel: the consistency of this is whiter than that of the others, and itspips have a more agreeable taste and the membranes enclosing them are not sobitter; but in other respects these apples have a special structure resemblingthe cells in a honeycomb, which is common to all that have a kernel. Of thesethere are five kinds, the sweet, the sour, the mixed, the acid and the vinous;those of Samos and of Egypt are divided into the red-leaved and the white-leavedvarieties. The skin of the unripe fruit is specially used for dressing leather.The flower is calledbalaustium, and is serviceable for doctors and also fordyeing cloth; it has given its name to a special colour.

XXXV. Shrubs growing in Asia and Greece are theepicactis, which otherscallemboline, with small leaves which taken in drink are an antidote againstpoisons, as those of the heath are against snakes, and the shrub that producesthe grain of Cnidus, which some call flax, the name of the shrub itself beingthymelaea, which others call ehamelaea, others pyros achne, some cnestor, otherscneorum. It resembles the oleaster, but has narrower leaves, which when chewedhave a gummy consistency; it is the size of a myrtle, and has a seed ofthe colour and shape of spelt, which is only used for medicinal purposes.

XXXVI. The goat-shrub only grows in the island of Crete; it resemblesthe terebinth in seed as well as in other respects; the seed is reported to bevery efficacious against arrow wounds. The same island also produces agoat-thorn, which has the root of the white thorn, and is much preferred to thegoat-thorn growing in the country of the Medes or in Achaia; its price is 3 denarii per pound.

XXXVII. Asia also produces the goat-plantorscorpio, a thorn without leaves and with reddish branches, used formedicinal purposes: Italy also has the myrica, which is there called thetamarisk, and Achaia the wild brya; a remarkable property of the brya is thatonly the cultivated kind bears fruit; this resembles a gall-nut. In Syria andEgypt this shrub is abundant, and we give the name of unlucky wood to itstimber; yet some of the timbers of Greece are unluckier, for Greece grows a treenamed the ostrys, another form of the name being ostrya, which grows by itselfround rocks washed by water; it is like an ash in its bark and branches, and apear in its leaf, though the leaves are a little longer and thicker and wrinkledwith indentations running all across them; the seed resembles barley in colouras well as shape. The wood is hard and solid, and it is said that if it isbrought into a house it causes difficulty in childbirth and painful deaths.

XXXVIII. Equally unlucky is the tree on the island of Lesbos called theeuonymus, which is not unlike the pomegranate treeits leaves are betweenpomegranate and bay-leaves in size, but have the shape and soft texture of theleaf of the pomegranateand which by the scent of its white blossom gives promptwarning of its pestilential qualities. It bears a pod like that ofthe sesame, with a coarse square-shaped grain inside it which is deadly foranimals; and the leaf also has the same property, although sometimes animmediate evacuation of the bowels gives relief.

XXXIX.Alexander Corneliusmentions a tree called thehon-tree, the timber of which he says was used tobuild the Argo, which bears mistletoe resembling that on the oak, and whichcannot be rotted by water or destroyed by fire, the same being the case with itsmistletoe. This tree is, so far as I am aware, unknown to anyone else.

XL. Andrachle is almost always rendered into Latin for the Greeks by the word 'purslain,' although purslain is a herbaceous plant and its Greek name isone letter different, andrachne: for the rest the andrachle is a forest tree,nor does it grow in level country. It resembles the arbutus, only it has asmaller leaf and is an evergreen; the bark, though not rough, might be supposedto have frozen round the tree, it has such a wretched appearance.

XLI. The sumach has a similar leaf, but is smaller in size. It has thepeculiarity of clothing its fruit (which is calledpappus) with downy fluff, athing that occurs with no other tree. The apharce also resembles the andrachle,and like it bears twice a year; they produce a first crop of fruit just at thetime when the grapes are beginning to ripen, and a second at the beginning ofwinter. What sort of fruit is produced on these two occasions is not reported.

XLII. It may be suitable to have the fennel giant mentioned among theexotics and assigned to the genus 'tree,' inasmuch as the structure of someplants, in the classification that we shall adopt, has the whole of the woodoutside in place of bark and inside, in place of wood, a fungous pith like thatof the elder, though some have an empty hollow inside like reeds. This fennelgrows in hot countries over sea; its stalk is divided by knotted joints. It hastwo varieties, one called in Greek narthex, which rises to some height, theother narthecia, which always grows low. From the joints shoot out very largeleaves, the larger the nearer to the ground; but in other respects it has thesame nature as the anise, and the fruit is similar. No shrub supplies a wood oflighter weight, and consequently it is easy to carry, and supplieswalking-sticks to be used by old gentlemen.

XLIII. The seed of the fennel giant hasbeen called by somethapsia, but these people are mistaken, since the thapsia,though no doubt it is a giant fennel, is one of a peculiar kind, having theleaves of a fennel and a hollow stalk not exceeding the length of awalking-stick; the seed is like that of the giant fennel, but the root is white.When an incision is made in the thapsia milk oozes out, and when pounded itemits a sweet juice; even the bark is not thrown away. All these parts of thetree are poisons; in fact it is injurious even to those engaged in digging it upif the slightest current of air blows from the shrub in their direction: theirbodies swell up, and their face is attacked by erysipelasfor which reasonbefore beginning they grease it with a solution of wax. The doctors however saythat mixed with other ingredients the shrub is of use in treating certaindiseases, and also for fox-mange, bruises and spottinessas if there really wereany lack of remedies, forcing them to take in hand new enormities! But theycloak their noisome expedient with excuses of that sort, and such is theirimpudence that they ask us to believe that poison is among the resources ofscience!

The thapsia of Africa is the most violent of all. Some people make an incisionin the stalk during harvest-time and make a hollow in the root itself for thejuice to collect in, and when it has dried take it away; others pound the leavesand stalk and root in a mortar and after drying the juice hard in the sun cut itup into lozenges. The emperorNero atthe beginning of his reign gave this juice a famous advertisement, as whenduring his nocturnal escapades his face had sustained a number of bruises hesmeared it with a mixture of thapsia, frankincense and wax and on the followingday gave the lie to rumour by going about with a whole skin. It is a well-knownfact that fire can be best kept alight in a fennel stalk, and that the fennelsin Egypt are the best.

XLIV. In Egypt also grows the caper-tree, a shrub with a ratherhard wood; also its seed is well known as an article of food, and is usuallygathered together with the stalk. Its foreign varieties should be avoided,inasmuch as the Arabian kind is poisonous and the African injures the gums, andthat from Marmarica, is injurious to the womb. Also the Apulian caper-treeproduces vomiting and diarrhoea by causing flatulence in all the organs. Somepersons call this shrub 'dog-brier,' others 'snakevine'.

XLV. The saripha growing on the banks of the Nile also belongs to theshrub class. It is about 3 ft. high and the thickness of a man's thumb; itsfoliage is that of the papyrus, and it is chewed in a similar manner. The rootis highly rated in workshops for use as fuel, because of its hardness.

XLVI. Also we must not leave out a plant that at Babylon isgrown on thorn-bushes, because it will not live anywhere elsejust as mistletoegrows on trees, but the plant in question will only grow on what is called the'royal thorn.' It is a remarkable fact that it buds on the same day as it hasbeen plantedthis is done just at the rising of the Dog-starand it very quicklytakes possession of the whole of the tree. It is used in making spiced wine, andis cultivated for that purpose. This thorn also grows on the Long Walls atAthens.

XLVII. There is also a shrub called cytisus, which has been remarkablypraised byAmphilochus of Athens as afodder for all kinds of cattle, and when dried for swine as well, and heguarantees a yearly return of 2,000 sesterces for an ingerum of it, even on onlymoderate soil. It serves the same purpose as vetch, but produces satiety morequickly, an animal being fattened by quite a moderate amountso much so thatbeasts of burden fed on it refuse barley. No other fodder produces a largerquantity or a better quality of milk, and above everything as a medicine forcattle it renders them immune from all diseases. He also recommends a potionmade of cytisus dried and boiled in water to be given with wine to nursing womenwhen their milk fails, and he says this will make the infants stronger andtaller; also he advises giving it while in the green state to fowls, or if ithas dried, after being steeped. Moreover,Democritus andAristomachuspromise that bees will never fail if there is cytisus available for them to feedon. No other fodder is less expensive. It is sown when barley is, or in thespring, like leek, if the seed is used; or else the stalk is planted in autumnbefore the winter solstice. If sown the seed is soaked, or, if there is ashortage of rain, it is watered after sowing. When the plants are 18 inches highthey are replanted in a trench a foot deep. This planting is done through theequinoxes, while the shrub is still tender; it takes three years to mature, andit is cut at the spring equinox, when it has done floweringa job that can bedone very cheaply even by a boy or an old woman. It is of a whitish colour tolook at, and its appearance may be briefly described by saying that it lookslike a trifoliated plant with a rather narrow leaf. It is always fed to stockonly once in two days, but in winter as it has got dry it is moistened first;ten pounds make a sufficient feed for a horse, and for smaller animals inproportion. Incidentally, good results are got by sowing garlic and onions ascatch-crops between the rows of cytisus.

The cytisus shrub was discovered in the island ofCythnus, and from there was transplanted to all the Cyclades and later to theGreek cities, greatly increasing the supply of cheese. Moreovera fact thatmakes me very much surprised that it is rare in Italyit is not afraid of damagefrom heat and cold and hail and snow, and, asHyginus adds, not even from wood-grubs, as its wood has no attraction forthem.

XLVIII. Shrubs and trees also grow at the bottom of the seathose in theMediterranean being of smaller size, for the Red Sea and the whole of theEastern Ocean are filled with forests. The Latin language has no name for whatthe Greeks callphycos, as our wordalga denotes a herbaceoussea-plant, whereas the phycos is a shrub. It has a broad leaf and is colouredgreen; and it produces a growth one of the Greek names for which means'leek-weed' and the other 'bind-weed.' Another variety of the same shrub has ahair-like leaf resembling fennel, and grows on rocks, while the one above growsin shallow water near the coast; both kinds shoot in springtime and die off in autumn. The phycos growing on rocks round the island of Crete is also used for apurple dye; the most approved kind being that growing on the northern side ofthe island, as is the case in regard to sponges. A third variety resembles agrass; its root is knotted, and so is its stalk, like the stalk of a reed.

XLIX. Another group of shrubs is called bryon, which has the leaf of a lettuce only more wrinkled. This grows lower downthan the one last mentioned; but in deep water grow a pine and an oak, each 18inches high; they have shells clinging to their branches. The oak is reported toprovide a dye for woollen fabrics, and some in deep water are actually said tobear acorns, these facts having been ascertained by shipwrecked persons and bydivers. Also other very large marine trees are reported in the neighbourhood ofSicyonfor the sea-vine grows everywhere, but there is a sea-fig, which has noleaves and a red bark, and also the class of marine shrubs includes a sea-palm.Outside the Straits of Gibraltar grows a marine shrub with the leaf of a leek,and another with the foliage of a bay-tree and of thyme; both of these whenthrown up ashore by the waves turn into pumice.

L. But in the East it is a remarkable fact that as soon as we leave Keft, passing through the desert we find nothing growing except the thorn called 'drythorn,' and this quite seldom; whereas in the Red Sea there are flourishingforests, mostly of bay and olive, both bearing berries and in the rainy seasonfunguses, which when the sun strikes them change into pumice. The bushesthemselves grow to the height of a yard and a half. The seas are full ofsea-dogs, so much so that it is scarcely safe for a sailor to keep a lookoutfrom the bowsin fact they frequently go for the actual oars.

LI. The soldiers ofAlexander who sailed from India gave anaccount of some marine trees the foliage of which was green while in the waterbut dried up in the sun as soon as it was taken out and turned into salt; theyalso reported that along the coasts there were bulrushes of stone which exactlyresembled real ones, and out in deep water certain shrubs of the colour ofcow-horn where they branched out and turning red at the top; they were brittle,like glass when handled, but turned red-hot in fire like iron, their propercolour coming back again when they had cooled off. In the same part of the earthalso the rising tide submerges forests, although the trees are higher than theloftiest planes and poplars. Theft foliage is that of the bay-tree, and theirblossom has the scent and colour of violets; the berries resemble olives, andthese also have an agreeable scent; they form in the autumn and fall off inspring, whereas the leaves are never shed. The smaller of these trees areentirely covered by the tide, but the tops of the largest stand out and shipsare moored to them, as well as to their roots when the tide goes out. We havebeen informed from the same sources that other trees also have been observed inthe same sea which always keep their leaves and have a fruit resembling alupine.

Juba relates that in the neighbourhood of the Cave-dwellers' Islands a bush grows at the bottom of the sea called 'hair of Isis,' which has no leaves and resembles coral, and that when it is lopped it changes its colour to black and turns hard, and when it falls it breaks; and so does another marine bush the Greek name for which means 'the Graces' eyelid,' which is a potent love-charm; he says women make bracelets and necklaces of it. He declares that when being taken the bush is aware of it and turns as hard as horn, blunting the edge of the knife, but that if it is cut before it is aware of the danger that threatens it, it turns into stone.

I. SO far we have been dealing mostly with foreigntrees thatcannot be trained to grow elsewhere than in their place of origin and thatrefuse to be naturalized in strange countries. We may now speak of those commonto various countries, of all of which Italy can be thought to be the specialparent. Only it must be remembered by the student that for the present we arespecifying their natures and not their modes of cultivation, although actually avery large factor in the nature of a tree is due to its cultivation. There isone thing at which I cannot sufficiently wonderthat of some trees the verymemory has perished, and even the names recorded by authors have passed out ofknowledge. For who would not admit that now that intercommunication has beenestablished throughout the world by the majesty of the Roman Empire, life hasbeen advanced by the interchange of commodities and by partnership in theblessings of peace, and that even things that had previously lain concealed haveall now been established in general use? Still, it must be asserted, we do notfind people acquainted with much that has been handed down by the writers offormer days: so much more productive was the research of the men of old, or elseso much more successful was their industry, when a thousand years ago at thedawn of literatureHesiod began puttingforth rules for agriculture, and not a few writers followed him in theseresearcheswhich has been a source of more toil to us, inasmuch as nowadays itis necessary to investigate not only subsequent discoveries but also those thathad already been made by the men of old, because general slackness has decreedan utter destruction of records.

And for this fault who can discover other causes than the general movement ofaffairs in the world? The fact is that other customs have come into vogue, andthe minds of men are occupied about other matters: the only arts cultivated arethe arts of avarice. Previously a nation's sovereignty was self-contained, andconsequently the people's genius was also circumscribed; and so a certainbarrenness of fortune made it a necessity to exercise the gifts of the mind, andkings innumerable received the homage of the arts, and put these riches in thefront place when displaying their resources, believing that by the arts theycould prolong their immortality. This was the reason why the rewards of life andalso its achievements were then so abundant. But later generations have beenpositively handicapped by the expansion of the world and by our multiplicity ofresources. After senators began to be selected and judges appointed on the scoreof wealth, and wealth became the sole adornment of magistrate and militarycommander, after lack of children to succeed one began to occupy the place ofhighest influence and power, and legacy-hunting ranked as the most profitableprofession, and the only delights consisted in ownership, the true prizes oflife went to ruin, and all the arts that derived their name 'liberal' fromliberty, the supreme good, fell into the opposite class, and servility began tobe the sole means of advancement. This deity was worshipped by different men indifferent manners and in different matters, although every man's prayer wasdirected to the same end and to hopes of possessing; indeed even men of highcharacter everywhere preferred to cultivate the vices of others rather than thegood gifts that were their own. The consequence is, I protest, that pleasure hasbegun to live and life itself has ceased. We, however, will carry our researcheseven into matters that have passed out of notice, and will not be daunted by thelowliness of certain objects, any more than we were when dealing with theanimals, although we see thatVirgil,the prince of poets, was led by this consideration to make omissions among theresources of the garden and in those which he has recorded has only culled outthe flower of his subject, happy and gracious as he is: he has only namedfifteen kinds of grapes in all and three of olives and as many pears, and ofapples only the Assyrian citron, neglecting all the rest.

II. But where can we better make a beginning than with the vine?Supremacy in respect of the vine is to such a degree the special distinction ofItaly that even with this one possession she can be thought to have vanquishedall the good things of the world, even in the department of scents, inasmuch aswhen the vine is in blossom all over the country it gives a scent that surpassesany other in fragrance.

Even on account of its size the vine used in early days rightly to be reckonedas belonging to the class of trees. In the city of Piombino is to be seen astatue of Jupiter made of a single vine-stalk that has resisted decay for manyages; and similarly a bowl at Marseilles; the temple of Juno at Metapontum hasstood supported by pillars of vine-wood; and even at the present day we ascendto the roof of the temple of Diana at Ephesus by a staircase made from a singlevine, grown it is said at Cyprus, inasmuch as vines grow to an exceptionalheight in that island. And no other timber lasts for longer ages.

But I am inclined to believe that the things mentioned were made of the wood ofthe wild vine. Our own vines are kept down by yearly pruning, and all theirstrength is drawn out into shoots, or else thrown downward into layers, and theonly benefit these supply is that of their juice, obtained by means of a varietyof methods adapted to the peculiarities of the climate and the qualities of thesoil. In Campania the vines espouse the poplars, and embracing their brides andclimbing with wanton arms in a series of knots among their branches, rise levelwith their tops, soaring aloft to such a height that a hired vintager expresslystipulates in his contract for the cost of a funeral and a grave! In fact theynever stop growing; and I have before now seen entire country houses andmansions encircled by the shoots and clinging tendrils of a single vine. And athing that was considered in the first degree worthy of record also byValerianus Cornelius is that a singlevine in the colonnades of Livia at Rome protects the open walks with its shadytrellises, while at the same time it produces 12 amphorae of juice yearly.

Elms indeed are everywhere overtopped by vines,and there is a story thatCineas, theambassador of KingPyrrhus, wassurprised at the height to which the vines grew at La Riccia and made an amusingjoke about the rather rough flavour of the wine, to the effect that the parentof it thoroughly deserved being hung on such a lofty gibbet! There is an Italiantree on the other side of the Po called therumpotinus, or by another name theopulus, the broad circular stories of which are covered by vines which spreadout with their bare snaky growth to where the tree forks and then throw outtheir tendrils along the upraised fingers of the branches. Also vines whenpropped up with stakes about as tall as a man of middle height make a shaggygrowth and form a whole vineyard from a cutting, by the unconscionable creepingof their rods and the rambling of their tendrils over all the empty gaps,completely filling the middle of a courtyard. So many are the differentvarieties that even Italy alone harbours.

III.In some of the provinces the vine stands by itself without any prop,gathering its limbs together inward and providing nutriment for thick growth bymeans of their shortness. In other places this is prohibited by the wind, forinstance, in Africa and in parts of the province of Narbonne, where vines areprevented from growing beyond their pruned stumps and always resemble plantsthat are hoed, straying across the fields like herbaceous plants and drinking upthe juice of the soil with their grapes as they go; and consequently in theinterior of Africa the clusters exceed the body of an infant child in size. Inno other country are the vines harsher, but nowhere else have the grapes a moreagreeable firmness, which is very possibly the source of the name 'hard grape.'As to varieties in respect of size, colour and flavours of the berry they areinnumerable and they are actually multiplied by the varieties of wine: in onedistrict they have a brilliant purple colour, in another a rosy glow or a glossygreen tint; for grapes that are merely white and black are the common sorts. Butthe large-cluster grapes swell out like a breast and the finger-grapes have anexceptionally long berry. Also such is the sportiveness of nature that verylarge grapes have small grapes clinging to them as companions which rival themin sweetness: these are called in Greek 'small-berry' vines. Some grapes willlast all through the winter if the clusters are hung by a string from theceiling, and others will keep merely in their own natural vigour by being stoodin earthenware jars with casks put over them, and packed round with fermentinggrape-skins; others can be given a flavour by smoke, which also adds flavour towines, and the authority ofTiberius Caesarhas caused particular glory in regard to the efficiency of smoke in this respectto attach to the forges of Africa; before his time priority at the tablebelonged to the Ilaetic grapes from the territory of Verona. Moreover, raisins are called 'passi' from having 'endured' the sun. Grapes are alsopreserved in must, and so made drunk with their own wine, and some are madesweeter by being placed in must that has been boiled down; but others remain onthe parent vine to await the coming of a new generation, acquiring a glassytransparency, and the astringency of pitch poured on the footstalk gives themthe same durable hardness that it gives to wine in casks or jars. A vine hasnow been discovered that of itself produces a flavour of pitch in the wine: thisvine gives celebrity to the territory of Vienne by the varieties of MonteTaburno and of the Sotani and Helvii; it has become famous only recently and wasunknown in the period of the poet Virgil, who died 90 years ago. Add that thevine has been introduced into the camp, and in the hand of thecenturions is the mainstay of supreme authority and command and with its richreward it lures on the laggard ranks to the tardy eaglest and even in offencesit confers honour on punishment itself. Moreover it was vineyards thatsuggested a method for siege-trains. As for medicines, grapes hold such animportant place among them that they act as remedies in themselves, merely bysupplying wine.

IV.Democritus, who professed toknow all the different kinds of vines in Greece, was alone in thinking itpossible for them to be counted, but all other writers have stated that there isa countless and infinite number of varieties; and the truth of this will appearmore clearly if we consider the various kinds of wines. We shall not mention allof them, but the most famous, inasmuch as there are almost as many wines asthere are districts, so that it will be enough to have pointed out the mostcelebrated kinds of wine or the ones remarkable for some specialproperty.

The highest rank is given to the vines of Aminaea, account of the body of thatwine and its life, which undoubtedly improves with age. There are five varietiesof these vines; of these the 'younger sister' with a smaller berry sheds itsblossom better! and can stand rain and stormy weather, which is not the casewith the 'elder sister,' though this is less liable to damage when trained on atree than when on a frame. The 'twin sisters,' which have got this name becausethe bunches always grow in pairs, give a wine with a very rough flavour but ofexceptional strength; the smaller of these 'twins' is damaged by a south wind,but the other winds give it nutriment, for instance on Mount Vesuvius and thehills of Sorrento, but in all other parts of Italy it only flourishes whentrained on trees. The fifth kind is the 'woolly' grapefor, to prevent our beingvery much surprised at the Chinese or the Indians, it is covered with a coat ofdown. It ripens first of the Aminaean grapes, and decays the most quickly.

The next rank belongs to the vines of Mentana, the wood of which is red, inconsequence of which some people have called them the 'ruddy vines.' Theseproduce less wine, as they have too much husk and lees, but they are very strongin resisting frost, and they suffer worse from drought than rain and from heatthan cold, and consequently they hold the first place in cold and damplocalities. The variety with a smaller berry is more productive, and the onewith a cleft leafless.

The 'bee-vine' is so called because bees are specially fond of it. It has twovarieties, which also are covered with down in the young state; the differencebetween them is that one ripens more quickly than the other, although the latteralso ripens fast. These vines do not object to cold situations, and neverthelessno others rot more quickly from rain. The wines made from them are sweet atfirst but acquire roughness in the course of years. In Tuscany this vineflourishes more than any other.

So far we assign the chief distinction to thevines peculiar and indigenous to Italy. The remaining kinds have come fromabroad. From Chios or Thasos is imported a Greek light wine not inferior inquality to the Aminaean vintages; the vine has a very tender grape, and suchsmall clusters that it does not pay to grow it except in a very rich soil. Theeugenia, with its name denoting high quality, has been imported from the hillsof Taormina to be grown only in the territory of Alba, as if transplantedelsewhere it at once degenerates: for in fact some vines have so strong anaffection for certain localities that they leave all their reputation behindthere and cannot be transplanted elsewhere in their full vigour. This occursalso with the Rhaetian and Allobrogian grapesthe latter the grape with theflavour of pitch which we mentioned abovewhich are famous at home but not worthrecognition elsewhere. All the same, being good bearers they make up in quantitywhat they lack in quality, the eugenia grape in warm localities, the Raetic inthose with a moderate climate and the Allobrogian in cold districts, as itripens in frost and has a black colour. The wines made from the grapes so farmentioned, even from the black ones, turn to a white colour with age. Theremaining vines are of no quality, although occasionally owing to the agency ofclimate or soil they are not disappointing when old, as in the case of theFaecenian vine, and that of which blossoms at the same time but has fewergrapes; their blossom is never liable to injury, as they do not come before thewest wind of early spring and can withstand wind and rain, although they dobetter in cold places than in warm ones and in damp situations than in dry. The visulla bears clusters of large size rather than closely packed; it cannot standchanges of weather, but lasts well against a continuous spell of cold or heat.The smaller variety of this kind is the better one. It is difficult to please inchoice of soil, as in a rich soil it decays and in a thin soil it does not comeon at all; its fastidiousness requires an intermediate blend of soil, and thatis why it is common in the Sabine hill country. Its grapes are not attractive tolook at, but have an agreeable flavour; if they are not gathered as soon as theyare ripe, they will fall off even before they decay. Its hardiness and the sizeof the leaves protect the grapes against hailstorms.

The grapes calledhelvolae again are remarkable for rather frequently varying intheir colour, which is midway between the purple grapes and the black ones, andthey have consequently been called by some peoplevarianae. Among them theblacker kind is preferred; both kinds bear large crops every other year, thoughthey make better wine when the crop is less abundant. Also the praecia vine hastwo varieties, distinguished by the size of the grape; these vines make a greatdeal of wood, and their bunches are most useful for storing in jars; the leafresembles parsley. The people of Durazzo speak highly of the balisca vine, whichthe Spanish provinces callcoccolobis; its grapes grow in rather scantybunches and can stand hot weather and south winds; its wine is apt to go to thehead, but the yield is abundant. The Spanish provinces distinguish two kinds ofthis vine, one having an oblong grape and the other a round one; they gatherthem last of all. The sweeter the coccolobis grape is, the better it is; buteven if it has a rough taste it turns sweet with age, and one that was sweetturns rough; in the last state they are held to rival the wine of Alba. It issaid that to drink the juice of this grape is very good for disorders of thebladder. The albuelis vine bears more fruit at the top of the trees that it isgrown on, the visulla on the bottom branches; and consequently, when both areplanted round the same trees, owing to this difference of habit they producerich crops. One of the black grapes has been named 'the good-for-nothing,'though it might more properly be styled the sober, as the wine it produces isadmirable, particularly when old, but though strong it has no ill effects: infact this is the only vintage that does not cause intoxication. All the otherkinds of vine have the recommendation of bearing freely, and chief among themthe helvennaca. Of this there are two kinds, one larger, which some people callthe long helvennaca, the other smaller, calledemarcus; the latter is not soprolific but produces a wine of more agreeable flavour; it is distinguished byits rounded leaf, but both kinds have a slender growth. They require to hesupported on forked props, otherwise they cannot support the weight of theirabundant fruit. They like a sea breeze, and dislike damp dews. None of the vineslove Italy less, for there it grows leafless and stunted and soon decays, andalso the wine it produces will not keep beyond the summer; and no other vine ismore at home in a thin soil.Graecinus,who has generally copiedCornelius Celsus,thinks that it is not the nature of this vine to which Italy is not friendly butthe mode of cultivating it, as growers are too eager to make it put out shoots;the consequence of this, he says, is that it is used up by its own fertility,unless the bounty of the soil is so rich as to afford it support when it beginsto droop. It is said that this vine never contracts carbuncle, which is a veryvaluable property, if indeed it is true that there is any vine that is exemptfrom the power of the climate.

The spionia, called by some the thorn-vine, is able to bear heat, and is ripenedby rainy weather in autumn; what is more, indeed, it is the only vine thatthrives from fog, on which account it is specially grown in the district ofRavenna. The venicula is one of the best vines that shed their flowers, and itsgrapes are particularly well suited for preserving in jars; the people of Campania prefer to call it by the name ofsurcula, and others by that ofscapula, while the name for it at Tarracina is Numisiana; it has no strength ofits own but is entirely conditioned by the strength of the soil; all the same,as far south as Vesuvius it is very potent if kept in earthenware jars fromSorrento. For at Vesuvius there is Murgentina, a very strong vine imported fromSicily, called by some Pompeiana, which only bears well in a rich soil, just asthe horconia vine only flourishes in Campania. The opposite is the case with thearceraca, called inVirgilargitis, which has the property of imparting extra richness to the soil, whileitself offering a very stout resistance to rain and to old age, though it willhardly produce wine every year, and its grapes are only valued for eating, butit bears exceptionally large crops. The mettica vine also stands the years, andfaces all weather very strongly; it bears a black grape, and its wines acquire areddish colour in old age.

The kinds of vine mentioned so far are grown everywhere, but those remainingbelong to particular districts and places, or are crosses produced by graftingone of these on another: thus among the vines of Tuscany that of Todi is aspecial variety, and also they have special names, a vine at Florence beingcalledsopina and some at Arezzo 'mole-vine' and 'seasonal vine' and 'crossed vine.' The mole-vine has black grapes and makes a white must; theseasonal vine is a deceptive plant, giving a more admirable wine the larger cropof grapes it bears, and, remarkable to say, coming to the end of its fertilityand its good quality at the same time; the crossed vine has black grapes andmakes a wine that does not keep at all long, but its grape keeps a very longtime, and it is gathered a fortnight later than any other variety, bearing alarge crop of grapes but only good for eating. The leaves of this vine, likethose of the wild vine, turn a blood-red colour before they fall off; this alsohappens with some other vines, and is a sign of extremely inferior quality. The itriola is peculiar to Unibria and to the districts of Bevagna and Ancona, andthe 'dwarf-vine' to that of San Vettorino. The same districts have the bananica,an unreliable vine, though people become fond of it. The people of Pompei givethe name of their township to a grape, although it grows in greater quantity atChiusi; the people of Tivoli also name a grape after their township, althoughthey have lately discovered the 'olive-grape', so called from its resemblance toan olive: this is the latest grape introduced hitherto. The vinaciola grape isonly known to the Sabines and the calventina to the people of Mount Gaurus.Vines transplanted from the Falernian territory are, I am aware, called 'Falernian,' but they very quickly degenerate everywhere. Some people alsohave made out a Sorrento variety, with a very sweet grape. The 'smoke-grape,'the 'mouthful' and the tharrupia, which grow on the hills of Thurii, are notpicked before there has been a frost. Pisa rejoices in the vine of Paros, andModena in the vine of Perugia, which has a black grape and makes a wine thatwithin four years turns white. It is a remarkable fact that at Modena there is agrape that turns round with the sun and is consequently called in Greek the'revolving grape'; and that in Italy a grape from Gaul is popular, butacross the Alps that of Picenum.Virgilmentions a Thasian vine, a Maraeotid and a Lagean, and a number of other foreignkinds that are not found in Italy.

But again there are some vines which are distinguished for their grapes and notfor their wine, for instance, among the hard-berry group the ambrosia grape,which needs no jars but will keep on the vine, so strong is its resistance tocold and heat and to bad weather, nor does it require a tree or stakes tosupport it, as it sustains its own weight, though this is not the case with thedactylis, the stalk of which is only the thickness of a finger; and among thevines with large bunches the pigeon-vine, and still more the purple'double-bosomed' vine, so called because it does not bear clusters but onlysecondary bunches; and also the 'three-foot vine', named from its size, and alsothe 'rush vine' with its shrivelled grape and the vine called the Raetic vine inthe Maritime Alps, which is quite unlike the famous vine of that name, becausethis is a short-stalked vine with closely packed clusters and producing a lowclass of wine; but it has the thinnest skin of any grape, and a single verysmall stone (calledchium), and one or two grapes in each bunch areexceptionally large. There is also the black Aminean grape to which they givethe name of 'Syrian grape', and also the Spanish grape, which is the most highlyrated of the inferior kinds.

The kind called 'table-grapes,' one of the hard-berry group, are grown ontrellisesthey are both white and blackand so are the 'cow's-udder' grapes,also of both colours, and those of Aegiurn and of Rhodes, not mentioned before,and the 'one-ounce' grape, apparently named from the weight of the berry, andalso the 'pitch grape,' the darkest in colour of all the black grapes, and the'garland grape', the clusters of which by a sport of nature are arranged in awreath with leaves interspersed among the berries, and the grapes called'market-grapes,' a very quick bearer that attracts buyers by its appearance andstands carriage well. On the other hand the ashy grape and the dusky grape andthe donkey-grape are condemned even by their appearance, thoughthis is less the case with the alopecis, which resembles a fox's brush. A grapegrowing in the vicinity of Phalacra is called the Alexandrian grape; it is alow-growing vine with branches only eighteen inches long and a black grape thesize of a bean, with a soft and very small stone; the clusters hang aslant andare extremely sweet; the leaf is small and round, and has no clefts. Within thelast seven years there has been discovered at Viviers in the province ofNarbonne a vine whose blossoms wither in a day and which is consequentlyextremely immune to bad weather; it is called the 'charcoal-vine,' and is nowgrown by the whole province.

V. The elderCato, who wasexceptionally celebrated for his triumph and his censorship, though yet more forhis literary distinction and for the precepts that he has given to the Romannation upon every matter of utility, and in particular as to agriculturea manwho by the admission of his contemporaries was a supremely competent andunrivalled agriculturalisthas dealt with only a few varieties of the vine,including some even the names of which are now extinct. His opinion deserves tobe set out separately and handled at full length, to make us acquainted with thevarieties which were the most famous in the whole of this class in the year 154BC., about the time of the taking of Carthage and Corinth, the period ofCato's demiseand to show us how greatan advance civilization has made in the subsequent 230 years. The followingtherefore are the remarks that he made on the subject of vines and grapes: 'Inthe locality pronounced to be best for the vine and fully exposed to the sun,you should plant the small variety of Aminian and the double eugenium, and alsothe small helvia. In a denser soil or a locality more liable to fog you shouldplant the larger Aminian or the Murgentine, the Apician, and the Lucanian. Allthe other varieties of vine, especially hybrids, are suited to any kind of land.The small Aminian grape and the larger one and the Apician are stored unstonedin a jar; they can also be kept in new wine boiled down and must, and properlyin after-wine. The larger Aminian hard-berry grapes, which one you hang up, areproperly kept, for instance at a blacksmith's forge, to make raisins. Nor arethere any older instructions on this subject written in Latin, so near we are tothe origin of things. The Aminian grape last mentioned is called byVarro the Scantian.

In our own period there have been few instances consummate skill in this field,but it is all the more proper on that account not to omit them, soas also to make known the rewards of success, which in every department attractthe greatest attention. Well, the greatest distinction was achieved byAcilius Sthenelus, a plebeian, the sonof a freedman, by his intensive cultivation of a vineyard of not more than 60iugera, in the region of Mentana, which he sold for 400,000 sesterces. AlsoVetulenus Aegialus, he too a freedman,gained a great reputation in the district of Liternum in Campania, and a stillgreater reputation in public esteem on account of his cultivating the estatewhich had been the place of exile ofAfricanus;but the greatest reputation, thanks to the activity of the sameSthenelus, attached toRemmius Palaemon, also famous for histreatise on grammar, who within the last 20 years bought a farm for 600,000sesterces in the same region of Mentana, at the turning off the main road tenmiles from Rome. The low price of property through all the districts justoutside the city in every direction is notorious, but especially in theneighbourhood referred to, sincePalaemonhad bought farms that had also been let down by neglect and that were not abovethe average quality of soil even among those extremely poor estates. Heundertook the cultivation of this property not from any high motive but at firstout of vanity, for which he was known to be so remarkable; but he had thevineyards dug and trenched afresh under the superintendence ofSthenelus, and so, though only playingthe part of a farmer, he finally got the estate into an almost incrediblywonderful condition, as within eight years, the vintage, while still hanging onthe trees, was knocked down to a purchaser at a price of 400,000 sesterces; andeverybody ran to see the piles of grapes in these vineyards, while the sluggishneighbourhood vindicated itself against this discredit by the excuse of hisexceptionally profound studies, and recently Annaeus Seneca, the most learned person of the day, and eminent in powerwhich ultimately grew to excess and came crashing about his earsa man who wasat all events no admirer of frivolitieswas seized with such a passionate desirefor this estate that he was not ashamed to concede this victory to one whom heotherwise hated and who was sure to make the most of this advertisement, bybuying the vineyards in question at four times the price Palaemon had paid forit within hardly more than ten years of its being under his management.This was a method of cultivation which it would be profitable to apply to thefarms of Caecubum and Setia, since even subsequently the estate has frequentlyproduced seven sacks, that is 140 jars, of must to the iugerum. And to preventanyone from supposing that the records of the days of old were beaten on thisoccasion,Cato also wrote that therewere returns of 10 sacks to the iugerum, these instances conclusively provingthat the merchant does not obtain more profit by rashly trespassing on the seasnor by going as far as the coast of the Red Sea or of the Indian Ocean to seekfor merchandise, than is yielded by a diligently cultivated homestead.

VI. The most ancient celebrity belongs to the wine of Maroneagrown in the seaboard parts of Thrace, as we learn fromHomer. However, we need not pursue thelegendary or variously reported stories conceding its origin, except thestatement thatAristaeus was the firstperson of all in the same nation who mixed honey with wine, because of theoutstandingly agreeable quality of each of these natural products.Homer has recorded the mixing of Maronean wine with water in the proportion of 20 parts of water to one of wine.This class of wine in the same district still retains its strength andits insuperable vigour, inasmuch as one of the most recent authors,Mucianus, who was three times consul,ascertained when actually visiting that region that it is the custom to mix withone pint of this wine eight pints of water, and that it is black incolour, has a strong bouquet, and improves in substance with age.

The Pramnian wine as well, also celebrated byHomer, still retains its fame. It is grown in the territory of Smyrna, inthe neighbourhood of the shrine of the Mother of the Gods.

Among the remaining wines no kind was particularly famous, but the year of theconsulship ofLucius Opimius, when thetribuneGaius Gracchus was assassinatedfor stirring up the common people with seditions, was renowned for theexcellence of its vintages of all kindsthe weather was so fine and bright (theycall it the 'boiling' of the grape) thanks to the power of the sun, in the 633rdyear 121 BC. from the birth of the city; and wines of that year stillsurvive, having kept for nearly 200 years, though they have now been reduced tothe consistency of honey with a rough flavour, for such in fact is the natureof wines in their old age; and it would not be possible to drink them neat or tocounteract them with water, as their over-ripeness predominates even to thepoint of bitterness, but with a very small admixture they serve as a seasoningfor improving all other wines. Assuming that by the valuation of that periodtheir cost may be put at 100 sesterces per amphora, but that the interest onthis sum has been adding up at 6 per cent. per annum, which is a legal andmoderate rate, we have shown by a famous instance that in the principate ofGaius Caesar, son ofGermanicus, 160 [A.D. 39] yearsafter the consulship ofOpimius, thewine cost that amount for onetwelfth of an amphorathis appears in ourbiography of the bard Pomponius Secundusand the banquet that he gave to the emperor mentioned: so large are the sums ofmoney that are kept stored in our wine-cellars! Indeed there is nothing elsewhich experiences a greater increase of value up to the twentieth yearor agreater fall in value afterwards, supposing that there is not a rise of price.Rarely indeed has it occurred hitherto and only in the case of somespendthrift's extravagance, for wine to fetch a thousand sesterces a cask. It isbelieved that the people of Vienne alone sell their wines flavoured with pitch,the varieties of which we have specified, for a higher price, though out ofpatriotism they only sell it among themselves; and this wine when drunk cold isbelieved to be cooler than all the other kinds.

VII. Wine has the property of heating the parts of the body inside whenit is drunk and of cooling them when poured on them outside. And it will not beout of place to recall here what the famous philosopher Androcydes wrote toAlexander the Great in an attempt torestrain his intemperance: 'When you are about to drink wine, O King, rememberthat you are drinking the earth's blood. Hemlock is poison to a human being andwine is poison to hemlock.' IfAlexanderhad obeyed this advice, doubtless he would not have killed his friends in hisdrunken fits; so that in fact we are justified in saying that there is nothingelse that is more useful for strengthening the body, and also nothing moredetrimental to our pleasures if moderation be lacking.

VIII. Who can doubt, however, that some kinds of wine are more agreeablethan others, or who does not know that one of two wines from the same vat can besuperior to the other, surpassing its relation either owing to its caskor from some accidental circumstance? And consequently each man will appointhimself judge of the question which wine heads the list.Julia Augusta gave the credit for hereighty-six years of life to the wine of Pizzino, having never drunk any other.It is grown on a bay of the Adriatic not far from the source of the Timavus, ona rocky hill, where the breeze off the sea ripens enough grapes to make a fewcasks; and no other wine is considered more suitable for medicinal purposes. Iam inclined to believe that this is the wine from the Adriatic Gulf which theGreeks have extolled with such marvellous encomiums under the name ofPraetutian. His late MajestyAugustuspreferred Setinum to all wines whatsoever, and so for the most part did theEmperors who came after him, owing to the verdict of experience that becauseinjurious attacks of indigestion do not readily arise from this liquor. ... Itgrows just above Foro Appio. Previously Caecuban wine had the reputation ofbeing the most generous of all; it was grown in some poplar woods on marshyground on the Bay of Amyclae, but the vineyard has now disappeared owing to theneglect of the cultivator and the confined area of the ground, though in agreater degree owing to the ship canal from the lake of Baiae to Ostia that wasbegun byNero.

The second rank belonged to the Falerniandistrict, and in it particularly to the estate ofFaustus in consequence of the care takenin its cultivation; but the reputation of this district also is passing out ofvogue through the fault of paying more attention to quantity than to quality.The Falernian district begins at the Campanian bridge as you turn left to reachthe Colonia Urbana ofSulla latelyattached to Capua, and theFaustusestate begins about four miles from the village of Caedicium, which is about sixmiles from Sinuessa. No other wine has a higher rank at the present day. It is the only wine that takes light when a flame is applied to it. It has three varieties, one dry, one sweet and one a light wine. Some people distinguish three vintages as followsCaucinian growing on the tops of the hills, Faustianhalf-way up them, and Falernian at the bottom. It must also not be omitted thatnone of the grapes that produce the celebrated vintages are agreeable to eat.

The third prize is attained in various degrees by the vines of Alba in theneighbourhood of the city, which are extremely sweet and occasionally dry, andalso by those of Sorrento which only grow in vineyards, and which are veryhighly recommended for convalescents because of their thinness andhealth-giving qualities. The EmperorTiberiusused to say that the doctors had made a corner to puff the Sorrento vintage,but that except for that it was only a generous vinegar, and his successor theEmperor Gaius called it best qualityflat wine. Its place is contested by the vineyards of Monte Massico and theslopes of Monte Barbaro looking towards Pozzuoli and Baiae. For the Statanavineyards adjoining the Falernian territory unquestionably once reached thefirst place, and established the fact that each locality has its own period andits own rise and decline of fortune. The adjacent vintages of the Calenian hillsused to be preferred to them, as were those of Fundi where the vines are grownon trellises or trained up small trees, and others from the vicinity of Rome,those of Castel del Volturno and Piperno. As for the wine produced at Segni, itcounts as a medicine, being useful as a stomachic astringent owing to itsexcessive dryness.

For public banquets the fourth place in the race has been held from the time ofhis late MajestyJulius Caesaronwardfor he was the first person to bring them into favour, as appears fromhis lettersto the Mamertine vintages grown in the neighbourhood of Messina inSicily; of these the Potitian, so called after the name of its original grower,is particularly highly spoken ofit grows in the part of Sicily nearest toItaly. In Sicily also is grown the Taormina vintage, which when bottled isconstantly passed off for Mamertine.

Among the remaining wines there are, in thevicinity of the Adriatic and Ionian Sea, the Praetutian and those grown atAncona and the vines called sprig-vines, because they were all struck from asingle chance sprig; and in the interior the wines of Cezena and those called bythe name of Maecenas; also in the district of Verona the wines of Tyrol,reckoned byVirgil inferior only toFalernian; and next at the top of the Adriatic the wines of Adria, and from theLower Sea the Latiniensian, Graviscan and Statoniensian. Luna carries off thepalm of Tuscany and Genoa that of Liguria. Between the Pyrenees and the AlpsMarseilles has wine of two flavours, as it produces a richer variety, the localname for which is the `juicy' brand, which is also used for seasoning otherwines. The importance of the wine of Beziers does not extend outside the Gallicprovinces; and about the rest of the wines grown in the Province of Narbonne nopositive statement can be made, inasmuch as the dealers have set up a regularfactory for the purpose and colour them by means of smoke, and I regret to sayalso by employing noxious herbs and drugsinasmuch as a dealer actually usesaloe for adulterating the flavour and the colour of his wines.

But also the wines of Italy grown further away from the Ausonian Sea are notwithout note, those of Taranto and San Severino, and those grown at Cosenza andTempsa and Ban, and the Lucanian vintages, which hold a better place than thoseof Thurii. But the wines of Lagara, grown not far from Grurnentum, are the mostfamous of them all, on the ground of their having restored the health of MessalaPotitius. Campania, whether by means of careful cultivation or by accident, haslately excited consideration by some new namesboasting the Trebellian vintagefour miles from Naples, the Cauline close to Capua, and the Trebulan when grownin the district of the same name (though otherwise it is always classed as acommon wine), and the Trifoline. As for the wines of Pompei, their topmostimprovement is a matter of ten years, and they gain nothing from age; also theyare detected as unwholesome because of a headache which lasts till noon on thefollowing day. These instances, if I am not mistaken, go to show that it is thecountry and the soil that matter, not the grape, and that it is superfluous togo on with a long enumeration of kinds, since the same vine has a differentvalue in different places. In the Spanish provinces the vineyards of Lacetanumare famous for the quantity of wine they produce, while for choice quality thevineyards of Tarragon and Lauron and those of the Balearics among the islandschallenge comparison with the first vintages of Italy. And I am not unaware thatmost people will think that many have been passed over, inasmuch as everybodyhas his own favourite, and wherever one may go one finds the same storycurrenthow that one of the freedmen of his late MajestyAugustus, who was the most skilful amongthem for his ,judgement and palate, in tasting wine for the emperor's tablepassed this remark to the master of the house where Augustus was visiting inregard to a wine of the district: 'The flavour of this wine is new to me, and itis not of a high class, but all the same I prophesy that the emperor will notdrink any other.' I would not deny that other wines also deserve a highreputation, but the ones that I have enumerated are those on which the generalagreement of the ages will be found to have pronounced judgement.

IX. We will now in a similar manner specify the wines of countriesoverseas. The wines held in highest esteem subsequent to the greatvintages of the Homeric age about which we have spoken above were those of Thasos and Chios, and of the latter the wine called Ariusian. To these theauthority of the eminent physicianErasistratus,about four hundred and fifty years after the foundation of Rome, addedLesbian. At the present time the most popular of all is the wine of Clazomenae,now that they have begun to flavour it more sparingly with seawater. The wineof Lesbos by dint of its own nature smacks of the sea; and that of Mount Tmolusalso is not esteemed as a wine to drink neat, but because being a sweet wine anadmixture of it gives sweetness to the dry quality of the remaining vintages,at the same time also giving them age, as it at once makes them seem moremature. Next after these in esteem are the wines of Sicyon, Cyprus, Telmesus,Tripoli, Beyrout, Tyre and Sebennys. This last is grown in Egypt, being madefrom three famous kinds of grapes that grow there, the Thasian, the soot-grapeand the pine-tree grape. Ranking after these are the wines of Hippodamas, ofMystus and of the canthareos Vine, the protropum of Cnidos, and the winesof the volcanic region in Mysia, of Petra and of Myconos. As for the vintage ofMesogis, it has been found to cause headache, and that of Ephesus has alsoproved to be unwholesome, because seawater and boiled must are employed toseason it. Apamea wine is said to be particularly suitable for makingmead, and so likewise is the Praetutian in Italyfor this too is a propertypeculiar to certain kinds of wine: two sweet wines do not generally go welltogether. Protagion also has quite gone out, a wine which the medical professionhad put next to those of Italy. The physician Apollodorus in his pamphletadvising King Ptolemy what wines to drinkthe Italian vintages being even thenunknownpraised the wine of Naspercene in Pontus, and next to it the Oretie,Oeneate, Leucadian, Ambraciote and Peparethian vintagesthe last he put beforeall the rest, but said it was less well thought of on account of its not beingfit to drink before it was six years old. A sweet wine drawn off before treadingthe grapes.

X. Up to this point the goodness of a wine is credited to the countriesof its growth. Among the Greeks, the wine they have called 'life' has justly wona very distinguished name, having been developed for the treatment of a greatmany maladies, as we shall show in the part of our work dealing withmedicine. The process of making it is this: the grapes are picked a littlebefore they are ripe and are dried in a fierce sun, being turned three times aday for three days, and on the fourth day they are put through the press andthen left in casks to mature in the sun. The people of Cos mix in a rather largequantity of seawatera custom arising from the peculation of a slave who usedthis method to fill up the due measure, and this mixture is poured into whitemust, producing what is called in Greek 'white Coan.' In other countries a blendmade in a similar way is called 'sea-flavoured wine,' and 'sea-treated' when thevessels containing the must have been thrown into the sea; this is a kind ofwine that matures young. Also with us as wellCato exhibited a method of making Coan wine out of Italian, his mostimportant instruction being that it must be left in the sun for four years toripen. The Rhodes vintage resembles that of Cos, but the Phorinean is salter.All the overseas wines are thought to take seven years to reach the middle stageof maturity.

XI. All sweet wine has less aroma; the thinner a wine is the more aromait has. Wines are of four colours, white, brown, blood-red and black. Psithianand black psithian are kinds of raisin-wine with a peculiar flavour whichis not that of wine; Scybelites is a kind of must produced in Galatia, andAluntium another, produced in Sicily. Siraeum, by some calledhepsema and in ourcountrysapa, is a product of art, not of nature, made by boiling down must to athird of its quantity; must boiled down to only one-half is calleddefrutum. Allthese wines have been devised for adulterating with honey; but the winespreviously mentioned are the product of the grape and of the soil. Next afterthe raisin-wine of Crete those of Cilicia and of Africa are held in esteem.Raisin-wine is known to be made in Italy and in the neighbouring provinces fromthe grape called by the Greekspsithia and by us 'muscatel,' and alsoscripula,the grapes being left on the vine longer than usual to ripen in the sun, or elsebeing ripened in boiling oil. Some people make this wine from any sweet whitegrape that ripens early, drying them in the sun till little more than half theirweight remains, and then they beat them and gently press out the juice.Afterwards they add to the skins the same quantity of well-water as they havepressed out juice, so as also to make raisin-wine of second quality. The morecareful makers, after drying the bunches in the same manner, pick off theberries and soak them without their stalks in wine of good quality till theyswell, and then press themand this kind of wine is the most highly praised ofany; and then they repeat the process, adding more water, and make a wine ofsecond quality.

Between the sirops and real wine is the liquor that the Greeks callaigleucosthis is our 'permanent must.' Care is needed for its production, as itmust not be allowed to 'boil'that is the word they use to denote thepassage of must into wine. Consequently, as soon as the must is taken from thevat and put into casks, they plunge the casks in water till midwinter passes andregular cold weather sets in. There is moreover another kind of raisin-wineknown in the Province of Narbonne, and there particularly to the Vocoutii, underthe name of 'sweet wine.' For the purpose of this they keep the grape hanging onthe vine for an exceptional time, with the foot-stalk twisted. Some make anincision in the actual shoot as far as the pith and others leave the grapes todry on tiled roofs, the grapes in all cases being those from the helvennacavine. To these some add a wine called in Greek 'strained wine,' to make whichthe grapes are dried in the sun for seven days raised seven feet from the groundon hurdles, in an enclosed place where at night they are protected from damp; onthe eighth day they are trodden out, and this process produces a wine ofextremely good bouquet and flavour. Another wine of the sweet class is calledhoney-wine; it differs from mead because it is made from must, in the proportionof thirty pints of must of a dry quality to six pints of honey and a cup of salt,this mixture being brought just to the boil; this produces a dry-flavouredliquor. But among these varieties ought also to be placed the liquor called inGreekprotropam, the name given by some people to must that flows down ofits own accord before the grapes are trodden. This as soon as it flows is putinto special flagons and allowed to ferment, and afterwards left to dry forforty days of the summer that follows, just at the rise of the Dog-star.

XII. The liquors made from grape-skins soaked in water, called by theGreeks seconds and byCato and ourselvesafter-wine, cannot rightly be styled wines, but nevertheless are counted amongthe wines of the working classes. They are of three kinds: one is made by addingto the skins water to the amount of a tenth of the quantity of must that hasbeen pressed out, and so leaving the skins to soak for twenty-four hours andthen again putting them under the press; another, by a method of manufacturethat has been commonly employed by the Greeks,i.e. by adding water tothe amount of a third of the juice that has been pressed out, and aftersubmitting the pulp to pressure, boiling it down to one-third of its originalquantity; while the third kind is pressed out of the wine-leesCato'sname for this is 'lees-wine.' None of these liquors is drinkable if kept morethan a year.

XIII. Among these topics, however, it occurs to me that while there arein the whole world about eighty notable kinds of liquor that can properly beunderstood as coming under the term 'wine,' two-thirds of this number belong toItaly, which stands far in front of all the countries in the world on thataccount; and further investigation going into this subject more deeply indicatesthat this popularity does not date back from the earliest times, but that theimportance of the Italian wines only began from the city's six hundredth year.

XIV. Romulus used milk and not wine for libations, as is proved by thereligious rites established by him which preserve the custom at the present day.The Postumian Law of KingNuma runs:Thou shalt not sprinkle the funeral pyre with winea law to which he gavehis sanction on account of the scarcity of the commodity in question, as nobodycan doubt. By the same law he made it illegal to offer libations to the godswith wine produced from a vine that had not been pruned, this being a plandevised for the purpose of compelling people who were mainly engaged inagriculture and were slack about the dangers besetting a plantation, not toneglect pinning. We learn fromMarcus Varrothat Mezentius, king of Etruria, gavehelp to the Rutuli against the Latins at the price of receiving all the winethen in the territory of Latium. At Rome women were not allowed to drink wine.Among various instances we find that the wife ofEgnatius Maetennus was clubbed to deathby her husband for drinking wine from the vat, and that Romulus acquitted him onthe charge of murder.Fabius Pictor haswritten in hisAnnals that a matronwas starved to death by her relatives for having broken open the casketcontaining the keys of the wine-cellar; andCato says that the reason why women are kissed by their male relations isto know whether they smell of 'tipple'that was then the word denoting wine, andalso the word 'tipsy' comes from it. Judge GnaeusDomitius once gave averdict that a certain woman appeared to have drunk more wine that was requiredfor the sake of her health without her husband's knowledge, and he fined her theamount of her dowry. And great economy in the use of this commodity prevailedfor a long time. General Lucius Papirius before his decisive action against the Samnites vowed to give a smallgoblet of wine to Jupiter if he were victorious. Lastly among votive offeringswe find mention of gifts of pints of milk but nowhere of wine. MoreoverCato, when sailing on his expedition toSpain, whence he returned with a triumph, drank no other wine than what wasdrunk by the crew of his galley, so little did he resemble the gentlemen whogive even their guests other wines than those served to themselves, or elsesubstitute inferior wines as the meal progresses.

XV. The finest wines in early days were those spiced with scent of myrrh,as appears in the plays of Plautus,although in the one entitledThe Persianhe recommends the addition of sweet-reed also. Consequently some think thatin old times people were extremely fond of scented wine; but Fabius Dossenuus decides the point inthese verses:

I alsoobserve thatScaevola andLucius Aelius andAteius Capito were of the same opinion,inasmuch as we find inPseudolus:

whichshows that myrrh-wine was counted not only among wines but also among sirops.

XVI. The existence of the Opimian wineItaly already understanding theblessing she enjoyed affords an undoubted proof that wine-lofts existed thereand it was usual for wine to be racked off in the 633rd year of the city.Nevertheless the 21 B.C. vintages referred to were not yet celebrated;and accordingly all the wines grown in that year bear the name of the consulonly. Similarly also afterwards wines imported from overseas held the field fora long time and right down to our grandfathers' day, indeed even after Falernianhad already been discovered, as appears from the line of the comedy playwright:

In the year 665 from the foundation of the city the [89 BC] censorsPublius Licinius Crassus andLucius Julius Caesar promulgated anedict prohibiting 'the sale of Greek and Aminnian wine at a higher price than 8asses for 6 gallons'those being the actual words of the edict. But Greekwine was so highly esteemed that only one cup was given to each guest at abanquet.

XVII.Marcus Varro records in thefollowing words the wines that ranked highest in his own younger days:'When Lucius Lucullus was a boy he neversaw a full-dress banquet in his father's house at which Greek wine was givenmore than once, but when he himself came back from Asia he distributed more than100,000 jars in largess; also Gaius Sentius,who was praetor in our time, used to say that the first time that Chian wineentered his house was when the doctor had prescribed it for him for heartburn;but Hortensins left over ten thousandjars [50 B.C] to his next-of-kin. So farVarro. And besides, did notCaesaralso, when dictator, at the banquet in celebration of his triumph apportion toeach table a flagon of Falernian and a jar of Chian?Caesar also gave Chian and Falernian athis triumph over Spain, [60 BC] but at a banquet during his third consulship he[46 BC] provided Falernian, Chian, Lesbian and Mamertine: this is known to bethe first occasion on which four kinds of wine were served. It follows that allthe rest of the vintages came into fame afterwards, and about 54 BC.

XVIII. I am not surprised therefore that many centuries ago almostinnumerable kinds of artificial wine have been invented, which we willnow specify, all of them being used for medicinal purposes. In an earlier volumewe stated the method of making omphacium, which is used for unguents. What iscalled vine-flower wine is made from the claret vine, that is the wild vine, bysteeping two pounds of the flowers of this plant in a jar of must; 30 daysafterwards they are changed. Beside this the root and the grape-skins of theclaret-vine are used in dressing leather. These grape-skins, a little after theblossom has gone off, provide a remarkable specific for cooling attacks offeverish heat in cases of disease, being said to be of an extremely cold nature.A portion of these grapes die off from the heat before the restthese are calledmidsummer grapes; the whole of them never come to maturity, and if a bunch in anunripe state before it completely withers is fed to poultry it produces in thema distaste for stealing grapes.

XIX. The first of the artificial wines, which is called weak wine, ismade from real wine in the following manner: ten quarts of white must and halfthat quantity of water are kept boiling till a considerable amount of the wateris boiled away. Other people put in five quarts of seawater and the same amountof rainwater and leave the mixture in the sun for 40 days to evaporate. Thisdrink is given to invalids for whom it is feared that wine may be harmful.

The next kind of artificial wine is made from ripe millet seed, byputting a pound and a quarter of the seed together with its straw to soak in l½gallons of must and after an interval of seven months pouring off the liquor. Ithas already been stated where the varieties brewed from the lotus-tree,lotus-shrub and herbaceous lotus are made.

There are also wines, made from fruit, which we will specify, adding only theindispensable explanations: First the wine made from date-palms, which is usedby the Parthians and Indians and by the whole of the East, a peck of the rathersoft dates called in Greek 'common dates' being soaked in two and a quartergallons of water and then pressed. Also fig syrup is made from figs by a similarprocess, other names for it being pharnuprium and trochis; or if it is notwanted to be sweet, instead of water is added the same quantity of grape-skinjuice. Also excellent vinegar is made from the Cyprus fig, and an even betterquality as well from that of Alexandria. Wine is also made from the Syriancarob, and from pears and all kinds of apples (one from pomegranates is calledrhoites) as also from cornels, medlars, service berries, dried mulberries andfir-cones; the last are soaked in must before being pressed, but the juice ofthe preceding fruits is sweet of itself. We will indicate a little laterinstructions given byCato as to how tomake myrtle-syrup. The Greeks also employ another method: they boil tendersprigs of myrtle with the leaves on in salted must, and after pounding them boildown one pound of the mixture in 2¼ gallons of must until only 1½ gallons areleft. The beverage made by the same process from the berries of the wild myrtleis called myrtle wine; this stains the hands.

Among the plants grown in gardens, wine is made from the root of asparagus, andfrom cunila, wild-marjoram, parsley-seed, southernwood, wild mint, rue, eatmint,wild thyme and horehound; they put two handfuls of herb into a jar of must,together with a pint of boiled-down grape-juice and half a pint of seawater. Awine is made from the navew turnip by adding two drains' weight of navew to aquart of must, and in the same way from the root of the squill; and, amongflowers, from pounded rose-leaves wrapped in a linen napkin and thrown into mustwith a small weight attached to make it sink, in the proportion of 50 drains ofrose-leaves to 24 gallons of mustthey say the jar must not be opened for threemonthsand also wine is made from Gallic nard and another from wild nard.

I also find that aromatic wine is constantly made from almost exactly thesame ingredients as perfumesfirst from myrrh, as we have said, next also fromCeltic nard, reed and aspalathus, cakes of which are thrown into must or sweetwine; and in other places, from reed, sweet rush, costus, Syrian nard, cardamom,bark and flowers of cinnamon, saffron, dates and foal-foot, similarly made up inthe form of a cake; and among other people also from a mixture of half a poundof nard and cinnamon-leaf added to a gallon and a half of must; and this is alsohow at the present day what some people call savoury wines and others pepperedwines are made by adding pepper and honey. We also find mention of nectar-wine,extracted from the plant which some call sunflower, others herb of Media, or symphyton or herb of Ida or Orestion or nectaria, the root of which is added inthe proportion of 50 drains to 6 pints of must, after being similarly wrapped ina linen napkin. Of the remaining herbs, wormwood wine is made by boiling down apound of Fontic wormwood in five gallons of must to one-third of its amount, orelse by putting shoots of wormwood into wine. Similarly hyssop wine is made of Cilician hyssop by throwing three ounces of hyssop into a gallon and a half ofwine, or, if the hyssop is first pounded, into three-quarters of a gallon. EachOf these wines may also be made in another way, by sowing the plant round theroots of vines. AlsoCato shows how tomake hellebore wine in the same way by using black hellebore; also the samemethod is used in making scammony wine, vines having a remarkable property ofdrawing into themselves the flavour of some other plant, which explains why thegrapes plucked in the marshes of Padua actually have a flavour of willow.Similarly in Thasos also hellebore is planted among the vines, or else wildcucumber or scammony; the wine so obtained is called by a Greek name denotingmiscarriage, because it produces abortion.

Wine is also made from herbs the nature of which will be described in theirproper place; for instance from lavender and from gentian root and goat-marjoramand dittany, foal-foot, carrot, sage, all-heal, acorus, thyme, mandragora, andsweet rush. There is also mention of scyzinum and itaeomelis and lectisphagites,for which the recipe is now lost.

From the shrub and tree class, use is made of bothkinds of cedar, the cypress, the laurel, the juniper, the terebinth, the reedand the mastic-tree, the berries or else the new wood being boiled down in must;and similarly is used the wood of the dwarf olive, the ground-pine, and thegermander, and in the same way wine is also made from their blossom, by addingten drains' weight of it to three quarters of a gallon of must.

XX. A wine is also made of only water and honey. For this it isrecommended that rainwater should be stored for five years. Some who aremore expert use rain-water as soon as it has fallen, boiling itdown to a third of the quantity and adding one part of old honey to three partsof water, and then keeping the mixture in the sun for 40 days after the risingof the Dog-star. Others pour it off after nine days and then cork it up. Thisbeverage is called in Greek 'water-honey'; with age it attains theflavour of wine. It is nowhere rated more highly than in Phrygia.

XXI. Also honey used even to be mixed with vinegar, so exhaustive havebeen men's experiments in living. This mixture was called in Greek 'sour honey';it was made with ten pounds of honey, 2½ pints of old vinegar, onepound of sea salt and 5 pints of rainwater, heated to boiling ten times, afterwhich the liquor was drawn off and so kept till it was old. All these wines arecondemned by Themison, who is a very high authority; and, I vow, the employmentof them does appear to be a tour de force, unless anybody believes thataromatic wine and wines pounded of perfumes are products of nature, or thatnature gave birth to shrubs in order for them to be used for drink! Contrivancesof this sort are amusing to learn of, owing to the ingenuity of the human mindthat investigates everything. There can be no doubt that none of these wineswill keep a year, except those which we have stated to be actually the productsof age, and that the larger number of them will not keep even a month.

XXII. Even wine contains miraculous properties. One grown in Arcadia issaid to produce ability to bear children in women and madness in men; whereasin Achaia, particularly in the neighbourhood of Carynia, there is a wine that isreported to prevent childbearing, and this even if women eat the grapes whenthey are pregnant, although these do not differ in taste from ordinary grapes.It is said that persons who drink the wine of Troezen cannot become parents.The people of Thasos are reported to make two different kinds of wine, a winethat brings sleep and another that banishes sleep. The same place has a vinecalled in Greek the 'wild-animal vine,' the wine made from which and also itsgrapes cure snakebites, and another the 'frankincense vine,' with a scent like that of incense, the wine from which is used for libations to the gods. That of the vine called 'unconsecrated,' on the contrary, is banned from the altars;also it is said that no bird will touch it. Egypt gives the name of 'wine of Thasos' to an extremely sweet native vintage which causes diarrhoea; while Lycia on the contrary has one that has an astringent effect on the bowels. Egyptalso possesses a wine called in Greek 'delivery wine' which causes abortion.There are certain wines that, while stored in wine-lofts alter in quality at therising of the Dog-star and afterwards change back again; the same is the casewith wines shipped over sea, and it is observed that the effect of the motion onvintages that can stand it is merely to double their previous maturity.

XXIII. And since life is upheld by religion it is considered sinful topour libations to the gods, not only withwines made from a vine that has not been pruned, but from one that hasbeen struck by lightning, or one in the neighbourhood of which a man has beenhanged, or wine made from grapes that have been trodden out by someone with sorefeet, or squeezed from grape-skins that have been cut round or have been soiledby something not quite clean dropping on them from above; and likewise Greekwines must not be used for libations, because they contain water. The vineitself is also eaten, the tops of the shoots being boiled; they are alsopickled in vinegar and brine.

XXIV. But it may also be proper to give an account of the method ofpreparing wine, as Greek authors have written special treatises on this subjectand have made a scientific system for itfor instance Euphronius,Aristomachus,Commiades andHicesius. The practice in Africa is tosoften any roughness with gypsum, and also in some parts of the country withlime. In Greece, on the other hand, they enliven the smoothness of their wineswith potter's earth or marble dust or salt or seawater, while in some parts ofItaly they use resinous pitch for this purpose, and it is the generalpractice both there and in the neighbouring provinces to season must withresin; in some places they use the lees of older wine or else vinegar forseasoning. Moreover, medicaments for this purpose are also made from the mustitself: it is boiled down so as to become sweeter in proportion to its strength,and it is said that must so reared does not last beyond a year's time. In someplaces they boil the must down into what is calledsapa, and pour this into their wines to overcome their harshness. Still both in the case of this kind of wine and in all others they supply the vessels themselves with coatings of pitch, the method of making which will be described in the next volume.

XXV. Of the trees which distil a juice, some growing in the East andothers in Europe produce pitch and resin, and the province of Asia, which liesbetween the two, has some of both sorts. In the East the best and finest resinis produced by the turpentine-tree, and next by the lentiskthe latter beingalso called gum-mastic; afterwards comes the juice of the cypress, which has avery sharp flavourall of these trees producing a liquid juice and merely aresin, whereas the juice of the cedar is thicker and suitable for making pitch.Arabian resin is white and has a sharp scent, stifling to a person engaged inboiling it; the resin of Judea dries harder and has a stronger scent than eventhat from the turpentine-tree; and Syrian resin has a resemblance to Attichoney. The resin of Cyprus excels all other kinds; it likewise is the colour ofhoney, and has a fleshy consistency. That of Colophon is yellower than the rest,but if ground up turns white; it has a rather oppressive scent, and consequentlythe perfumers do not make use of it. In Asia a very white resin is made from thepitch-pine; it is calledpsagdas. All resin can be dissolved in oil, and somepeople think that potter's chalk can also be so dissolved; and I am ashamed toconfess that the chief value now set on resin is for use as a depilatory formen.

The method of seasoning wine is to sprinkle the must with pitch during its firstfermentation, which is completed in nine days at most, so that the wine may begiven the scent of pitch and some touches of its piquant flavour. It is thoughtthat a more effective way of doing this is by means of raw flower of resin, thisgiving briskness to the smooth quality of the wine, while on the other handresin-juice is believed to mitigate the excessive harshness of a wine and toconquer its asperity, or in the case of a thin, smooth, flat wine to add a touchof asperitythis is especially done with the musts of Liguria and the localitieson the border of the river Po. The beneficial employment of resin-juice isadjusted in this way: a larger quantity of juice is put into strong, fiery wines,and it is used more sparingly with thin, flat ones. Some people advise usingboth resin-juice and pitch to season must; and in fact must has a certain pitchyquality and in some districts the fault of must is that it ferments a secondtime of its own accord, a disaster that destroys its flavour; this liquor isgiven the name ofvappa, which is also applied as a term of opprobrium to humanbeings when their spirit has deteriorated. For the tartness of vinegar possessesa valuable quality useful for important purposes, and without which it isimpossible to live in comparative comfort. For the rest, so much attention isgiven to the treatment of wines that in some places ashes are employed, as isgypsum elsewhere, and the methods that we have specified, for the purpose ofimproving their condition; but preference is given to ashes obtained fromvine-clippings or from oakwood. Also it is recommended that seawater should beused for this purpose that has been obtained a long way out at sea at the springequinox and then kept in store, or at all events that it should be taken upduring the night at the time of the solstice and when a north wind is blowing,or if it is obtained about vintage time it should be boiled before beingused.

The pitch most highly esteemed in Italy for vessels intended for storing wine isthat which comes from the Bruttii; it is made from the resin of the pitch-pine.But the pitch obtained from the wild pine iu Spain is very little valued, asresin from that tree is bitter and dry and has a disagreeable smell. Thevarieties of pitch and the method of making it we shall set out in the nextvolume when we are dealing with forest trees. The defects in resin besidethose already mentioned are acridity or else a smoky tang, while the fault ofpitch is being over-burnt; but the test is if when it is broken up thepieces have a luminous appearance, and if they stick to the teeth with anagreeably tart taste. In Asia pitch from Ida is most popular, and in Greece thatof Pieria, butVirgil gives thepreference to the pitch of Naryse. The more careful makers mix with the wineblack mastich, which is found in Pontus and which resembles bitumen, and alsoiris-root and oil. As for waxing the vessels it is found that this makes thewine turn sour; but it pays better to transfer the wine into vessels thathave contained vinegar than into those which have contained sweet wine or mead.Cato recommends that wine should be'adjusted'this is the word he uses ably adding lye-ashes boiled with boiled-downmust in the proportion of a fortieth part to the wine skin, or else a pound and a half of salt, also occasionally some pounded marble; he also mentions sulphur, but he only puts resin near the end of the list. When the wine is beginning to mature he advises adding on the top of all some of the must which he calls 'squeezings,' which we take to mean that which is the very last pressed out.Also we know that for the sake of colouring the wine colours are added as a sortof pigment and that this gives the wine more body. So many poisons are employedto force wine to suit our tasteand we are surprised that it is not wholesome!

It is a proof that wine is beginning to go bad if a sheet of lead when dipped init turns a different colour.

XXVI. It is a peculiarity of wine among liquids go mouldy or else toturn into vinegar; and whole volumes of instructions how to remedy this havebeen published. Wine-lees when dried will catch fire, and go on burning ofthemselves without fuel being added; their ashes have the nature of nitre, andthe same properties, with the addition that they are greasier to the touch.

XXVII. Even in regard to wine already vintaged there is a greatdifference in point of climate. In the neighbourhood of the Alps they put it inwooden casks and close these round with tiles and in a cold winter also lightfires to protect it from the effect of the cold. It is seldom recorded, but ithas been seen occasionally, that the vessels have burst in a frost, leaving thewine standing in frozen blocksalmost a miracle, since it is not the nature ofwine to freeze: usually it is only numbed by cold. Districts with a milderclimate store their wine in jars and bury them in the ground entirely, or elseup to a part of their position so protecting them against the atmosphere; but inother places people keep off the weather by building roofs over them. And theyalso give the following rules: one side of a wine-cellar or at least its windowsought to face north-east, or at all events east; dunghills and tree-roots mustbe a long way off, and all objects with a strong smell should be avoided, as itvery easily passes into wineparticularly there must be no fig-trees or wildfigs near; also spaces must be left between the jars, to prevent taints passingfrom one to the other, as wine is always liable to very rapid infection.Moreover (these instructions proceed) the shape of the jars is important:pot-bellied and broad ones are not so good. Immediately after the rising of theDog-star they should be coated with pitch, and afterwards washed with seawateror water with salt in it, and then sprinkled with ashes of brushwood or elsewith potter's earth, and then rubbed clean and fumigated with myrrh, as shouldfrequently be done with the wine-cellars also. Weak vintages should be kept injars sunk in the ground, but jars containing strong wines should be exposed tothe air. The jars must never be filled quite full, and the space above thesurface of the wine must be smeared with raisin-wine or boileddown must mixedwith saffron or sword-lily pounded up with boiled must. The lids of the jarsshould be treated in the same way, with the addition of mastich or Bruttianpitch. It is laid down that jars must not be opened at mid-winter except on afine day, and not when a south wind is blowing, or at a full moon.

Flower of wine forming is thought to be a good sign if it is white, but abad sign if it is red, unless it is a red wine; similarly it is a badsign if the jars feel warm to the touch, or if the lids sweat. Wine that quicklybegins to form a flower and to develop an odour is not going to keep. Alsoboiled-down must and must of new wine should be boiled when there is no moon,which means at the conjunction of that planet, and not on any other day; andmoreover leaden and not copper jars should be used, and some walnuts should bethrown into the liquor, for those are said to absorb the smoke. The best way oftreating the finest wines of Campania seems to be to set them out in casks inthe open air, exposed to the sun, moon, rain and wind.

XXVIII. And if anybody cares to consider the matter more carefully, thereis no department of man's life on which more labour is spentas if nature hadnot given us the most healthy of beverages to drink, which all other animalsmake use of, whereas we compel even our beasts of burden to drink wine!and so much toil and labour and outlay is paid as the price of a thing thatperverts men's minds and produces madness, having caused the commission ofthousands of crimes, and being so attractive that a large part of mankind knowsof nothing else worth living for! Nay, what is more, to enable us to takemore, we reduce its strength by means of a linen strainer, and other enticementsare devised and even poisonous mixtures are invented to promote drinking, somemen taking a dose of hemlock before they begin, in order that fear of death maycompel them to drink, while others take powdered pumice and preparations which Iam ashamed to teach the use of by describing them. The most cautious of thesetopers we see getting themselves boiled in hot baths and being carried out ofthe bathroom unconscious, and others actually unable to wait to get to thedinner table, no, not even to put their clothes on, but straight away on thespot, while still naked and panting, they snatch up huge vessels as if to showoff their strength, and pour down the whole of the contents, so as to bring themup again at once, and then drink another draught; and they do this a second anda third time, as if they were born for the purpose of wasting wine, and as if itwere impossible for the liquor to be poured away unless by using the human bodyas a funnel. This is the object of the exercises that have been introduced fromforeign countries, and of rolling in the mud and throwing the neck back to showoff the muscles of the chest. It is declared that the object of all theseexercises is merely to raise a thirst! Then again, think of the drinkingmatches! think of the vessels engraved with scenes of adultery, as thoughtippling were not enough by itself to give lessons in licentiousness! Thuswine-bibbing is caused by licence, and actually a prize is offered to promotedrunkennessheaven help us, it is actually purchased. One man gets a prize fortipsiness on condition of his eating as much as he has drunk; another drinks asmany cups as are demanded of him by a throw of the dice. Then it is that greedyeyes bid a price for a married woman, and their heavy glances betray it to herhusband; then it is that the secrets of the heart are published abroad: somemen specify the provisions of their wills, others let out facts of fatal import,and do not keep to themselves words that will come back to them through a slitin their throathow many men having lost their lives in that way! and truth hascome to be proverbially credited to wine. Meantime, even should all turn outfor the best, drunkards never see the rising sun, and so shorten their lives.Tippling brings a pale face and hanging cheeks, sore eyes, shaky hands thatspill the contents of vessels when they are full, and the condign punishment ofhaunted sleep and restless nights, and the crowning reward of drunkenness,monstrous licentiousness and delight in iniquity. Next day the breath reeks ofthe wine-cask, and everything is forgottenthe memory is dead. This is whatthey call 'snatching life as it comes!' when, whereas other men daily lose theiryesterdays, these people lose tomorrow also. Forty years ago, during the rule ofthe EmperorTiberius, the fashion set inof drinking on an empty stomach and preceding meals with a draught of wineyetanother result of foreign methods and of the doctors' policy of perpetuallyadvertising themselves by some novelty. This is the kind of prowess by which the Parthians seek fame andAlcibiades wonhis reputation in Greece, and to which among ourselvesNovellius Torquatus of Milan even owedhis surnamea man who held the offices of state from praetor right up to deputyconsulby tossing off 2¼ gallons at one draught, which was actually the originof his surname; this was shown off as a sort of mystery before the EmperorTiberius in his old age, when he hadbecome very strict and indeed cruel, though for the matter of that his ownearlier years had been somewhat inclined to strong drink, and it was believedthat what recommended Lucius Piso toTiberius for selection as custodian ofthe city was that he had kept on carousing for two days and two nights without abreak, atTiberius's own house after hehad become Emperor. And it was said thatDrususCaesar took after his fatherTiberiusin nothing more than in this.Torquatushad the unusual distinctionas even this science has its own code of rulesofnever having stammered in his speech or relieved himself by vomiting orotherwise while he was drinking, but of having always turned up for duty withthe morning guard without anything going wrong, and of having drunk the largestquantity on record at one draught and also added to the record by some moresmaller draughts, of not having taken breath or spat while drinking (this on thebest evidence), and of not having left any heeltaps to make a splash in thepaved floorunder the elaborate code of rules to prevent cheating in drinking. Tergilla brings it up againstMarcus Cicero that his sonCicero was in the habit of tossing off agallon and a half at one draught, and that when tipsy he threw a goblet atMarcus Agrippa: these in fact are theusual results of intoxication. But no doubt young Cicero wanted to deprive hisfather's murderer,Mark Antony, of hisfame in this department; forAntony hadstrained every effort to win the championship in this field before him, byactually publishing a book on the subject of his own drunken habits; and byventuring to champion his claims in this volume, to my mind he clearly provesthe magnitude of the evils that he had inflicted on the world through histippling. It was shortly before the battle of Actium that he vomited up thisvolume, so proving clearly that he was already drunk with the blood of hiscompatriots, and that that made him only the more thirsty for it. For in factthe inevitable result of this vice is that the habit of drinking increases theappetite for it, and it was a shrewd observation of the Scythian ambassador thatthe more the Parthians drank the thirstier they became.

XXIX. The nations of the west also have their own intoxicant, made fromgrain soaked in water; there are a number of ways of making it in the variousprovinces of Gaul and Spain and under different names, although the principleis the same. The Spanish provinces have by this time even taught us that theseliquors will bear being kept a long time. Egypt also has devised for itselfsimilar drinks made from grain, and in no part of the world is drunkenness everout of action, in fact they actually quaff liquors of this kind neat and do nottemper their strength by diluting them, as is done with wine; yet, by Hercules,it used to be thought that the product of the earth in that country was corn.Alas, what wonderful ingenuity vice possesses! a method has actually beendiscovered for making even water intoxicated!

There are two liquids that are specially agreeable to the human body, wine inside and oil outside, both of them the most excellent of all the products of the tree class, but oil an absolute necessity, nor has man's life been slothful in expending labour upon it. How much more ingenious, however, man has been in respect of drink will be made clear by the fact that he has devised 185 kinds of beverages (or if varieties be reckoned, almost double that number), and so much less numerous kinds of oilabout which we shall speak in the following volume.

I. ONE of the most celebrated Greek authors,Theophrastus, who flourished about 314B.C., stated that the olive only grows at places within forty miles ofthe sea, while Fenestella says that in581 BC., during the reign ofTarquiniusPriscus, it was not found at all in Italy and Spain or in Africa; whereasat the present day it has penetrated even across the Alps and into the middle ofthe Gallic and Spanish provinces. Indeed in 249 BC., the year in which Appius Claudius the grandson ofAppius Claudius Caecus andLucius Junius were the consuls,olive-oil cost 10 asses for 12 lbs. and somewhat later, in 74 BC., thecurule aedileMarcus Scius, son ofLucius, throughout the whole of his yearof office supplied the Roman public with oil at the rate of an as for 10 lbs.These facts will seem less surprising to a person who knows that 22 years laterin the third consulship ofGnaeus PompeiusItaly exported oil to the provinces. AlsoHesiod, who thought that instruction in agriculture was a prime necessityof life, declared that no one had ever gathered fruit from an olive-tree of hisown plantingso slow a business it was in those days, whereas now olive-treesbear even in the nursery-gardens, and after they have been transplanted olivesare picked from them the next year.

II.Fabianus says that the olivewill not grow in extremely cold places nor yet in extremely hot ones.Virgil said that there are three kindsof olive, the orchites, the shuttle-olive and the posia; he also stated that theolive-tree does not require raking or pruning or any attention. There is nodoubt that even in the case of olives the soil and the climate are of very greatimportance; but nevertheless they are also pruned at the same time as the vine,and they like the ground to be raked between them as well. Olive-picking followsthe vintage, and making olive-oil requires even more science than making wine,as the same olive-tree produces a variety of oils. The first oil of all isobtained from the raw olive and when it has not yet begun to ripenthis has thebest flavour; moreover its first issue from the press is the richest, and so onby diminishing stages, whether the olives are crushed in wicker sieves or byenclosing the spray in narrow-meshed strainers, a method recently invented. Theriper the berry is, the greasier and less agreeable in flavour is the juice. Thebest age for picking olives, as between quantity and flavour, is when the berryis beginning to turn black, at the stage when they are calleddruppae with usanddrypetides by the Greeks. For the rest, it makes a difference at that stagewhether the maturing of the berry takes place in the presses or on the boughs,and whether the tree has been watered or the berry has only been moistened byits own juice and has drunk nothing else but the dews of heaven.

III. It is not the same with olive-oil as with wineage gives it anunpleasant flavour, and at the end of a year it is already old. Herein, if onechooses to understand it, Nature shows her forethought, inasmuch as there is nonecessity to use up wine, which is produced for the purpose ofintoxicationrather indeed the attractive over-ripeness which it acquires withage tempts us to keep it; but she did not desire us to be sparing in the use ofoil, she has made it universal even among common people because of the necessityof using it quickly. In the matter of this blessing also Italy has won thehighest rank of all the world, particularly in the district of Venafro and thepart of it which produces the Licinian oil, which causes the Licinian olive tobe exceptionally famous. It is unguents that have given it this eminence,because its scent is so well adapted to them, but it has also been awarded to itby the palate with its more delicate judgement. Moreover no bird will touch theberries of the Licinian olive. The remainder of the competition is maintainedbetween the territory of Istria and that of Baetica on equal terms, while forthe rest the provinces have an approximately equal rank, with the exception ofAfrica, whose soil is adapted for grain. This territory Nature has yieldedentirely to the Corn-goddess, having all but entirely grudged it oil and wine,and having given it a sufficiency of glory in its harvests. The remainingstatements prevalent concerning the olive are full of error, which shall proveto be more prevalent in no other department of life.

IV. An olive consists of a stone, oil, flesh and lees; the latter constituent is abitter fluid, which forms out of water and consequently there is very little ofit in dry situations but a large amount in wet ones. The oil isindeed a juice peculiar to the olive, and this can be specially learnt fromolives in an unripe state, as we have shown when treating of unripe olive-juiceand grape-juice. The oil continues to increase until the rising of theBear-ward, that is till September 16; afterwards the increase is in the sire ofthe stones and the flesh. At this stage if rain follows in actually largequantities, the oil is spoiled and turns into lees. The colour of these leesmakes the olive-oil turn black, and consequently when there is only a tinge ofblack beginning it contains very little lees, and before any blacknessshows none at all. People are quite mistaken in supposing what is really thenear approach of decay to be the beginning of ripening, and it is also amistake to imagine that the amount of oil is increased by the growth of theflesh of the olive, since all the juice is then going into a solid form and thewoody interior is getting bigger. It is on this account that olive-trees arewatered most plentifully at this period, but watering, whether doneintentionally or occurring from repeated falls of rain, uses up the oil, unlessfine weather follows to diminish the solid part of the berry. For, asTheophrastus holds, the cause of oil asof other things is entirely warmth, and this is why steps are taken to producewarmth even in the presses and the cellars by lighting large fires. A thirdmistake is in over-economy, as owing to the cost of picking people wait for theolives to fall. Those who compromise on a middle course in this matter knock thefruit down with poles, so injuring the trees and causing loss in the followingyear; in fact there was a very old regulation for the olive harvest: 'Neitherstrip nor beat an olive-tree.' Those who proceed most carefully use a reed andstrike the branches with a light sideway blow; but even this method causes thetree to produce fruit only every other year, as the buds get knocked off, andthis is no less the case if people quantity of lees, to discover how much largeran amount is found in the same kind of olive with every day that is added. Thereis an entirely unconquerable and widely prevalent mistake which supposes thatthe swelling of the olive increases the amount of the oil, in spite of the factthat the absence of connexion between the size of the berry and its yield ofoil is proved by the olives called 'royal olives,' and by some people'large-size olives,' and by others 'babbiae'but anyhow a very large olive withvery little juice, and also that the very fleshy olives in Egypt produce ascanty amount of oil, while the extremely small olives at Decapolis in Syria,not larger than a caper, nevertheless have an attractive flesh. It is on thisaccount that imported olives are preferred for the table to those grown inItaly, in spite of their being inferior for making oil, and in Italy itself theolives of Picenum and the Sidicini are preferred to all the other kinds. Thoseolives are kept separate and steeped in salt, as well as in lees or boiled mustlike the rest, and also some of them are left floating in their own oil andclean, without any adventitious attractionthe kind called in Greek 'swimmers';these olives are also crushed and then seasoned with a flavouring of greenherbs. Olives however unripe are actually made to ripen early by pouring boilingwater on them; and it is surprising how olives suck up a sweet juice and take ona flavour that does not belong to them. As with grapes, so also among olivesthere are purple varieties, the posia almost shading off into black. Beside thekinds already mentioned there is also the 'proud olive,' as well as the verysweet variety, which is merely dried by itself and is sweeter than a raisin;this last kind of olive is rather rare, and is grown in Africa and in thevicinity of Merida in Lusitania.

The actual oil can be guarded against the defectof thickening by the addition of salt. An aromatic scent can be given to the oilby making an incision in the bark of the tree; but any other mode of seasoning,like those used for wine, is no gratification to the palate. Nor are there somany varieties of olive-oil as there are of wine, there being at most threedifferent grades of excellence. In fine oil the odour is more penetrating,though this is short-lived even in the best kind.

V. Olive-oil has the property of imparting warmth to the body andprotecting it against cold, and also that of cooling the head when heated. Thoseparents of all the vices, the Greeks, have diverted the use of olive-oil toserve the purpose of luxury by making it a regular practice in their gymnasiums;the governors of those institutions a have been known to sell the scrapings ofthe oil for 80,000 sesterces. The majesty of Rome has bestowed great honour onthe olive-tree by decorating our cavalry squadrons with wreaths of olive onJuly, and also when they are celebrating a minor triumph. Athens also crownsvictorious athletes with olive wreaths, and Greece the victors at Olympia withwreaths of wild olive.

VI. We will now state the rules given byCato in respect of olives. In a warm and rich soil he recommends plantingthe larger radius olive, the Sallentine, the orchites, the posia, the Sergian,the Corninian and the wax-white, and he adds with remarkable wisdom that the oneamong these pronounced in the particular localities to be the best should beused; while he recommends planting the Licinian olive in a cold and thin soil,for the reason that rich or warm earth ruins its oil and the tree gets exhaustedby its mere fertility, and moreover is attacked by moss and red rust. He advisesthat olive-yards should be in a position exposed to the sun and facing west, andhe does not approve of any other arrangement. He says that the best way ofpreserving orchites and posia olives is either to put them in brine when theyare green or to crush them and store them in mastic oil; the best olive-oil ismade from the bitterest olive obtainable; for the rest the olives should becollected off the ground as soon as possible, and washed if they are dirty; itis enough to leave them to dry for three days, and if the weather is cold andfrosty they must be pressed on the fourth day, and when pressed they should besprinkled with salt. Olives kept on a boarded floor lose oil and it deterioratesin quality, and the same happens if the oil is left on the lees and thegroundsthese are the flesh of the olive and produce the dregs; consequently itshould be ladled several times a day, and moreover this must be done with ashell and into leaden caldrons, as copper spoils it. All these operations, hesays, must be carried on with presses that have been heated and tightly closed,admitting as little air as possible, and therefore also no wood should be cutthere (and consequently the most suitable fire is made with the stones of theolives themselves); the oil must be poured out of the caldrons into vats, so asto leave behind the grounds and the lees: for this purpose the vessels must bechanged fairly frequently and the osier baskets wiped with a sponge, so that sofar as possible complete cleanliness may be produced. It was a later discovery,he says, to wash the olives in absolutely boiling water, and at once put themwhole into the pressfor that method crushes out the leesand then to crush themin oil-mills and put them under the press a second time. People do not approveof pressing more than a hundred pecks of olives at a time: this is called a'batch,' and what is squeezed out first after the millstone is called the'flower.' It is a fair amount for three batches to be pressed in twenty-fourhours by gangs of four men using a double holder.

VII. At that time there was no artificial oil, and that I take to be thereason whyCato says nothing about it.At the present time there are several varieties of it; and we will treat firstof those kinds which are produced from trees, and among them before all from thewild olive. It is a thin oil, and has a much more bitter flavour than the oilobtained from the cultivated olive, and it is only useful for medicines. Veryclosely resembling this oil is the oil obtained from the ground-olive, a rockshrub not more than three inches high, with leaves and fruit like those of thewild olive. The next class of oil is that obtained from the cici, a tree growingin great abundance in Egyptothers call it thecroton, otherssibi, otherswild sesamumand there, as well as not long ago in Spain also, it grows wild,shooting up as high as an olive-tree, with a stalk like that of the fennel, theleaf of a vine, and a seed-pod like a slender grape of a pale colour: ourcountrymen call it the tick, from the resemblance of the seed-pod to thatinsect. It is boiled in water and the oil floating on the surface is skimmedoff. But in Egypt, where it abounds, fire and water are not employed, but saltis sprinkled on the pod and the oil is pressed out; for food it is disgusting,and it is of thin quality for burning in lamps. Amygdalinum, which some peoplecallneopum, is pressed out of bitter almonds, dried and pounded into a cakethat is sprinkled with water and then pounded again. An oil is also made fromthe bay-tree with an admixture of the oil of overripe olives; some peoplemerely press the oil out of the berries, others use only the leaves, and some theleaf and the outer skin of the berries, and also add styrax gum and otherscents. The best kind of bay-tree for this is the broad-leaved wild laurel withblack berries. A similar oil also comes from the black myrtle, and thebroad-leaved variety of this is the best. The berries are sprinkled with hotwater and pounded, and then boiled down. Other people boil down the softest ofthe leaves in oil and press out the liquid, and others steep them in oil andallow them to mature in the sun before putting them in the press. The samemethod is also used in the ease of the cultivated myrtle, but the wild varietywith a smaller pod is preferred, the kind which certain people call oxymyrsine,others ground-myrsine, and some aeorum because of its resemblance to that plant,as it grows low and bushy.

Oil is also made from the citrus and the cypress, from walnutsthis is calledcaryinum, from apples and from the cedar calledpisselaeon; also from grainof Cnidus by cleaning and pounding the seed, and likewise from mastich. Asfor the method of making cypros-oil and also oil from an Egyptian berry for thepurpose of scents, we have spoken of it already. The Indians are said tomake oils from chestnuts and gingelly and rice, and the Fish-eater tribes fromfish. Scarcity sometimes compels people to make oil for lamps even out of theberries of the plane-tree by steeping them in water and salt. There is also anoil made from the wild vinewe have spoken about the plant itself while dealingwith perfumes. For gleucinum must is boiled in oil with a slow heat, but othermakers do not use fire but leave the jar packed round with grape-skins for threeweeks, stirring up the mixture twice a day, and the must becomes absorbed by theoil. Some people mix in not only marjoram but also more expensive scents, justas the oil used in the gymnastic schools is also perfumed with scents, though ofa very poor quality. Oil is also made from aspalathus, reed, balsam, iris,cardamomum, melilot, Gallic nard, all-heal, marjoram, helenium, and cinnamomumroot, by steeping all these plants in oil and then pressing out the juices.Similarly also rose-oil is made from roses, and rush-oil, which is very similarto oil of roses, from the sweet rush, and likewise oils are extracted fromhenbane and from lupins and narcissus. A very large amount is obtained in Egyptfrom radish seed or from the blade of the grass called chortinon, and likewisefrom gingelly and from the nettle called cnidinum. In other places also an oilis made from lilies, which is left in the open air to steep in the sunlight andmoonlight and frost. On the border of Cappadocia and Galatia they make fromnative herbs an oil called Selgitic oil, of considerable value for the tendons;and the same oil is made in Italy by the people of Gubbio. From pitch is made anoil called pitch-oil; while the pitch is kept on the boil, fleeces are stretchedabove the steam rising from it and then wrung out. The most approved kind comesfrom the Bruttian land; the pitch there is very rich and full of resin.

The colour of pitch-oil is reddish yellow. There is an oil that grows of its ownaccord in the coastal parts of Syria calledelaeomeli. It is a rich oil thattrickles from trees, of a substance thicker than honey but thinner than resin,and having a sweet flavour; this also is used by the doctors. There is also ause of old olive-oil for certain kinds of diseases, and it is also deemed to beserviceable for preserving ivory from decay: at all events, the inside of thestatue of Saturn at Rome has been filled with oil.

VIII. But it is above all to the lees ofolive-oil thatCato has devoted hispraises: he tells how vats and casks to hold oil are steeped in lees to preventtheir soaking up the oil; how threshing-floors are given a dressing of lees tokeep away ants and to prevent cracks; and moreover how the clay of the walls andthe plaster and flooring of granaries, and even cupboards for clothes, aresprinkled with lees, and how seed-corn is steeped in them, as a protectionagainst wood-worms and injurious insects. He speaks of its use as a remedy fordiseases of animals and also of trees, and also as a specific against ulcerationof the mouth in human beings. He says that reins and all leather articles, andshoes and the axles of wheels are greased with boiled lees, and so are coppervessels to keep off verdigris and to give them a more attractive colour, and allwooden utensils and earthenware jars used for keeping dried figs in, or it maybe sprays of myrtle with their leaves and berries on them or anything else of asimilar kind. Finally he states that logs of wood steeped in olive-lees willburn without any annoying smoke.

According toMarcus Varro an olive-treewhich has been merely licked by the tongue of a she-goat or which she hasnibbled when it was first budding goes barren.

IX. The rest of the fruits produced by trees can scarcely be enumeratedby their appearance or shape, let alone by their flavours and juices, which havebeen so frequently modified by crossing and grafting.

The largest fruit and the one that hangs highest is that of pine-cones,which encloses inside it small kernels lying in fretted beds and clothed inanother coat of rusty colour, showing the marvellous care that Nature takes toprovide seeds with a soft place to lie in. A second class of pine-cones is thatof the Taranto pine, which has a shell that can be broken in the fingers andwhich is rifled by the birds while on the tree. A third kind is that of thesappinia-cone which grows on the cultivated pitch-pine, the kernels of whichhave such a soft husk, or rather skin, that it is eaten with them. A fourth kindis calledpityis, growing on wild pines, which provides an exceptionally goodremedy against a cough when the kernels are boiled in honey; the people of Turincall themraviceli. The winners in the games at the Isthmus are crowned with awreath of pine leaves.

X. The fruit next to these in size is the one that we call thequince and the Greekscydoneum, which was introduced from the islandof Crete. This fruit drags down the boughs in a curve and checks the growth ofthe parent tree. There are several kinds of quinces: the 'golden apple' is cleftwith incisions and has a colour verging on gold, a brighter tinge of which givesa name to our native quince, and has an exquisite scent. The Naples quince isalso highly esteemed. The smaller variety of the same kind, the sparrow-apple,gives out a rather pungent smell, and ripens late, whereas the must-quinceripens very early. Grafting the ordinary quince on the sparrow-apple hasproduced a special kind, the Mulvian quince, which is the only one of thequinces that is eaten even raw; these at the present day are kept shut up ingentlemen's reception-rooms, and are placed on the statues that share our nightswith us. There is also a small wild quince, the scent of which is the mostpowerful next to that of the sparrow-apple and which grows in the hedges.

XI. We give the name of apples, although they really belong to adifferent kind, to peaches and to pomegranates, of which we have specified ninekinds among the trees of Carthage. Pomegranates contain a kernel enclosed in askin, but peaches have a hard stone inside them. Moreover one variety of pearcalled the pound pear asserts by its name the largeness of its weight. But thepalm among peaches belongs to the nectarine: the Gallic and the Asiaticvarieties are named after their nationalities. The Asiatic peach ripens at theend of autumn, though an early variety ripens in summerthese were discoveredwithin the last thirty years, and were at first sold for a denarius apiece. TheAdriatic peach comes from Samnium, but the common peach grows everywhere. It isa harmless fruit, in demand for invalids, and peaches have before now fetchedthirty sesterees each, a price exceeded by no other fruitwhich may surprise us,because there is none which keeps worse: the longest time that it will lastafter being plucked is two days, and it compels you to put it on themarket.

XII. Afterwards comes a vast crowd of plums. There is the parti-colouredplum, partly black and partly white in colour, which is called thebarley-plum because it ripens at barley harvest; and another plum of the samecolour, which is later and is larger in size, called the donkey-plum from itsinferior value. The wax-plum and the purple plum are smaller in size but moreesteemed; and there is also the Armenian plum, imported from foreign parts, theonly plum that recommends itself even by its scent. Plums grafted on a nut-treeshow a remarkable effrontery, displaying the appearance of the parent tree andthe juice of the adopted stock; they take their name from each, being callednut-plums. But both the nut-plum and the peach and the wax-plum and the wildplum, if stored in casks like grapes, will prolong their life till another cropbegins to come into existence, but the remaining varieties, ripening quickly,speedily pass off. Recently in Boetica the name of apple-plum has begun to begiven to plums grafted on apple-trees, and that of almond-plum to others graftedon almonds: the latter have the kernel of an almond inside their stone; andindeed no other fruit has been more ingeniously crossed. Among our foreigntrees, we have already spoken of the damson, named from Damascus in Syria; ithas been grown in Italy for a long time, though it has a larger stone and lessflesh here than in its country of origin, and here it never dries into wrinkles,because it lacks its native sunshine. With it can be mentioned itsfellow-countryman the myxa, which also has now begun to be grown at Rome bybeing grafted on the service-tree.

XIII. The Persian plum or peach, it is true, is shown by its veryname to be an exotic even in Asia Minor and in Greece, and to have beenintroduced from Persia. But the wild plum is known to grow everywhere, whichmakes it more surprising that this fruit is not mentioned byCato, especially as he pointed out theway of storing some wild fruits also. As for the peach-tree, it was onlyintroduced lately, and that with difficulty, inasmuch as in Rhodes, which wasits first place of sojourn after leaving Egypt, it does not bear at all. It isnot true that the peach grown in Persia is poisonous and causes torturing pain,and that, when it had been transplanted into Egypt by the kings to use as apunishment, the nature of the soil caused it to lose its dangerous properties;for the more careful writers relate this of the persea, which is an entirelydifferent tree, resembling the red myxa, and which has refused to grow anywherebut in the east. The sebesten also, according to the more learned authorities,was not introduced from Persia for punitive purposes, but was planted at Memphisby Perseus, and it was for that reason thatAlexander, in order to do honour to his ancestor, established the customof using wreaths of it for crowning victors in the games at Memphis. It alwayshas leaves and fruit upon it, fresh ones sprouting immediately after theothers. But it will be obvious that all our plums also have been introducedsince the time ofCato.

XIV. Of the apple class there are a number varieties. We have spoken ofcitrons when describing the citron-tree; the Greeks, however, call them 'Medicapples,' after their native country. Equally foreign are the jujube-tree and thetuber-apple, which themselves also have only recently come into Italy, theformer from Africa and the latter from Syria. Sextus Papinius, who was consul in our own day [AD 23],introduced each of them in the last years of the principate of his late MajestyAugustus, having grown them in his campfrom slips; the fruit is more like a berry than an apple, but the trees make aparticularly good decoration for terracesas nowadays we have whole forests ofvegetation growing even over the roofs of our houses. There are two kinds oftuber-apple, the white and the red Syrian, so called from its colour. The fruitcalled wool-fruit, growing in the district of Verona but nowhere else in Italy,is virtually an exotic; it is covered with a woolly down, which grows also invery large quantities on the sparrow-quince and the peach, but which has givenits name to this fruit in particular as it has no other remarkable property torecommend it.

XV. Why should I hesitate to indicate by name the remaining varieties offruit, seeing that they have prolonged the memory of those who established themfor all time, as though on account of some outstanding achievement in life?Unless I am mistaken, the recital will reveal the ingenuity exercised ingrafting, and will show that nothing is so trifling as to be incapable ofproducing celebrity. Well then, there are kinds of fruit that have their originfrom Matius and Cestius, from Mallius, and likewise from Scaudius; and on thelast a member of the Claudian family named Appius grafted the quince, producingthe fruit called Appian; this has the smell of a quince, the size of a Scaudianapple, and a ruddy colour. And in order that nobody may imagine that it hasgained its position by influence due to distinction and family, there is also aSceptian apple named from a freedman who discovered it, which is remarkable forits round shape.Cato also mentions aQuirinian apple, and a Scantian which he says is stored in casks.But the apple naturalized here most recently of all is a small one with a mostagreeable flavour named the Petisian. The Amerian and the Little Greek appleshave advertised their places of origin, but all the rest have derived their namefrom definite reasons'twin' apples from their attachment of relationship, asthey never grow singly, the 'Syrian red' from its colour, the pear-apple fromits affinity; the must-apple was named from its quickness in ripening, but isnow called the honey-apple from its honey flavour; the round apple from itsshape, which forms an exact spherethe Greeks, who call this apple the Epiroticapple, prove that it was first produced in Epirns; the orthomastium is so calledfrom its resemblance to a teat, and the eunuch-apple of the Belgians is namedfrom its having no pips. The leaf-apple has a single leaf, or occasionally apair of leaves, sprouting out from the middle of its side; the ragged-apple veryquickly shrivels up into wrinkles; the lung-apple swells in a solid lump. Someapples are of the colour of blood, because they derive their origin from a graftof the mulberry; but all apples are red in the parts that have been turnedtowards the sun. There are also wild apples with little attraction of flavourand an even sharper scent; their special fault is that of horrible sourness, andit is so powerful that it will blunt the edge of a sword. Another apple is named'flour-apple,' a very bad kind, although it is the earliest to come onand hastens to be picked.

XVI. The same charge in the case of pears is censured by the name ofpride; this is a small pear, but ripens very quickly. Of all the varieties ofpear, however, the Grustumian is the nicest. Next to this are Falernian pears,used for perry, as they contain such a large quantity of juicethis is calledbeing 'milky'and among these are some others of a very dark colour, given us bySyria. The names of the remaining varieties are designated differently invarious different localities; but pears that have advertised their producers bythe accepted designations of Rome are the Decimian, and the offshoot from itcalled the Sham Decimian, the very long-stalked one called the Dolabellian, thekind of Pomponian called breast-shaped, the Licerian, the Sevian, and theTurranian, a variety sprung from the Sevian but differing in length of stalk,the Favonian, a red pear a little larger than the 'proud' pear, the Laterian andthe Anician, which comes when autumn is over and has an agreeably acid flavour.One pear is called the Tiberian, which was a special favourite of the EmperorTiberius; it is more coloured by the sun and grows to a larger size, butotherwise would be the same as the Licerian. Pears having the name of theirplace of origin are the Amerian, the latest of all kinds, the Picentine, theNumantine, the Alexandrian, the Numidian, the Greek, a variety of which is theTarentine, and the Signine, which some people call the tile-pear from itscolour, like the onyx-pear and the purple pear; while named from their scent arethe myrrh-pear, the bay-leaf pear and the nardpear; named from its season thebarley-pear; from its long neck, the bottle-pear; and the Coriolan and Bruttianpears are so-called because of their connexion with certain races, and thegourd-pear and the sourish pear because of their juice. Pears the reason for thenames of which is uncertain are the barbarian, the variety of Venus pear calledthe coloured Venus, the royal pear called the squat pear because of its veryshort stalk, the patrician pear, and the vocimum, a green kind of anoblong shape.Virgil has also mentioneda warden pear, which he gets fromCato, who also specifies a 'seed-time pear' and a 'must-pear.'

XVII. This department of life has long ago arrived at its highestpoint, mankind having explored every possibility, inasmuch asVirgil speaks of grafting nuts onan arbutus, apples on a plane and cherries on an elm. And nothing further can bedevisedat all events it is now a long time since any new kind of fruit has beendiscovered. Moreover, religious scruples do not permit us to cross all varietiesby grafting; for instance, we must not graft upon a thorn, inasmuch as it is noteasy to expiate thunderbolts when they have struck them, and it is declaredthat the same number of bolts will strike it in a single flash as the kinds oftrees that have been grafted on it.

Pears have a more tapering shape than apples. Thelate kinds among them hang on the mother tree till winter and ripen with thefrostthe Greek pear, the bottle pear, the bay-leaf pear; as also among applesdo the Amerian and Scaudian varieties. Pears are put in storage like grapes, andin as many different ways, and are the only fruit kept in casks except plums. Ofall the apple kind pears have the quality of wines, and like wine they areavoided by doctors in the treatment of the sick. Boiled in wine and water theymake a sort of jam, as does no other fruit except the quince and thesparrow-apple.

XVIII. In regard to keeping fruit it isuniversally recommended that fruit-lofts should be constructed in a cool and dryplace, with boarded floors and windows facing north that are left open on afine day, and with glazed windows to keep out south winds, the draught from anorth-east wind also spoiling the appearance of the fruit by making itshrivelled; that apples should be gathered after the autumn equinox, and notbefore the 16th day of the moon nor later than the 28th, nor on a rainy day, nortill an hour after sunrise; that windfalls should be kept separate; that thefruit should have a bed of close-packed straw or of chaff underneath, and shouldbe placed far apart so that the spaces between the rows may admit a uniform draught. It is said that the Ameria apple is the best keeper and the honey-applethe worst. It is recommended that quinces should be stored in a place kept shutup, from which all draughts are excluded, or else that they should be boiled orsoaked in honey. Pomegranates should be hardened in boiling seawater and thendried in the sun for three days and hung up in such a way as to be protectedfrom the dew at night, and when wanted for use they should be thoroughly washedin fresh water.Marcus Varro recommendskeeping them in large jars of sand, and also while they are unripe covering themwith earth in pots with the bottom broken out but with all air shut out fromthem and with their stalk smeared with pitch, as so kept they grow to an evenlarger size than they could possibly attain on the tree. He says that all otherfruit of the apple kind should also be wrapped up separately in fig-leaves (butnot leaves that have fallen off) and stored in wicker baskets or else smearedover with potters' earth. He says that pears should be stored in earthenwarejars which should be covered with pitch and placed bottom upwards in a hole inthe ground with earth heaped over them. He recommends gathering the Taranto pearvery late; and keeping the Anician and also sorb-apples in raisin wine, andputting them in holes dug in the ground in a sunny place, with the lid of thejar plastered up and two feet of earth heaped on top of it, the vessels beingplaced bottom upward; and he also recommends hanging them together with theirbranches, like grapes, in large jars.

Some of the most recent writers examine deeper into the matter, and recommendthat fruit and grapes should be picked early for the purpose of storage,when the moon is waning, after nine o'clock in the morning, in fine weather orwith a dry wind blowing. Likewise they say that the fruit ought to be chosenfrom dry places and also before it is completely ripe, with the furthercondition that the moon must be below the horizon; and that the grapes withtheir hard hammer-shoot of stalk, after the rather rotten berries have beenremoved with a pair of scissors, should be hung up inside a fresh-tarred cask,with all air shut out by the lid and by plaster. They recommend the same methodfor storing sorb-apples and pears, the stalks of all having been smeared withpitch. They say that the casks must not be kept anywhere near water. Some peoplestore them in this way together with the branch itself, with each of its endsstuck into a squill; others hang them in casks still containing wine, but takingcare that the grapes do not touch the wine; some store apples floating in winein earthenware dishes, by which method they think a scent is given to them bythe wine. Some prefer to preserve all fruit of this kind in millet, but mostpeople think it is best kept in a hole in the ground two feet deep with a layerof sand under the fruit and covered with an earthenware lid and then with soil.Some even smear grapes with potters' clay, dry them in the sun and hang them up,washing off the clay when they are required for use. In the case of fruits, theyget rid of the clay by means of wine. By the same method they coat the finestkind of apples with plaster or wax, but if the fruit is not already ripe itbreaks the coating by growing in size; but they always store the apples withtheir stalks downward. Other people pluck the apples together with the branches,the ends of which they thrust into elder pith and then bury, as described above.Others assign a separate clay vessel to each apple and pear, and after sealingup the opening of the vessels with pitch enclose them again in a cask; also somestore the fruit, packed in flocks of wool, in cases which they smear with claymixed with chaff; others follow the same plan using earthenware pans to put themin; and also some store them in a hole on a layer of sand, and so later coverthem up with dry earth. There are some who give quinces a coat of Pontic wax andthen dip them in honey.Columellarecommends storing grapes in earthenware vessels that have been very carefullysmeared with a coating of pitch, and sinking them into wells or cisterns. Thepart of seaboard Liguria nearest to the Alps dries its grapes in the sun, andwraps the raisins in bundles of rush and stores them in casks sealed np withplastered lime. The Greeks do the same, employing plane-tree leaves, the leavesof the vine itself or fig-leaves that have been dried for one day in a shadyplace, and putting grape-skins in the cask between the grapes; this is themethod used for storing the grapes of Cos and of Beyrout, which are inferior tonone in sweetness. Some people to make raisins dip the grapes in lye-ashes assoon as they have plucked them from the vines, and afterwards dry them in thesun and plunge the raisins into hot water and again dry them in the sun, andthen wrap them up in leaves, making them into a tight bundle with grape-husks asdescribed above. There are those who prefer to keep grapes in sawdust or inshavings of pine or poplar or ash wood; and there are some who advise hangingthem in a granary, not near any apples, as soon as they are picked, because theysay that the dust of the corn dries them best. A protection against wasps forbunches of grapes hung up is to sprinkle them with oil squirted out of themouth. About palm-dates we have already spoken.

XIX. Of the rest of the apple class the fig is the largest, and some figsrival even pears in size. We have spoken about the marvels of the Egyptian andCypriote fig among the figs of foreign countries.

That ofMount Ida is red, and is the size of an olive, only rounder in shape; it has thetaste of a medlar. The local name of this tree is the Alexandrian fig; the trunkis eighteen inches thick and it spreads out in branches; it has a tough pliantwood, containing no juice, a green bark and a leaf like that of a lime but softto the feel. Onesicritus reports that the figs in Hyrcania are much sweeter thanours and the trees more prolific, a single tree bearing 270 pecks of fruit. Figshave been introduced among us from other countries, for instance, Chalcis andChiosof the latter there are several varieties, inasmuch as Lydian figs, whichare purple, and breast-shaped figs have a resemblance to the Chian; also the'pretty-sparrow' figs, which are superior in the flavour of their flesh and arethe coolest of all figs. For in regard to the African fig, as many people preferit to the whole of the other kinds, there is a great question, inasmuch as thiskind has only quite recently crossed over into Africa. Also among black figs theAlexandrian is named from its country of originit has a cleft of a whitish colour, and it is called the luxury fig; among figs that ripen early those of Rhodes and of Tivoli are also black. Early figs also have the names of the persons who introduced themLivia, Pompey: the latter is the best for a fig tobe dried in the sun for use throughout the year, together with the marsh fig andthe fig with marks all over it shaped like a reed leaf. There are also theHerculaneum fig, the white-wax fig, and the white plough fig, with a very smallstalk, a very flat-shaped kind. But the earliest fig is the purple fig, whichhas a very long stalk; it is accompanied by the worst of the very small kinds,called the people's fig. On the other hand the kind that ripens latest, justbefore winter, is the swallow fig. There are moreover figs that bear both lateand early, yielding two crops, one white and one black, ripening with theharvest and with the vintage. There is also a late fig named from the hardnessof its skin; some of the Chalcidic varieties of this kind bear three times ayear. The extremely sweet fig called theona grows only at Taranto.Cato makes the following remark aboutfigs: 'Plant the marisca fig in a chalky or open place, but the African,Herculanean and Saguntine kinds, the winter fig and the black long-stalkedTelanian in a richer soil or in one well manured.' Since his day so many namesand varieties have arisen that a consideration of this alone is enough to showhow our way of life has been transformed. Some provinces also have winter figs,for instance Moesia, but these are a product of art and not of nature. There isa small kind of fig-tree which is banked up with manure at the end of autumn andthe figs on it are overtaken by winter while still unripe; and when milderweather comes the figs, together with the tree, are dug up again and restored tolight; and just as if born again they greedily imbibe the warmth of the new sun,a different one from the sun through which they lived before, and begin to ripenalong with the blossom of the coming crop, maturing in a year that does notbelong to them; the region is an extremely cold one.

XX. But the variety which even in his dayCato termed the African fig reminds us of his having employed that fruitfor a remarkable demonstration. Burning with a mortal hatred of Carthage andanxious in regard to the safety of his descendants, at every meeting of thesenate he used to vociferate 'Down with Carthage!' and so on a certain occasionhe brought into the house an early ripe fig from that province, and displayingit to the Fathers he said, 'I put it to you, when do you think this fruit wasplucked from the tree?' Everybody agreed that it was quite fresh; so he said, 'Owell, it was picked the day before yesterday at Carthageso near is the enemy toour walls!' And they promptly embarked on the third Punic war, in which Carthagewas brought down, althoughCato had beentaken from us the year after the incident narrated. What should we chieflywonder at in this? ingenuity or chance coincidence? rapidity of transit or manlyforce of character? The crowning marvel, which I for my part think wonderfulbeyond parallel, is that so mighty a city, which for one hundred and twentyyears had competed for the sovereignty of the world, was overthrown by theevidence of a single fruitan achievement which not Trebbia or Trasimene, notCannae with the tomb of Rome's glory, not the Carthaginian camp pitched threemiles from the city andHannibal inperson riding up to the Colline gate were able to achieve: so much nearer didCato bring Carthage to us by means of asingle fruit!

A fig-tree growing in the actual forum and meeting-place of Rome is worshippedas sacred because things struck by lightning are buried there, and still more asa memorial of the fig-tree under which the nurse of Romulus and Remus firstsheltered those founders of the empire on the Lupercal Hillthe tree that hasbeen given the name of Ruminalis, because it was beneath it that the wolfwas discovered giving herrumis (that was the old word for breast) to theinfantsa marvellous occurrence commemorated in bronze close by, as though thewolf had of her own accord passed across the meeting-place while Attus Naevius was taking the omens. Andit is also a portent of some future event when it withers away and then by thegood offices of the priests is replanted. There was also a fig-tree in front ofthe temple of Saturn, which in 404 BC., after a sacrifice had been offered bythe Vestal Virgins, was removed, because it was upsetting a statue ofSilvanus. A tree of the same kind thatwas self-sown lives in the middle of the forum, at the spot where, when thefoundations of the Empire were collapsing in portent of disaster,Curtius had filled up the gulfs with thegreatest of treasures, I mean virtue and piety and a glorious death. Likewiseself-sown is a vine in the same locality, and there is an olive planted by thecare of the populace for the sake of the shade; an altar in the forum wasremoved on the occasion of the gladiatorial show given by his late MajestyJulius, the most recent one that foughtin the forum.

XXI. A remarkable fact about the fig is that this alone among allthe fruits hastens to ripen with a rapidity due to the skill of nature. There isa wild variety of fig called the goat-fig which never ripens, but bestows onanother tree what it has not got itself, since it is a natural sequence ofcausation, just as from things that decay something is generated. Consequentlythis fig engenders gnats which, being cheated out of nutriment intheir mother tree, fly away from its decaying rottenness to the kindred tree andby repeatedly nibbling at the figsthat is by feeding on them too greedily theyopen their orifices and so make a way into them, bringing with them the sun intothe fruit for the first time and introducing the fertilizing air through thepassages thus opened. Then they consume the milky juicethis is the symptom ofthe fruit's infancywhich also dries up of its own accord; and because of thisin fig-orchards a goat-fig is allowed to grow on the windward side, so that whena wind blows the gnats may fly off and be carried to the fig-trees. Then a planwas discovered of also bringing branches of the wild fig from somewhereelse and throwing them tied together in bundles on to the fig-orchardatreatment which orchard figs do not require when planted in a thin soil with anortherly aspect, since they dry of their own accord owing to the situation ofthe place, and this cause by making them split open produces the same results asthe action of the gnats; nor yet do they need screening where there is muchdust, which occurs chiefly when a much frequented high road is adjacent, fordust also has the effect of drying them up and absorbing the milky juice. Thismethod by means of the dust and the employment of the wild fig also serves thepurpose of preventing the figs from falling off, by removing the juice which issoft and heavy, involving a certain liability to break. All figs are soft to thetouch, and when ripe have grains inside them; also while in process of ripeningthey contain a milky juice, which when they are quite ripe is of the nature ofhoney. When left on the tree they grow old, and when quite aged they drip tearsof gum. The figs that are highly approved arc given the distinction of beingdried and kept in boxes, the best and largest growing in the island of Iviza andthe next best in the district of Chicti; but in places where there is a verylarge supply of them, they are packed for storage in large jars in Asia, but incasks in the city of Ruspina in Africa, and when dry they serve the purpose ofbread and other viands at the same time, inasmuch asCato, as if laying down a law as to theproper rations for agricultural labourers, prescribes that they are to bereduced in quantity during the time when the figs are ripe. A plan has latelybeen devised to use a ftesh fig iustead of salt when eating cheese. To thisclass, as we have said, belong the Syrian and the Carian figs and the Cauneanfigs that, whenMarcus Crassus wasembarking to sail against the Parthians, gave him an omen by the voice of a mancrying them for sale. All these varieties of fruit were imported fromSyria to his country place at Alba byLuciusVitellius, afterwards censor, when he was lieutenantgovernor in thatprovince, in the latter part of the principate of the emperorTiberius.

XXII. Fruits that must be included in the class of apples and pears arethe medlar and the service-berry. There are three sorts of medlar, the anthedon,the setania, and the third an inferior kind yet rather like the anthedon, whichis called the Gallic medlar. The fruit of the setania is larger and of a palercolour, with a softer pip; the others have smaller fruit but with a superiorscent and keeping longer. The tree itself is one of the most widely spreading;its leaves turn red before they fall off; it has a great many roots, which godeep into the ground and consequently it is impossible to grub them up. InCato's time this tree did not exist inItaly.

XXIII. There are four varieties of service-berry, some of themround like an apple, and others of conical shape like a pear, whileothers look like an egg, as do some kinds of apple. This last variety are liableto be sour, but the round ones excel in scent and sweetness, and the rest havea flavour of wine; the best varieties are those which have their stalkssurrounded with tender leaves. The fourth kind is called the colic apple and isonly valued as a medicine; it is a steady bearer and has a very small fruit; thetree differs in appearance from the other kind, and the leaves are almost thesame as those of the plane. None of the sorbs bear before their third year.Cato records that even sorbs can bepreserved in must.

XXIV. The walnut has won from the service-berry in point ofsize the place that it has yielded to it in popularity, although the walnut alsoaccompanies the Fescennine songs sung at weddings. The whole nut isconsiderably smaller than a pine-cone, but the kernel is larger in the sameproportion. Moreover the walnut has a distinction of structure that is peculiarto it, in that it is protected by a double covering, consisting first of acushion-shaped cup and then of a woody shell. This is the reason why walnutshave become emblems consecrated to weddings [possibly as a fertility charm;these were thrown by the bridegroom to the boys carrying the torches], becausetheir progeny is protected in so many waysa more likely explanation of thecustom than that it is due to the rattling rebound which it makes when it fallson the floor. The Greek names for the walnut prove that it also was sent us fromPersia by the kings, the best kind of walnut being called in Greek the Persianand the 'royal,' and these were their original names. It is generally agreedthat the caryon walnut gets its name from the headache that it causes because ofits oppressive scent. The shell of the walnut is used for dyeing wool, and theyoung nuts while just forming supply a red hair-dyethis was discovered fromtheir staining the hands when handled. Age makes them oily. The only differencebetween the various kinds of walnuts consists in the hardness or brittleness ofthe shell and in its being thin or thick and full of recesses or uniform. It isthe only fruit which nature has enclosed in a covering made of pieces fittedtogether; for the shell is divided into two boat-shaped pieces, and the kernel isfurther separated into four sections with a woody membrane running between themin all the other kinds of nut the whole is in one solid piece, as for instancein the hazel, itself also a sort of nut, the previous form of its name havingbeen Abellina, after the name of its place of origin; but it came intoAsia and Greece from Pontus and is consequently also called the Pontic nut. Thisnut also is protected by a soft beard, but the shell and the kernel are formedof one solid round piece. It also is roasted. The kernel has a navel in itscentre. A third variety of the nut class is the almond, which has anouter integument like that of the walnut but thinner, and also a second coveringconsisting of a shell; but the kernel is unlike a walnut's in its breadth andits hard part is more bitter. It is doubtful whether this tree existed in Italyin the time ofCato, as he callsalmonds 'Greek nuts,' a name which some people also retain in the class ofwalnuts. Beside these Cato adds a smooth, hard kind of hazel-nut, the Palestrinanut, which he praises very highly and says can be kept fresh and green by beingpotted and buried in the ground. At the present day the almonds of Thasos andAlba are famous, and two kinds grown at Taranto, one with a brittle shell andthe other with a hard shell, which are very large in size and very littlerounded in shape; also famous is the 'soft nut,' which breaks through its shell.Some interpret the word for walnut as honorific and say it means 'Jove's acorn.'I lately heard a man of consular rank declare that he owned some walnut treesthat actually bore two crops a year. We have already spoken in the properplace of the pistachio, which is also a sort of nut. This also was likewisefirst brought into Italy by Vitellius atthe same time, and it was simultaneously introduced into Spain byPompeius Flaccus, Knight of Rome, whowas serving withVitellius.

XXV. We give the name of nut to the chestnut, also, although it seems tofit better into the acorn class. The chestnut has its armed rampart in itsbristling shell, which in the acorn is only partly developed, and it issurprising that what nature has taken such pains to conceal should be the leastvaluable of things. Some chestnuts produce three nuts from one shell; and theskin is tough, but next to the body of the nut there is a membrane which both inthe chestnut and the walnut spoils the taste if it is not peeled off. Itis more agreeable as a food when roasted, provided it is ground up, and itsupplies a sort of imitation bread for women when they are keeping a fast. Theycame first from Sardis, and consequently they are called nuts of Sardis amongthe Greeks, for the name of Zeus's nut was given them later, after they had beenimproved by cultivation. There are now several varieties of them. The Tarantochestnut is light and digestible to eat; it has a flat shape. The chestnutcalled the acorn-chestnut is rounder; it is very easy to peel, and jumpsout of the shell quite clean of its own accord. The Salarian chestnut also has aflat shape, but that of Taranto is less easy to handle. The Corellian is morehighly spoken of, and so is the variety produced from it by the method which weshall speak of in dealing with grafting, the Etereian, which its red skinrenders more popular than the three-cornered chestnut and the common black onescalled cooking chestnuts. The most highly commended chestnuts come from Taranto, and in Campania from Naples; all the other kinds are grown forpig-food; the pigs carefully chew up the shells as well, together with thekernels.

XXVI. Also the extremely sweet carob may be thought to be not farremote from the chestnut, except that in the case of the carob the husk itselfis eaten. It is not longer than a man's finger, and occasionally curved like asickle, and it has the thickness of a man's thumb. Acorns cannot be countedamong fruits, and consequently they will be dealt with among trees of their ownkind.

XXVII. The remaining fruits belong to the fleshy class, and theydiffer in their shape and in their flesh. Berries one kind of flesh, themulberry another, the strawberry-tree another; and the grape, etc., have asubstance between skin and juice different from that of the myxa plum and fromthat of berries such as the olive. The flesh of the mulberry contains avinous juice, and the fruit has three successive colours, first white, then red,and when ripe black.

The mulberry is one of the latest trees to blossom, but among the first toripen. The juice of ripe mulberries stains the hand, but the stain can be washedout with the juice of unripe ones. In the case of this tree the devices of thegrowers have made the least improvement of any, and the mulberry of Ostia andthat of Tivoli do not differ from that of Rome by named varieties or by graftingor in any other way except in the size of the fruit. A similar but much firmerberry also grows on brambles.

XXVIII. The flesh of the ground strawberry is different from thatof the strawberry-tree which is related to it, the strawberry being the onlyfruit that grows at the same time on a bush and on the ground. The tree itselfis a sort of shrub; the fruit takes a year to mature, and the following cropflowers side by side with the earlier crop when it is ripening. Authoritiesdisagree as to whether it is the male plant or the female that is unproductive.The fruit is held in no esteem, the reason for its name being that a person willeat only one. Nevertheless the Greeks call it by the two names ofcomaron andmemaceylon, which shows that there are two varieties of the plant; and withourselves it has another name, the arbutus.Juba states that in Arabia the strawberry-tree grows to a height of 75feet.

XXIX. There is also a great difference among the acinus classto beginwith, between grapes themselves, which vary in respect of firmness, thinness orthickness of skin and the stone inside, which in some is specially small and inothers actually double, the latter producing extremely little juice. Again, theberries of the ivy and the elder are very widely different, and the pomegranatediffers greatly in shape also, being the only fruit that has corners; and thereis no membrane for each separate grain, but only one wrapping for them all incommon, which is white in colour. And these fruits consist entirely of juice andflesh, particularly the ones which contain only a small amount of woodysubstance.

There is also a great variety among the berries of the baca kind, those of theolive and the laurel being different, and that of the lotus differing instructure from that of the come and that of the myrtle from that ofthe lentisk; indeed the berries of the holly and the may contain no juice; andmoreover the cherry forms a class intermediate between the baca kind of berriesand the acinus kind: its fruit is at first white, as is that of almost all thebacae. At a later stage with some the berry turns green,e.g. the oliveand the laurel; but in the case of the mulberry, the cherry and the cornel itchanges to red, and then with the mulberry, cherry and olive it turns black.

XXX. Before the victory of LuciusLucullus in the war againstMithridates, that is down to 74 BC., there were no cherry-trees in Italy.Lucullus first imported them fromPontus, and in 120 years they have crossed the ocean and got as far as Britain;but all the same no attention has succeeded in getting them to grow in Egypt. Ofcherries the Apronian are the reddest, and the Lutatian the blackest, while theCaecilian kind are perfectly round. The Junian cherry has an agreeable flavourbut practically only if eaten under the tree on which it grows, as it is sodelicate that it does not stand carriage. The highest rank, however, belongs tothe bigaroon cherry called by the Campanians the Plinian cherry, but in Belgiumto the Lusitanian, and so also on the banks of the Rhine. This cherry has athird kind of colour, a blend of black, bright red and green, which looks as ifthe fruit were always not quite ripe. It is less than five years ago that whatis called the laurel-cherry was introduced, which has a not disagreeable bitterflavour, and is produced by grafting a cherry on a bay-tree. There are alsoMacedonian cherries, grown on a tree of small size and rarely exceeding four andhalf feet in height, and ground-cherries, with a still smaller bush. The cherryis one of the earliest fruits to repay its yearly gratitude to the farmer. Itlikes a north aspect and cold conditions; moreover it can be dried in the sunand stored in casks like olives.

XXXI. The same amount of care is also bestowed on the cornel, and even onthe lentisk. So that nothing may not appear to have come into existence for thesake of man's appetite, flavours are blended and different ones are forced togratify different persons; indeed even the regions of the earth and of the skyare blended: in one kind of food the aid of India is invoked, in another that ofEgypt, Crete, Cyrene and every land in turn. Nor does our regimen stick atpoisons, if only it may devour everything. This will become clearer when wecome to the nature of herbaceous plants.

XXXII. In the meantime we find that there are ten kinds of flavours thatbelong in common to the fruits and to all their juices; sweet, luscious,unctuous, bitter, rough, acrid, sham, harsh, acid and salt. Beside thesethere are three other flavours of a particularly remarkable nature: (1) one inwhich several tastes are discerned simultaneously, as in winesfor they containboth a rough and a sham and a sweet and a luscious taste, all of them differentfrom each other; (2) another kind is that which contains both the flavour ofsomething else and one that is its own and peculiar to itself, for instancemilkinasmuch as milk contains a something which nevertheless cannot rightly becalled sweet or unctuous or luscious, being possessed by a smoothness which ofitself takes the place of a flavour; (3) water has no flavour at all and noflavouring constituent, yet still this very fact gives it some taste and makesit form a class of its own: at all events for water to have any perceptibletaste or flavour is a defect. In all these flavours smell is of great importanceand a great factor of affinity; in the case of water even smell is entirelyabsent, or if perceptible at all is a defect. It is a remarkable fact that thethree chief natural elements, water, air and fire, have neither taste, smell,nor any flavour whatever.

XXXIII. Among juices, then, those with a vinous and flavour are thejuices of the pear, the mulberry and the myrtle-berry, and surprising asit may seem, the juice of the grape least of all. The juice of the olive,laurel, walnut and almond is unctuous, that of grapes, figs and dates is sweet,and that of plums watery. There is also a great difference in the colour ofjuice: that of the mulberry, the cherry, the cornel and the black grape isblood-red; the juice of white grapes is of a light colour; fig juice is milkywhite in the part near the stalk but not in the body of the fruit; apple juiceis the colour of foam; peach juice has no colour at all, in spite of the. factthat the hard peach has a large quantity of juice, but no one would say thatthis has any colour.

Smell also contains its own marvels. Apples have apungent scent, peaches a weak one, and sweet fruits none at all; for even sweetwine has no smell, although thin wine has more aroma, and wines of that classbecome fit for use much sooner than those with more body. Fruits with a scentare not likewise agreeable to the palate, as scent and flavour do not gotogetherso that citrons have a very penetrating smell and a very rough taste,and in some degree that is the case with quinces also; and figs have no smell.

XXXIV. And so much for the various classesand kinds of fruits. Their structures call for closer examination. Some fruitsare characterized by their pods, which are themselves sweet and which enclose aseed that is bitter, since whereas in fairly many plants the seeds areagreeable, seeds contained in a pod are not approved of. Others arecharacterized by berries which have a hard kernel inside and flesh outside, forinstance olives and cherries. Some have the berries inside and a hard shelloutside, as is the ease with the fruit we spoke of that grows in Egypt. Fruitsof the apple kind have the same structure as the berries: some have flesh insideand a hard ease outside, as in the case of nuts; while others have flesh outsideand a hard stone inside, as is the ease with peaches and plums, which thus havethe refuse part wrapped round with the fruit, whereas in other eases the fruitis shielded by the refuse part. Nuts are enclosed in a shell, chestnuts in askin; with chestnuts the skin is removed, but in the ease of medlars it iseaten. Acorns are covered with a hard shell, grapes with a skin, pomegranateswith an outer skin and an inner skin. Mulberries consist of flesh and juice,cherries of skin and juice. Some fruits separate from their woody part at once,for instance nuts and dates, but some adhere to it, for instance olives andlaurel-berries; and one group has both properties, for example peaches, inasmuchas in the hard peach or nectarine the flesh adheres and cannot be torn away fromthe stone, whereas in all the other sorts it is easily separated. Some fruitshave no stone inside and no shell outside, for instance the date class. Of somekinds the hard part itself is used and serves as fruit, for instance the cuciwhich we spoke of as growing in Egypt. Some fruits have a doublerefuse-covering, as in the case of chestnuts and almonds and walnuts.Some have a threefold structurethere is flesh and then shell and then again aseed inside the shellfor instance peaches. Some fruits grow in clusters, forinstance grapes and sorbs, the latter clinging all round the branches andweighing them down, like grapes; but others hang separately, as in the case ofthe peach. Some fruits are contained in a matrix, for instance pomegranates;some hang down from a stalk, for instance pears, others hang in bunches, forinstance grapes and dates, and others hang from a stalk and form hunches aswell, for instance ivy-berries and elder-berries. Others are attached to abranch, like the berry on the laurel, while certain kinds hang in both ways, forinstance olives, for they have both short stalks and long ones. Some consist ofcapsules, for instance the pomegranate, the medlar and the lotus in Egypt and onthe Euphrates. Then again fruits have a variety of attractions to recommendthem. Dates please us by their flesh, but the dates of the Thebaid by their hardskin; grapes and nut-dates by their juice, pears and apples by their firm flesh,mulberries by their substance, nuts by their solid interior, certain fruits inEgypt by their pips, Carian figs by their skin this is removed from green figsas refuse, but in dried figs it is very agreeable. In the case of the papyrus,the fennel-giant and the white thorn the stalk itself is the fruit, as are thestalks of the fig-tree, and in the shrub class the caper with its stalk; but inthe carob the only part that is eaten is the woodwhile its seed has a propertythat must not be omitted: it cannot be called either flesh or wood orcartilage, and it would not be given any other name.

XXXV. The nature of the juices produced is particularly remarkable in thecase of the myrtle, because it is the only one among all the trees that givestwo kinds of oil and of wine, beside the drink called myrtidanum, as we said. Informer times another use was also made of the myrtle-berry, which held the placeof pepper before pepper was discovered; in fact, in the case of one kind ofsavoury dish the name is derived from this, it being to this day called myrtlesausage. Also the flavour of wild boar is improved from the same source, as thepickle usually has myrtle-berries added to it.

XXXVI. The actual tree is recorded to have been seen for the first timeon the hither side of Europe, beginning from the Ceraunian Mountains, on thegrave ofElpenor at Circello, and itstill keeps its Greek name, showing it to be an exotic. At the time of thefoundation of Rome myrtles grew on the present site of the city, as traditionsays that the Romans and Sabines, after having wanted to fight a battle becauseof the carrying off of the maidens, laid down their arms and purified themselveswith sprigs of myrtle, at the place now occupied by the statues of VenusCluacina, cluere being the old word meaning 'to cleanse.' And a kind ofincense for fumigation is also contained in this tree, which was selected forthe purpose on the occasion referred to because Venus the guardian spirit of thetree also presides over unions, and I rather think that it was actually thefirst of all trees to be planted in public places at Rome, fraught indeed with aprophetic and remarkable augury. For the shrine of Quirinus, that is of Romulus himself, isheld to be one of the most ancient temples. In it there were two sacred myrtles,which for a long time grew in front of the actual temple, and one of them wascalled the patricians' myrtle and the other the common people's. For many yearsthe patricians' tree was the more flourishing of the two, and was full of vigourand vitality; as long as the senate flourished this was a great tree, while thecommon people's myrtle was shrivelled and withered. But after the latter hadgrown strong while the patrician myrtle began to turn yellow, from the Marsianwar onward [91-88 BC] the authority of the Fathers became weak, and byslow degrees its grandeur withered away into barrenness. Moreover there was alsoan old altar belonging to Venus Myrtea, whose modern name is Murcia.

XXXVII.Cato mentionedthree kinds of myrtle, the black, the white and the 'union myrtle'perhaps namedafter marriage unionsdescended from the stock of the Cluacina myrtle mentionedabove; but at the present day there is also another classification,which distinguishes the cultivated and the wild myrtle, and in each of thesealso a wide-leaved variety, while the variety called oxymyrsine occurs only inthe wild kind. Varieties of the cultivated myrtle produced bylandscape-gardeners are the Taranto myrtle with a very small leaf, the Romanmyrtle with a broad leaf, and the 'six-row' myrtle with very thick foliage, theleaves growing in rows of six. The last is not much grown, being bushy and notlofty. I believe that the union-myrtle is now called the Roman myrtle. Themyrtle with the most powerful scent belongs to Egypt.Cato taught how to make wine from theblack myrtle, by drying it in the shade until no moisture remained and thenputting it in must; he says that if the berries are not thoroughly dried, oil isproduced. Afterwards a way was also discovered of making a white wine from thepale variety, by steeping a quart of pounded myrtle in a pint and a half of wineand then pressing out the liquor. The leaves are also dried by themselves tillthey go to a powder, which is used as a cure for sores on the human body, thepowder being slightly corrosive and serving to cool off the perspiration.Moreover, the oil also curiously enough contains a certain flavour of wine, andat the same time has a greasy fluidity which makes it specially efficacious forimproving wines if it is poured over the wine-strainers before they are used;this is because the oil retains the lees and only allows the pure liquor to passthrough, and unites with the wine after it has been strained, greatly improvingit. Sprigs of myrtle also merely by being carried by a traveller are beneficialwhen making a long journey on foot. Moreover, rings made of myrtle twigs whichhave never been touched by iron are a cure for swellings in the groin.

XXXVIII. The myrtle has also claimed a part in matters of warfare, and Publius PostumiusTubertus, the first of all menwho ever entered the city with an ovation, during his consulship celebrated atriumph [503 B.C.] over the Sabines, and because he had won the campaigneasily, without bloodshed, he made his entry wearing a wreath made of the myrtleof Venus Vietrix, and so made that tree a coveted object even for our enemies.Subsequently a myrtle wreath was regularly worn by generals celebrating anovation, with the exception ofMarcus Crassus,who when celebrating his victory won from the runaway slaves and Spartacus,made his entry wearing a wreath of laurels. Masurius informs us that generals going in triumph in a chariot also usedto wear a myrtle wreath.Lucius Pisorecords thatPapirius Maso, the firstgeneral who held a triumph on the Alban Mount, in [71 B.C.] celebrationof his victory over the Corsicans, was in the habit of wearing a wreath ofmyrtle when watching the games in the circus: he was the maternal grandfatherof the secondAfricanus.Marcus Valerius wore two wreaths, one oflaurel and one of myrtle, having made a vow to do so.

XXXIX. The laurel is especially assigned to triumphs, but it isextremely decorative for dwelling-houses, and guards the portals of the emperorsand the high priests; there it hangs alone, adorning the mansions and keepingsentry-guard before the thresholds.Catohas recorded two species of laurel, the Delphic and the Cyprian. Pompeius Lenaeus added one which hecalled mustax, because it was placed underneath mustacean cakes: he said thatthis has a very large, pendulous leaf of a whitish colour, and that the Delphiclaurel is a uniform greener colour, and has very large berries of a reddishgreen; and that this laurel is used to make wreaths for the winners at Delphi,as it is for generals going in triumph at Rome. He states that the Cyprus laurelis crinkly, with a short black leaf that curves up along the edges. Since histime varieties have been added: the tine treethis some take to be the wildlaurel, but there are people who think that it is a separate kind of tree:indeed there is a difference of colour, the berry being bright blue. Anotheraddition is the royal laurel, which has begun to be called the Augusta laurel, avery large tree with a very large leaf and berries without any rough taste. Somesay that the royal laurel and the Augusta are not the same, and make out theroyal to be a special kind, with longer and broader leaves. The same personsplace in another class, under the name of hacalia, the laurel which is the,commonest of all and bears the largest number of berries, but much to mysurprise give the name of triumphal laurel to one that has no berries, and saythat this is the one used by persons celebrating a triumphunless the use of itbegan with his late MajestyAugustus, aswe shall show, as sprung from the laurel which was sent down to him from heaven,which was a very low growing tree with a short, crinkled leaf, and very rarelymet with. In ornamental gardening there is also the Thasos laurel, which has atiny leafy fringe as it were growing out of the middle of the leaf, and thegelded laurel, without this fringe, which is remarkably able to stand lack ofsun and which consequently fills the ground with its shoots in however shady aplace. There is also the ground laurel, a shrub that grows wild, and theAlexandrine laurel, which some call the Idaean, others hypoglottion, otherscarpophyllon and others hypelatess This laurel spreads out branches 9inches long from its root, and is useful for making wreaths; the leaf is morepointed than that of the myrtle, and softer, brighter in colour and larger; theseed, which lies between the leaves, is red; it grows in great abundance onMount Ida and in the vicinity of Heraclea in Pontus, and it only occurs inmountain districts. Also the class of laurel called daphnoides is involved in acompetition of nomenclature, as some call it the Pelasgian laurel, others theleafy laurel, others Alexander's crown. This also is a bushy shrub, with athicker and softer leaf than the ordinary laurel, which leaves a burning tastein the mouth; the berries are a blackish red. The older writers noted that therewas no variety of laurel that grew in Corsica; but it has now been introducedthere with successful results.

XL. The laurel itself is a bringer of peace, inasmuch as to hold out abranch of it even between enemy armies is a token of a cessation of hostilities.With the Romans especially it is used as a harbinger of rejoicing and ofvictory, accompanying despatches and decorating the spears and javelins of thesoldiery and adorning the generals' rods of office. From this tree a branch isdeposited in the lap of Jupiter the All-good and All-great whenever a freshvictory has brought rejoicing, and this is not because the laurel iscontinually green, nor yet because it is an emblem of peace, as the olive is tobe preferred to it in both respects, but because it flourishes in the greatestbeauty on Mount Parnassus and consequently is thought to be also dear to Apollo,to whose shrine even the kings of Rome at that early date were in the custom ofsending gifts and asking for oracles in return, as is evidenced by the case ofBrutus; another reason also is perhaps to supply a token, because it was therethat Brutus won freedom for the people by kissing the famous plot of earth thatbore the laurel, at the direction of the oracular utterance; and anotherpossible reason is that the laurel alone of all the shrubs planted by man andreceived into our houses is never struck by lightning. I personally am inclinedto believe that it is for these reasons that the place of honour has beenassigned to it in triumphs, rather than because it was employed, as Masurius records, for the purpose offumigation and purification from the blood of the enemy. And it is so stronglyforbidden to pollute the laurel and the olive in profane uses, that they mustnot be employed even for kindling a fire at altars and shrines in propitiatingthe deities. The laurel indeed manifestly expresses objection to the applicationof fire by crackling and making a solemn protest, the timber actually giving atwist to the cracks in its intestines and sinews. It is stated that the emperorTiberius used to put a wreath from thistree on his head when there was a thunder-storm as a protection against dangerfrom lightning.

There are also occurrences related to the laurel that are worth recallingin connexion with his late MajestyAugustus.WhenLivia Drusilla, who afterwardsreceived the name ofAugusta on hermarriage, had been betrothed toCaesar,while she was seated an eagle dropped into her lap from the sky a hen ofremarkable whiteness, without hurting it; she regarded it with wonder, butundismayed, and there was a further miracle: it was holding in its beak a laurelbranch bearing its berries. So the augurs ordered that the bird and any chickensit produced should be preserved, and that the branch should be planted in theground and guarded with religious care. This was done at the country mansion ofthe Caesars standing on the banks of the river Tiber about nine miles out on theFlaminian road; the house is consequently called The Poultry, and the laurel grove so begun has thriven in a marvellous way. Afterwards the Emperor when going in a triumph held a laurel branch from the original tree in his hand and wore a wreath of its foliage on his head, and subsequently every one of the ruling Caesars did the same; and the custom was established of planting the branches which they had held, and groves of laurels distinguished by their names still survive; and it was perhaps in consequence of this that the change was made in the laurels worn in triumphs.

The laurel is the only tree the name of which is used in Latin as a man's name,and the only tree whose leaves have a special name applied to themwe callthem bay-leaves. The name of the tree also survives as a place-name in Rome, asthere is a locality on the Aventine called Loretto where there was once a laurelgrove. Moreover, the laurel is employed in rituals of purification; andincidentally it should be stated that it can even be grown from a slip, as thishas been doubted byDemocritus andTheophrastus.

I. AMONG the trees already mentioned are included the fruit-trees andthose which by their mellower juices first added the element of pleasure to foodand taught us to mingle relishes with our necessary nutriment, whether they didso of their own accord or whether they learnt from mankind to acquire agreeableflavours by means of adoption and intermarriageand this is a service which wehave also rendered to beasts and birds. Next would have come an account of theacorn-bearing trees which first produced food for mortal man and were the foster-mothers of his helpless and savage lot, if we were not compelled by asense of wonder learnt from experience to turn first to the question, what isthe nature and what are the characteristics of the life of people living withoutany trees or any shrubs.

We have indeed stated that in the east, on the shores of the ocean, a number ofraces are in this necessitous condition; but so also are the races ofpeople called the Greater and the Lesser Chauci, whom we have seen in the north.There twice in each period of a day and a night the ocean with its vast tidesweeps in a flood over a measureless expanse, covering up Nature's age-longcontroversy and the region disputed as belonging whether to the land or to thesea. There this miserable race occupy elevated patches of ground or platformsbuilt up by hand above the level of the highest tide experienced, living in hutserected on the sites so chosen, and resembling sailors in ships when the watercovers the surrounding land, but shipwrecked people when the tide has retired,and round their huts they catch the fish escaping with the receding tide. Itdoes not fall to them to keep herds and live on milk like the neighbouringtribes, nor even to have to fight with wild animals, as all woodland growth isbanished far away. They twine ropes of sedge and rushes from the marshes for thepurpose of setting nets to catch the fish, and they scoop up mud in their handsand dry it by the wind more than by sunshine, and with earth as fuel warmtheir food and so their own bodies, frozen by the north wind. Their only drinkis supplied by storing rainwater in tanks in the forecourts of their homes. Andthese are the races that if they are nowadays vanquished by the Roman nation saythat they are reduced to slavery! That is indeed the case: Fortune oft sparesmen as a punishment.

II. Another marvel arising from the forests: these crowd the whole of theremainder of Germany and augment the cold with their shadow, but theloftiest grow not far from the Chauci mentioned above, especially round twolakes. The actual shores of these are occupied by oaks, which growwith extreme eagerness, and these when undermined by the waves or overthrown byblasts of wind carry away with them vast islands of soil in the embrace of theirroots, and thus balanced, float along standing upright, so that our fleets haveoften been terrified by the wide rigging of their huge branches, when theyseemed to be purposely driven by the waves against the bows of the ships atanchor for the night, which thus were unavoidably compelled to engage in a navalbattle with trees.

In the same northern region is the vast expanse of the Hereynian oak forest,untouched by the ages and coeval with the world, which surpasses all marvels byits almost immortal destiny. To omit other facts that would lack credence, it iswell known that the collision of the roots encountering each other raises uphillocks of earth, or, where the ground has not kept up to them, their arches intheir struggle with one another rise as high as the branches, and curve over inthe shape of open gateways, so as to afford a passage to squadrons of cavalry.

They are practically all of the acorn-bearing class of oak, which is ever heldin honour at Rome,

III. because from it are obtained the Civic Wreaths, that glorious emblemof military valour, but now for a long time past also an emblem of the emperorsclemency, ever since, owing to the impiety of the civil wars, not to kill afellow-citizen had come to be deemed meritorious. Below these rank mural crownsand rampart-crowns and also golden crowns, although surpassing them in cost, andbelow them likewise are beaked crowns, albeit down to the present supremelyfamous in the case of two persons,Marcus Varrowho was given this honour byPompey [67B.C.] the Great as a result of the wars against the pirates, and likewiseMarcus Agrippa who was awarded it is byAugustus after the Sicilian wars, whichwere also waged against pirates. Previously the forum was graced by the rams ofships fastened in front of the platform, like a wreath crowning the Romannation. But later they began to be trampled on and polluted by the seditions ofthe tribunes, and power began to pass from public into private ownership, and tobe sought for the advancement of individual citizens, and the sacrosancttribunes began to make all things profane; and after this the Rams passed fromunderneath the feet of the speakers to the heads of the citizens; this Wreath ofRamsAugustus bestowed uponAgrippa, but he himself received theCivic Wreath from the whole of mankind.

IV. In olden times indeed no Civic Wreath was presented save to adeitythat is whyHomer assigns a wreathonly to heaven and to a whole battlefield, but to no man individually even incombatand it is said that Father Liber was the first to set a crown on his ownhead, a wreath of ivy. Afterwards persons performing sacrifices in honour of thegods assumed crowns, the victims being adorned with wreaths as well. Mostrecently of all they were also brought into use in ritual competitions, but inthese and at the present day they are not bestowed on the winner, but anannouncement is made that by him a wreath is conferred upon his native place;and from this has arisen the custom of also bestowing wreaths on victoriousgenerals about to go in a triumphal procession, for them to dedicate asofferings in the temples, and also subsequently the practice of presentingwreaths at the games. To discuss who was the first Roman to receive each kind ofwreath would be a lengthy matter, and not relevant to the plan of this work, andas a matter of fact the Romans were only acquainted with those given formilitary achievements; but it is a well-known fact that this one nation has agreater variety of wreaths than all the other nations put together.

V.Hostus Hostilius, who was thegrandfather of KingTullus Hostilius,was crowned by Romulus with a garland of leaves for having been the first toenter Fidena. The elderPublius Decius,who was military tribune, received a garland of leaves from thearmy which he had saved from destruction in the war with the Samnites when theconsulCornelius Cossus was [343B.C] in command of our army. The Civic Wreath was first made of theleaves of the holm-oak, but afterwards preference was given to a wreath from thewinter oak, which is sacred to Jove, and also a variety was made with the commonoak and the tree growing in the particular locality was given, only the honourawarded to the acorn being preserved! Strict and therefore exclusive conditionswere further imposed, which may be compared with that supreme wreath of theGreeks which is bestowed beneath the tutelage of Zeus himself and for which thewinner's native place in its rejoicing breaks a passage through its city walls;these conditions wereto save the life of a fellow-citizen; to kill one of theenemy; that the place where the exploit occurred must not be occupied by theenemy on the same day; that the person rescued must admit the factwitnessesotherwise are of no value;and that it must have been a Roman citizen:auxiliary forces, even though it is a king who is rescued, do not bestowthis distinction. Nor is the same honour any greater if the rescued person is ageneral, because the founders of this institution wished the honour to besupreme in the case of any citizen. The receiver of the wreath may wear it forthe rest of his life; when he appears at the games it is the custom for eventhe senate always to rise at his entrance, and he has the right to sit next tothe senators; and he himself and his father and his paternal grandfather areexempt from all public duties. Siccius Dentatus, as we have mentionedat the proper place, won fourteen Civic Wreaths, and Capitolinus six, one in hiscase being actually for saving the life of his commanding officerServilius.Scipio Africanus refused to accept awreath for rescuing his father at the Trebbia. How worthy of eternity is anational character that rewarded exploits so distinguished with honour only, andwhereas it enhanced the value of its other wreaths with gold, refused to allowthe rescue of a citizen to be a thing of price, thus loudly proclaiming that itis wrong even to save the life of a human being for the sake of gain!

VI. Acorns at this very day constitute the wealth of many races, evenwhen they are enjoying peace. Moreover also when there is a scarcity of cornthey are dried and ground into flour which is kneaded to make bread; besidethis, at the present day also in the Spanish provinces a place is found foracorns in the second course at table. Acorns have a sweeter flavour when roastedin the ashes. Moreover it was provided by law in the Twelve Tables that it waspermissible to gather up acorns falling on to another person's land. There aremany kinds of acorns, and they differ in their fruit, habitat, sex and flavour,some having the shape of the beech-nut and others of the mast of the oak and the holmoak, and there are also differences within each of these varieties.Moreover some grow wild in forests and others are more tame, occupyingcultivated ground. Then they are different in mountain regions and in theplains, as also they differ in sexmale and female, and likewise in flavour: thesweetest of them all is beech-mast, it being recorded byCornelius Alexander that the people inthe town of Chios actually held out against a siege by using it for food. It isnot possible to distinguish its kinds by their names, which are different indifferent places, inasmuch as we see the hard-oak and the common oak growingeverywhere, but the winter oak not in every region, and the fourth species ofthe same class, called the Turkey oak, is not known at all even to the greaterpart of Italy. We will therefore distinguish the varieties by their propertiesand natures, also using the Greek names when necessary.

VII. The acorn of the beech resembles a kernel, being enclosed ina triangular shell. The leaf, which is thin and one of the lightest that thereare, resembles that of the poplar; it turns yellow very quickly, and on itsupper side, usually at the middle, it grows a little green berry with a pointedend. Mice are extremely fond of the beech and consequently in places where itgrows these animals abound; it also fattens dormice, and is good for thrushes,too. Almost all trees grow a good crop only every other year, but this isespecially the case with the beech.

VIII. The trees that bear acorns in theproper sense of the term are the hard-oak, the common oak, the winter oak, theTurkey oak, the holm-oak and the cork tree. These trees carry their acornenclosed in a bristly cup that embraces more or less of it according to theirkinds. Their leaves with the exception of the holm-oak are heavy, fleshy andtapering, with wavy edges, and they do not turn yellow when they fall like beechleaves; they differ in length according to the variety of their kinds.

There are two classes of holm-oak. The Italian variety, called by some Greeksmilax, has a leaf not very different from that of the olive, but the holmoak inthe provinces is the one with pointed leaves. The acorn of both kinds is shorterand more slender than that of other varieties;Homer calls itakylon and distinguishes it by that name from thecommon acorn. It is said that the male holm-oak bears no acorns.

The best and largest acorn grows on the common oak, and the next best on thewinter oak, as that of the hard-oak is small, and that of the Turkey oak arough, bristly thing with a prickly cup like that of the chestnut. But also inthe case of the oak in general the acorn of the female tree is sweeter andsofter, while that of the male tree is more compact. In the most esteemedvariety called descriptively the broad-leaved oak, the acorns differ amongthemselves in size and in the thinness of their shell, and also in that somehave under the shell a rough coat of a rusty colour, whereas in others one comesto the white flesh at once. Those acorns are also esteemed the kernel of whichat each extremity taken lengthwise has a stony hardness, those having this inthe husk being better than those with it in the flesh of the nut, but in eithercase it only occurs with a male tree. Moreover in some cases the acorn is oval,in others round, and in others of a more pointed shape, just as the colour alsois blacker or lighter, the latter being preferred. The ends of acorns are bitterand the middle parts sweet; also there is a difference in the shortness orlength of the stalk.

In respect of the trees themselves the one that bears the largest acorn iscalled thehemeris; this is a comparatively low-growing oak which forms a circleof bushy foliage and which is frequently hollow at the spread of the branches.The wood of the common oak is stronger and less liable to decay; this varietyalso has many branches, but grows higher and has a thicker trunk; but theloftiest kind is the aegilops, which likes wild uncultivated country.

Next to this in height is the broad-leaved oak, but it is less useful forbuilders' timber and for charcoal, and when hewn with the axe is liable tosplit, on which account it is used in the unhewn state. As charcoal it only paysto use it in a copper-smith's workshop, because as soon as the bellows stop itdies down and has to be rekindled repeatedly; but it gives out a great quantityof sparks. A better charcoal is obtained from young trees. Piles of freshly cutsticks are fitted closely together and made into an oven with clay, and thestructure is set fire to, and the shell as it hardens is prodded with poles andso discharges its moisture.

The worst kind both for charcoal and for timber is the one called in Greek thesea-cork oak, which has a very thick bark and trunk, the latter usually hollowand spongy; and no other variety of the oak class is so liable to rot, evenwhile it is alive. Moreover it is very frequently struck by lightning, althoughit is not particularly lofty; consequently it is not thought right to use itswood for sacrifices either. Also it rarely bears acorns, and when it does theyare bitter, so that no animal will touch them except swine, and not eventhese if they can get any other fodder. An additional reason among others forits being disregarded for religious ceremonies is that its charcoal goes outduring the course of a sacrifice.

Beech-mast fed to pigs livens them up, and makes their flesh easy to cook andlight and digestible whereas the acorns of the holm-oak make a pig thin, not aglossy, meagre. Acorns from the common oak make it heavy and lumpish, beingthemselves also the largest of nuts and the sweetest in flavour. According toNigidius's account the next best to thecommon acorn is the acorn of the Turkey oak, and no other kind gives the pig moresolid flesh, though hard. He says that holm-oak acorn is a trying feed for pigs,unless given to them in small quantities at a time; and that this is the latestacorn to fall. He adds that the acorn of the winter oak, hard-oak and cork-treemake a pig's flesh spongy.

IX. All the acorn-bearing trees produce oak-apples. Oak galls as well,and acorns in alternate years, but the hemeris bears the best oak-apple and theone most suitable for dressing hides. The oak-apple of the broad-leaved oakresembles it, but is lighter in weight and much less highly approved. This treealso produces the black oak-applefor there are two varieties, this last beingmore useful for dyeing wool. The oak-apple begins to grow when the sun isleaving the sign of the Twins, and always bursts forth full-size in a night. The lighter-coloured variety grows in a single day, and if it encounters a spell ofheat it dries up at once and does not attain its proper growth, that is, to havea kernel the size of a bean. The black oak-apple stays fresh and goes on growingfor a longer period, so as sometimes to reach the size of an apple. The bestkind comes from Commagene, and the worst is that produced by the hard-oak; itcan be detected by the transparent hollows in it.

X. The hard-oak supplies a number of other products in addition toacorns; it also bears both kinds of oak-apples, and berries that are likemulberries except that they are dry and hard, also usually resembling a bull'shead, which contain a fruit like the stone of an olive. There also grow on itlittle balls not unlike nuts, having inside them soft flocks of wool suitablefor lamp-wicks, since they will keep burning even without oil, as is also thecase with the black oak-apples. The hard-oak also bears another sort of littleball with hairs on it, which is of no use, though in spring-time it has a juicethat is like bee-glue. Also in the hollows at the junction of its boughs growlittle balls adhering bodily to the bark and not attached by a stalk, the pointof attachment being white but the remainder speckled with black patches; insidethey have a scarlet colour, but when opened they are bitter and empty. Sometimesalso the hard-oak bears growths resembling pumice-stone, as well as little ballsmade of the leaves rolled up, and also on the veins of the leaves waterypustules of a white colour, and as long as they remain soft permeable to light,in which gnats are born. When they ripen they form a knot like the small smoothoak-apple.

XI. Hard-oaks also bear catkins: that is the name of a small round ballused in medicine for its caustic property. It also grows on the fir, the larch,the pitch-pine, the lime, nut-trees and the plane, lasting on in the winterafter the leaves have fallen. It contains a kernel resembling the kernel ofpine-cones; this grows in winter and opens out in spring. When the leaves havebegun to grow, the whole ball falls off. Such is the multiplicity of products inaddition to the acorn that are borne by hard-oaks; but they also produce ediblefungi and hog-mushrooms, the most recently discovered stimulants of theappetite, which grow round their roots; those of the common oak are the mostesteemed, but those of the hard-oak and cypress and pine are harmful. Hard-oaksalso produce mistletoe, and honey as well according toHesiod, and it is an accepted fact thathoney-dew falling from the sky, as we said, deposits itself on theleaves of no other tree in preference to the hard-oak; and it is wellknown that hard-oak wood when burnt produces a nitrous ash.

XII. Nevertheless the holm-oak challenges all these products of thehard-oak on the score of its scarlet alone. This is a grain, and looks at firstlike a roughness on a shrub, which is the small pointed-leaf holmoak. The grain is called 'scolecium,' 'little worm'. It furnishes the poor in Spain withthe means of paying one out of every two instalments of their tribute.

We have stated the use of this grain and the mode of preparing it whenspeaking of purple dye. It occurs also in Galatia, Africa, Pisidia and Cilicia,and the worst kind in Sardinia.

XIII. In the Gallic provinces chiefly the acorn-bearing trees produce agaric, which is a white fungus with a strong odour, and which makes a powerfulantidote; it grows on the tops of trees, and is phosphorescent at night; thisis its distinguishing mark, by which it can be gathered in the dark. Of theacorn-bearing tree the one called the aegilops alone carries strips of dry clothcovered with white mossy tufts; this substance not only grows on the barkbut hangs down from the branches in streamers eighteen inches long, and it has astrong scent, as we miss. said when dealing with perfumes.

The cork is a very small tree, and its acorns arevery bad in quality and few in number; its only useful product is its bark,which is extremely thick and which when cut grows again; when flattened out ithas been known to form a sheet as big as 10 feet square. This bark is usedchiefly for ships' anchor drag-ropes and fishermen's dragnets and for the bungsof casks, and also to make soles for women's winter shoes. Consequently theGreek name for the tree is 'bark-tree,' which is not inappropriate. Some peoplealso call it the female holm-oak, and in places where the holm-oak does notgrow, for instance in the districts of Elis and Sparta, use cork-tree timberinstead of holm-oak, especially for wain-wright's carpentry. It does not growall over Italy or anywhere in Gaul.

XIV. Also in the case of the beech, the lime, the fir and the pitch-pinethe bark is extensively used by country people. They employ it for makingpanniers and baskets, and larger flat receptacles used for carrying corn atharvest-time and grapes at the vintage, and the roof-eaves of cottages. A scoutwrites reports to send to his officers by cutting letters on fresh bark from thesap; and also beech bark is used for ritual purposes in certain religious rites,but the tree from which it is stripped does not survive.

XV. The most suitable roof-shingles are got from the hard-oak, and thenext best from the other acorn-bearing trees and from the beech; those mosteasily obtained are cut from all the trees that produce resin, but these are theleast good to last with the exception of those from the pine.Cornelius Nepos informs us that Rome wasroofed with shingles right down to the war withPyrrhus, a period of 470 years. At all events its different regions usedto be denoted by designations taken from the woodsthe Precinct of Jupiter ofthe Beech Tree (which retains the name even to-day)where there was once a groveof beeches, Oak-forest Gate, Osier Hill, where people went to get osiers, andall the Groves, some even named from two sorts of trees. It was in Winter-oakGrove thatQuintus Hortensius asdictator after the 287 BC. secession of the plebeians to the Janiculum Hillcarried the law that an order of the plebs should be binding on all citizens.

XVI. The pine and the fir and all the trees that produce pitch were inthose days considered exotics, because there were none in the neighbourhood ofthe capital. Of these trees we shall now speak, in order that the whole of thesource from which flavouring for wine is produced may be known at once, after anaccount has been given of the trees in Asia or the East which produce pitch.

In Europe pitch is produced by six kinds of trees,all related to one another. Of these the pine and the wild pine have a verynarrow long leaf like hair, with a sharp point at the end. The pine yields thesmallest amount of resin, sometimes also produced from its nuts themselves,about which we have spoken, and scarcely enough to justify its classification asa resinous tree.

XVII. The pinaster is nothing else but a wild pine tree of smallerheight throwing out branches from the middle as the pine does at the top. Thisvariety gives a larger quantity of resin, in the manner which we shall describe.It grows in flat countries also. Most people think that trees calledtibuli thatgrow along the coasts of Italy are the same tree with another name, but thetibulus is a slender tree and more compact than the pinaster, and being freefrom knots is used for building light gallies; it is almost devoid of resin.

XVIII. The pitch-pine loves mountains and cold localities. It is afunereal tree, and is placed at the doors of houses as a token of bereavementand grown on graves; nevertheless nowadays it has also been admitted into ourhomes because of the ease with which it can be clipped into various shapes. Thispine gives out a quantity of resin interspersed with white drops so closelyresembling frankincense that when mixed with it they are indistinguishable tothe eye; hence the adulteration is practised in the Seplasia. All these classesof trees have short leaves, but rather thick and hard like the leaf of thecypress. The branches of the pitch-pine are of moderate size and grow out almostimmediately from the root of the tree, attached to its sides like arms.

Similarly the fir, which is in great demand for building ships, grows high upon mountains, as though it had run away from the sea; and its shape is the sameas that of the pitch-pine. But it supplies excellent timber for beams and agreat many of the appliances of life. Resin, which gives its value to thepitch-pine, is a defect in the fir, which occasionally exudes a small quantitywhen exposed to the action of the sun. The wood, on the contrary, which in thecase of the fir is extremely beautiful, in the pitchpine only serves for makingsplit roof-shingles and tubs and a few other articles of joinery.

XIX. The fifth kind of resinous tree has the same habitat and the sameappearance; it is called the larch. Its timber is far superior, not rotting withage and offering a stubborn resistance to damp; also it has a reddish colour anda rather penetrating scent. Resin flows from this tree in rather largequantities, of the colour and stickiness of honey, and never becoming hard.

The sixth kind is the torch-pinea specially so called, which gives outmore resin than the rest, but less, and of a more liquid kind, than thepitch-pine; and it is agree able for kindling fires and also for torchlight atreligious ceremonies. These trees, at all events the male variety, also producethe extremely strong-smelling liquid called by the Greeks. It is adisease of the larch to turn into a torch-pine.

All these kinds of trees when set fire to make an enormous quantity of sootysmoke and suddenly with an explosive crackle send out a splutter of charcoal andshoot it to a considerable distanceexcepting the larch, which does not burnnor yet make charcoal, nor waste away from the action of fire any more than dostones. All these trees are evergreen, and are not easily distinguishable inpoint of foliage even by experts, so closely are they interrelated; but thepitch-pine is not so tall as the larch, which has a thicker and smoother barkand more velvety and oilier and thicker foliage, the leaf bending more softly tothe touch, whereas the foliage of the pitch-pine is scantier and also drier andthinner and of a colder nature, and the whole tree is rougher and is coveredwith resin; the wood more resembles that of the fir. When the roots of a larchhave been burnt it does not throw out fresh shoots, but the pitch-pine does, ashappened on the island of Lesbos after the grove of the town of Pyrrha had beenburnt. Moreover there is another difference within these species themselves inthe matter of sex: the male tree is shorter and has harder leaves, while thefemale is taller and its leaves are more unctuous and not forked and not stiff;and the wood of the male is hard, and when used in carpentry splits crooked,while that of the female is softer, the manifestation of the difference restingwith the axe, which in every variety detects the male, because it meetswith resistance and falls with a louder crash and is pulled out of the woodwith greater difficulty. With the male trees the wood itself is parched andblacker in colour. In the neighbourhood of Mount Ida in the Troad there is alsoanother variation among the larches, the mountain larch and the coast larchbeing different. As for Macedonia and Arcadia and the neighbourhood of Elis, inthese places the varieties exchange names and the authorities are not agreed asto which name to give to each species, though for our part we settle that sortof question by the verdict of Rome.

The biggest of the entire group is the fir, the female being even taller thanthe male, and its timber softer and more easily worked, and the tree rounder inshape, and with dense feathery foliage, which makes it impervious to rain; andin general it has a more cheerful appearance. From the branches of thesespecies, with the exception of the larch, there hang nut-like growths resemblingcatkins, packed together like scales. Those of the male fir have kernels intheir tips, though this is not the case with the female fir; but the nuts of thepitch-pine have kernels filling the whole of the catkins, which are smaller andnarrower, the kernels being very small and black, owing to which the Greek namefor the pitch-pine is a word meaning 'louse-tree.' Also in the pitch-pine thenut-growths are more closely packed in the male trees and less moist with resin.

XX. Moreover, not to pass over any variety, resembling these trees inappearance is the yew, hardly green at all in colour and slender in form, with agloomy, terrifying appearance; it has no sap, and is the only tree of all theclass that bears berries. The fruit of the male yew is harmfulin fact itsberries, particularly in Spain, contain a deadly poison; even wine-flasks fortravellers made of its wood in Gaul are known to have caused death. Sextius says that the Greek name forthis tree is milax, and that in Arcadia its poison is so active that people who go to sleep or picnic beneath a yew-tree die. Some people also say that this is why poisons were called 'taxic,' which we now pronounce 'toxic,'meaning 'used for poisoning arrows.' I find it stated that a yew becomesharmless if a copper nail is driven into the actual tree.

XXI. In Europe tar is obtained from thetorch-pine by heating it, and is used for coating ships' tackle and many otherpurposes. The wood of the tree is chopped up and put into ovens and heated bymeans of a fire packed all round outside. The first liquid that exudes flowslike water down a pipe; in Syria this is called 'cedar-juice,' and it is sostrong that in Egypt it is used for embalming the bodies of the dead.

XXII. The liquor that follows is thicker, and now produces pitch; this inits turn is collected in copper cauldrons and thickened by means of vinegar, asmaking it coagulate, and it has been given the name of Bruttian pitch; it isonly useful for casks and similar receptacles, and differs from other pitch byits viscosity and also by its reddish colour and because it is greasier than allthe rest. It is made from pitch-resin caused to boil by means of red-hot stonesin casks made of strong oak, or, if casks are not available, by piling up a heapof billets, as in the process of making charcoal. It is this pitch which is usedfor seasoning wine after being beaten up into a powder like flour, when it has arather black colour. The same resin, if rather gently boiled with water andstrained off, becomes viscous and turns a reddish colour; this is called'distilled pitch.' For making this the inferior parts of the resin and the barkof the tree are usually set aside. Another mixing process produced'intoxication resin': raw flower of resin is picked off the tree with aquantity of thin, short chips of the wood, and broken up small in a sieve, andthen steeped in water heated to boiling. The grease of this that is extractedmakes the best quality of resin, and it is rarely obtainable, and only in a fewdistricts of Italy near the Alps. It is suitable for medical use: the doctorsboil ¾ of a gallon of white resin in l½ gallons of rainwaterthough othersthink it pays better to boil it without water over a slow fire for a whole day,and to employ a vessel of white copper, or to boil resin from theturpentine-tree in a flat pan on hot ashes, as they prefer this to all the otherkinds. The resin of the mastich is rated next.

XXIII. We must not omit to state that with the name of 'live pitch' is toGreeks also the give pitch which has been scraped off thebottom of seagoing ships and mixed with waxas life leaves nothing untriedandwhich is much more efficacious for all the purposes for which the pitches andresins are serviceable, this being because of the additional hardness of the seasalt.

An opening is made in a pitch-tree on the side towards the sun, not by means ofan incision but by a wound made by removing the bark, making an aperture at mosttwo feet long, so as to be at least eighteen inches from the ground. Also thebody of the tree itself is not spared, as in other cases, because the chips ofwood are valuable; but the chips from nearest the surface are most esteemed,those from deeper in giving the resin a bitter flavour. Afterwards all themoisture from the whole tree flows together into the wound; and so also in thecase of the torch-tree. When the liquid stops flowing, an opening is made in asimilar manner out of another part of the tree and then another. Afterwards thewhole tree is felled and the pith of the timber is burnt. In the same way inSyria also they strip the bark off the turpentine-tree, there indeed strippingit from the branches and roots as well, although the resin from these parts isnot valued highly. In Macedonia they burn the whole of the male larch but onlythe roots of the female tree.Theopompuswrote that in the territory of the Apolloniates a mineral pitch is found that isnot inferior to that of Macedonia. The best pitch is everywhere obtained fromtrees growing in sunny places with a north-east aspect, whereas that from shady places has a rougherappearance, and presents an offensive odour; and pitch in a cold winter isinferior in quality and less plentiful in quantity, and of a bad colour. Somepeople think that the liquid obtained in mountain regions is superior inquantity and colour and sweeter, and also has a more agreeable smell, so long asit remains in the state of resin, but that when boiled down it yields lesspitch, because it goes off into a watery residue, and that the trees themselvesare thinner than those in the plains, but that both the one and the other kindsare less productive in dry weather. Some trees yield a liberal supply in theyear after they are cut, whereas others do so a year later and some two yearslater. The wound fills up with resin, not with bark or by a scab, as in thistree an incision in the bark does not join up.

Among these classes of trees some people have madea special variety of the sappinus fir, because under the name of this group oftrees is grown the kind which we described among the nut-bearing kinds; and thelowest parts of the same tree are called pine-torches, although the tree inquestion is really only a pitch-pine with its wild character a little modifiedby cultivation, whereas the sappinus is a timber produced by the mode of fellingused, as we shall explain.

XXIV. For it is for the sake of their timber that Nature has created therest of the trees, and the most productive of them all, the ash. This is alofty, shapely tree, itself also having feathery foliage, and has beenrendered extremely famous by the advertisement given it byHomer as supplying the spear ofAchilles. The wood of the ash is useful for a great many purposes. The kindgrown on Ida in the Troad so closely resembles cedar-wood that when the bark hasbeen removed it deceives buyers. The Greeks have distinguished two kinds ofash-tree, a tall one without knots and the other a short tree with harder anddarker wood and foliage like that of the bay-tree. In Macedonia there is a verylarge ash making very flexible timber, which has the Greek name of 'ox-ash.'Other people have distinguished the ash-tree by locality, as they say that theash of the plains has a crinkly grain and the mountain ash is close-grained.Greek writers have stated that the leaves of the ash are poisonous to beasts ofburden, though doing no harm to all the other kinds of ruminants; but in Italythey are harmless to beasts of burden also. Indeed, they are found to beserviceable as an exceptionally effective antidote for snakebites, if the juiceis squeezed out to make a potion and the leaves are applied to the wound as apoultice; and they are so potent that a snake will not come in contact with theshadow of the tree even in the morning or at sunset when it is at its longest,so wide a berth does it give to the tree itself. We can state from actualexperiment that if a ring of ash-leaves is put round a fire and a snake, thesnake will rather escape into the fire than into the ash-leaves. By a marvellousprovision of Nature's kindness the ash flowers before the snakes come out anddoes not shed its leaves before they have gone into hibernation.

XXV. In the lime-tree the male and the female are entirelydifferent. Not only is the wood of the male lime hard and reddish and knottedand more scented, but also the bark is thicker, and when peeled off cannot bebent; nor does the male tree produce seed or a flower as the female does, andthe female is thicker in the trunk and its wood is white and of superiorquality. A remarkable fact in regard to the lime is that no animal will touchits fruit, whereas the juice of the leaves and bark has a sweet taste. Betweenthe bark and the wood there are thin coats made by a number of layers of skin,made from which are the ropes called lime-withies, and the thinnest part of themprovided limechaplets, famous for the ribbons of wreaths of honour in oldtimes. Lime-wood is worm-proof, and it makes useful timber although the tree isof extremely moderate height.

XXVI. The maple, which is of about the same size as the lime, is secondonly to the citrus in its elegance as a material for cabinet-making andin the finish it allows of. It is of several kinds: the white maple, anexceptionally light-coloured wood, is called Gallic maple, and grows in Italynorth of the Po, and on the other side of the Alps; the second kind has blotchesrunning in wavy lines, and in its finer variety has received the name of'peacock maple' from its resemblance to a peacock's tail, the finest sortsgrowing in Istria and Tyrol; and an inferior variety is called the thick-veinedmaple. The Greeks distinguish the varieties by locality, saying that the mapleof the plains is light-coloured and not wavythis kind they callglinonbut themountain maple has a rather wavy grain and is harder, the wood of the male treebeing still wavier and suitable for making more elegant articles; while a thirdkind is the hornbeam, a reddish wood that splits easily, with a rough bark of apale colour. Others prefer to class tins as belonging to a special kind of tree,and give it the Latin name ofcarpinus.

XXVII. But a very beautiful feature of the maple is the growth on itcalledbruscum, and yet much more remarkable the molluscum, both knots, theformer veined in a twistier pattern, while the latter is covered with simplermarkings, and if it were large enough for tables to be made of it wouldundoubtedly be preferred to citrus-wood; but as it is, except forwriting-tablets and veneering on couches, it is seldom seen in use. Bruscum isalso used for making tables, though they have a darkish colour. A similar growthis also found on the alder, but it is as far inferior to the others as the alderitself is to the maple. The male maple flowers before the female. It must beadded that maples grown in dry places are preferred to those in marshes, as isalso the case with ash-trees. North of the Alps grows a tree making timber thatclosely resembles the white ash; its Greek name is the cluster-tree, as it bearspods containing kernels, which taste like a hazel nut.

XXVIII. But a timber rated in the first rank is that of the box, which israrely marked with wrinkles and only at the root, the rest of it being smooth;box-wood is esteemed for a certain toughness and hardness and for its palecolour, while the tree itself is valued in ornamental gardening. There are threekinds: the Gallic box, which is trained to shoot up into conical pillars andattains a rather large height; the oleaster, which is condemned for allpurposes, and which gives out an unpleasant smell; and a third kind called ournative box, a cultivated variety as I believe of the wild box, which spreadsmore than the others and forms a thick hedge; it is an evergreen, and will standclipping. The box abounds in the Pyrenees and the Kidros mountains and in theBerecyntus district, and it grows thickest in Corsica, where it bears anobjectionable blossom, which causes the bitter taste in Corsican honey; its seedarouses the aversion of all living creatures. The box on Mount Olympus inMacedonia makes as thick a growth as the Corsican, but it is of a low height.Box loves cold and rugged places; also in a fire it is as hard as iron, and isof no use for fuel or charcoal.

XXIX. Among these and the fruit-bearing trees a place is given tothe elm, because of its timber and the friendship between it and the vine. TheGreeks are acquainted with two kinds of elm: the mountain elm which makes thelarger growth, and the elm of the plains which grows like a shrub. Italy givesthe name of Atinian elm to a very lofty kind (and among these values highest thedry variety, which will not grow in damp places); a second kind it calls theGallic elm, a third, which has thicker foliage and more leaves growing from thesame stalk, the Italian elm, and a fourth, the wild elm. The Atinian elm doesnot bear samarathat is the name for elm seedand all the elms are grown fromshoots of the roots, but the other kinds also from seed.

XXX. The most notable trees having now been mentioned, some general factsmust be pointed out concerning all trees. The cedar, the larch, the torchpineand the rest of the trees that produce resin love mountains, and so also do theholly, box, holmoak, juniper, turpentine-tree, poplar, mountain ash andhornbeam; on the Apennines there is also a shrub called thecotinus,famous for supplying a dye for linen cloth that resembles purple. The fir,hard-oak, chestnuts, lime, holm-oak and cornel like mountains and valleys. Themaple, ash, service-tree, lime and cherry love mountains watered by springs. Theplum, pomegranate, wild olive, walnut, mulberry and elder-trees are notgenerally found on mountains; and the cornel cherry, hazel, oak, mountain ash,maple, ash, beech, hornbeam come down from the mountains to level ground also,while the elm, apple, pear, bay, myrtle, red cornel, holm-oak and the broom,designed by Nature for dyeing cloth, spread up from the plains to mountainregions as well. The service-tree delights in cold places, but even more thebirch. The latter is a Gallic tree, of a remarkable white colour andslenderness, a cause of terror as supplying the magistrates' rods of office; itis also easily bent to make hoops and likewise the ribs of small baskets, andthe Gauls extract from it bitumen by boiling. These trees are accompanied intothe same regions by the may also, the most auspicious tree for supplying weddingtorches, because according to the account of Masurius it was used for thatpurpose by the shepherds who carried off the Sabine women; but at the presenttime the hornbeam and the hazel are most usually employed for torches.

XXXI. The cypress, walnut, chestnut and laburnum dislike water. The lastis another Alpine tree, and is not generally known; its wood is hard and whiteand its flower, which is half a yard long, bees will not touch. The shrub calledJupiter's beard, used in ornamental gardening and clipped into a round bushyshape, and having a silvery leaf, also dislikes water. Willows,alders, poplars, the silera and the privet, the last extremely useful for makingtallies, will only grow in places where there is water, and the same is the easewith the whortleberry, grown in bird-snares in Italy, but in Gaul also to supplypurple dye for slaves' clothes. All the trees that are common to the mountainsand the plains grow larger and finer to look at when in flat country, but thoseon the mountains grow better fruit and make timber with a wavier grain,excepting the apples and pears.

XXXII. Beside this, some trees shed their leaves but others areevergreenalthough before this difference another one has to be mentioned first:some trees are entirely wild, but some being more civilizedas these are theaccepted names by which they are distinguished: the latter, kindly trees whichrender more humane aid by their fruit or some other property and by affordingshade, may not improperly be called 'civilized.'

XXXIII. The trees of the latter class that do not shed their leaves arethe olive, laurel, palm, myrtle, cypress, the pines, ivy, rhododendron and savinthough the last may be called a herbaceous plant. The rhododendron, as isshown by its name, comes from the Greeks (another Greek name given it being nerion, and another 'rose-laurel') it is an evergreen that resembles arose-tree, and throws out shoots from the stems; it is poisonous for cattle andfor goats and sheep, but for man it serves as an antidote against the poisons ofsnakes.

Trees of the forest class that do not shed theirleaves are the fir, larch, wild pine, juniper, cedar, turpentine, box, holm-oak,holly, cork, yew, tamarisk. Between the evergreen and the deciduous classes arethe andrachle growing in Greece and the arbutus in all countries, for they shedall their leaves except those on the top of the tree. In the class of shrubsalso a kind of cedar, the bramble and the cane do not shed their leaves. In theterritory of Thurii, where Sybaris once stood, there was a single oak that wasvisible from the actual city which never shed its leaves and which did not budbefore midsummer; and it is surprising that this fact having been published byGreek authors has never subsequently been mentioned among ourselves. The fact isthat the influence of some localities is so great that in the neighbourhood ofMemphis in Egypt and at Elephantine in the Thebaid none of the trees shed theirleaves, not even the vines.

XXXIV. All the rest of the trees exceptthose already mentionedfor it would be a lengthy business to enumeratethemshed their leaves; and it has been noticed that the leaves do not witherunless they are thin, broad and soft, whereas the leaves which do not fall offare thick and fleshy and narrow in shape. It is an erroneous classification tosay that the trees which do not shed their leaves are those with a more unctuousjuice; for who can detect that property in the case of the holm-oak? ThemathematicianTimaeus thinks that theyfall when the sun is passing through Scorpio owing to the strength of thatconstellation and a certain poison in the air; but then we may justly wonder whythe same influence is not operative against all these trees. Most trees shedtheir leaves in autumn, but some lose them later, and prolong the delay into thewinter; and it makes no difference if they budded earlier, inasmuch as sometrees are the first to bud and among the last to be stripped of their leaves,for instance almonds, ash-trees, elders, whereas the mulberry is the latest tobud and one of the first to shed its leaves. The soil also has a great influencein this matter: the leaves fall earlier on dry, thin soils, and earlier with anold tree, in many cases even before the fruit can ripen, for instance, in thecase of the late fig and the winter pear and apple, and with the pomegranate thefruit is the only thing visible on the parent tree. But not even with the treesthat always keep their foliage do the same leaves last on with others shootingup beneath themwhen this happens the old leaves wither away, this occurringmostly about the solstices.

XXXV. Each of the trees in its own kind hasa permanent uniformity of leaf, with the exception of the poplar, the ivy andthe croton (which, as we have said, is also called thecici). There are threekinds of poplars, the white, the black and the one called the leaf and which isvery famous for the mushrooms Libyan poplar, which has a very small and verydark that grow on it. The white poplar has a leaf of two colours, white on theupper side and green underneath. With this tree and the black poplar and thecroton the leaves are exactly circular when young but project into angles whenolder; whereas the leaves of the ivy are angular at first but become round. Fromthe leaves of the white poplar springs out a quantity of shiny white down, andwhen the foliage is specially thick the trees are white all over like fleeces.Pomegranate and almond trees have reddish leaves.

XXXVI. An exceptionally remarkable thing occurs in the case of the elm,lime, olive, white poplar and willow: after midsummer their leaves turn rightround, and no other indication shows with greater certainty that the season isfinished. Also their leaves contain in themselves a variation that is common toall foliage: the under surface, towards the ground, is of a bright grass-greencolour, and on the same side they are comparatively smooth, while on their upperpart they have sinews and hard skin and articulations, but creases underneathlike the human hand. The leaves of the olive are whiter and not so smooth on theupper side, and ivy-leaves the same. But the leaves of all trees open out everyday towards the sun, as if intending their under side to be warmed. The upperside of all leaves has however small an amount of down upon it, which in somecountries serves for wool.

XXXVII. We have said that in the east palm-leaves are used for makingstrong ropes, and that these are made specially serviceable for use in water.Indeed with us also the leaves are plucked from the palms after harvest, thebetter ones being those that have no divisions in them, and are put to dryindoors for a period of four days and then spread out in the sun, being left outat night as well, until they dry a bright white colour, and afterwards they aresplit for use in manufacture.

XXXVIII. The fig, vine and plane have very broad leaves and the myrtle,pomegranate and olive narrow ones; those of the pine and cedar are like hairs,those of the holly and one kind of holm-oak pricklyindeed the juniper has aspine instead of a leaf. The leaves of the cypress and tamarisk are fleshy,those of the alder extremely thick, those of the reed and willow are long andthe leaves of the palm are also double; those of the pear rounded, those of theapple pointed, those of the ivy angular, those of the plane divided, those ofthe pitch-pine and fir separated like the teeth of a comb, those of the hard oakcrinkly all round the edge, those of the bramble have a prickly skin. In someplants the leaves sting, for instance nettles; those of the pine, pitch-pine,fir, larch, cedar and the hollies are prickly; those of the olive and holm-oakhave a short stalk, those of the vine a long one, those of the poplar a stalkthat quivers, and poplars are the only trees on which the leaves rustle againstone another. Again, in one kind of the apple class there are small leaves evenon the fruit itself, shooting out from the middle of the apples, sometimes evenpairs of leaves; and moreover with some trees the leaves shoot round the boughs,but with others also at the tip of the boughs, and with the hard oak also on thetrunk. Also leaves grow either dense or thinly spread, and broad leaves arealways scantier. In the case of the myrtle they are arranged regularly, with thebox they curve over, on fruit trees they have no arrangement, on the apple andthe pear several shoot from the same stalk; the leaves of the elm and thecytisus are covered with branching veins. With theseCato includes the leaves of the poplarand oak when they have fallen, advising that they should be given to animalsbefore they have become quite dry, and indeed that the leaves of the fig and holm-oak and also ivy-leaves should be fed to oxen; they are also given theleaves of the reed and the laurel. The service-tree sheds its leaves all atonce, but all the other trees lose them gradually.And so much on the subject ofleaves.

XXXIX. The following is the order which Nature observes throughout theyear. First comes fertilization, taking place when the west wind begins to blow,which is generally from February the 8th. This wind impregnates the creaturesthat derive life from the earthindeed in Spain even the mares, as we havestated: this is the generating breath of the universe, its name Favoniusbeing derived, as some have supposed, from fovere, 'to foster.' It blowsfrom due west and marks the beginning of spring. Country people call it the cubbing season, as Nature is longing to receive the seeds; and when she bringslife to all the seeds sown, they conceive in a varying number of days and eachaccording to its nature, some immediately, as is the case with animals, whilesome do so more slowly and carry their progeny for a longer period of gestation,and the process is consequently called 'germination.' When a plant flowers itmay be said to give birth, and the flower produced makes its appearance bybursting the capsules; the process of its upbringing takes place in the fruitstage.

XL. the blossom is the token of full springand of the rebirth of the year.The blossom is the trees' rejoicing: it is thenthat they show themselves new creatures and transformed from what they reallyare, it is then that they quite revel in rivalling each other with the variedhues of their colouring. But to many of them this is denied, for they do not allblossom, and some of them are sombre and incapable of enjoying the delights ofthe seasons; the holmoak, the pitch-pine, the larch and the pine do not bedeckthemselves with any blossom or announce the yearly birthdays of their fruit by amany-coloured harbinger, nor yet do the cultivated and the wild fig, for theyproduce their fruit straight away instead of a blossom, and in the case of thefig it is also remarkable that there are abortive fruits that never ripen. Thejuniper also does not blossomthough some writers record two kinds of juniper,one of which flowers but does not bear, and one which does not flower but doesbear, its berries coming to birth immediately, which remain on the tree for twoyears; but this is a mistake, and all the junipers present the same gloomyaspect always. Similarly, the fortunes of many human beings also lack aflowering season.

XLI. All trees however produce buds, even those which do not blossom.There is also a great difference between localities, inasmuch as of thesame kind of tree those growing in marshy places bud earlier, those on theplains next and those in woods last of all; but taking them separately the wildpear buds earlier than the rest, the cornel buds when the west wind begins toblow, next the laurel, and a little before the equinox the lime and maplewhileamong the earliest trees to flower are the poplar, elm, willow, alder and thenuts; the plane also buds quickly. The other trees bud when spring is about tobegin, the holly, terebinth, Christ's thorn, chestnut and the acorn-bearingtrees, while the apple is a late budder, and the cork buds latest of all. Sometrees bud twice, owing to excessive fertility of soil or the allurementof agreeable weather, and this occurs to a greater degree with the young bladesof cereals, although in trees excessive budding tends to exhaust the sap; butsome trees have other buddings by nature, in addition to that which takes placein spring, these being settled by their own constellations (an account of whichwill be given more appropriately in the next volume but one after this)a winterbudding at the rising of Aquila, a summer one at the rising of the Dog-star anda third at the rising of Arcturus. Some people think that the two latterbuddings are common to all trees, but that they are most noticeable in the fig,the vine and the pomegranate; and they explain this as due to the fact thatthose are the times when there is the most abundant crop of figs in Thessaly andMacedonia; although this explanation holds good most clearly in Egypt. Alsowhereas the rest of the trees, as soon as they have begun to bud, keep onbudding continuously, the hard-oak, the fir and the larch divide the processinto three parts and produce their buds in three batches; consequently they alsoshed scales of bark three times, a process which occurs in all trees duringgermination because the bark of the pregnant tree is burst open. But their firstbudding is at the beginning of spring and takes about a fortnight, while theybud for the second time when the sun is passing through the Twins, with theconsequence that the first shoots are seen to be pushed up by those that follow,the growth being attached by a joint. The third budding period of the sametrees, which starts from midsummer, is the shortest, and does not take more thana week; and on this occasion also the jointing on the tips as they grow out isclearly visible. Only the vine buds twice, first when it puts forth a clusterand then when it spreads it out. Those species which do not blossom only produceshoots and mature them. Some blossom at once during the process of budding, andare quick in the blossom but slow in ripening, for instance the vine; someblossom with a late budding and ripen quickly, for instance the mulberry, whichbuds the latest among cultivated trees and only when the cold weather is over,owing to which it has been called the wisest of the trees; but when its buddinghas begun it breaks out all over the tree so completely that it is completed ina single night with a veritable crackling.

XLII. Of the trees that we have spoken of as budding in winter at therising of Aquila, the almond blossoms first of all, in the month of January,while in March it develops its fruit. The next to flower after the almondis the Armenian plum, then the jujube and the early peachthese exotic trees andforced; the first to flower in the order of nature are, of forest trees, theelder, which has a great deal of pith, and the male cornel, which has none; andof cultivated trees the apple, and a little afterwards, so that they can beseen blossoming simultaneously, the pear, the cherry and the plum. These arefollowed by the laurel, and that by the cypress, and then the pomegranate andthe figs. When these are already flowering the vines and the olives also bud,and their sap rises at the rising of the Pleiadesthat is their constellation,whereas the vine flowers at midsummer, and also the olive, which begins a littlelater. All begin to shed their blossom not sooner than a week after flowering,and some more slowly, but none more than a fortnight later, and all well withinthe 8th of July, anticipated by the trade-winds.

XLIII. In the case of some trees the fruit does not follow immediately.The cornel produces its fruit about midsummer; it is at first white andafterwards blood-red. The female of the same kind bears its berries afterautumn; they are sour and no animal will touch them; also its wood is spongy andof no use, although the timber of the male tree is one of the strongest andhardest there is, so great is the difference caused by sex in the same kind oftree. The terebinth and also the maple and the ash produce their seed at harvesttime, but nut-trees, apples and pears, excepting winter or early varieties, inthe autumn, and the acorn-bearing trees still later, at the setting of thePleiades, the winter oak only in autumn, while some kinds of apple and pear andthe cork-tree fruit at the beginning of winter. The fir flowers with asaffron-coloured blossom about midsummer and produces its seed after the settingof the Pleiades; but the pine and the pitch-pine come before it in budding byabout a fortnight, though they themselves also drop their seed after thePleiades.

XLIV. Citrus-trees and the juniper and the holm-oak are classed asbearing all the year round, and on these trees the new crop of fruit hangs alongwith that of the previous year. The pine, however, is the most remarkable, as itcarries both fruit that is beginning to ripen and that which will ripen in thefollowing year and also in the year after next. Also no tree reproduces itselfwith more eagerness: within a month of a cone being plucked from it another coneis ripening in the same place, an arrangement which ensures that there are conesripening in every single month of the year. Pine-cones that split while still onthe tree are calledazaniae, and if they are not removed they injure the rest ofthe crop.

XLV. The only trees that bear no fruitI mean not even seedare thetamarisk, which is of no use except for making brooms, the poplar, thealder, the Atinian elm and the alaternus, the leaves of which are between thoseof the holm-oak and the olive; but trees that never grow from seed nor bearfruit are considered to be unlucky and under a curse.Cremutius states that the tree fromwhichPhyllis hanged herself is nevergreen. People open gum-producing trees after they have budded, but the gum doesnot thicken until after the fruit has been removed.

XLVI. Sapling trees have no fruit as long as they are growing. The treesmost liable to lose their fruit before it ripens are the palm, the fig, thealmond, the apple and the pear, and also the pomegranate, which excessivedew and frost cause to lose its flower as well. In consequence of this peoplebend down its branches, lest if they shoot straight upright they may receive andretain the moisture which is injurious to them. The pear and almond lose theirblossom even if it does not rain but a south wind sets in or the sky is cloudy,and if that sort of weather has prevailed after they have shed their blossom,they lose their first fruit. But it is the willow that loses its seed mostquickly, before it approaches ripeness at all. This is the reason whyHomer gives it the epithet'fruit-losing'; but succeeding ages have interpreted the meaningof the word in the light of its own wicked conduct, inasmuch as it is well knownthat willow seed taken as a drug produces barrenness in a woman. But Nature,showing her foresight in this matter also, has been rather careless aboutbestowing seed on a tree that is propagated easily even a planted sprig. It issaid however that one variety of willow usually carries its seed till it ripens;this grows on the island of Crete just by the path coming down from the Caveof Jupiter; it has a hard woody seed of the size of a chick-pea.

XLVII. Some trees are rendered barren by a fault in the locality, forinstance the forest of Cende on Paros, which bears nothing; and the peach-treeson Rhodes only produce blossom. This peculiarity is also caused by sex, as inthe kinds of trees of which the males do not bear; though some people reversethis and assert that it is the male trees that bear. Another cause of barrennessis thick growth of leaves.

XLVIII. Some trees producing fruit bear it both of on the sides and atthe end of their branches, for instance the pear, the pomegranate, the fig andthe myrtle. In other respects they have the same nature as cereal plants, for intheir case also the ear grows at the tip of the stalks, whereas beans grow onthe sides. The palm-tree alone, as has been stated, has its fruit, enclosed in spathes, hanging down in bunches.

XLIX. The remaining trees have their fruitunderneath their leaves for its protection, except the fig, the leaf of which isvery large and gives a great deal of shade, and because of this the fruit hangsabove the leaves. The fig is also the only tree whose leaf forms later than thefruit. A remarkable thing reported in the case of a certain kind of fig-treefound in Cilicia and Cyprus and on the mainland of Greece is that the figs growunderneath the leaves, but the abortive fruit that does not mature forms afterthe leaves have grown. The fig-tree also produces an early crop of fruit,called at Athens 'forerunners,' especially in the Spartan variety.

L. and on the island of Cos the wild figs bear three, the firsteliciting a following crop and the following crop a third one. It is this lastcrop that is used in the process of caprification. But in the wild fig also thefruit grows at the back of the leaves. Among the apples and the pears there aresome that bear two crops a year, as also there are some early varieties. Thewild apple bears twice, its second crop coming after the rising of Arcturus,especially in sunny localities. There are indeed vines that actually bear threecrops, which consequently people call 'mad vines,' because on these some grapesare ripening while others are just beginning to swell and other bunches are onlyin flower.Marcus Varro states thatthere once was a vine at the temple of the Mother of the Gods in Smyrna thatbore three times a year, and an apple tree in the district of Cosenza that didthe same. But this regularly occurs in the district of Tacupe in Africa (aboutwhich we shall say more in another place), such is the fertility of the soil.The cypress also bears three times, for its berries are gathered in January, Mayand September, and those of each crop are of a different size.

But also in the trees themselves, even when laden with fruit, there is adifference between different kinds: the arbutus and the oak bear more fruit intheir upper part and the walnut and the marisca fig on their lower branches. Alltrees bear earlier the older they grow, and bear earlier in sunny places and ona thin soil; all wild trees are later, some of them never ripening their fruitat all. Similarly trees that have the earth underneath them ploughed or brokenup ripen their fruit quicker than ones that are not attended to; those sotreated also bear larger crops.

LI. Moreover there is another difference, connected with age.Almond-trees and pears have the largest crops in their old age, as also do theacorn-bearing trees and one kind of fig, but all the other fruit-trees whenyoung and when ripening more slowly; and this is especially noticeable in thecase of vines, for the older vines make better wine and the young ones give alarger quantity. The apple however grows old very quickly and in its old agebears inferior fruit, as the apples it produces are smaller and liable to beworm-eaten, the worms being also generated on the tree itself. The fig is theonly one of all the trees grown that is given a ding to assist itsripeningtruly a portentous thing, that greater prices are paid for fruit out ofseason. But all fruit-trees that bear their fruit before the proper time growold prematurely; indeed some die at once when the weather has lured them tosurrender their whole stock of fertility, a thing that happens most of all tovines. The mulberry, on the other hand, grows old very slowly, being very littleexhausted by its crop; and also the trees whose timber has wrinkled markingsage slowly, for instance the palm, the maple and the poplar. Also trees grow oldmore quickly when the earth under them is ploughed, whereas forest trees agevery slowly. Consequently trees carefully tended blossom earlier and budearlier, and are in advance of the season generally; and in general allattention adds fertility, while fertility advances old age, because everyweakness is rendered more subject to the weather.

LII. Many trees grow several products, as we said in the case ofacorn-bearing trees. Among them, the laurel bears its own grapes, and especiallythe barren laurel, which produces nothing else, and which is consequentlythought by some people to be the male tree. Hazels also bear catkins of a hard,compact shape, which are of no use for any purpose; but the holm-oak producesthe greatest number of things, for it grows both its own seed and the graincalledcrataegus, and mistletoe grows on the north side of the tree and hyphearon the south sidewe shall say more about these a little laterand occasionallythe trees have all four of these things together.

LIII. Some trees are of simple shape, having one stem rising from theroot and a number of branches, as the olive, fig and vine; some belong to thebushy class, as the Christ's thorn and the myrtle, and also the hazelin factthis bears better and more abundant nuts when it spreads out into many branches.Some trees have no branches at all, for instance the box of the cultivatedvariety and the foreign lotus. Some trees are forked, and even branch out intofive parts, some divide the trunk but have no branches, as is the case with theelder, and some are undivided and have branches, like the pitch-pines. Some havetheir branches in a regular order, for instance the pitch-pine, the fir, withothers their arrangement is irregular, as with the oak, apple and pear. Also inthe case of the fir the branching is nearly vertical and the boughs projectupward towards the sky, and do not slope down sideways. It is a remarkable thingthat this tree dies if the tops of the branches are lopped, but survives if theyare cut off entirely from the trunk; also should the trunk be cut off belowwhere the branches were, what remains lives, whereas if only the top be removedthe whole tree dies. Some trees branch out from the root up, like the elm,others throw out boughs only at the top, like the pine and the Greek bean-tree,which at Rome they call the lotus because of the sweetness of its fruit, whichalthough growing wild almost resembles cherries. The exuberance of its branchesmakes it specially in request for houses, as they grow on a short main stem andspread out with a very wide expanse of shade, often leaping across to theneighbouring mansions. No shady foliage is more short-lived, and the branches donot take away the sun, their leaves falling in winter. No trees have bark thatis more agreeable or attractive to look at, and none have branches that arelonger and stouter or more numerous, so that they might be described as beingthemselves so many trees. Their bark serves for staining hides and their rootfor dyeing wool. Apple trees have branches of a peculiar kind, resembling themuzzles of wild animals, several smaller boughs being attached to one very largeone.

LIV. Some branches are without eyes and donot form buds, this being a natural consequence of their not having fullydeveloped, or else a penalty when a scar inflicted in pruning has blunted theirpowers. In a vine the eye and in a reed the joint contain the same nature thattrees which spread out have in their branch. With all trees the parts nearestthe pound are thicker. The fir, the larch, the palm, the cypress, the elm andall the trees with a single trunk make their growth in the direction of height.Among the branching trees the cherry is found making timbers as much as 20 yardslong and a yard thick for the whole length. Some trees spread out into branchesat once, for example apples.

LV. The bark of some trees is thin, as in the laurel and the lime, thatof others thick, as in the oak; in some it is smooth, as in the apple andthe fig, but it is rough in the oak and the palm, and in all trees it becomesmore wrinkled in old age. With certain trees, for instance the vine, it burstsof its own accord, while certain others actually shed their bark, for instancethe apple and the arbutus. The bark of the cork-tree and the poplar is fleshy,that of the vine and the reed is like a skin; in the cherry it resemblesthe layers of the papyrus; the skin of the vine, the lime and the fir consistsof a number of coats, but in some cases it is a single layer, for instance inthe fig and the reed.

LVI. There is also a great difference in the roots of trees: those of thefig, the hard-oak and the plane are abundant, those of the apple short and thin,those of the fir and larch single, as these trees are supported by a singleroot, although it throws out small fibres laterally. The roots of the laurel arerather thick and of uneven shape, and the same with the olive, the roots ofwhich also form branches, but those of the hard-oak are fleshy. Hard-oaks drivetheir roots down deep, indeed the winter oak, at all events if we believeVirgil, goes down as deep with. its rootas it projects upward with its trunk. The olive and apple and cypresses spreadtheir roots through the top layer of the turf, in some cases shooting straightout, as with the laurel and olive, and in other cases winding about, as with thefig. This tree bristles with fine filaments, as also do the fir and a number offorest trees, from which the mountain people pluck extremely thin threads andplait them into handsome flasks and other vessels. Some people have stated thatthe roots of trees do not go down deeper than the warmth of the sun'sheat can reach, and this according to the nature of the soil, whether ratherthin or heavy; but I think that this is incorrect, as it is certainly found inthe authorities that when a fir-tree was transplanted it measured four yards indepth, though it had not been dug up whole but had been broken off. The root ofthe citrus-wood tree is the largest in extent and abundance, and next to itthose of the plane, the hard-oak and the acorn-bearing trees. Some trees have aroot that is more tenacious of life than the part above ground, for instance thelaurel; and accordingly, when it has withered in the trunk, if it is cut backit shoots again even more vigorously. Some people think that trees grow old more quickly owing to having short roots, but this is disproved by figtrees, whichhave very long roots and grow old very quickly. I also consider false astatement that has been made by some persons, to the effect that the roots oftrees become smaller with age, for an aged oak when overturned by a violentstorm has been seen to embrace a Roman acre of ground.

LVII. It is a common occurrence for fallen trees often to be replaced andto come back to life again owing to the earth forming a sort of scab over thewound. This is most common with plane trees, which hold a very large quantity ofwind because of the density of their branches, which are lopped to relieve thetrees of the weight and the trees are then replanted in their own hole; and thishas before now also been done in the case of walnuts and olives and a number ofother trees. There are also many cases of trees having fallen even without astorm or any other cause except one of a miraculous nature and having risen upagain of their awn accord. This portent occurred to the citizens of the Romannation during the Cimbrian wars in the case of an elm in the grove of Juno atNocera, actually after its top had been lopped off because it was leaningforward right on to the altar; the tree was restored of its own accord socompletely that it at once flowered, and from that date onward the majesty ofthe Roman people recovered, after having previously been ravaged by disasters inwar. It is recorded that this also happened at Philippi with a willow that hadfallen down and had been severed from its trunk, and at Stagira with a whitepoplar in the shrine of the Muses, all of these occurrences being of good omen.But most wonderful of all, a plane-tree at Antandros recovered of its own accordand was restored to life even after its sides had been rough-hewn all round, atree 22½ feet high and 6 feet thick.

LVIII. Those trees which we owe to Nature grow in three ways,spontaneously or by seed or from a root. More numerous artificial methodshave come into existence, about which we shall speak in the volume given to thesubject; for at the present our whole discourse is about Nature, so memorablefor her manifold and marvellous methods. In fact, we have shown that not alltrees will grow in all places, or live if removed from one place to another;this is due in some cases to antipathy, in others to obstinacy, more frequentlyto the weakness of the specimens transplanted, because in some cases the climateis unfavourable and in others the soil is incompatible.

LIX. Balm of Gilead disdains to grow elsewhere, and a citron grown inAssyria will not bear elsewhere; and likewise the palm also will not groweverywhere or, even if it does grow, bear fruit, or else even when it has madea promise and a show of bearing, refuses to mature the fruit, seeming to havegiven birth to it against its will. The cinnamon shrub has not the strength totravel to the neighbourhood of Syria. The delicate perfumes of amomum and nardcannot endure to travel out of India and be conveyed by sea even as far asArabiaan attempt to import them was made by King Seleueus. What is most surprising isthat although the trees themselves can usually be persuaded to live and to beartransplantation, and occasionally even the soil will grant the request tonourish foreigners and give food to immigrants, the climate is absolutelyunrelenting. The pepper-tree will live in Italy, and the casia-plant even in anorthern region, and the incense-tree has been known to live in Lydia, but whereare we to get the sunshine that sucks all the juice out of these plants orripens the drops of essence that they shed? It is nearly as surprising thatNature may alter in the same localities and yet retain a hundred percent of hervigour. She had bestowed the cedar on the regions of torrid heat, but it in themountains of Lycia and Phrygia. She had made cold unfriendly to butno tree is more frequent on Mount Olympus. In the city of Kertch in theneighbourhood of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, KingMithridates and the rest of the natives had toiled in every way to havethe laurel and the myrtle, at all events for ritual purposes, but they did notsucceed, although trees belonging to a mild climate abound there, pomegranatesand figs, as well as apples and pears that win the highest praise. In the sameregion Nature has not produced the trees that belong to cold climatespine, firand pitch-pine. And what is the point of our going abroad to the Black Sea? Inthe actual neighbourhood of Rome chestnuts and cherries only grow withreluctance, and the peachtree round Tusculum, and almonds are laboriously grownfrom graft, although Tarracina teems with whole woods of them.

LX. The cypress is an exotic, and has been one of the mostdifficult trees to rear, seeing thatCatohas written about it at greater length and more often than about all the othertrees, as stubborn to grow, of no use for fruit, with berries that cause a wryface, a bitter leaf, and a pungent smell: not even its shade agreeable and itstimber scanty, so that it almost belongs to the class of shrubs; consecrated to Dis, and consequently placed at the doors of houses as a sign of mourning. Thefemale bears seed but the male is sterile. For a long time pastmerely owing to its pyramidal appearance it was not rejected just for thepurpose of marking the rows in vineyards, but nowadays it is clipped and madeinto thick walls or evenly rounded off with trim slenderness, and it is evenmade to provide the representations of the landscape gardener's work, arrayinghunting scenes or fleets of ships and imitations of real objects with itsnarrow, short, evergreen leaf. There are two kinds of cypress: the pyramid,tapering upward in a spiral, which is also called the femalecypress, and the male cypress which spreads its branches outward from itself,and is pruned and used as a prop for a vine. Both the male and the female areallowed to grow up so as by having their branches lopped off to form poles orprops, which after twelve years' growth sell for a denarius apiece, a grove ofcypresses being a most profitable item in one's plantation account; and peoplein old days used commonly to call cypress nurseries a dowry for a daughter. Thenative country of this tree is the island of Crete, althoughCato calls it Taranto cypress, no doubtbecause that place was where it was first imported. In the island of Ischiaalso, if cut down, it will shoot up again; but in Crete this tree is produced byspontaneous generation wherever anybody stirs the earth, and shoots out at once,in this case in fact even without any demand being made of the soil and of itsawn accord, and especially in the mountains of Ida and those called the WhiteMountains, and in the greatest number on the very summits of the peaks that arenever free from snow, which may well surprise us, as the tree does not occurelsewhere except in a warm climate and has a great dislike for snow.

LXI. Nor is only the nature of the soil important in relation to thesetrees, or the permanent character of the weather, but also a certain temporaryinfluence that it exerts: showers of rain usually bring with them certain seeds,and seeds of a certain kind stream down, occasionally even some of an unknownkind, which happened in the district of Cyrenaica, when laser first grew there,as we shall say in the section dealing with herbaceous plants. Also near thatcity a shower of thick, pitchy rain caused a wood to grow up.

LXII. It is said that ivy now grows in Asia Minor.Theophrastus about 314 BC. had statedthat it did not grow there, nor yet in India except on Mount Meros, andindeed thatHarpalus had used everyeffort to grow it in Media without success, whileAlexander had come back victorious fromIndia with his army wearing wreaths of ivy, because of its rarity, in imitationof Father Liber; and it is even now used at solemn festivals among the peoplesof Thrace to decorate the wands of that god, and also the worshippers' helmetsand shields, although it is injurious to all trees and plants and destructive totombs and walls, and very agreeable to chilly snakes, so that it is surprisingthat any honour has been paid to it.

There are two primary kinds of ivy, as of the rest of the plants, the male andthe female. The male is said to have the larger stem and leaf, which alsoare harder and have more sap, and so it also has a larger flower, approachingpurple in colour; but the flower of both male and female resembles the wildrose, except that it has no scent. These kinds each comprise three species, forivy is white or black and a third species is called helix. Moreover thesespecies divide into others, since one kind only has white fruit but another hasa white leaf as well; also in some of those bearing white fruit the berry isclosely packed and rather large, hanging in round bunches which are called'clusters,' and also Silenici when the berry is smaller and the bunch lesscompactas similarly occurs in the black variety. Also one kind has a black seedand another a seed of the colour of saffron; the latter ivy is used by poets fortheir wreaths, and its leaves are not so dark in colour; some people call it Nysian ivy and others Bacchic ivy, and it has the largest clusters of all theblack ivies. Some people among the Greeks also make two classes of this variety,depending on the colour of the berriesred-berry ivy and golden-fruit ivy.

But it is the helix which has most varieties of all, as it differs verygreatly in leaf. The leaves are small and angular and of a rather elegant shape,whereas those of the remaining kinds are plain and simple. It differs also inthe distance between the joints, but particularly in its infertility, as itdoes not bear any fruit. Some people think that this is a matter of age andnot of kind, and that the plant begins as a helix and becomes an ivy when itgets old. This is seen to be a clear mistake on their part, inasmuch as we findseveral more kinds of helix, but three that are most noticeablethe grass-greenhelix which is the commonest, a second kind with a white leaf, and a third kindwith a variegated leaf, which is called Thracian ivy. Moreover there is agrass-ivy with rather narrow and symmetrically arranged and rather thicklygrowing leaves, and in another variety all these points are different; also inthe variegated ivy one variety has narrower leaves arranged in a similar way andclustering more thickly, and another variety entirely lacking these features,and also the leaves are either larger or smaller, and differ in the arrangementof their markings; and in the white ivy in some cases the leaves are whiter thanin others. The grass-green ivy grows the longest shoots; but it is the white ivythat kills trees, and by taking from them all their sap grows so thick a stalkas itself to become a tree. Its characteristics are very large, very broadleaves, fat stiff buds, which in the other kinds are bent, and clusters standingup erect; and although in every kind of ivy the arms take root, yet this kindhas the most spreading and powerful arms, those of the black ivy coming next.But it is a peculiarity of the white ivy that it throws out arms among themiddle of its leaves, with which it always embraces things on either side, thisbeing the case even on walls, although it is unable to go round them.Consequently even though it is cut apart at several places nevertheless it livesand lasts on, and it has as many points to strike root with as it has arms,which make it safe and solid while it sucks and strangles trees. There is also adifference in the fruit of the white and the black ivy, since in some cases itis so bitter that birds will not touch it.

There is also a stiff ivy, which is the only kind that will stand without aprop, and which consequently has the name in Greek of 'straight ivy';while on the other hand the one called in Greek 'ground-ivy' is never foundexcept creeping on the ground.

LXIII. Resembling ivy is the plant called smilax, which first camefrom Cilicia, but is now more common in Greece; it has thick jointed stalks andthorny branches that make it a kind of shrub; the leaf resembles that of theivy, but is small and has no corners, and throws out tendrils from its stalk;the flower is white and has the scent of a lily. It bears clusters of berrieslike those of the wild vine, not of the ivy; they are red in colour, and thelarger ones enclose three hard black stones but the smaller a single stone.This plant is unlucky to use at all sacred rites and for wreaths, because it hasa mournful association, a maiden named Smilax having been turned into a smilaxshrub because of her love for a youth named Crocus. The common people notknowing this usually pollute their festivals with it because they think that itis ivy; just as in the case of the poets or Father Liber or Silenus, who wearwreaths made of who in the world knows what?

Smilax is used for making tablets; it is apeculiarity of this wood to give out a slight sound when placed to one's ear.It is said that ivy has a remarkable property for testing wines, inasmuch as avessel made of its wood allows wine to pass through it, water that has beenmixed with the wine stops in the vessel.

LXIV. Among the plants that like cold conditions it may also beproper to have the aquatic shrubs mentioned. The primacy among these will beheld by the reeds, which are indispensable for the practices of war and of peaceand are also acceptable for our amusement. The northern peoples thatch theirhomes with reeds, and roofs of this kind last for ages, while in other parts ofthe world as well reeds also provide very light ceilings for rooms. And reedsserve as pens for writing on paper, especially Egyptian reeds owing to theirkinship as it were with the papyrus; although the reeds of Cnidus and those thatgrow round the Anaetic lake in Asia are more esteemed. Those of our country havea more fungous substance underneath the surface, made of spongy cartilage whichhas a hollow structure inside and a thin, dry, woody surface, and easily breaksinto splinters which always have an extremely sharp edge. For the rest it is ofa slender appearance, jointed and divided with knots and tapering gradually offto the top with a rather thick tuft of hair, which also is not without value,as it either serves instead of feathers to stuff the beds of innkeepers, or inplaces where it grows very hard and woody in structure, as in Belgium, it ispounded up and inserted between the joints of ships to caulk the seams, holdingbetter than glue and being more reliable for filling cracks than pitch.

LXV. The peoples of the East employ reeds in making war; by means ofreeds with a feather added to them. They hasten the approach of death, and toreeds they add points which deal wounds with their barb that cannot beextracted, and if the weapon itself breaks in the wound, another weapon is madeout of it. With these weapons they obscure the very rays of the sun, and this iswhat chiefly makes them want calm weather and hate wind and rain, which compelthe combatants to keep peace between them. And if anybody should make a rathercareful reckoning of the Ethiopians, Egyptians, Arabs, Indians, Scythians andBactrians, and the numerous races of the Sarmatians and of the East, and all therealms of the Parthians, almost one-half of mankind in the whole world livessubject to the sway of the reed. It was outstanding skill in this employment ofthe reed in Crete that made her warriors famous; but in this also, as in allother things, Italy has won the victory, as no reed is more suitable for arrowsthan that which grows in the river at Bologna, the Reno, which contains thelargest amount of pith and has a good flying weight and a balance that offers asturdy resistance even to gusts of windan attraction which does not belong inthe same degree to the shafts grown in Belgium. The reeds of Crete also have thesame valuable property, although those from India are placed highest of all,some people believing that they belong to a different species, as with theaddition of points they also serve the purpose of lances. The Indian bambooindeed is of the size of a tree, as we see in the case of the specimensfrequently found in our temples. The Indians say that in this plant also thereis a difference between males and females, the male having a more compact bodyand the female a bulkier one. And a single length between knots, if we canbelieve it, will actually serve as a boat. The bamboo grows especially on thebanks of the river Chenab.

Every kind of reed makes a great many stems fromone root, and when it is cut down it grows again even more prolifically. Theroot is by nature very tenacious of life; it as well as the stem is jointed.Only the Indian bamboo has short leaves, but in all the reeds the leaves sproutfrom a knot and wrap the stem all round with coats of thin tissue, and at apoint halfway between two knots usually cease to clothe the stems and droopforward. The reed and the cane though round have two sides, with a series ofshoots thrown out above the knots alternately, so that one forms on the rightside and then another at the next joint above on the left, turn and turn about.From these sometimes grow branches, which are themselves slender canes.

LXVI. There are, however, several varieties of reed. One is rathercompact and has joints closer together, with short spaces between them, whileanother has them farther apart with larger spaces between them, and is alsothinner in itself. But another kind of cane is hollow for its whole length; itsGreek name means the flute-reed, and it is very useful for making flutes becauseit contains no pith and no fleshy substance. The Orchomenus cane has a passageright through even the knots, and is called in Greek the pipe-reed; this is moresuitable for flageolets, as the preceding kind is for flutes. There is anotherreed the wood of which is thicker and the passage narrow; this reed is entirelyfilled with spongy pith. Reeds are of various lengths and thickness. The onecalled thedonax throws out most shoots; it only grows in watery placesinasmuchas this also constitutes a difference, a reed growing in dry places beingmuch preferred. The reed used as an arrow is a special kind, as we have said,but the Cretan variety has the longest intervals between the knots, and whenheated allows itself to be bent in any direction you please. Also differencesare made by the leaves, which vary not only in number and length but also incolour. The Laconian reed has spotted leaves, and throws out a greater number atthe bottom of the stalk, as is thought to be the case with reeds in general thatgrow round marshy pools, which are different from river reeds, being draped withlong leaves climbing upward and embracing the stem for a considerable distanceabove the knot. There is also a slanting reed which does not shoot upward to anyheight but spreads itself out close to the ground like a shrub; it is veryattractive to animals when young and tender, and is called by some people thecletia. Also in Italy there is a growth, found in marsh-reeds, only coming outof the outer skin just below the tuft, namedadarca, which is very beneficialfor the teeth, as it has the same pungency as mustard.

The admiration expressed in old days for the reed-beds of the Lake of Orchomenuscompels me to speak about them in greater detail. The Greek name for arather thick, stronger kind of reed used to be 'fence-reed,' and for a moreslender variety 'plaiting reed,' the latter growing in islands floating on the water and the former on the banks overflowed by the lake. The third is the flageolet reed'pipe-reed' used to be the Greek name for it. This took eightyears to grow, as the lake also regularly took that space of time in rising, itbeing thought to be a bad omen if ever it continued at its full height two yearslonger, a thing that was marked by the fatal Athenian battle at Chaeronea. Notfar off is Lebadea ... is called the Cephisus flowing into it. When thereforethe flooding has continued for a year, the reeds grow even to a size suitablefor purposes of fowlink: these used to be called in Greek 'yoke-reeds'; on theother hand those growing when the flood goes down sooner were called 'silkyreeds,' with a thin stalk, those with a broader and whiter leaf beingdistinguished by the name of 'female reeds,' and those with only a small amountof down or none at all being called 'eunuchs.' These supplied the instrumentsfor glorious music, though mention must also not be omitted of the furtherremarkable trouble required to grow them, so that excuse may be made for thepresent-day preference for musical instruments of silver. Down to the time ofthe flautist Antigenides, when a simplestyle of music was still practised, the reeds used to be regarded as ready forcutting after the rising of Arcturus. When thus prepared the reeds began to befit for use a few years later, though even then the actual flutes neededmaturing with a great deal of practice, and educating to sing of themselves,with the tongues pressing themselves down, which was more serviceable for thetheatrical fashions then prevailing. But after variety came into fashion, andluxury even in music, the reeds began to be cut before midsummer and made readyfor use in three years, their tongues being wider open to modulate the sounds,and these continue to the present day. But at that time it wasfirmly believed that only a tongue cut from the same reed as the pipe in eachease would do, and that one taken from just above the root was suitable for aleft-hand flute and one from just below the top for a right-hand flute; andreeds that had been washed by the waters of Cephisus itself were rated asimmeasurably superior. At the present time the flutes used by the Tuscans inreligious ritual are made of box-wood, but those for theatrical performances aremade of lotus and asses' bones and silver. The reeds most approved for fowlingcome from Palermo, and those to make fishing-rods are from Abarsa in Africa.

LXVII. In Italy the reed is chiefly employed to serve as a prop forvines.Cato recommends planting it indamp lands, after first working the soil with a double mattock, a space ayard wide being left between the shoots; and he says that at the sametime also wild asparagus, from which garden asparagus is produced, associates infriendship with it, and so does willow when planted round itthe willow beingthe most useful of the water-plants, although vines like poplars and theCaecuban vines are trained up on them, and although alders in hedges give ratherclose a protection and, if planted together in water, stand sentry like banks to guard the country against the assaults of the rivers when they overflow, and when cut down they are useful because of the innumerable suckers that they produce as successors.

LXVIII. The uses made of willows are of several kinds. They send out rodsof great length used for vine-trellises and at the same time provide strips ofbark for withes, and some grow shoots of a yielding flexibility useful fortying, others extremely thin ones suitable for weaving into basketwork of anadmirably fine texture, and other stronger ones for plaiting baskets and a greatmany agricultural utensils, while the whiter ones when the bark has been removedand they have been worked smooth do to make bottles more capacious than any thatcan be made of leather, and also are extremely suitable for luxurious easychairs. The willow sprouts again after being lopped, and from the short stump,which is more like a fist than a branch, makes a thicker growth for cutting, thetree being in our opinion not one of the last to choose for cultivation,inasmuch as none yields a safer return or involves less outlay, and none is moreindifferent to weather.

LXIX.Catoattributes to the willow the third place in the estimation of the countryside,and puts it before the cultivation of the olive and before corn ormeadowlandand this is not because other kinds of withes are lacking, inasmuchas the broom, the poplar, the elm, the blood-red cornel, the birch, the reedwhen split and the leaves of the reed, as in Liguria, and the vine itself andbrambles after the thorns have been cut off serve as ties, and also the hazelwhen twistedand it is surprising that any wood should make stronger ties afterbeing bruised by twisting; nevertheless it is the willow that has the propertiesspecially required for this purpose. The Greek red willow is split, while the Amerian willow, which has a lighter colour but is a little more fragile, isconsequently used as a tie without having been split. Three kinds are known inAsia: the black willow, which is more useful for ties, the white willow foragricultural purposes, and a third kind, which is the shortest, called thehelix. With us also many people distinguish the same number of varieties byname; they call one 'plaiting willow' and also 'purple willow,' another, which isthinner, 'dormouse willow' from its colour, and a third, the thinnest, 'Gallicwillow.'

LXX. The rush, having a fragile stalk and being a marsh plant, isnot rightly to be reckoned in the class of bushes or of brambles or plants withstalks, nor yet among herbaceous plants, or in any other class except its own;it is used for making thatch and mats, and stripped of its outer coat serves forcandles and funeral torches. In some places rushes are stronger and stiffer, forthey are used to carry sails not only by boatmen on the Po but also at sea bythe African fisherman, who hangs his sail in a preposterous fashion, betweenmasts, and the Moors use them for roofing their cabins; and if one looks closelyinto the matter, rushes may appear to occupy the place held by the papyrus inthe inner region of the world.

LXXI. Among water-plants, in a class of their own but of a bushy nature,are also brambles, and so are elders, which are of a spongy nature,though in a different way from the giant fennel, as at all events the elder hasmore wood; a shepherd believes that a horn or trumpet of elder wood will belouder if the wood was cut in some place where the elder bush is out of hearingof the crowing of cocks. Brambles bear blackberries, and one variety, which iscalled in Greek the dog-bramble, a flower like a rose. A third kind the Greekscall the Ida bramble, from the place where it grows, a more slender variety thanthe others, with smaller and less hooked thorns; its blossom is used to make anointment for sore eyes, and also, dipped in honey, for St. Anthony's fire, andalso soaked in water it makes a draught to cure stomach troubles. Elder-treeshave small black berries with a sticky juice, chiefly med for a hair dye; thesealso are boiled in water and eaten.

LXXII. There is also a juice in the body of trees, which must be lookedupon as their blood. It is not the same in all treesin figs it is a milkysubstance, which has the property of curdling milk so as to produce cheese, incherries it is gummy, in elms slimy, sticky and fat, in apples, vines and pearswatery. The stickier this sap is, the longer the trees live. And in general thebodies of trees, as of other living things, have in them skin, blood,flesh, sinews, veins, bones and marrow. The bark serves for a skin; itis a remarkable fact as regards the bark on a mulberry that when doctors requireits juice they strike it with a stone two hours after sunrise in spring and thejuice trickles out, but if a deeper wound is made the bark seems to be dry. Nextto the bark most trees have layers of fatty substance, called from its whitecolour alburnum; this is soft and the worst part of the wood, rotting easilyeven in a hard oak and liable to woodworm, for which reason it will always beremoved. Under this fat is the flesh of the tree and under the flesh the bones,that is the best part of the timber. Those trees which have a drier wood, forinstance the olive, are more liable to bear fruit only every other year thantrees whose wood is of a fleshy nature, like the cherry. And not all trees havea large amount of fat or flesh, any more than the most active among animals;there is no fat or flesh at all in the box, the cornel and the olive, nor anymarrow, and only a very small quantity even of blood, just as the service-treehas no bones and the elder no fleshthough both have a great deal of marrownorhave reeds for the greater part.

LXXIII. The flesh of some trees containsfibres and veins. It is easy to distinguish between them, the veins beingbroader and whiter than the fibre. Veins are found in wood that is easy tosplit, and consequently if you put your ear to one end of a beam of woodhowever great its length you can hear even taps made with a graver on the otherend, the sound penetrating by passages running straight through the wood, and bythis test you can detect whether the timber is twisted and interrupted by knots.In the ease of trees in which there are tuberosities resembling the glands inthe flesh of an animal, these contain no vessels or fibres, but a kind of hardknot of flesh rolled up in a ball; in the citrus and the maple this is the mostvaluable part. The other kinds of wood employed for making tables are cut intocircles by splitting the trees along the line of the fibre, as otherwise thevein cut across the round of the free would be brittle. In beech trees thegrainings in the fibre run crosswise, and consequently even vessels made ofbeech-wood were highly valued in old days:Manius Curius declared on oath that he had touched nothing of the bootytaken in a battle except a flask made of beech-wood, to use in offeringsacrifices.

A log of timber floats more or less horizontally, each part of it sinking deeperthe nearer it was to the root. Some timbers have fibre without veins, consistingof thin filaments merely; these are the easiest to split. Others have no fibre,and break more quickly than they split, for instance olives and vines. But onthe other baud in the fig-tree the body consists entirely of flesh, while theholm-oak, eornel, hard oak, cytisus, mulberry, ebony, Lotus and the trees that we have stated to be without marrow, consist entirely of bone. The timber of all of these is of a blackish colour except the cornel, hunting spears made of which are bright yellow when notched with incisions for the purpose of decoration. The cedar, the larch and the juniper are red. The female larch contains wood called in Greek aegis, of the colour of honey; this wood when made into panels for pictures has been found to last for ever without being split by any cracks; it is the part of the trunk nearest to the pith; in the fir-tree the Greeks call this 'ilusson.' The hardest part of the cedar also is the partnearest the pithas the bones are in the bodyprovided the has been scraped off.It is reported that the inner part of the elder also is remarkably firm, andsome people prefer hunting spears made of it to all others, as it consistsentirely of skin and bones.

LXXIV. The proper time for felling trees that are to be stripped of theirbark, for instance well-turned trees that are to be used for temples and otherpurposes requiring round pillars, is when they budat other times thebark is impossible to detach and decay is setting in under it and the timber isturning black; but the time for cutting beams and logs to be cleared of theirbark by the axe is between midwinter and the period of westerly wind, or if weshould be obliged to do it sooner, at the setting of Areturus and, before that,at the setting of the Lyreon the earliest calculation at midsummer: the datesof these constellations will be given in the proper place. It is commonlythought sufficient to take care that no tree is felled to be rough-hewnbefore it has born its fruit. The hard oak if cut in spring is liable towoodworm; if cut at midwinter it neither rots nor warps, but otherwise it iseven liable to twist and to split, and this happens in the case of the cork-treeeven if felled at the proper time. It is also of enormous importance to takeaccount of the moon, and people recommend that trees should be felled onlybetween the twentieth and thirtieth days of the month. It is universally agreed,however, that the most advantageous time for felling timber is when the moon isin conjunction with the sun, the date which some call the interlunar day andothers the day of the moon's silence. At all events those were the limits fixedin advance by the EmperorTiberius forfelling larches in Raetia for the reconstruction of the deck of the Naval ShamFight when it had been burnt down. Some people say that the moon ought to be inconjunction and below the horizon, a thing that can only happen in the night.

If conjunctions should coincide with the shortestday of the winter solstice, the timber produced lasts for ever; and the nextbest is when the conjunction coincides with the constellations mentioned above.Some people add the rising of the Dog-star also, and say that this was how thetimber used for the Forum of Augustus was felled. But trees that are neitherquite young nor old are the most useful for timber. Another plan not withoutvalue is followed by some people, who make a cut round the trees as far as thepith and then leave them standing, so that all the moisture may drain out ofthem. It is a remarkable fact that in old days in the first Punic War the fleetcommanded byDuilius was on the waterwithin 60 days after the timber left the tree, while, according to the accountofLucius Piso, the 220 ships thatfought against KingHiero were built in45 days; also in the second Punic warScipio'sfleet sailed on the 40th day after the timber had been felled. So effective isprompt action even in the hurry of an emergency.

LXXV.Cato, the leading authorityon timber in all its uses, adds the following advice: 'Make a press of black fir wood for choice. With elm, pine or walnut timber, when you are going to root up these or any other tree, take them up when the moon is waning, in the afternoon, when there is not a south wind. A tree will be ready for felling when its seed is ripe. And be careful not to haul a tree or trim it with the axe when there is a dew.' And the same writer later: 'Do not touch timber except at newmoon, or else at the end of the moon's second quarter; with timber which you digup by the roots or cut off level with the ground, the seven days next after fullmoon are the best for removing it. Beware absolutely of rough-hewing or cuttingor touching any timber unless it is dry, and when it is frozen or wet with dew.Similarly the emperorTiberius kept tothe period between two moons even in having his hair cut.Marcus Varro advises the plan of havingone's hair cut just after full moon, as a precaution against going bald.

LXXVI. When the larch and still more the white fir has been felled, aliquid flows from them for a long time. These are the tallest and thestraightest of all the trees. For the masts and spars of ships the fir ispreferred because of its light weight. A property shared by these trees and alsoby the pine is that of having veins running through the wood in four or in twodivisions, or else only in one line. The interior in the four-veined kind is thebest timber to cut up for inlaid wood-work and that in the twoveined theworst, and softer than the other kinds; experts can tell them at once from thebark. Fir wood from the part of the tree that was near the ground is free fromknots. This timber after being floated in a river in the way which we havedescribed is cleared of bulges, and when so treated is called sappinus, whilethe upper part which is knotted and harder is called club-wood. Moreover in thetrees themselves the parts towards the north-east are stronger; and in generaltrees from damp and shady places are inferior and those from sunny places arecloser grained and durable; on this account at Rome fir from the Tuscan coast ispreferred to that from the Adriatic.

In trees of this class there is also a difference corresponding to their nativecountries. The most highly spoken of grow on the Alps and the Apennincs, on theJura and Vosges mountains of Gaul, in Corsica, Bithynia, Pontus and Macedonia.The firs of Aenia and Arcadia are inferior, and those of Parnassus and Enboeathe worst, because in those places they are branchy and twisted and the wood isapt to rot. As for the cedar, those in Crete, Africa and Syria are the mosthighly spoken of. Timber well smeared with cedar oil does not suffer from maggotor decay. The juniper has the same excellence as the cedar; thistree grows to a great size in Spain and especially in the territory of theVaccaei; the heart of its timber is everywhere even more solid than that of thecedar. A general fault of all timber is what is called cross-grain, when theveins and knots have grown twisted. In some trees are found centres like thosein marble, that is hard pieces like a nail, unkind to the saw; and there aresome hardnesses due to accident, as when a stone, or the branch of another tree,has been caught in a hollow and taken into the body of the tree. It is said thatstones found inside trees serve as a preventive against abortion. In themarket-place at Megara long stood a wild olive tree on which brave warriors hadhung their weapons; these in the course of time had been hidden by the barkgrowing round them; and on this tree depended the fate of the city, an oraclehaving prophesied that it would be destroyed when a tree gave birth toarmswhich happened to this tree when it was cut down, greaves and helmets beingfound inside it.

What is believed to have been the largest tree ever seen at Rome down to thepresent time was one thatTiberius Caesarcaused to be exhibited as a marvel on the deck of the Naval Sham Fight beforementioned; it had been brought to Rome with the rest of the timber used, and itlasted till the amphitheatre of the emperorNero. It was a log of larchwood, 120 feet long and of a uniform thicknessof two feet, from which could be inferred the almost incredible height of therest of the tree by calculating its length to the top. Within our own memorythere was also an equally marvellous tree left byMarcus Agrippa in the porticos of theVoting-booths, left over from the timber used for the ballot office; this wastwenty feet shorter than the one previously mentioned, and 18 inches inthickness. An especially wonderful fir was seen in the ship which brought fromEgypt at the order of the emperorGaiusthe obelisk erected in the Vatican Circus and four shafts of the same stone toserve as its base. It is certain that nothing more wonderful than this ship hasever been seen on the sea: it carried one hundred and twenty bushels of lentilsfor ballast, and its length took up a large part of the left side of the harbourof Ostia, for under the emperorClaudiusit was sunk there, with three moles as high as towers erected upon it that hadbeen made of Pozzuoli cement for the purpose and conveyed to the place. It tookfour men to span the girth of this tree with their arms; and we commonly hearthat masts for those purposes cost 80,000 sesterces and more, and that to puttogether the rafts usually runs to 40,000. But in Egypt and Syria for want offir the kings are said to have used cedar wood for their fleets; the largestcedar is reported to have been grown in Cyprus and to have been felled tomake a mast for a galley with rowers in teams of eleven belonging toDemetrius; it was one hundred and thirtyfeet long and took three men to span its girth. The pirates of Germany voyage inboats made of a single tree hollowed out, some of which carry as many as thirtypeople.

The most close-grained of all timber and consequently the heaviest is judged tobe ebony and box, both trees of a slender make. Neither will float in water, norwill the cork-tree if its bark be removed, nor the larch. Of the remainder themost close-grained is the one called at Rome the lotus, and next the hard oakwhen the white sap-wood has been removed. The hard oak also has wood of a darkcolour, and still darker is that of the cytisus, which appears to come very nearto ebony, although people are to be found who assert that the turpentine-treesof Syria are darker. Indeed there is a celebrated artificer namedThericles who used to turn goblets ofturpentine-tree wood, which is a highly valued material; it is the only woodthat needs to be oiled, and is improved by oil. Its colour can be wonderfullycounterfeited by staining walnut and wild pear wood and boiling them in achemical preparation. All the trees that we have mentioned have hardclose-grained wood. Next after them comes the cornel, though its wood cannot begiven a shiny polish became of its poor surface; but cornel wood is hardlyuseful for anything else except the spokes of wheels or in case something has tobe wedged in wood or fixed with bolts made of it, which are as hard as iron.There are also the holm-oak, the wild and cultivated olive, the chestnut, thehornbeam and the poplar. The last is also mottled like the mapleif only anytimber could be any good when the branches of the tree are frequently lopped:this amounts to gelding the tree, and takes away all its strength. For the rest,most of these trees, but especially the hard oak, are so hard that it is notpossible to bore a hole in the wood until it has been soaked in water, and eventhen when a nail has been driven right into it it cannot be pulled out. On theother hand cedar gives no hold to a nail. The softest of all woods is lime, andit is also apparently the hottest as well: it is adduced in proof of this thatit turns the edge of adzes quicker than any other wood. Other hot woods aremulberry, laurel, ivy and all those used for making matches.

LXXVII. This has been discovered by experience in the camps of militaryscouting parties and of shepherds, because there is not always a stone at handto strike fire with; consequently two pieces of wood are rubbed together andcatch fire owing to the friction, and the fire is caught in a lump of drytinder, fungus or dead leaves catching most readily. But there is nothing betterthan ivy wood for rubbing against and laurel wood for rubbing with; one of thewild vines (not the claret-vine), which climbs up a tree like ivy, is alsospoken well of. The trees that have the coldest wood of all are all that grow inwater; but the most flexible, and consequently the most suitable for makingshields, are those in which an incision draws together at once and closes up itsown wound, and which consequently is more obstinate in allowing steel topenetrate; this class contains the vine,agnus castus, willow, lime, birch,elder, and both kinds of poplar. Of these woods the lightest andconsequently the most useful are theagnus castus and the willow; but they areall suited for making baskets and things consisting of flexible wicker-work.Also they are shiny and hard, and easy to use in carvings. Plane hasflexibility, but of a moist kind, like alder; a drier flexibility belongs toelm, ash, mulberry, and cherry, but it is heavier. Elm retains its toughnessmost stoutly, and is in consequence the most useful wood for the hinges andframes of doors, because it is not liable to warp, only it should be put theother way up, so that the top of the tree is towards the lower hinge and theroot above. The palm is ... and also cork-tree timber is similar; apple andpear are also close-grained, as well as maple, but maple is brittle, and so areany veined woods. In all trees the characteristics of each kind are carriedfurther by wild specimens and by males; and barren trees have stronger wood thanfertile ones, except in species where the male trees bear, for instance thecypress and the cornel.

LXXVIII. The following trees do not experience decay and agecypress,cedar, ebony, lotus, box, yew, juniper, wild olive, cultivated olive; and ofthe remainder the slowest to age are the larch, hard oak, cork, chestnut andwalnut. The cedar, cypress, cultivated olive and box do not split or crack oftheir own accord.

LXXIX. It is believed that ebony lasts an extremely long time, and alsocypress and cedar, a clear verdict about all timbers being given in the templeof Diana at Ephesus, inasmuch as though the whole of Asia was building it ittook 120 years to complete. It is agreed that its roof is made of beams ofcedar, but as to the actual statue of the goddess there is some dispute, all theother writers saying that it is made of ebony, but one of the people who havemost recently seen it and written about it, Mucianus, who was three timesconsul, states that it is made of the wood of the vine, and has never beenaltered although the temple has been restored seven times; and that thismaterial was chosen byEndoeusMucianusactually specifies the name of the artist, which for my part I think surprising,as he assigns to the statue an antiquity that makes it older than not onlyFather Liber but Minerva also. He adds that nard is poured into it through anumber of apertures so that the chemical properties of the liquid may nourishthe wood and keep the joins togetheras to these indeed I am rather surprisedthat there should be anyand that the folding doors are made of cypress wood,and the whole of the timber looks like new wood after having lasted nearly 400years. It is also worth noting that the doors were kept for four years in aframe of glue. Cypress was chosen for them because it is the one kind of woodwhich beyond all others retains its polish in the best condition for all time.Has not the statue of Vejovis in the citadel, made of cypress wood, lasted sinceits dedication in the year 561 [193 BC] after the foundation ofRome? Noteworthy also is the temple of Apollo at Utica, where beams of Numidiancedar have lasted for 1178 years just as they were when they were put inposition at the original foundation of that city; and the temple of Diana atSaguntum in Spain, the statue of the goddess, according to the authority ofBocchus, having been brought there from Zaeynthus with the founders of the city200 years before the fall of Troy; it is kept inside the town itselfHannibalfrom motives of religion spared itand its beams, made of juniper, are still inexistence even now. Memorable above all is the temple of the same goddess at Aulis, built some centuries before the Trojan war; all knowledge of what kind oftimber it was built of has entirely disappeared. Broadly speaking it can at allevents be said that those woods have the most outstanding durability which havethe most agreeable scent. Next in esteem after the timbers mentioned stands thatof the mulberry, which even darkens with age. At the same time also somewoods last longer when employed in certain ways than they do otherwise: elmlasts best exposed to the air, hard oak when used under ground, and oak whensubmerged under wateroak when above the ground warps and makes cracks instructures. Larch and black alder do the best in damp; hard oak is rotted bysea water. Beech and walnut are also well spoken of for use in water, thesetimbers indeed holding quite the first place among those that are used under theground, and likewise juniper (which is also very serviceable for structuresexposed to the air), whereas beech and Turkey oak quickly decay, and the winteroak also will not stand damp. The alder on the other hand if driven into theground in marshy places lasts for ever and stands a load of any amount. Cherryis a strong wood, elm and ash are tough but liable to warp, although they areflexible; and they are more reliable if the trees are left standing and driedby ringing round the trunk. Larch is reported to be liable to woodworm whenused in seagoing vessels, and the same with all woods except the wild and thecultivated olive; in fact some woods are more liable to faults in the sea andothers in the ground.

LXXX. There are four kinds of pests that attack timbers. Borer-wormshave a very large head in proportion to their size, and gnaw away wood withtheir teeth; these worms are observed only in the sea, and it is held that theyare the only ones to which the name of borer-worm properly applies. The landvariety are called moths, but the name for those resembling gnats is thrips, andthere is also a fourth kind belonging to the maggot class, of which some areengendered by the wood itself when its sap becomes putrid and others areproduced by the worm called horned-wormas they are in treeswhich when it hasgnawed away enough to be able to turn round, gives birth to another. The birthof these insects is prevented however in some trees, for instance the cypress,by the bitter taste of the wood, and in others, for instance the box, by itshardness. It is also said that the fir will not decay in water if about the timeof budding and at the lunar period we stated it is stripped of its bark. Thecompanions of Alexander the Great stated that on the island of Tylosin the Red Sea there are trees used for building ships, the timbers of whichhave been found continuing free from rot for two hundred years even though theywere under water. They further reported that the same island contains a shrubgrowing only thick enough for a walking stick, marked with stripes like a tigerskin, heavy and liable to break like glass when it falls on to things of hardersubstance.

LXXXI. We have in our country some timbers liable to split of their ownaccord, and architects consequently recommend that they should be smearedwith dung and then dried, so as to make them proof against the action of theatmosphere. Fir and larch are strong weight-carriers, even when placedhorizontally, and whereas hard oak and olive bend and yield to a weight, thewoods named resist it and are not readily broken, and they fail owing to rotbefore they fail in strength. The palm tree also is strong, for it curves in adifferent way to other trees: all the others curve downward, but the palm curvesin the opposite direction, making an arch. Pine and cypress are thestrongest to resist rot and woodworms. Walnut bends easilyfor this wood alsois used for making beams; when it breaks it gives a warning in advance by acreaking noise, as happened for instance at Antandro, when people in the publicbaths took alarm at the sound and made their escape. Pines, pitch pines andalders are hollowed to form pipes for conveying water, and when buriedunderground will last a number of years; but they age quickly if not coveredover, the resistance they offer being remarkably increased if their outsidesurface also is covered with moisture.

LXXXII. Fir wood is strongest in a vertical position; it is very suitablefor door panels and any kinds of inlaid work desired, whether in the Greek orthe Campanian or the Sicilian style of joinery; under brisk planing it makespretty curly shavings, always twisting in a spiral like the tendrils of a vine;moreover, of all sorts of wood it is most adapted for being glued together, somuch so that it will split at a solid place before it parts at a join.

LXXXIII. Gluing also is important for veneering articles with thinsections of wood or otherwise. For use as veneer a thready veining isapproved of (it is called fennel-pattern grain on account of the resemblance),because in every kind of wood pieces with gaps and twists in them do not takethe glue; some woods cannot be joined by gluing either with wood of the samekind or with other woods, for example hard oak, and in general materials unlikein substance do not hold together, for instance if one tried to join stone andwood. The wood of the service-tree, the hornbeam and the box have a very strongdislike for cornel wood, and so to a smaller degree has lime. All of the woodswe have described as yielding are easily bent for all purposes, and so besidesare mulberry and wild fig; while those which are moderately moist are suitablefor boring and sawing, since dry woods give way beyond the part which you boreor saw, whereas green woods except hard oak and box offer a more obstinateresistance, and fill up the teeth of saws in an ineffective even line; this isthe reason why the teeth are bent each way in turn, so as to get rid of thesawdust.

LXXXIV. Ash is the most compliant wood in work of any kind, and is betterthan hazel for spears, lighter than cornel, and more pliable than service-tree;indeed the Gallic ash even has the suppleness and light weight required forchariots. The elm would rival it were not its weight against it. Beech also iseasily worked, although brittle and soft; also cut in thin layers of veneer itis flexible, and is the only wood suitable for boxes and desks. The holm-oak aswell cuts into extremely thin layers, and also has a not unattractive colour,but it is most reliable for things subjected to friction, for instance the axlesof wheels, for which ash is selected because of its pliancy, as also is holm-oakfor its hardness and elm for both qualities. But wood is also used in smallpieces for the operations of carpentry, and a remarkable fact stated is that themost serviceable holders for augers are made from wild olive, box, holm-oak, elmand ash, and the best mallets from the same woods and larger ones from pine andholm-oak. But with these timbers also seasonable felling is more conducive tostrength than if done prematurely, inasmuch as hinges made of olive, a very hardwood, that have been left too long unmoved in doorways have been known to putout shoots like a growing plant.Catorecommends holly, laurel or elm for making levers, andHyginus hornbeam, holm-oak orTurkey-oak for the hafts of agricultural implements.

The principal woods for cutting into layers and for using as a veneer to coverother kinds of wood are citrus, turpentine-tree, varieties of maple, box,palm, holly, holm-oak, the root of the elder, and poplar. Also the alder, as hasbeen stated, supplies a tuberosity that can be cut into layers, as do the citrusand the maple; no other trees have tuberosities so much valued. The middle partof trees is more variegated, and the nearer the root the smaller and the morewavy are the markings. This first originated the luxury use of trees, coveringup one with another and making an outside skin for a cheaper wood out of a moreexpensive one. In order that one tree might be sold several times over, eventhin layers of wood have been invented. And this was not enough: the horns ofanimals began to be dyed and their tusks cut in slices, and wood to be inlaidand later veneered with ivory. Next came the fancy of ransacking even the seafor material: tortoise-shell was cut up to provide it, and recently, in theprincipate ofNero, it was discovered bymiraculous devices how to cause it to lose its natural appearance by means ofpaints and fetch a higher price by imitating wood. A little time ago luxury hadnot thought wood good enough, but now it actually manufactures wood out oftortoiseshell. By these methods high prices are sought for couches and ordersare given to outdo turpentine wood, make a more costly citrus, and counterfeitmaple.

LXXXV. If one thinks of the remote regions of the world and theimpenetrable forests, it is possible that some trees have an immeasurable spanof life. But of those that the memory of man preserves there still live an oliveplanted by the hand of the elderAfricanuson his estate at Liternum and likewise a myrtle of remarkable size in the sameplaceunderneath them is a grotto in which a snake is said to keep guard over Africanus's shadeand a lotustree in the precinct of Lucina at Rome founded in 375 B.C., a year inwhich no magistrates were elected; how much older the tree itself is uncertain,but at all events there is no doubt that it is older, since it is from the grovein question that the goddess Lucina takes her name. This tree is now about 500years old; still older, though its age is uncertain, is the lotus free calledthe Hair Tree, because the Vestal Virgins' offering of hair is brought to it.

LXXXVI. But there is another lotus tree inthe precincts of Vulcan founded by Romulus from a tithe of his spoils ofvictory, which on the authority ofMasuriusis understood to be of the same age as the city. Its roots spread right acrossthe Municipal Offices as far as the Forum of Caesar. With this there grew acypress of equal age, which about the closing period ofNero's principate fell down and was leftlying.

LXXXVII. But on the Vatican Hill there is a holmoak that is older thanthe city; it has a bronze tablet on it with an inscription written in Etruscancharacters, indicating that even in those days the tree was deemed venerable.The people of Tivoli also date their origin far before the city of Rome; andthey have three holm-oaks still living that date even earlier than their founderTiburnus, the ceremony of whoseinstallation is said to have taken place near them; but tradition relates thathe was the son of Amphiaraus, who diedin battle before Thebes a generation before the Trojan war.

LXXXVIII. Authorities say that there is a plane-tree at Delphi that wasplanted by the hand ofAgamemnon, andalso another at Caphya, a place in Arcadia. There are trees at the present daygrowing on the tomb of Protesilaus on the shore of the Dardanelles opposite thecity of the Trojans, which in every period since the time of Protesilaus, afterthey have grown big enough to command a view of Ilium, wither away and thenrevive again; while the oaks on the tomb of Ilus near the city are said to havebeen planted at the date when the place first began to be called Ilium.

LXXXIX. It is said that at Argos there still survives the olive to whichArgus tethered Io after she had been transformed into a heifer. West of Heracleain Pontus there are altars dedicated to Jupiter under his Greek title ofStratios, where there are two oak trees planted by Hercules. In the same regionthere is a port called Harbour of Amyeus, famous as the place where KingBebryx was killed; his tomb ever sincethe day of his death has been shaded by a laurel tree which they call the MadLaurel, because if a piece plucked from it is taken on board ships, quarrellingbreaks out until it is thrown away. We have mentioned the region of Aulocrene,traversed by the route leading from Apamea into Phrygia; in it travellers areshown the plane-tree from which Marsyas was hanged after losing his match withApollo, and which was selected for the purpose on account of its sizeeven then. Moreover at Delos may be seen a palm tree dating back to the time ofthe same deity, and at Olympia a wild olive from which was made the wreath withwhich Hercules was crowned for the first timeveneration for it is preservedeven now. Also the olive tree produced by Minerva in the competition a isreported still to exist at Athens.

XC. On the other hand pomegranates, the fig and the apple class areextremely short-lived; and among apples those that ripen early are moreshort-lived than those that ripen late and the sweet ones than the sour, and thesame is the case with the sweeter variety among the pomegranates, and likewiseamong vines, and particularly the more fruitful ones.Graecinus states that there have beencases of vines living 600 years. It also appears that trees growing in water diemore quickly. Laurels, apples and pomegranates age rapidly, it is true, but theyput out shoots again from their roots. Consequently the hardiest trees to liveare olives, seeing that it is generally agreed among the authorities that theylast 200 years.

XCI. On a hill named Corne in the territory of Tusculum, near the city,there is a grove named Corne which has been held in reverence from early timesby the district of Latium as sacred to Diana; it consists of a beech coppice thefoliage of which has the appearance of having been trimmed by art. This grovecontains one outstanding tree which in our generation excited the affection ofthe orator Passienus Crispus, who hadtwice been consul and who subsequently became still more distinguished bymarryingAgrippina and becoming thestepfather ofNero;Crispus used regularly not merely to liebeneath the tree and to pour wine over it, but to kiss and embrace it. Close tothis grove is a holm-oak which is also famous, as measuring thirty-four feetround the trunk, and sending out what look like ten separate trees of remarkablesize and forming a wood of itself.

XCII. It is a well-known fact that trees are killed by ivy. Some peoplebelieve that a similar property noxious to trees, though operating moreslowly, is also trees. contained in mistletoefor this plant also is recognisedas by no means among the least remarkable on account of other properties besideits berries. For some varieties of plants cannot grow in the earth, and takeroot in trees, because they have no abode of their own and consequently live inthat of others: instances of this are mistletoe and the plant in Syria called cadytas, which twines itself round not only trees but even brambles, andlikewise in the district about Tempe in Thessaly the plant calledpolypodium,and also thedolichos and theserpyllum.

Also a plant that grows on a wild olive after it has been lopped is calledphaunos, while one that grows on the fuller's teazel is calledhippophaesturn;it has hollow stalks, small leaves and a white root, the juice of which isconsidered very useful for purgatives in epilepsy.

XCIII. There are three kinds of mistletoe. One that grows as a parasiteon the fir and the larch is calledstelis in Euboea and hyphear in Arcadia, andthe name of mistletoe is used for one growing on the oak, hard oak, holm-oak,wild pear, turpentine-tree, and indeed most other trees; and growing in greatabundance on the oak is one which they calldryos hyphear. There is a differencein the case of every tree except the holm-oak and the oak in the smell andpoison of the berry and the disagreeably scented leaf, both the berry and theleaf of the mistletoe being bitter and sticky. The hyphear is more useful thanvetch for fattening cattle; at first it only acts as a purge, but itsubsequently fattens the beasts that have stood the purging process, althoughthey say that those with some internal malady cannot stand it. This method oftreatment is employed for forty days in summer. An additional variety is said tobe found in mistletoe, in that when it grows on deciduous trees it also shedsits leaves itself, but when growing on an evergreen tree it retains its leaves.But universally when mistletoe seed is sown it never sprouts at all, and onlywhen passed in the excrement of birds, particularly the pigeon and the thrush:its nature is such that it will not shoot unless it has been ripened in thestomach of birds. Its height does not exceed eighteen inches, and it isevergreen and always in leaf. The male plant is fertile and the female barren,except that even a fertile plant sometimes does not bear.

XCIV. Mistletoe berries can be used for making bird-lime, if gathered atharvest time while unripe; for if the rainy season has begun, although they getbigger in size they lose in viscosity. They are then dried and when quite drypounded and stored in water, and in about twelve days they turn rottenand thisis the sole case of a thing that becomes attractive by rotting. Then afterhaving been again pounded up they are put in running water and there lose theirskins and become viscous in their inner flesh. This substance after beingkneaded with oil is bird-lime, used for entangling birds' wings by contact withit when one wants to snare them.

XCV. While on this subject we also must not omit the respect shown to this plant by the Gallic provinces. The Druidsthat is what they call their magicianshold nothing more sacred than mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is a hard-oak. Groves of hard-oaks are chosen even for their own sake, and the magicians perform no rites without using the foliage of those trees, so that it may be supposed that it is from this custom that they get their name of Druids, from the Greek word meaning 'oak'; but further, anything growing on oak-trees they think to have been sent down from heaven, and to be a sign that the particular tree has been chosen by God himself. Mistletoe is, however, rather seldom found on a hard-oak, and when it is discovered it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on the sixth day of the moon (which for these tribes constitutes the beginning of the months and the years) and after every thirty years of a new generation, because it is then rising in strength and not one half of its full size. Hailing the moon in a native word that means 'healing all things,' they prepare a ritual sacrifice and banquet beneath a tree and bring up two white bulls, whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak. Then finally they kill the victims, praying to God to render his gift propitious to those on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren, and that it is an antidote for all poisons. So powerful is the superstition in regard to trifling matters that frequently prevails among the races of mankind.

I. WE have now stated the nature of the trees thatgrow of their own accord on land and in the sea; and there remain those whichowe what is more truly described as their formation than their birth to art andto the ingenious devices of mankind. But it is in place first to expresssurprise at the way in which the trees that, under the niggardly system that wehave recorded, were held in common ownership by the wild animals, with man doingbattle with them for the fruit that fell to the ground and also with the birdsfor that which still hung on the tree, have come to command such high prices asarticles of luxurythe most famous instance, in my judgement, being the affairof Lucius Crassus andGnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.Crassus was one of the leading Romanorators; he owned a splendid mansion, but it was considerably surpassed byanother that was also on the Palatine Hill, belonging toQuintus Catulus, the colleague ofGaius Marius in the defeats of theCimbrians; while by far the finest house of that period was by universalagreement the one on the Viminal Hill owned byGaius Aquilius, Knight of Rome, who was even more celebrated for thisproperty than he was for his knowledge of civil law, although nevertheless inthe case of Crassus his mansion wasconsidered a reproach to him.CrassusandDomitius both belonged to familiesof high distinction, and they were colleagues as consuls and afterwards, in 92B.C., as censors: owing to their dissimilarity of character theirtenure of the censorship was filled with quarrels between them. On the occasionreferred to, Gnaeus Domitius, being aman of hasty temper and moreover inflamed by that particularly sour kind ofhatred which springs out of rivalry, gave Crassus a severe rebuke for living on so expensive a scale when holdingthe office of censor, and repeatedly declared that he would give a millionsesterces for his mansion; andCrassus,who always had a ready wit and was good at clever repartees, replied that heaccepted the bid, with the reservation of half a dozen trees.Domitius declined to buy the place evenfor a shilling without the timber. 'Well then,' said Crassus, 'tell me pray, Domitius, am I the one who is setting abad example and who deserves a mark of censure from the very office which I ammyself occupyingI, who live quite unpretentiously in the house that came to meby inheritance, or is it you, who price six trees at a million sesterces?' Thetrees referred to were nettle-trees, with an exuberance of spreading, shadybranches;Caecina Largus, one of thegreat gentlemen of Rome, in our young days used frequently to point them out inthe mansion, of which he was then the owner, and they lastedas we have alreadyalso spoken of the limits of longevity in treesdown to the EmperorNero's conflagration, [AD 64]thanks to careful tendance still verdant and vigorous, had not the emperormentioned hastened the death even of trees. And let nobody suppose thatCrassus's mansion was in other respectsa poor affair, and that it contained nothing beside trees to attract thisprovoking bid from Domitius; on the contrary, he had already erected fordecorative purposes in the court of the mansion six pillars of marble from Mt.Hymettus, which in view of his aedileship he had imported to embellish thestage of the theatreand this although hitherto there were no marble pillars inany public place: of so recent a date is luxurious wealth! And at that date somuch greater distinction was added to mansions by trees that Domitius actually would not keep to theprice suggested by a quarrel without the timber in question being thrown in.

In former generations people even got their surnames from trees: for instanceFrondicius, the soldier who performedsuch remarkable exploits against Hannibal, swimming across the Volturno with ascreen of foliage on his head, and the Licinian family of the Stolonesstolobeing the word for the useless suckers growing on the actual trees, on accountof which the first Stolo received the name from his invention of a process oftrimming vines. In early days trees even were protected by the law, and theTwelve Tables provided that anybody wrongfully felling another man's treesshould be fined 25 asses for each tree. What are we to think? That peopleof old who rated even fruit-trees so highly believed that trees would rise tothe value mentioned above? And in the matter of fruit-trees no less marvellousare many of those in the districts surrounding the city, the produce of which isevery year knocked down to bids of 2000 sesterces per tree, a single treeyielding a larger return than farms used to do in old days. It was on thisaccount that grafting, and the practice of adultery even by trees, was devised,so that not even fruit should grow for the poor. We will now therefore state inwhat manner it chiefly comes about that such a large revenue is derived fromthese trees, going on to set forth the genuine and perfect method ofcultivation, and for that purpose we shall not treat of the commonly knownfacts and those which we observe to be established, but of uncertain anddoubtful points on which practical conduct chiefly goes wrong; as it is not ourplan to give careful attention to superfluities. But first of all we will speakabout matters of climate and soil that concern all kinds of trees in common.

II. Trees are specially fond of a north-east aspect, wind in that quarterrendering their foliage denser and more abundant and their timber stronger. Thisis a point on which most people make a mistake, as the props in a vineyard oughtnot to be placed so as to shelter the stems from wind in that quarter, and thisprecaution should only be taken against a north wind. What is more, exposure tocold at the proper season contributes very greatly to the strength of the trees,and they bud best under those circumstances, as otherwise, if exposed to thecaresses of the winds from the south-west, they languish, and especially when inblossom. In fact if the fall of the blossom is followed immediately by rain, thefruit is entirely ruinedso much so that almonds and pears lose their crop offruit if the weather should be only cloudy or a south-west wind prevail. Rain atthe rising of the Pleiades indeed is extremely unfavourable for the vine and theolive, because that is their fertilizing season; this is the four-day periodthat decides the fate of the olives, this is the critical point when a southwind brings the dirty clouds we spoke of. Also cereals ripen worse on days whenthe wind is in the south-west, though they ripen faster. Cold weather only doesdamage when it comes with northerly winds, or not at the proper seasons; indeedfor a north-east wind to prevail in winter is most beneficial for all crops.But there is an obvious reason for desiring rain in that season, because it isnatural for the trees when exhausted by bearing fruit and also by the loss oftheir leaves to be famished with hunger, and rain is a food for them.Consequently experience inspires the belief that a mild winter, causing thetrees the moment they have finished bearing to conceive, that is to bud, again,this being followed by another exhausting period of blossoming, is an extremelydetrimental thing. Indeed if several years in succession should take thiscourse, even the trees themselves may die, since no one can doubt thepunishment they suffer from putting forth their strength when in a hungrycondition; consequently the poet who told us to pray for finer winters was notframing a litany for the benefit of trees. Nor yet is wet weather over midsummergood for vines. It has indeed been said, thanks to the fertility ofa vivid imagination, that dust in winter makes more abundant harvests;but, quite apart from this, it is the prayer of trees and crops in common thatsnow may he a long time. The reason is not only because snow shuts in andimprisons the earth's breath when it is disappearing by evaporation, and drivesit back into the roots of the vegetation to make strength, but because it alsoaffords a gradual supply of moisture, and this moreover of a pure and extremelylight quality, owing to the fact that rime is the foam of the waters of heaven.Consequently the moisture from snow, not inundating and drenching everything allat once, but shedding drops as from a breast in proportion to the thirst felt,nourishes all vegetation for the very reason that it does not deluge it.In this way the earth also is made to ferment, and is filled with her ownsubstance, not exhausted by seeds sown in her trying to suck her milk, and whenlapse of time has removed her covering she greets the mild hours with a smile.This is the method to make corn crops fatten most abundantlyexcept incountries where the atmosphere is always warm, for instance Egypt: for therethe unvarying temperature and the mere force of habit produce the same effect asmanagement produces elsewhere; and in any place it is of the greatest benefitfor there to be nothing to cause harm. In the greater part of the world, when atthe summons of heaven's indulgence the buds have hurried out too early, if coldweather follows they are shrivelled up. This is why late winters are injurious,even to forest trees as well, which actually suffer worse, because they areweighed down by their own shade, and because remedial measures cannot help them,to clothe the tender plants with wisps of straw not being possible in the caseof forest trees. Consequently rain is favourable first at the period of thewinter storms, and next with the wet weather coming before the budding period;and. a third season is when the trees are forming their fruit, though not at thefirst stage but when the growth has become strong and healthy. Trees that holdback their fruit later and need more prolonged nourishment also receive benefitfrom late rains, for instance the vine, the olive and the pomegranate. Theserains, however, are required in a different manner for each kind of tree, asthey come to maturity at different times; consequently you may see the samestorm of rain causing damage to some trees and benefiting others even in thesame class of trees, as for example among pears, winter varieties require rainon one day and early pears on another, although they all alike need a period ofwintry weather before budding. The same cause that makes a north-west wind morebeneficial than a south-west wind also renders inland regions superior to placeson the coastthe reason being that they are usually coolerand mountaindistricts superior to plains, and rain in the night preferable to rain by day,vegetation getting more enjoyment from the water when the sun does notimmediately make it evaporate.

Connected with this subject is also the theory of the situation for vineyardsand trees what aspect they should face.Virgilcondemned their being planted looking west, but some have preferred that aspectto an easterly position, while most authorities, I notice, approve the south;and I do not think that any hard and fast rule can be laid down on thispointskilled attention must be paid to the nature of the soil, the character ofthe locality and the features of the particular climate. In Africa for vineyardsto face south is bad for the vine and also unhealthy for the grower, because thecountry itself lies under the southern quarter of the sky, and consequently hewho there chooses a westerly or northern aspect for planting will achieve thebest blending of soil with climate. WhenVirgilcondemns a western aspect, there seems no doubt that lie condemns a northernaspect also, although in Italy below the Alps it has generally been experiencedthat no vineyards bear better than those so situated. The wind also forms agreat consideration. In the province of Narbonne and in Liguria and part ofTuscany it is thought to be a mistake to plant vines in a position directlyfacing a west-north-west wind, but at the same time to be a wise arrangement tolet them catch the wind from that quarter sideways, because it moderates theheat of summer in those regions, although it usually blows with such violence asto carry away the roofs of houses. Some people make the question of aspectdepend on the nature of the soil, letting vines planted in dry situations faceeast and north and those in a damp one south. Moreover, they borrow rules fromthe vines themselves, by planting early varieties in cold situations, so thattheir ripening may come before the cold weather, and fruit-trees and vines thatdislike dew, with an eastern aspect, so that the sun may carry off the moistureat once, but those that like dew, facing west or even north, so that they mayenjoy it for a longer time. But the rest, virtually following Nature's system,have recommended that vines and trees should be placed so as to facenorth-east; andDemocritus is of opinionthat the fruit so grown also has more scent. We have dealt inBook Two withpositions facing north-east and the other quarters, and we shall givemore meteorological details in the next Book. In the meantime a clear test ofthe healthiness of the aspect seems to lie in the fact that trees facingsouth are always the first to shed their leaves. A similar influence alsooperates in maritime districts: sea breezes are injurious in some places, whileat the same time in most places they encourage growth; and some plants likehaving a distant view of the sea but are not benefited by being moved nearer toits saline exhalations. A similar principle applies also to rivers and marshes:they shrivel up vegetation by their mists or else they serve to cool excessivelyhot districts. The trees that we have specified like shade and even cold.Consequently the best course is to rely on experiment.

III. It comes next after the heavens to give an account of theearth, a subject no easier to deal with, inasmuch as the same land isnot as a rule suited for trees and for crops, and the black earth of thekind that exists in Campania is not the best soil for vines everywhere, nor is asoil that emits thin clouds of vapour, nor the red earth that many writers havepraised. The chalky soil in the territory of Alba Pompeia and a clay soil arepreferred to all the other kinds for vines, although they are very rich, aquality to which exception is made in the case of that class of plants.Conversely the white sand in the Ticino district, and the black sand found inmany places, and likewise red sand, even when intermingled with rich soil, areunproductive. The signs adduced in judging soil are often misleading. A soil inwhich lofty trees do brilliantly is not invariably favourable except for Thosetrees: for what grows higher than a silver fir? yet what other tree could havelived in the same place? Nor do luxuriant pastures always indicate a rich soil:for what is more famous than the pastures of Germany? but immediately underneatha very thin skin of turf there is sand. And land where plants grow high is notalways damp, any more, I protest, than soil that sticks to the fingers is alwaysricha fact that is proved in the case of clay soils. In point of fact no soilwhen put back into the holes out of which it is dug completely fills them, so asto make it possible to detect a close soil and a loose soil in this manner; andall soil covers iron with rust. Nor can a heavy or a light soil bedetected by a standard of weight, for what can be understood to be the standardweight of earth? Nor is alluvial soil deposited by rivers always to berecommended, seeing that some plants do not flourish in a damp situation; nordoes that much praised alluvial soil prove in experience to be beneficial for along period, except for a willow. One of the signs of a good soil is thethickness of the stalk in corn, which incidentally in the famous Leborine plainin Campania is so large that they use it as a substitute for wood; but thisclass of soil is everywhere hard to work, and owing to this difficulty ofcultivation puts almost a heavier burden on the farmer because of its meritsthan it could possibly inflict by reason of defects. Also the soil designatedglowing-coal earth appears to be improved by marl; and in fact tufa of a pliableconsistency is actually held by the authorities to be a desideratum. For vinesVirgil actually does not disapprove of asoil in which ferns grow; and many plants are improved by being entrusted tosalt land, as they are better protected against damage from creatures breedingin the ground. Hillsides are not denuded of their soil by cultivation if thedigging is done skilfully, and not all level ground gets less than the necessaryamount of sun and air; and some varieties of vine, as we have said, drawnourishment from frosts and clouds. All matters contain some deeply hiddenmysteries, which each person must use his own intelligence to penetrate. What ofthe fact that changes often occur even in things that have been investigated andascertained long ago? In the district of Larisa in Thessaly the emptying of alake has lowered the temperature of the district, and olives which used to growthere before have disappeared, occur before; while on the other hand the city ofAenos, since the river Maritza was brought near to it, has experienced anincrease of warmth a and the district round Philippi altered its climatewhen its land under cultivation was drained. On the other hand on land belongingto Syracuse a farmer who was a newcomer to the district by removing the stonesfrom the soil caused his crops to be ruined by mud, until he carried the stonesback again. In Syria they use a light ploughshare that cuts a narrow furrow,because the subsoil is rock which causes the seeds to be scorched in summer.

Again, immoderate heat and cold have a similareffect in certain places. Thrace owes its fertility in corn to cold, Africa andEgypt to heat. There is one place in the island of Chalcia belonging to Rhodeswhich is so fertile that they reap barley sown at its proper time and aftercarrying it at once sow the field again and reap a second crop of barley withthe other harvest. In the district of Venufrum a gravel soil is found to be mostsuitable for olives, but in Baetica very rich soil. The vines of Pucinum barescorched on rock, whereas those of Caecubum grow in the damp ground of thePontine Marshes. So much variety and diversity obtains in the evidence ofexperience and in soil.Vopiscus Caesarwhen appearing in a case before the Censors spoke of the plains of Rosia as 'thepaps of Italy', where stakes left lying on the ground the day before were hiddenwith grass; but these plains are only valued for pasture. Nevertheless Naturedid not wish that we should be uninstructed, and has caused errors to be fullyadmitted even where she had not given clear information as to the good points;and accordingly we will first speak about soil defects.

A bitter soil is indicated by its black undergrown plants; shrivelled shootsindicate a cold soil, and drooping growths show a damp soil; red earth and dampclay are noted by the eyethey are very difficult to work, and liable to burdenthe rakes or ploughshares with huge clodsalthough what is an obstacle toworking the soil is not also a handicap to its productivity; and similarly theeye can discern the opposite, an ash-coloured soil and a white sand; while abarren soil with its hard surface is easily detected by even a single stroke ofa prong.Cato defines defects of soilbriefly and in his customary style: 'Take care when the soil is rotten not todent it either with a waggon or by driving cattle over it'. What do we inferfrom this designation to have been the thing that so much alarmed him that healmost prohibits even setting foot on it? Let us compare it with rottenness inwood, and we shall find that the faults of soil which he holds in such aversionconsist in being dry, porous, rough, white, full of holes and like pumice-stone.He has said more by one striking word than could be fully recounted by anyquantity of talk. For some soil exists which analysis of its vices shows to benot old in age, a term which conveys no meaning in the case of earth, but old inits own nature, and consequently infertile and powerless for every purpose. Thesame authority gives the view that the best land is that extending in a levelplain from the base of a mountain range in a southerly direction, this being theconformation of the whole of Italy, and that the soil called 'dark' is 'tender';consequently this will be the best land both for working and for the crops.We need only try to see the meaning of this remarkably significant expression'tender', and we shall discover that the term comprises every desideratum.'Tender' soil is soil of moderate richness, a soft and easily worked soil,neither damp nor parched; it is soil that shines behind the ploughshare, likethe field whichHomer, the fountainheadof all genius, has described as represented by a divine artist in a carving ona shield, and he has added the marvellous touch about the furrow showing blackalthough the material used to represent it was gold; it is the soil that whenfreshly turned attracts the rascally birds which accompany the ploughshare andthe tribe of crows which peck the very footprints of the ploughman.

In this place moreover may be quoted a dictum as to luxury that is alsoundoubtedly to the point.Cicero, thatother luminary of learning, says 'Unguents with an earthy taste are better thanthose with the flavour of saffron'he preferred the word 'taste' to 'smell'. Itis certainly the case that a soil which has a taste of perfume will be the bestsoil. And if we need an explanation as to what is the nature of this odour ofthe soil that is desiderated, it is that which often occurs even when the groundis not being turned up, just towards sunset, at the place where the ends ofrainbows have come down to earth, and when the soil has been drenched with rainfollowing a long period of drought. The earth then sends out that divine breathof hers, of quite incomparable sweetness, which she has conceived from the sun.This is the odour which ought to be emitted when the earth is turned up, andwhen found it will deceive no one; and the scent of the soil will be the bestcriterion of its quality. This is the kind of earth usually found in land newlyploughed where an old forest has been felled, earth that is unanimously spokenhighly of. And in the matter of bearing cereals the same earth is understood tobe more fertile the more often cultivation has been suspended and it has lainfallow; but this is not done in the case of vineyards, and consequently thegreater care must be exercised in the selection of their site, so as not tojustify the opinion of those who have formed the view that the land of Italy hasby this time been exhausted. In other kinds of soil, it is true, ease ofcultivation depends also on the weather, and some land cannot be ploughed afterrain, as owing to excessive richness it becomes sticky; but on the other hand inthe African district of Byzacium, that fertile plain which yields an increase ofone hundred and fifty fold, land which in dry weather no bulls can plough, aftera spell of rain we have seen being broken by a plough drawn by a wretched littledonkey and an old woman at the other end of the yoke. The plan of improving onesoil by means of another, as some prescribe, throwing a rich earth on the topof a poor one or a light porous soil on one that is moist and too lush, is aninsane procedure: what can a man possibly hope for who farms land of that sort?

IV. There is another method, discovered by the provinces of Britain andthose of Gaul, the method of feeding the earth by means of itself, and the kindof soil called marl: this is understood to contain a more closely packed qualityof richness and a kind of earthy fatness, and growths corresponding to theglands in the body, in which a kernel of fat solidifies. This also has not beenoverlooked by the Greeksindeed what have they left untested? They give the nameofleucargillum to a white clay that they use on the land at Megara, butonly where the soil is damp and chilly. The other substance brings wealth to theprovinces of Gaul and Britain, and may suitably receive a careful description.

There had previously been two kinds of marl, but recently with the progress ofdiscoveries a larger number have begun to be worked: there is white marl, redmarl, dove-coloured marl, argillaceous marl, tufa marl and sand marl. It has atwofold consistency, rough or greasy, each of which can be detected by its feelin the hand. Its use is correspondingly double, to feed cereals only or to feedpasture-land as well. Tufa marl nourishes grain, and white marl, if it is foundwhere springs rise, has unlimited fertilizing properties, but it is rough tohandle, and if it is scattered in excessive quantities it scorches up the soil.The next kind is the red marl, which is known asacaunumarga, consistingof stone mingled with a thin, sandy earth. The stone is crushed on the landitself, and in the earliest years of its employment the fragments make thecornstalks difficult to cut; however, as it is extremely light it can be carriedfor only half of the cost charged for the other varieties. It is scattered onthe land thinly; it is thought to contain a mixture of salt. With both of thesekinds a single scattering serves for fifty years to fertilize either crops orpasture.

Of the marls that are greasy to the touch the chief one is the white. It hasseveral varieties, the most pungent being the one mentioned above. Anothervariety of white marl is the chalk used for cleaning silver; this isobtained from a considerable depth in the ground, usually from pits made 100feet deep, with a narrow mouth but with the shaft expanding in the interior, asis the practice in mines. This chalk is chiefly used in Britain. Its effectlasts for 80 years, and there is no case of anybody having scattered it on the same land twice in his lifetime. A third kind intermixed with a greasy earth,and it is a more effective, white marl is calledglisomorga; this is fullers'chalk more dressing for pasture than for corn, so that, when a crop of corn hasbeen carried, before the next sowing a very abundant crop of hay can be cut,although while growing corn the land does not produce any other plant. Itseffect lasts 30 years; but if it is scattered too thickly it chokes the soiljust as Segni plaster does. For dove-coloured marl the Gallic provinces have aname in their own language,eglecopaia; it is taken up in blockslike stone, and is split by the action of sun and frost so as to form extremelythin plates. This kind of marl is equally beneficial for corn and grass. Farmersuse sandy marl if no other is available; but they use it on damp soils even ifanother sort is available. The Ubii are the only race known to us who whilecultivating extremely fertile land enrich it by digging up any sort of earthbelow three feet and throwing it on the land in a layer a foot thick; but thebenefit of this top-dressing does not last longer than ten years. The Aedui andthe Pictones have made their arable land extremely fertile by means of chalk,which is indeed also found most useful for olives and vines. But all marl shouldbe thrown on the land after it has been ploughed, in order that its medicinalproperties may be absorbed at once; and it requires a moderate amount of dung,as at first it is too rough and is not diffused into vegetation; otherwisewhatever sort of marl is used it will injure the soil by its novelty, even withdung it does not promote fertility in the first year. It also makes a differencewhat sort of soil the marl is required for, as the dry kind is better for a dampsoil and the greasy kind for a dry soil, while either sort suits land of mediumquality, either chalk-marl or dove-marl.

V. Farmers north of the Po are so fond of employing ash that they preferit to dung, and they burn stable dung, which is the lightest kind, in order toget the ash. Nevertheless they do not use both kinds of manure indifferently inthe same field, and do not use ashes in plantations of shrubs, nor for somekinds of crops, as we shall explain later. Some are of the opinion that dusthelps the growth of grapes, and they sprinkle it on the fruit when it is formingand scatter it on the roots of the vines and the trees. It is certainly the casethat in the Province of Narbonne a wind from west-north-west ripens vintagegrapes, and in that district dust contributes more than sunshine.

VI. There are several varieties of dung, and its actual employmentdates a long way back; as far back asHomeran aged king in the poem is found thus enriching his land with his own hands.The invention of this procedure is traditionally ascribed to King Augeas in Greece, and its introductionin Italy to Hercules, though Italy has immortalizedStercutus son ofFaunus on account of this invention.Marcus Varro gives the first rankto thrushes' droppings from aviaries, which he also extols for fodder of cattleand swine, declaring that no other fodder fattens them more quickly. If ourancestors had such large aviaries that they supplied manure for the fields, itis possible to be hopeful about our own morals! ButColumella puts manure fromdovecots first, and next manure from the poultry-yard, condemning the droppingsof water birds entirely. The rest of the authorities advocate the residue ofhuman banquets as one of the best manures, and some of them place even higherthe residue of men's drink, with hair found in curriers shops soaked in it,while others recommend this liquor by itself, after water has been again mixedwith it and even in larger quantity than when the wine is being drunk; the factbeing that a larger amount of badness has to be overcome in the liquor when tothe original poison of the wine the human factor has been added. These arecontested questions; and they use man even for nourishing soil. Next to thiskind of manure the dung of swine is highly commendedColumella alone condemning it. Othersrecommend the dung of any quadruped that feeds on clover, but some preferpigeons' droppings. Next comes the dung of goats, after that sheep's dung, thencow-dung and last of all that of beasts of burden.

These distinctions were recognized in early days, and at the same time I do notfind modern rules for the use of dung, since in this matter also old times aremore serviceable; and before now in some parts of the provinces there has beenso large and valuable a supply of beasts that the practice has been seen ofpassing dung through a sieve, like flour, the stench and look of it beingtransformed by the action of time into something actually attractive. (It haslately been found that olives particularly thrive on ashes from a limekiln.) To the rules givenVarro adds theemployment of the lightest kind of horse-dung for manuring cornfields, but formeadowland the heavier manure produced by feeding barley to horses, whichproduces an abundant growth of grass. Some people even prefer stable-manure tocow-dung and sheep's droppings to goat's, but they rate asses' dung above allother manures, because asses chew their fodder very slowly; but experience onthe contrary pronounces against each of these. It is however universally agreedthat no manure is more beneficial than a crop of lupiue turned in by the ploughor with forks before the plants form pods, or else bundles of lupine after ithas been cut, dug in round the roots of trees and vines; and in places wherethere are no cattle they believe in using the stubble itself or even bracken formanure.

Cato says: 'You can make manureof stable-litter, lupines, chaff, beanstalks and holm-oak or oak leaves. Pullup the dane-wort and hemlock out of the crop, and the high grass and sedgegrowing round osier beds; use this as litter for sheep, and rotten leaves foroxen.''If a vine is making poor growth, make a bonfire of its shoots and ploughin the ashes therefrom.' He also says: 'Where you are going to sow corn, giveyour sheep a free run on the land.'

VII. Moreover Cato also says that there are certain crops which themselves nourish the land: 'Cornland ismanured by grain, lupine, beans and vetches'; just as on the contrary:'Chick-pea, because it is pulled up by the roots and because it is salt, barley,fenugreek, bitter vetch,these all scorch up a cornland, as do all plants thatare pulled up by the roots. Do not plant stone-fruit in cornland.'Virgilholds the opinion that cornland is also scorched by flax, oats and poppies.

VIII. They recommend making dung-heaps in the open air in a hole in theground made so as to collect moisture, and covering the heaps with straw toprevent their drying up in the sun, after driving a hard-oak stake into theground, which will keep snakes from breeding in the dung. It paysextremely well to throw the manure on the ground when a west wind is blowing andduring a dry moon; most people misunderstand this and think that it should bedone when the west wind is just setting in, and only in February, whereas mostcrops require manuring in other months also. Whatever time is chosen for theoperation, care must be taken to do it when the wind is due west and the moon onthe wane and accompanied by dry weather. Such precautions increase thefertilizing effect of manure to a surprising degree.

IX. Having begun by stating at considerable length the principles ofclimate and soil, we will now describe the trees that are produced by the careand skill of mankind. There are almost as many varieties of these as there areof those that grow wild, so bountifully have we repaid our debt of gratitude toNature; for they are produced either from seed or from root-cuttings or bylayering or tearing off a slip or from a cutting or by grafting in an incisionin the trunk of a tree. As for the story that at Babylon they plant palm-leavesand produce a tree in that way, I am surprised that Trogus believed it. Some trees howevercan be grown by several of the above methods, and some by all of them.

X. And the majority of these methods weretaught us by Nature herself, in particular that of sowing a seed, because when aseed fell from a tree and was received into the earth it came to life again.Indeed there are some trees that are not grown in any other way, for instancechestnuts and walnuts, with the exception, that is, of those intended forfelling; but also some grown in other ways are grown from seed as well, though adifferent kind of seedfor instance vines and apples and pearsas with these apip serves as a seed, and not the actual fruit, as in the case of the treesmentioned above. Also medlars can be grown from seed. All of these trees areslow in coming on, and liable to degenerate so as to have to be restored bygrafting; and sometimes this happens even with chestnuts.

XI. Some trees on the other hand have the property of not degeneratingat all in whatever way they are propagated, for instance cypresses, the palm andlaurelsfor the laurel also can be propagated in a variety of ways. We havestated the various kinds of laurel. Of these the Augusta, the berry laurel andthe laurustinus are propagated in a similar manner: their berries are picked inJanuary, after they have been dried by a spell of north-east wind, and arespread out separately, so as not to ferment by lying in a heap; afterwards somepeople treat them with dung in preparation for sowing and soak them with urine,but others put them in running water in a wicker basket, and stamp on them tillthe skin is washed away, which otherwise is attacked by stagnant moisture anddoes not allow them to bear. They are planted in a freshly dug trench a hand'sbreadth deep, about twenty in a cluster; this is done in March. These laurelscan also be propagated by layering, but the laurel worn in triumphal processionscan only be grown from a cutting. Myrtles of all varieties are grown fromberries in Campania, but at Rome by layering.Democritus tells us that the Taranto myrtle is also grown in another way:the berries are taken, and after being crushed lightly so as not to break thepips are mixed into a paste with water and this is pounded up and smeared on arope, which is then put in the ground; from this, he says, will grow up aremarkably thick hedge, from which slips can be transplanted. They also growbrambles for hedges in the same way, by smearing a rope of rushes withblackberries. In case of scarcity, laurel and myrtle seeds are readyfor transfer at the end of three years.

Among the trees thatare grown from seed,Mago dealselaborately with those of the nut class. He says that the almond should be sownin soft clay soil with a south aspect, but that it also does well in hard warmground, but in a rich or damp soil it dies or does not bear. He recommendschoosing for sowing almonds shaped as much as possible like a sickle, and pickedfrom a young tree, and says they should be soaked for three days in dilutedmanure, or else on the day before sowing in water sweetened with honey; and thatthey should be put in the ground with their point downward and with their sharpedge facing north-east; that they should be sown in groups of three, placed fourinches apart from each other in a triangular formation; and that they should bewatered every ten days, until they begin to swell. Walnuts are sown lying ontheir sides with the join of the shell downward; and pine-cones are planted ingroups of about seven, contained in pots with a hole in the bottom, or else inthe same way as a laurel that is being grown from berries. The citron is grownfrom pips and from layers, and the sorb from seed or from a cutting from theroot or from a slip; but the citron needs a warm situation, whereas the sorbrequires a cool and damp one.

XII. Nature has also taught the art of making nurseries, as fromthe roots of many trees there shoots up a teeming cluster of progeny, andthe mother tree bears offspring destined to be killed by herself, inasmuch asher shadow stifles the disorderly throngas in the case of laurels,pomegranates, planes, cherries and plums; although with a few trees in thisclass, for instance elms and palms, the branches spare the young suckers. Butyoung shoots of this nature are only produced by trees whose roots are led bytheir love of sun and rain to move about on the surface of the ground. All ofthese it is customary not to put in their own ground at once, but first to givethem to a foster-mother and let them grow up in seed-plots, and then changetheir habitation again, this removal having a marvellously civilizing effecteven on wild trees, whether it be the case that, like human beings, trees alsohave a nature that is greedy for novelty and travel, or whether on going awaythey leave their venom behind when the plant is torn up from the root, and likeanimals are tamed by handling.

XLII. Also Nature demonstrated another kind of propagation resembling theprevious one, and suckers torn away from trees continued to live; in thisprocedure the slips are torn away with their haunch as well, and carry off withthem some portion also from their mother's body with its fibrous substance. Thisis a method used in striking pomegranates, hazels, apples, sorbs, medlars, ashplants, figs, and above all vines; but the quince if struck in this waydeteriorates in quality. From the same method a way was discovered of cuttingoff slips and planting these, a plan first adopted with elders, quinces andbrambles, which were planted for the purpose of making a hedge, but later it wasalso introduced as a way of growing trees, for instance poplars, alders, andwillow, which last is even planted with the cutting upside down. Suckers areplanted out at once in the place chosen for them to occupy; however, beforegoing on to other classes of plants it is desirable to speak of the managementof a nursery.

XIV. For, with a view to a nursery it pays to chose soil of the highestquality, since it often comes about that a nurse is more ready to humour youngthings than a mother. Consequently the soil should be dry and sappy, andwell worked with a double mattock so as to be hospitable to the new arrivals,and it should resemble as closely as possible the earth into which they are tobe transplanted; and before all the plot must be cleared of stones, and fencedin well enough to protect it even from the inroads of poultry; and it should beas free from cracks as possible, so that the sun may not penetrate into it andscorch the roots. The seeds should be sown eighteen inches apart, as if theplants touch one another, besides other defects they get worm-eaten; and it paysto hoe them and weed them fairly often, and also to prune the seedlingsthemselves when they branch and accustom them to endure the knife.Cato also recommends erecting hurdlessupported on forked sticks, the height of a man, to catch the sun, and thatchingthese with straw to keep off the cold; and he says that this is the method forrearing pear and apple seeds, and pine cones, and also cypresses, as even theycan be grown from seed. Cypress seed consists of very small grains, some of themscarcely perceptible, and we must not remark on Nature's miracle of producingtrees from so small seed when a grain of wheat or barley is so muchlarger, not to reckon a bean. What resemblance have apple seeds and pear seedsto their source of origin? To think that from these beginnings is born thetimber that contemptuously rebuffs the axe, presses that are not overcome byimmense weights, masts for sails, battering rams for demolishing towers andwalls! Such is the force and such the potency of Nature. But the crowning marvelwill be that there is something that derives its origin from a teardrop, as weshall mention in the proper place.

Well then, in the months that we have specified, the tiny seed-balls aregathered from the female cypressfor the male tree, as we have said, isbarrenand are put to dry in the sun; and they burst open and emit their seed,which has a remarkable attraction for ants, a fact that actually increases themarvel, for the germ of such huge trees to be consumed for the food of such asmall animal! The seed is sown in April, after the earth has been levelled bymeans of rollers or rammers; it is scattered thickly and a layer of earth athumb deep is sprinkled upon it from sieves: it is not strong enough to rise upagainst a greater weight, and it twists back under the ground; on this accountanother method is merely to tread it into the earth. Every three days it isgiven a light watering, after sunset so as to soak in the moisture even,until the plants break out from the earth. They are transplanted after a year,when the seedling is nine inches long, regard being paid to the weather so thatthey may be planted under a bright sky and when there is no wind. And wonderfulto say, on that day and that day only it is dangerous for them if there is thesmallest sprinkle of rain or a breath of wind; whereas for the future the plantsare continually safe and secure, and later on they have a dislike for humidity.Jujube-trees are also grown from seed sown in April. Tuber-apples are bettergrafted on the wild plum, the quince or the buckthorn bush, the last being awild thorn. Any thorn also takes grafts of the sebesten-plum extremely well, andalso takes the sorb-plum satisfactorily.

As for the recommendation to transfer plants from the nursery to some otherplace before they are planted out in the place assigned to them, I consider thatthis causes unnecessary trouble, albeit this process does guarantee the growthof leaves of a larger size.

XV. Elm-seed should be collected about the first of March, before thetree is clothed with foliage, when the seed is beginning to turn yellow. Then itshould be left in the shade to dry for two days, and afterwards thicklysown in ground that has been broken up, and a layer of earth sifted fine in asieve should be sprinkled on it, of the thickness recommended in the case ofcypresses; and if no rain comes to your assistance, it must be watered. A yearafterwards the plants should be removed from the rows of the beds to theelm-grounds and planted at a distance of a foot apart each way. Atinian elms itpays better to plant in autumn, because they are grown from cuttings, having noseed. For a grove in the neighbourhood of the city they should be transplantedwhen they are five years old, or, as some hold, when they have reached a heightof twenty feet. They should be set in what is called a 'nine-square-foot'trench, 3 ft. deep and 3 ft. broad and even larger. When they have been planted,mounds 3 ft. high from the ground level should be heaped round themthe name forthese mounds in Campania is 'little altars'. The spacing must be settledaccording to the nature of the place: in level country it is suitable to plantthe young trees wider apart. It is also proper to plant out poplars and ashesearlier, because they bud more quicklythat is, planting should start on the13th of February: these frees also growing from cuttings. In spacing out treesand plantations and planning vineyards the diagonal arrangement of rows iscommonly adopted and is essential, being not only advantageous in allowing thepassage of air, but also agreeable in appearance, as in whatever direction youlook at the plantation a row of trees stretches out in a straight line. In thecase of poplars the same method of growing them from seed is used as with elms,and also the same method of transplanting them from nurseries or forests.

XVI. It is consequently of the first importance for shoots to betransplanted into similar or better toil, and not moved from warm or earlyripening positions into cold or backward ones, nor yet from the latter to theformer either; and to dig the trenches some time in advanceif possible, longenough before to allow the holes to get covered over with thick turf. Mago advises a year in advance, so as tolet the holes absorb the sunshine and rain, or, if circumstances do not allow ofthis, he recommends making fires in the middle of the holes two months before,and only planting the seedlings in the holes so prepared just after rain hasfallen. He says that in a clay soil or a hard soil the pits should measure 4 ft.6 in. each way, 3 or 4 inches more on sloping sites, and he prescribes theirbeing dug like an oven, narrower at the orifice; in black earth he advises ahole 3 ft. 4 in. deep, in theform of a square of the same dimensions. The authorities agree that the holesought not to be more than 24 ft. deep or 2 ft. wide, but nowhere less than 18in. deep. Because of the fact that in damp pound one gets through to theneighbourhood of water,Cato advisesthat if the place is damp the holes should be a yard wide at the orifice and 16inches wide at the bottom, and 4 ft. deep, and that they should be floored withstones, or, if stones are not available, with stakes of green willow, or, ifthese are also not available, with brushwood, so as to reduce their depth by sixinches. To us, after what has been said as to the nature of trees, it appearsproper to add that those which are fond of the surface of the ground, forinstance the ash and the olive, must be sunk deeper in; these and similar treesshould be sunk four feet down, but for the others a depth of three feet will beenough. And there is no harm in trimming the parts that have become exposed:'Lop clear that root there,' said General Papirius Cursor when to intimidate the chief magistrate of Palestrina heordered the lictor to draw his axe. Some persons recommend putting at thebottom a layer of potsherdsothers prefer round stonesin order to hold in themoisture and also let some through, thinking that flat stones do not act in thesame way and prevent the root from reaching the earth. A middle course betweenthe two opinions would be to pave the bottom with a layer of gravel.

Some people recommend transplanting a tree when it is not less than two yearsold and not more than three, others when it is large enough round to fill theCato's view a is that it ought to bemore than five inches thick. The same authority would not have omitted, if itwere important, to recommend making a mark in the bark on the south side, sothat when trees were transplanted they might be set in the same directions asregards the seasons as those to which they were accustomed, to prevent theirnorth sides from being split if set facing the midday sun and their south sidesfrom being nipped if facing the north wind. Some people also follow the contraryplan in the case of a vine or a fig, replanting them turned the other way round,from the view that this makes them grow thicker foliage and afford bettershelter to their fruit and be less liable to lose it, and that a fig-tree sotreated also becomes strong enough to be climbed. Most people only take care tomake the wound left where the end of a branch has been lopped face south, notbeing aware that this exposes it to cracks caused by excessive heat; I shouldprefer to let a lopped end point somewhat east of south or somewhat west ofsouth. It is equally little known that care should be taken not to let the rootsbecome dry owing to delay in replanting, and not to dig up trees when the windis in the north or in any quarter between north and southeast, or at all eventsnot to leave the roots exposed to the wind in these quarters; such exposurecauses trees to die without the growers knowing the cause.Cato disapproves of wind in any quarterand of rain also during all the time while transplantation is going on. It willbe a good precaution against wind and rain to leave as much as possible of theearth in which the trees have been living clinging to their roots, and to bindthem all round with turf, though for this purposeCato directs conveying thetrees to the fresh place in baskets, no doubt most useful advice; and moreoverbe thinks it satisfactory for the top layer of soil to be put at the bottom ofthe hole. Some writers say that with pomegranates to lay stones at the bottom ofthe hole will prevent the fruit from bursting open on the tree. It is better toplant the roots in a bent position; and it is essential for the tree itself tobe so placed as to be exactly in the middle of the hole. It is said that if afig-tree is planted stuck in a squillthis is a kind of bulbit bears fruit veryquickly, and is not liable to attacks of worm, a defect from which all otherkinds of fruit trees planted in a similar way are exempt. Who can doubt thatgreat care ought to be taken with the fibres of the roots, so that they mayappear to have been taken, not torn, out of the ground? On this account we omitthe remaining rules that are admitted, for instance that the earth round theroots should be rammed tight with a light mallet, whichCato thinks of primaryimportance in this matter, also advising that a wound made on the trunk shouldbe plastered over with dung and bandaged with leaves.

XVII. A part of this topic is the question of the spaces between thetrees. Some people have advised planting pomegranates, myrtles, andlaurels rather close together, only three yards apart, apples a little widerapart, pears still wider, and almonds and figs wider again; although this matterwill best be decided by taking account of the length of the branches and thedimensions of the places concerned, as well as of the shadow of each particulartree, since these too must be considered: even large trees throw only smallshadows when their branches curve round into a circular shape, as in the ease ofapples and pears, whereas cherries and laurels throw exceptionally wide shadows.

XVIII. We turn now to certain special properties of the shade ofdifferent trees. That of walnut is heavy, and even causes headache in man andinjury to anything planted in its vicinity; and that of the pine-tree also killsgrass; but both the pine and the walnut withstand wind, as also their projectingbranches shield them like penthouses. Very heavy raindrops fall from the pineoak and holm-oak, but none at all from the cypress, which throws a very smallcompact shadow around it; and fig-trees give only a light shadow, however muchspread out, and consequently it is not necessary to make it a rule not to plantthem between vines. Elms give a gentle shade which actually promotes the growthof any plants that it falls on, although Atticus holds the view that also the shade of elms is one of the mostoppressive, nor do I doubt that it is so if they are allowed to shoot out intobranches, although I do not think that the shade of the elm does any harm whenthe tree is kept within bounds. The shade of the plane also though dense isagreeable, as we may learn from the evidence of grass, which under no other treecovers the banks more luxuriantly. The poplar with its gaily quiveringleaves gives no shade at all; the shade of the alder is dense but permits thegrowth of plants. The vine gives enough shade for itself, as its quiveringfoliage and constant tossing tempers the sunshine with shadow, while by the samemeans it affords shelter in a heavy shower of rain. Nearly all trees of whichthe leaves have long stalks afford only light shade.

Even this department of knowledge is not to be despised, nor put in the lastclass, inasmuch as to each kind of plant shade is either a nurse or else astepmotherat all events for the shadow of a walnut tree or a stone pine or aspruce or a silver fir to touch any plant whatever is undoubtedly poison.

XIX. The question of raindrops falling from trees can be settled briefly.With all the trees which are so shielded by the spread of their foliage that therainwater does not flow down over the tree itself the drip does cruel injury.Consequently in this enquiry it will make a great deal of difference over whatspace the soil in which we are going to plant causes the various trees to grow.In the first place, hillsides in themselves require smaller intervals betweenthe trees. In places exposed to the wind, it pays to plant trees closertogether, but nevertheless to give the olive very wide spacing,Cato's opinions for Italy being thatolives should be planted 25 or at most 30 feet apart; but this varies with thenature of the sites. The olive is the largest of all the trees in Andalusia; inAfrica, however, so it is statedthe guarantee for this statement will restwith the authorities who make itthere are a number of trees called'thousand-pounders', from the weight of oil that they produce in a year's crop.ConsequentlyMago has prescribed a spaceof 75 feet all round, or in thin, hard soil exposed to the wind, 45 feet atleast. Andalusia however reaps most abundant crops of corn grown between theolives. It will be agreed that it shows shameful ignorance to thin full-growntrees more than a proper amount and hasten them into old age, or to cut themdown altogether, by doing which the persons who planted them frequently manifesttheir own incompetence. Nothing is more disgraceful for farmers than to do athing and then have to be sorry for it, so that in fact it pays much better toerr by leaving too much space between some trees are by nature slow growers, andin particular those that only grow from seed and that live a long time.Those on the other hand that are short-lived, for instance the fig, pomegranate,plum, apple, pear, myrtle and willow, grow quickly, and nevertheless they leadthe way in producing their riches, for they begin to bear at three years old,making some show even before. Among these the pear is the slowest of all tobear, and the cypirus and the false cypirus bush the quickest, for this groupflowers straight away and goes on to produce its seed. But all trees mature morequickly if the suckers are removed and the nourishing juices brought back into asingle stem.

XXI. Nature has likewise also taught the art of reproducing from layers.Brambles curving over with their slender and also excessively long shoots planttheir ends in the earth again and sprout afresh out of themselves, in a mannerthat would fill up the whole place if resistance were not offered bycultivation, so that it would be positively possible to imagine that mankind wascreated for the service of the earth. Thus a most evil and execrablecircumstance has nevertheless taught the use of the layer and the quickset.Ivies also have the same property. Beside the vine,Cato gives instructions for layering thefig, olive, pomegranate, all kinds of apples, laurels, plums, myrtle, filbertsand Palestrina nuts, and the plane.

There are two kinds of layer. A branch is bent down from the tree into a holemeasuring four feet each way, and after two years is cut off at the bend, andthree years later the growth is transplanted to another place; if it is desiredto carry layers so struck a considerable distance, it is most suitable to plantthem at once in baskets or earthenware pots, so that they may be carriedto the fresh site in these. The other method is more elaborate; it is effectedby inducing roots to grow on the tree itself by passing branches throughearthenware pots or baskets and packing them round with earth, and so enticingroots to grow right among the fruit and at the ends of the branchesasbranch-ends to form roots in this way are obtained at the top of the tree, bythe daring device of creating another tree a long way off the groundand afterthe same interval of two years as in the previous method cutting off the layerand planting it together with the basket. Savine is grown from a layer and alsofrom a slip; it is said that wine-lees or crushed brick from walls make it growmarvellously; and rosemary is reproduced by the same methods and also from abranch, since neither savine nor rosemary has a seed; the rhododendron is grownboth by layering and from seed.

XXII. Nature has also taught the method of grafting by means of seed; aseed that has been hurriedly swallowed whole by a hungry bird and has becomesodden by the warmth of its belly is deposited together with a fertilizingmanure of dung in a soft bed in the fork of a tree, or else, as often happens,is carried by the wind into some crevice or other in the bark; a result of thiswe have seen a cherry tree growing on a willow, a plane on a laurel, a laurel ona cherry, and berries of different colours growing together. lit is alsoreported that the same thing may be caused by a jackdaw when it hides seeds inthe holes that are its storehouses.

XXIII. From this has been derived the process of inoculation, consistingin opening an eye in a tree by cutting away the bark with a tool resembling ashoemaker's punch and enclosing in it a seed that has been removed from anothertree by means of the same tool. This was the method of inoculation used in olddays in the case of figs and apples; but the method described byVirgil is to find a recess in a knot ofbark burst open by a shoot and to enclose in this a bud obtained from anothertree.

XXIV. And so far Nature has herself been our instructor; butgrafting was taught us by Chance, another tutor and one who gives us perhapsmore frequent lessons, and this was how he did it: a careful farmer, making afence round his house to protect it, put under the posts a base made ofivy-wood, so as to prevent them from rotting; but the posts when nipped by thebite of the still living ivy created life of their own from another's vitality,and it was found that the trunk of a tree was serving instead of earth.Continuing, the surface of the wood is levelled off with a saw and the trunksmoothed with a pruning-knife. Afterwards there is a twofold method ofprocedure; and the first method consists of inserting the graft between the barkand the wood, as people in former days were afraid of making a cleft in thetrunk; although subsequently they ventured to bore right into the middle andadopted the plan of forcing the graft into the pith itself inside it, insertingonly one graft as the pith would not take more. But subsequently a moreelaborate method is for as many as six grafts to be added to reinforce theirliability to die and their number, a cleft being carefully made through themiddle of the trunk and being kept open by means of a thin wedge until thegraft, the end of which has been pared into a point, goes right down into thecrack.

In this process a great many precautions have to be observed. First of all wemust notice what kind of tree will stand grafting of this nature, and what treeit will take a graft from. Also the sap is variously distributed, and does notlie under the bark in the same parts with all trees: in vines and figs themiddle is drier, and generation starts from the top, shoots for grafting beingconsequently taken from the top of the tree, whereas in olives the sap is roundthe middle and grafts are also taken from there, the tops being parched up.Grafts and trunk grow together most easily when they have the same kind of barkand when they flower at the same time, so that they have the affinity of thesame season and a partnership of juices; whereas it is a slow business whenthere is incompatibility between dry tissues and damp ones, and between hard andsoft barks. The other points to be observed are not to make the cleft at a knot,as the inhospitable hardness repudiates a newcomer; to make it at the shiniestplace; not to make it much more than three inches long, nor on a slant, nor soas to be transparent.Virgil says that grafts must not be taken from the top, and it is certain that theslips should be obtained from the shoulders of the tree that look north-east,and from trees that are good bearers and from a young shoot, unless the tree onwhich they are to be grafted is an old one, as in that case the slip must bestouter. A further point is that slips that are going to be grafted must bepregnant, that is, swelling with bud-formations, and in expectation of givingbirth in that year, and they must be at all events two years old, and notthinner than the little finger. But grafts are also inserted the other way rounda when the intention is for them not to grow so long but to spread out. Beforeall things it will be serviceable for them to have buds and to be glossy, asnothing shabby or shrivelled anywhere will gratify one's hopes. The pith of theslip grafted should be put touching the place in the mother tree where the woodand the bark meet, for that is more satisfactory than to place it level with thebark outside. The process of giving a point to the slip for grafting must notstrip the pith quite bare, but only make it visible through a narrow aperture;the point must slope off in an even wedge not more than three inches long, whichis most easily achieved by dipping the slip in water when paring it. It must notbe exposed to wind while it is being pointed. The bark must not be allowed tobecome separated from the wood in either the graft or the trunk. The graft mustbe pressed right down to where its bark begins, but it must not be forced out ofshape while it is being pressed home, nor have its bark folded back inwrinkles. Consequently shoots dripping with sap should not be used for grafting,no more, I swear, than ones that are dry, because in the former case excess ofmoisture causes the bark to slip, while in the latter owing to defectivevitality it makes no moisture and does not incorporate with the trunk. Moreoverthere is a religious rule that a graft must be inserted while the moon iswaxing; and that both hands must be used in pressing it home; and apart fromthat, to use both hands at once in this job requires less effort, as it involvescombining their forces. Grafts pressed in too forcibly are slower in bearing butlast more stoutly, while the contrary procedure has the opposite results. Thecrack must not gape too wide and afford a loose hold, nor yet not wide enough,so as to squeeze the graft out or to kill it by pressure; special care must betaken to avoid the latter in the trunk of a tree that takes the graft with anexcessively powerful hold. In order that a cleft may be left in the middle, somepeople make a line of cleavage in the trunk with a pruning-hook and bandage theactual edge of the incision with a withe, and afterwards force it apart with awedge, the bandage keeping it from gaping open too freely. Some slips aregrafted on plants in a seed-plot and then are transplanted on the same day. If arather thick stock is used for grafting, it is better to insert it between thebark and the wood, after using a wedge, preferably of bone, to loosen the bark,so as not to break it. Cherry-trees have their inner rind removed before theincision is made. They are the only trees that are grafted even after midwinter.After the bark has been removed they have a layer of a sort of down, and if thisgets a hold on the graft it makes it decay. The most effective way of tighteningthe bandage is by driving a wedge into it; it suits best to insert it as closeto the ground as the formation of the tree and the knots allows. Grafts oughtnot to project to a length of more than six inches.

Cato a recommends making a mixture ofpounded white clay or chalk and cow-dung and so working it to a stickyconsistency, and putting this into the fissure and smearing it round it. Fromhis remarks on the subject it is easily seen that at that period they used toinsert the graft between the wood and the bark and not otherwise, nor used theyto put the slips more than two inches in. He advises grafting pear and applesduring the spring and fifty days after midsummer and after the vintage, butolives and figs only in the spring and when a cloudless moon is shining, andmoreover in the afternoon and not if there is a south wind blowing. It isremarkable that he is not content to have safeguarded the graft in the mannerdescribed, and to have protected it against rain and frost by means of turf andsoft bundles of split osiers, but he says it must be covered with a layer ofbugloisa species of plantas well, and that this should be tied on with a layerof straw; whereas nowadays they think it is very adequately packed with awrapping of mud and chaff, the graft projecting two inches from the bark.

Those who do their grafting in spring are pressed for time, as the buds are justshooting, except in the case of the olive, the eyes of which are pregnant for avery long time, and it has a very small amount of sap under the bark, which whentoo abundant is injurious to the grafts. But with pomegranates and the fig andother trees of a dry nature it is far from beneficial to put off graftingtill a late season. A pear-tree however may be grafted when actually in blossom,and the process may be carried forward even into May. If however cuttings offruit trees have to be brought from a considerable distance, it is believed thatthey best preserve their sap if they are inserted in a turnip, and it is best tostore them near a stream or a pond, packed between two hollow tiles blocked upat each end with earth; but it is thought that vine-cuttings are best stored indry ditches, under a covering of straw, with earth then piled over them so as tolet their tops protrude.

XXV.Cato has three ways ofgrafting a vine: he advises cutting the stock short and splitting itthrough the pith, and then inserting into it the shoots after sharpening them atthe end in the manner stated above, and making the cambium of the two meet; thesecond method is, in case the vines are contiguous with one another, to paredown on a slant the side of each that faces the other and to tie them togetherwith the cambiums joined; and the third is to bore a slanting hole in the vinedown to the pith and insert slips a couple of feet long, and to tie the graft inthat position and cover it up with a plaster of pounded earth, with the shootsupright. Our generation has improved on this method, so as to employ a Gallicauger which makes a hole in the tree without scorching it, because all scorchingweakens it, and to select a slip that is beginning to bud, and not to let itprotrude from the stock by more than two eyes, ... of an elm ... tied onwith a withe put two round ... on two sides with a knife, so that the slimewhich is the greatest enemy of vines may chiefly exude through them, and thenwhen the whips have made two feet of growth, to cut the tie of the graft,allowing its growth to make thickness. They have fixed the time for graftingvines from the autumn equinox till the beginning of budding. Cultivated plantsare grafted on roots of wild ones, which are of a closer texture, whereas ifslips of cultivated plants arc grafted on the trunks of wild ones theydegenerate to the wild variety. The rest depends on the weather: dry weather ismost favourable for grafts, because a remedy for its ill effects is to placeearthenware pots of ashes on the stock and let a small amount of water filterthrough the ashes; but grafting by inoculation likes a light fall of dew.

XXVI. Scutcheon grafting may itself also be thought to have sprung fromgrafting by inoculation, but it is most suited to a thick bark, such as that offig-trees. The procedure is to prune all the branches so that they may notattract the sap, and then, at the most flourishing part of the tree and where itdisplays exceptional luxuriance, to remove a scutcheon, without allowing theknife to penetrate below the bark; and then to take a piece of bark of equalsize from another tree, together with a protuberant bud, and press it into the place, fitting the join so closely that there is no room for a scar to form and a single substance is produced straight away, impervious to damp and to airthough all the same it is better to protect the splice by plastering it withmud and tying it with a bandage. People in favour of modem fashions make outthat this kind of grafting was only recently invented, but it is found alreadyin the old Greek writers and inCato,who prescribed this method of grafting for the olive and the fig, in conformitywith his invariable precision actually defining the proper measurement: he saysthat a piece of bark four inches long and three wide should be cut out with aknife, and so fitted to its place and smeared with that pounded mixture of hisdescribed above, in the same way as in grafting an apple. In the case ofvines some people have combined with this kind of grafting the fissure method,removing a little square of bark on the side and then forcing in the shoot. Wehave seen beside the Falls of Tivoli a tree that has been grafted in all theseways and was laden with fruit of every kind, nuts on one branch, berrieson another, while in other places hung grapes, pears, figs, pomegranates andvarious sorts of apples; but the tree did not live long. And nevertheless it isimpossible for us by our experiments to attain to all the things found inNature, as some cannot possibly come into existence except spontaneously, andthese only occur in wild and uninhabited places. The tree most receptive ofevery kind of graft is believed to be the plane, and next to it the hard-oak,but both of these spoil the flavours of the fruit. Some trees, for instance thefig and the pomegranate, can be grafted in all the different methods, but thevine does not admit scutcheons, nor do trees that have a thin bark or one thatpeels off and cracks; nor do trees which are dry or contain only a little sapadmit of inoculation. Inoculation is the most prolific of all methods ofgrafting, and grafting by scutcheon comes next, but both are very subject todisplacement; and a graft that relies on the support of the bark only is veryspeedily dislodged by even a light breeze. Grafting by insertion is thefirmest, and produces more fruit than a tree grown from planting.

We must not omit one extremely exceptional case.In the territory of Naples a Knight of Rome namedCorellius, a native of Este, grafted achestnut with a slip cut from the tree itself, and this is how the celebratedvariety of chestnut tree named after him was produced. Subsequently his freedmanTereus grafted aCorellius chestnut again. The differencebetween the two varieties is this: the former is more prolific but the latter,the Tereus chestnut, of better quality.

XXVII. It is mere accident that by its own ingenuity has devised theremaining kinds of reproduction; it taught us to break off branches from treesand plant them because stakes driven into the earth had taken root. This methodis used to grow many frees, especially the fig, which can be grown in all theother ways except from a cutting; the best plan indeed is to take acomparatively large branch and point it at the end like a stake and drive itdeep into the earth, leaving a small head above ground and covering up even thiswith sand. Pomegranates also are grown from a branch, the passage into the holehaving first been widened with stakes; and so also the myrtle; in all of these abranch is used that is three feet long and not so thick as a man s arm, and thebark is carefully preserved and the trunk sharpened to a point at theend.

XXVIII. The myrtle is grown from cuttings as well as in other ways, andthat is the only way used for the mulberry, because superstitious fearof lightning forbids its being grafted on an elm. Consequently we must nowspeak about the planting of cuttings. In this care must be taken above all thatthe cuttings are made from trees that bear well, that they are not bent in shapenor scabbed or forked, that they are thick enough to fill the hand and not lessthan a foot long, that they are planted without injury to the bark and alwayswith the cut end and the part that was nearest the root downward, and during theprocess of budding the plant is kept heaped over with earth until it attainsstrength.

XXIX. We shall best convey inCato'sown words the rules that he judged necessary to keep in looking after olives:'Make the olive slips that you are going to plant in the hole a yard long, andhandle them carefully so as not to damage the bark when cutting or trimmingthem. Make those you are going to plant in the nursery a foot long. Plant themthus: the place must be first dug over with a mattock and have the soil wellloosened; when you put the slip in, press down the slip with your foot; if itdoes not go down far enough, drive it in with a mallet or a beetle, and becareful not to break the bark while you are driving it in. Do not make a holebeforehand with a dibble into which to put the slip: if you do not, it will livebetter. The slips do not mature till three years old, when the bark will turn.If you plant them in holes or in furrows, put them in groups of three and keepthese apart. Cheek just by the eye that they do not project more than fourfingers' breadth above the earth.In taking up an olive tree you should usegreat care and carry the roots with as much earth as possible; when you havewell covered up the roots, tread them down well, so that nothing may injurethem. If anyone asks what is the time for planting an olive, the answer is,where there is a dry soil, at seed-time, but where it is rich, in the spring.

XXX. Begin to prune an olive-yard a fortnight before the spring equinox;the six weeks from then onward will be the right time for pruning. Prune it inthis way: in a really fertile place, remove all the parts that are dry and anybranches broken by the wind; in a place that is not fertile, trim away more andreduce well and disentangle out and make the stocks smooth.In the autumn seasonturn up the earth round the olive-trees and add dung.The man who stirs over hisolive-yard most often and deepest, will plough up the thinnest roots. If beploughs badly, the roots will spread out on the top of the ground and willbecome thicker, and the strength of the olive-trees will go away into them.

We have already stated, in treating of olive-oil, what kinds of olive treesCato tells us to plant and in what kindof soil, and what aspect he advises for olive-yards.Mago recommends that on sloping groundand in dry positions and in a clay soil they should be planted between autumnand the middle of winter, but in heavy or damp or watery soil between harvestand the middle of winterthough it must be understood that he gave this advicefor Africa. Italy at any rate, at the present time, does its planting chiefly inspring, but if one chooses to plant in autumn as well, there are only four daysof the forty between the equinox and the setting of the Pleiades on which itinjures olives to be planted. It is peculiar to Africa that it grafts them on awild olive, in a soft of everlasting sequence, as when they begin to get old theshoot next for engrafting is put in and so another young tree grows out of thesame one and the process is repeated as often as is necessary, so that the sameolive-yards go on for generations. The wild olive however is propagated both bygrafting and by inoculation.

It is bad to plant an olive where an oak-tree has been dug up, because the wormscalledraucae breed in oak roots and go over to olives. It has beenascertained to pay better not to bury the cuttings in the ground or to dry thembefore they are planted. It has been found better for an old olive-yard to beraked over every other year between the spring equinox and the rising of thePleiades, and also to have the moss scraped off the trees, but for them to bedug round every year just after midsummer with a hole a yard across and a footdeep, and to be manured with dung every third year.

Mago also tells us to plant almondsbetween the rising of Arcturus and the shortest day, and not to plant all kindsof pears at the same time, as they do not blossom at the same time either; hesays that those with oblong or round fruit should be planted between the settingof the Pleiades and the shortest day, but the remaining kinds in midwinter afterthe setting of the Arrow, with an eastern or northerly aspect; and a laurelbetween the setting of the Eagle and the setting of the Arrow. For the rule asto the time for planting and that for grafting are connected: the authoritieshave decided that for the greater part grafting should be done in spring andautumn, but there is also another suitable season, about the rising of the Dog-star, known to fewer people because it is understood not to be equallyadvantageous for all localities, but as we are enquiring into the proper methodnot for a particular region but for the whole of nature we must not omit it. Inthe district of Cyrene they plant when the yearly winds are blowing, as theyalso do in Greece, and particularly the olive in Laconia. The island of Cos alsoplants vines at that season, but the rest of the farmers in Greece, though theydo not hesitate to inoculate and to graft trees at that season, do not planttrees then. And the natural qualities of the localities carry very great weightin this matter; for in Egypt they plant in every month, and so in every countrythat has a summer rainfall, but in India and Ethiopia trees are necessarilyplanted later, in autumn. Consequently there are three regular periods forgermination, spring and the rise of the Dog-star and that of Arcturus. For infact not only do animals possess a strong appetite for copulation, but the earthand all vegetable growths have a much greater desire, the indulgence of which atthe proper season is of the greatest importance for conception, and peculiarlyso in the case of grafts, as both graft and stock share a mutual eagerness tounite. Those who approve of spring for grafting begin it immediately after theequinox, stating that the buds are just coming out, which facilitates thejoining of the barks; but those who prefer autumn begin at the rising ofArcturus, because the grafts at once so to speak take root and are prepared whenthey reach springtime, and do not have their strength taken away immediately bybudding. Some kinds of trees however have a fixed time of year everywhere, forinstance cherries and almonds, which have to be planted or grafted aboutmidwinter; but as to the greater number of trees the lie of the land will makethe best decision, as cold and damp lands must be planted in spring, but dry andwarm sites in autumn. The system general in Italy at all events assigns thetimes for planting in the following manner: for a mulberry from February 13 tothe spring equinox; for a pear the autumn, provided it is not less than afortnight before the shortest day; for summer apples and quinces, and also sorbsand plums, from midwinter to February 13; for the Greek carob and for peaches,right through autumn till midwinter; for the nuts, walnut and pine-cone andfilbert and almond and chestnut, from March 1 to March 15; for the willow andbroom about March 1. The broom is grown from seed in dry places and the willowfrom a slip in damp localities, as we have stated.

There is moreover a new method of graftingso that I may not wittingly pass overanything that I have anywhere discovereddevised byColumella, as he himself states, for thepurpose of effecting a union even between trees of different natures and noteasily combined, for example figs and olives. He gives instructions to plant afig-tree near to an olive, with not too wide a space between for the fig at fullspread to touch a branch of the olive, the most supple and pliant branchpossible being chosen, and all the time during the process it must be trained bypractice in curving; and afterwards, when the fig has gained full strength,which he says is a matter of three or at most five years, the top of itis cut off and the branch of the olive is itself also pruned and with its headshaved to a point in the way that has been stated is inserted in the shank ofthe fig, after having been secured with ties to prevent its escaping because ofthe bend in it. In this way, he says, by a sort of combination of layering andgrafting, in three years the branch shared between the two mother trees growstogether, and in the fourth year it is cut away and belongs entirely to the treethat has adopted it; this method however is not yet generally known, or at allevents I have not yet obtained a complete account of it.

XXXI. For the rest, the same account that has been given aboveabout warm and cold and damp and dry substances has also demonstrated themethod of trenching. In watery soils it will be suitable to make trenchesneither broad nor deep, but the contrary in warm and dry ground, so that theymay receive and retain water as much as possible. This is the method used incultivating old trees as well, as in very warm localities growers heap earthover the roots in summer and cover them up, to prevent the heat of the sun fromparching them. In other places they turn up the earth round them and give accessto the air, but also in winter pile up earth to protect them from frost; whereasgrowers in hot climates open up the roots in winter and try to obtain moisturefor the thirsty trees. Everywhere the rule is to dig a circular trench threefeet in circumference round the tree, though this is not done in meadowlandbecause the roots, owing to their love of sun and moisture, wander about on thesurface of the groundAnd let these be our general observations in regard toplanting and grafting trees for fruit.

XXXII. It remains to give an account of those which are grown as supportsfor other trees, particularly for vines, and which are felled for timber. Amongthese the first place is taken by willows, which arc planted in a damp place,but in a hole dug two and a half feet deep, a truncheon or rod 18 incheslong being used, the stouter the more serviceable. They should be set six feetapart. When three years old they are lopped off two feet from the ground to makethem spread out wide and to enable them to be cut back without using ladders;for the willow is the more productive the nearer it is to the ground. It isadvised that these frees also should be dug round every year, in April. This isthe mode of cultivating the osier willow. The stake willow is grown both from arod and from a truncheon, in a hole of the same depth. It is proper to cutrods from it in about three years; but these also fill up the place of treesthat are growing old, by means of a layered new growth cut off after a year. Asingle acre of osier-willow will supply enough for 25 acres of vineyard. Thewhite poplar is also grown for the same purpose, the hole being two feet deepand the cutting eighteen inches long and left two days to dry; the truncheons are planted one foot nine inches apart and a layer of earth a yard deep is thrownon the top of them.

XXXIII. The reed likes an even moister soil than osiers do. It is planted by putting the bulb of the root, which others call the 'eye' in a hole nine inches deep, two feet six inches apart; and it renews itselfof its own accord when an old reed-bed has been rooted up, a method that hasbeen found to pay better than thinning out, as used to be done previously,because the roots get twisted up together and are hilled by their mutualinroads. The time to plant is before the eyes of the reeds swell up, which isbefore the first of March. It goes on growing till midwinter, and stops when itis beginning to get hard, which is the indication that it is ready for cutting;though it is thought that the reed also requires digging round as often as thevine does. It is also planted in a horizontal position, not buried deep in theground, and as many shoots spring up as there are eyes. It is also grown bybeing planted out in a hole a foot deep, with two eyes buried so that the thirdknot is just touching the earth, and with the head bent down so as not to holdthe dew. It is cut when the moon is on the wane. For propping vines a reeddried in smoke is more serviceable than one still green.

XXXIV. The chestnut-tree is preferred to all other props because of theease with which it is worked its obstinate durability, and because when cut itnuts again even more abundantly than the willow. It asks for a light yet notsandy soil, and especially a damp gravel or glowing-coal earth or even a powdery tufa, and it will grow in a site however shady, and facing north and extremelycold, or even in one on a slope; but at the same time it refuses dry gravel, redearth, chalk, and all rich fertile soils. We have said that it is grown from thenut, but it will only grow from very large ones, and only when they are plantedfive in a heap together. The soil underneath must be kept broken up fromNovember to February, when the nuts detach themselves and fall from the tree andsprout in the ground underneath it. They should be planted in a hole measuringnine inches each way, with spaces of a foot between them. After two years theyare transferred from this seed-plot to another and replanted two feet apart.People also grow them from a layer, which indeed is easier in their case thanwith any other tree: for the root is bared and the layer laid in the trench atfull length, and then it throws out a new shoot from the top left above theearth and another from the root. When transplanted however it does not know howto make itself at home and dreads the novelty for almost two years, butafterwards it puts out shoots. Consequently plantations felled for timber arereplenished by sowing nuts rather than by planting quicksets. The mode ofcultivation is not different from that used for the trees a mentioned above: itis by loosening the soil and pruning the lower part for the next two years. Forthe rest the tree looks after itself, as its shadow kills off superfluoussuckers. It is lopped before the end of the sixth year. The props provided byone acre are enough for twenty acres of vines, as they even grow forked in twofrom the root, and they last till after the next lopping of the plantation theycome from.

The sessile-fruited oak is grown in a similar way, though later by threeyears in lopping, and less difficult to propagate in whatever soil it is sown;this is done in spring, with an acorn (but only a sessile-oak is grown from one)in a hole nine inches deep, with two foot spaces between the plants; the groundis lightly hoed four times a year. A sessile-oak grown as a prop is least liableto rot, and it makes new shoots when lopped most of any timber. Timber trees inaddition to those we have mentioned are the ash, laurel, peach, hazel, apple,but these shoot more slowly and when fixed in the ground scarcely stand theaction of the soil, not to mention the damp. The elder, on the contrary, whichis very strong timber for a stake, is grown from cuttings like the poplar. Aboutthe cypress we have already said enough.

XXXV. And now that a preliminary account has been given of what may becalled the rigging that supports the vines, it remains to give a particularlycareful description of the nature of the vines themselves.

The shoots of the vine, and of certain other trees that have a somewhat spongyinner substance, have stalks with knotted joints that make divisions across thepith. The actual lengths of cane are short, and get shorter towards the top, andthey close up their pieces between the knots with joints at each end. The pith,or what is really the life-giving soul of the tree, stretches forward filling upthe length in front of it, so long as the knots are open, with a tube thatallows a passage; but when they have become solidified and prevent passage, thepith is thrown back and bursts out at its lowest part close to the previous knotwith a series of alternate lateral forks, as has been stated in the case of thereed and of the giant fennel; with these the swelling from the bottomknot can be observed on the right and that at the next one on the left, and soon alternately. In the case of a vine, when this swelling makes a knob at theknot it is called a `germ', but before it makes a knob, in the hollow part it iscalled an 'eye' and at the actual top a 'germ'. This is the way in which themain shoots, side-shoots, grapes, leaves and tendrils are formed; and it is aremarkable fact that those growing on the right-hand side are the stronger.

Consequently when these slips are planted it is necessary to cut the knots inthem across the middle, without letting the pith run out. And in the case of afig nine-inch slips are planted in holes made in the ground with pegs, in such away as to have the parts that were nearest to the tree sunk into the earth andtwo eyes projecting above the surface (the term 'eyes' in slips of treesproperly denotes the points from which they send out shoots). It is because ofthis that even when bedded out the slips occasionally produce in the same yearthe fruit they were going to bear on the tree if they have been planted at theproper time when pregnant, and give birth in their other position to the progenythey had begun to conceive. Fig-trees struck in this way are easily transplantedtwo years later, as this tree in compensation for the rapidity with whichit grows old is endowed with the property of coming to maturity very rapidly.

Vines give more numerous kinds of shoots for planting. The first point is thatnone of these are used for planting except useless growths lopped off forbrush-wood, whereas any branch that bore fruit last time is pruned away. It usedto be the custom to plant the shoot with a knob of the hard wood on each side ofit, and this explains why it is still called a 'mallet-shoot'; butafterwards the practice began of pulling it off with its own heel, as is done inthe case of the fig; and there is no kind of slip that grows better. A thirdkind has been added that strikes even quicker, which has the heel removed; theseslips are called 'arrows' when they are twisted before being set out, 'three-budslips' when they are cut off and set without being twisted. By this methodseveral can be obtained from the same shoot. To plant from young leafy shootsis unproductive, and a slip for planting must only be taken from a shoot thathas already borne fruit. A shoot that has few knots in it is deemed unlikely tobear, whereas a crowd of buds is a sign of fertility. Some people say that onlyshoots that have flowered should be planted. It does not pay so well to plantarrow-slips, because anything that is twisted easily gets broken in being moved.Shoots chosen for planting should be not less than a foot long, with five or sixknots; that length of shoot will not possibly have less than three buds. It paysbest to plant them on the same day as they are cut off, or if a considerablepostponement cannot be avoided, to keep them well protected, as we haveinstructed, or at all events to be careful not to lay them down on the surfaceof the earth and let them be dried up by the sun and nipped by wind or frost.Shoots that have been left too long in a dry place should be soaked in water forseveral days to restore their freshness.

The soil whether in a nursery or a vineyard should be exposed to the sun andshould he as soft as possible, and it should be tinned over with a two-prongedfork three feet down, and thrown back with a two-spit spade or mattock to swellnaturally in ridges four feet high, so that each trench goes down two feet; andwhen dug the earth must be cleaned of weeds and spread out, so that no part maybe left uncultivated, and it must be levelled accurately by measurement: unequalridges show that the ground has been badly dug. The part of the ground lyingbetween the banks must also be measured. Shoots are planted either in a hole orin a longer trench, and the finest possible layer of earth is heaped over them,although in a thin soil this is of no use unless a layer of richer soil isspread underneath. The earth should cover up not fewer than two buds and shouldjust touch the third; it must be pressed down to the same level and compactedwith the dibble; in the nursery plot there should be spaces eighteen inchesbroad and six inches longways between every two settings; and the mallet-shootsso planted should after two years be cut back to their bottom knot, if the knotitself is spared. From this point they throw out the substance of eyes, withwhich at the end of three years the quickset is planted.

There is also a luxury method of growing vinesto tie four mallet-shootstogether at the bottom with a tight string and so pass them through the shankbones of an ox or else through earthenware pipes, and then bury them in theearth, leaving two buds protruding. This makes the shoots grow into one, andwhen they have been cut back they throw out a new shoot. Afterwards the pipe isbroken and the root is left free to acquire strength and the vine bears grapeson all its constituent shoots. Under another method recently discovered amallet-shoot is split down the middle and after the pith has been scraped outthe actual lengths of stalk are tied together, every precaution being taken toavoid hurting the buds. The mallet-shoot is then planted in a mixture of earthand dung, and when it begins to throw out stalks, it is cut down and dug roundseveral times.Columella guarantees thata vine so grown will bear grapes with no stones in them, although it isextremely surprising that the planted slips themselves will live after beingdeprived of their pith.

I think I ought not to omit to mention that trees will grow even from slips thathave no joint in them; for instance box-trees come up if planted with five orsix extremely slender slips tied together. It was formerly the practice to breakoff these slips from a box tree that had not been pruned, as it was believedthat otherwise they would not live; but experience has done away with thatnotion.

After the management of the nursery follows the arrangement of the vineyards.These are of five kindswith the branches spreading about on the ground, or withthe vine standing up of its own accord, or else with a stay but without across-bar, or propped with a single cross-bar, or trellised with four bars in arectangle. It will be understood that the same system that belongs to a proppedvine is that of one in which the vine is left to stand by itself without a stay,for this is only done when there is a shortage of props. A vineyard with thesingle cross-bar is arranged in a straight row which is called acanterius;this is better for wine, as the vine so grown does not overshadow itself andis ripened by constant sunshine, and is more exposed to currents of air and sogets rid of dew more quickly, and also is easier for trimming and for harrowingthe soil and all operations; and above all it sheds its blossoms in a morebeneficial manner. The crossbar is macin of a stake or a reed, or else of a ropeof hair or hemp, as in Spain and at Brindisi. More wine is produced by arectangle-frame vineyard (the name is taken from the rectangular openings in theroofs of the courts of houses); this is divided into compartments offour by the same number of cross-bars. The method of growing vines with thisframe will be described, and the same account will hold good in the case ofevery sort of frame, the only difference being that in this case it is morecomplicated.

There are in fact three ways of planting a vine; the best is to use ground thathas been dug over, the next best to plant in a furrow, and the last to plant ina hole. The method of digging over has been described; for a furrow a spade'sbreadth is enough, and for holes the breadth of a yard each way. In each methodthe depth must be a yard, and consequently the vine transplanted must be notless than a yard long, even so allowing two buds to be above the surface. It isessential to soften the earth by making very small furrows at the bottom of thehole and to mix dung with it. Sloping ground requires deeper holes, with theiredges on the lower side banked up as well. Some of these holes will be madelonger, so as to take two vines at opposite ends, and these will be called beds.The root of the vine should be in the middle of the hole, but the slipitself, bedded in firm soil, should be pointing due east, and at first it shouldbe given supports made of reed. Vineyards should be bisected by a main pathrunning east and west, six yards wide so as to allow the passage of carts goingin opposite directions; and they should be intersected by other cross-paths tenfeet wide running through the middle of each acre, or, if the vineyard is aspecially large one, it should have a main cross-path north and south as manyfeet wide as the one east and west, but always be divided up by fifth-rowcross-pathsthat is, so that each square of vines may be enclosed by every stay.Where the soil is heavy it should only be planted after being dug overseveral times, and only quickset should be planted, but in a thin, loose soileven a mallet-shoot may be set in a hole or a furrow. On hillsides it is betterto drive furrows across the slope than to dig up the soil, so that the fallingaway of earth may be held up by the cross-banks formed by the furrows. In rainyconditions or dry soil when the weather is wet mallet-shoots are best planted inautumn, unless the character of the particular area requires otherwise: a dryand hot soil will call for autumn planting, but a damp and cold soil will needit as late as the end of spring. It is no good planting a quickset either in drysoil, nor is it much use to plant a mallet-shoot in dry soils either, exceptafter rain, but in well watered soils a vine may properly be planted even whenit is producing leaves, and right on to midsummer, as is the practice in Spain.It is most advantageous if there is no wind on the day for planting, and thoughmany growers like a south wind,Catodisapproves of this.

The space between every two vines in a soil of medium density should befive feet, and in a rich soil four feet at least, and in a thin soil eight feetat mostgrowers in Umbria and Marsia leave a space of up to twenty feet to allowof ploughing between the rows, in the case of the vineyards for which the localname is `ridged fields'; vines should be planted further apart in a rainy andmisty district but closer together in a dry one. Elaborate economy hasdiscovered a way of saving space, when planting a vineyard on groundthat has been well dug over, by making a nursery-bed at the same time, so thatwhile the quickset is planted in the place it is to occupy, the mallet-shoot isalso planted, so that it may be transplanted between the vines as well asbetween the rows of props; this plan gives about 16,000 quick-sets in an acre ofground, while it makes a difference of two years' fruit, as a planted quicksetbears two years later than a transplanted mallet-shoot.

A quickset placed in a vineyard after two years is cut back right down tothe ground, leaving only one eye above the surface; a stake is fixed close tothe plant, and dung is added. In the following year also it is again lopped in asimilar way, and it acquires and fosters within it sufficient strength to bearthe burden of reproduction. Otherwise in its hurry to bear it would shoot upslim and meagre like a bulrush and unless it were restrained with the pinningdescribed would spend itself entirely on growth. No tree sprouts more eagerlythan the vine, and unless its strength is kept for bearing, it turns entirelyinto growth.

The best props for vine are those of which we have spoken, or else stakes fromhard-oak and olive or if they are not available, props obtained from thejuniper, cypress, laburnum or elder. Staves of all other kinds must becut back every year. For the cross-bar, reeds tied together in bundles are bestfor the growth of the vine, and they last five years. When shorter branches aretied together with brush-wood so as to make a sort of rope, the arcades made ofthem are called rope-trellises.

In its third year a vine sends out a quick-growing strong sprig (which intime becomes a tree); and this leaps up to the cross-bar. Thereupon somegrowers 'blind' it by removing the eyes with a pruning-knife turned upward, withthe object of making it grow longera most damaging practice, as the tree'shabit of putting out shoots is more profitable, and it is better to trim offleafy shoots from the plant tied to the cross-bar to the point where it isdecided to let it make strength. Some people forbid touching it in the yearafter it is transplanted, and do not allow it to be trimmed with a pruning-knifetill after 5 years, but then advise cutting it back to three buds. Others pruneit back even the next year, but so as to let it add three or four new jointsevery year, and finally bring it up to the level of the cross-bar in the fourthyear. Both methods make the tree slow to fruit, and also shrivelled and knotty,with the growth natural to dwarfs. But it is best for the mother to be strongand for the new growth to strike out boldly. Also there is no safety in a shootcovered with scarsthat idea is a great mistake, due to inexperience: any growthof that sort arises from a blow, it is not due to the mother vine. She shouldpossess her full strength while the new shoot is growing sturdy, and she willwelcome her yearly progeny with her whole substance when it is permitted to beborn: Nature engenders nothing piecemeal. When the new growth has become strong enough it will have to be put in position on a cross-bar at once, but if it isstill rather weak it must be pruned back and put in a sheltered positiondirectly under the bar. It is the strength of the stem and not its age thatdecides; it is rash to put a vine under control before it has reached thethickness of one's thumb. In the following year one branch or two according tothe strength of the parent vine should be brought on, and the same shoots mustbe nursed in the following year also if lack of strength makes this necessary,and only in the third year should two more be added; nor should more than fourbranches ever be allowed to growin short no indulgence should be shown, andfertility should always be kept in check. Also Nature is such that she wants toproduce offspring more than she wants to liveall that is subtracted from aplant's wood is added to the fruit; the vine on the contrary prefers its owngrowth to the production of fruit, because fruit is a perishable article; thusit luxuriates ruinously, and does not fill itself out but exhausts itself.

The nature of the soil will also provide advice: in a thin soil, even if thevine possesses strength, it must be pruned back and kept within the cross-bar,so that all its young growth may shoot underneath the bar. The gaps between willhave to be very small, so that the vine may just touch the bar and hope to graspit but not actually do so, and consequently may not recline upon it and spreaditself out luxuriously. This restriction must be so carefully managed that thevine may still want to grow rather than to bear.

The main branch should have two or three buds below the cross-bar from whichwood may be produced, and then it should be stretched out along the bar andtied to it, so as to be held up by it, not to hang down from it, and then afterthe third bud it should be fastened more tightly to it by means of a tie,because that also has the effect of restraining the outgrowth of the wood andcausing a more abundant outburst of shoots short of the tie; but it is forbiddento tie the end of the main branch. The nature of the vine is that the parthanging down or bound with a ligature yields fruit, and most of all the actualcurve of the branch, but that which is short of the ligature makes wood, Isuppose because the vital spirit and the pith mentioned above meets anobstacle. The woody shoot so produced will bear fruit in the following year.Thus there are two kinds of main branches; the shoot which comes out of the hardtimber and promises wood for the next year is called a leafy shoot a or elsewhen it is above the scar a fruit-bearing shoot, whereas the other kind of shootthat springs from a year-old branch is always a fruit-bearer. There is also leftunderneath the cross-bar a shoot called the keeperthis is a young branch, notlonger than three buds, which will provide wood next year if the vine'sluxurious growth has used itself upand another shoot next to it, the size of awart, called the pilferer, is also left, in case the keeper-shoot should fail.

A vine called on to produce fruit before it completes seven years from beingplanted as a slip turns into a rush-like growth and dies. Nor is it thoughtproper to allow an old main branch to shoot out to a great length and as far asa fourth prop, like the old growths called by some 'snake-branches' and byothers 'cables', so as to make what are named male growths'. When a vine hasbecome hard, it is very bad to bring it across on a trellis. When a vine is fouryears old the main branches themselves also are twisted over, and each throwsout one growth of wood, first one and then the next ones, and the earlier shootsare pruned away. It is always better to leave a keeper-shoot, but this should beone next the vine, and not longer than the length that was stated; and if themain branches shoot too luxuriantly, to twist them back, so that the vinemay produce only four growths of wood, or even only two if it is trained on asingle cross-bar.

If the vine is to be trained by itself without a prop, at the beginning it willwant some sort of support until it learns to stand and to rise upstraight, while in all other respects it will need the same treatment from thestart, except that it will need to have the pruned stumps distributed by pruningin a regular cluster all round, so that the fruit may not overload one side ofthe tree. Incidentally, the fruit weighing down the bough will prevent it fromshooting right up high. With this vine a height of above a yard begins to bendover, but all the others start bending at five feet, only the height must not beallowed to exceed the average height of a man. Growers also put low cages roundthe vines that spread out on the ground, to restrict their spread, with trenchesmade round them, so that the straggling branches may not meet each other andfight; and the greater part of the world lets its vintage grapes lie on theground in this manner, inasmuch as this custom prevails both in Africa and inEgypt and Syria and the whole of Asia and at many places in Europe. In thesevineyards therefore the vine ought to be kept down close to the ground,nourishment being given to the root in the same way and at the same time as inthe case of a vine trained on a cross-bar, care being always taken to leavemerely the pruned stumps, with three buds on each in fertile land and two wherethe soil is thinner, and it pays better to have many of them than to have longones. The properties of soil that we have spoken of will make themselves feltmore powerfully the nearer the bunches of grapes are to the ground.

It pays best to keep the different kinds of vine separate and plant each plotwith only one sort, for a mixture of different varieties spoils the flavour evenin the wine and not only in the must; or if they are mixed, it is essential notto combine any but those that ripen at the same time. The richer the soil andthe more level the ground the greater the height of the cross-bars required, andhigh crossbars also suit land liable to dew and fog and where there iscomparatively little wind, whereas lower bars suit thin, dry and parched landand places exposed to the wind. The cross-bars should be tied to the prop astightly as possible, but the vine should be kept together with an easy tie. Westated what kinds of vines should be grown and in what sort of soil and withwhat aspect when we were enumerating the natures of the various vines andwines.

The remaining points connected with the cultivation of the vine are vehementlydebated. The majority of writers recommend digging over the vineyard after everyfall of dew throughout the whole of the summer, but others forbid thiswhile the vines are in bud, because the eyes get knocked off or rubbed by thedrag of people going between the rows, and for this reason it is necessary tokeep away all cattle, but especially sheep, as their fleeces most easily removebuds; they also say that raking does harm while bunches of grapes are forming;that it is enough for a vineyard to be dug over three times in a year, betweenthe spring equinox and the rising of the Pleiades, at the rise of the Dog-star,and when the grapes are turning black. Some people give the following rules: todig over an old vineyard once between vintage and midwinter (though others thinkit is enough to loosen the soil round the roots and manure it), a second timeafter April 13 but before the vines bud, that is before May 10, and then beforethe vine begins to blossom, and after it has shed its blossom, and when thebunch is changing colour; but more expert growers declare that if the ground isdug more often than necessary the grapes become so thin-skinned that they burst.It is agreed that when vineyards are dug it should be done before the hottestpart of the day, and likewise that a mud-like wet soil ought not to be eitherploughed or dug; and that the dust raised by digging is beneficial to the vineas a protection against sun and fog.

It is agreed that the spring trimming of foliage should take place within tendays from May 15, at all events before the vine begins to blossom, and that itshould be done below the level of the cross-bar. As to the subsequent trimmingopinions vary: some people think that it should take place when the vine hasshed its blossom, others when the grapes are just beginning to ripen. But onthis point the instructions ofCatoshall decide; for we also have to describe the proper method of pruning.

This is set about directly after the vintage when the warmth of theweather allows; but even in warm weather on natural principles it never ought tobe done before the rise of the Eagle, as we shall show when dealing withastronomical considerations in the following volume, nor yet when the wind is inthe westinasmuch as excessive haste involves a double possibility of error. Ifa late snap of wintry weather should nip the vines while still suffering fromwounds inflicted by recent treatment, it is certain that their buds will bebenumbed by the cold and the wounds will open, and the eyes, owing to the juicedripping from them, will be nipped by the inclemency of the weather; for whodoes not know that frost makes them brittle? All this depends on calculationsregarding labour on large estates, not on the legitimate acceleration ofNature's processes. Given suitable weather, the earlier vines are pruned, thelarger amount of wood they make, and the later they are pruned, the moreabundant supply of fruit. Consequently it will be proper to prune meagre vinesearlier and strong ones last; and always to make the cut on a slant, so thatrain may fall off easily, and turned towards the ground, with the lightestpossible scar, using a pruning-knife with a well sharpened edge and giving asmooth cut; but always to prune between two buds, so as not to wound the eyes inthe part of the shoot cut back. They think it a sign of damage for this to beblack, and that it should be cut back till one comes to the sound part, sinceuseful wood will not shoot from a bad stock. If a meagre vine has not gotsuitable branches, it is a very good plan to cut it back to the ground and getit to put out new branches, and in trimming it pays not to remove the shootsgrowing with a cluster of grapes, for that dislodges the grapes also, except ina newly planted vine. Shoots springing on the side of the branch and not from aneye are judged to be of no use, since moreover a bunch of grapes that springsfrom a hard branch is so stiff that the bunch can only be removed with a knife.Some people consider that it pays better for a prop to be set between twovines, and that method does make it easier to turn up the earth round them, andit is better for a vine on a single cross-bar, provided, that is, that thetrellis itself is a strong one and the locality is not exposed to high winds. Inthe case of a vine supported by four cross-rails the stay ought to be as closeas possible to the load, although to avoid interfering with digging over thesoil it ought to be 18 inches away, not more; but they advise digging overbefore pruning.

The following are the instructions given byCato on the whole subject of vine growing: 'Make the vine grow as high aspossible, and tie it up well, only not binding it too tight. Treat it in thefollowing manner: turn over the earth round the base of the vines duringseed-time; after pruning a vine dig round it and begin to plough; drivecontinuous furrows to and fro; plant layers of young vines as soon as possible,and then harrow the ground. Prune old vines as little as possible; preferably,if necessary, layer them on the ground and cut off the layers two years later.The time for cutting back a young vine will be when it has gained strength. If avineyard has become bare of vines, make furrows between the vines and plant aquickset in each; prevent any shade from falling on the furrows, and dig themover frequently. Plant ocinuma clover in an old vineyard if the soil ismeagreforbear to sow anything that makes seedand put dung, chaff and grape husks or something of that sort round the feet. When a vine begins to show leaves, trim it. Fasten young vines with several ties, so that the stems may not get broken; and as soon as a vine begins to run out into a rod, tie down its young shoots lightly and stretch them out so as to be in the right position. When the grapes begin to become mottled, tie up the vines below. One season for grafting a vine is during spring, and another when the bunch blossoms: the latter is the best. If you want to transplant an old vine, you will only be able to do so if it is of the thickness of an arm. First prune it; do not leave more than two buds on the stem. Dig it well up from the roots, and be careful not to injure the roots. Place it in the hole or furrow just as it was before, and cover it up and tread it down well; and set up the vine and tie it and bend it over in the same direction as it was before; and dig the ground frequently.Ocinum,which Cato recommends planting in a vineyard, was the old name for afodder-plant capable of standing shade, and refers to its rapid growth.

There follows the method of growing vines on a tree, which was condemned in aremarkable way bySaserna the elder andby his son, but highly spoken of byScrofathese are the oldest writers on agriculture afterCato, and are very great authorities;and even Scrofa only allows it in Italy,although so long a period of time gives the verdict that high-class wines canonly be produced from vines on trees, and that even so the choicer wines aremade from the grapes at the top of the trees, while those lowest down give alarge quantity: so beneficial is the effect of height. It is on this principlealso that trees are selected: first of all the elm (excepting the Atinianvariety because it has too many leaves), then the black poplar, for the samereason, it having less dense foliage; also the ash and the fig are not despisedby most growers, and even the olive if it has not shady branches. The plantingand cultivation of these trees has been abundantly treated. It is prohibited totouch them with the pruning-knife before they are three years old; alternatebranches are kept, they are pruned every other year, and in their sixth yearthey are wedded to the vines. Italy north of the Po beside the trees mentionedabove plants its vineyards with cornel, guelder rose, lime, maple, rowan,hornbeam, and oak, but the Venezia uses willow because of the dampness of thesoil. Also the elm is lopped of its top and has its middle branches spread outon three levels, no tree as a rule being left more than twenty feet high. Onhills and in dry lands the stages of the elms are spread out at a height ofeight feet, and on plains and in damp localities at twelve feet.

The branching of the trunk should face south, andthe boughs should spread up from the fork like fingers on the hand, and alsohave their shaggy growth of thin twigs shaved off, so as not to give too muchshade. The proper space between the trees, if the soil is to be ploughed, isforty feet behind and in front and twenty at the sides, but if it is not to beploughed, twenty feet every way. Growers often grow ten vines against each tree,great fault being found with a farmer who trains less than three on each. Itdamages any but strong trees to wed vines to them, as the rapid growth of thevines kills them off. It is essential to plant the vines in a trench three feetdeep, with a space of a foot between them and the tree; this saves the need of amallet-shoot and of turning over the ground and the expense of digging, inasmuchas this method of using a tree has the special advantage that for the sameground to carry corn actually benefits the vines, and moreover that the heightof the vine looks after itself, and does not make it necessary, as in avineyard, to guard it with a wall or hedge, or at all events by going to theexpense of ditches, so as to protect it from injury by animals.

In growing vines on a tree the only method used among those already described isthat of quicksets or of layers; and of layering there are two varieties, as wehave said: that of using baskets projecting from the actual staging of the tree,the most approved method, as it is safest from cattle, and the other one bybending down a vine or a main branch at the side of its own tree or round thenearest to it not occupied. It is recommended that the part of the parent treeabove the ground should be scraped, to prevent it from making shoots; and notless than four buds are covered up in the ground so as to take root, while twoare left above ground on the head. A vine grown on a tree is set in a trenchfour feet long, three broad and two and a half deep. After a year a cut is madein the layer down to the cambium, so that it may gradually get used to itsroots, and the stem is pruned back at its end down to two buds from the ground;and at the end of two years the layer is completely cut off from the stock andis put back deeper into the ground, so that it may not shoot from theplace where it was cut off. As for a quickset, it should be removed immediatelyafter the vintage.

A plan has recently been invented of planting a snake-branch near the treethatis our name for a veteran main branch that has grown hard with many years'service. The quickest plan in the case of a vine is to cut this old branch offas long as possible and scrape the bark off three-quarters of its length, downto the point to which it is to be buried in the groundfor this reason it isalso called a scraped shootand then to press it down in the furrow, with theremaining part standing straight up against the tree. If the vine be meagre orthe soil thin, it is customary to cut down the plant as close to the round aspossible, until the root gets strong, and likewise not to plant it when there isdew on it, nor in a place exposed to a north wind; the vines themselves ought toface north-east, but their young shoots should have a southerly aspect.

There must be no hurry to prune a young vine, but at first the growth should becollected together into circular shapes, and no pruning should be applied exceptto a strong plant, a vine trained on a tree being about a year later in bearingfruit than one trained on a cross-bar. Some people forbid pruning altogetheruntil the vine equals the tree in height. At the first pruning it should be cutback six feet from the ground, a shoot being left below and encouraged to growby bending over the wood. It should have three buds and not more left when ithas been pruned. In the following year the branches sent out from these shouldbe spread out on the lowest stages of the trees and allowed to climb to the nexthigher level every year, one hard growth being always left at each stage, andone growing shoot left to mount up as high as it pleases. In addition, all thewhips that have borne fruit last time should. be cut back by pruning, and freshshoots should have their tendrils cut away all round and be spread out on thestages. Our Italian method of pruning drapes the tree with tresses of vinesfestooned along the branches and clothes the tresses themselves with bunches ofgrapes, but the Gallic method spreads out into growths passing from tree totree, while the method used on the Aemilian Road spreads over supportsconsisting of Atinian elms, twining round them but avoiding their foliage.

An ignorant way of some growers is to suspend the vine by means of a tiebeneath a bough of the tree, a damaging procedure which stifles it, as it oughtto be held back with an osier withe, not tied tightly (indeed even people whohave plenty of willows prefer to do it with a tie softer than the one whichthese supply, namely with the plant which the Sicilians call by the Greek name'vine-tie', while the whole of Greece uses rush, galingale and sedge); also it ought to be released from its tie for some days and allowed to stray about andspread in disorder and lie down on the ground which it has been gazing at allthe year through; for just as draft cattle when unyoked and dogs after a runlike to roll on the ground, so even the vines' loins like a stretch whenreleased; also the tree itself enjoys being relieved of the continual weight,like a man recovering his breath, and there is nothing in Nature's handiworkthat does not desire some alternations of holiday, after the pattern of the daysand nights. On this account pruning the vines directly after vintage and whenthey are still weary from producing fruit is disapproved of. When theyhave been pruned they must be tied to the tree again in another place, forunquestionably they feel annoyance at the marks made round them by the tie.

The cross-shoots of the Gallic method of growingtwo from each side if the pairof vines are forty feet apart, but four if twentywhen they meet areintertwined with each other and tied together in a single cluster, during theprocess being stiffened with the aid of wooden rods where they fail, or if theshoots themselves are too short to allow of this, they are stretched out toreach an unoccupied tree by means of a hook tied to them. lit used to be thecustom to prune these cross-shoots every two years, as they make too heavy aweight when they grow old; but it is better to give them time to make a'scraped' shoot, if their thickness is sufficient; otherwise it pays tosupply nourishment to the knobs of the snake-branch about to form.

There is still one other method intermediate between this one and propagation bylayeringthat of throwing down the whole vine on the earth and splittingit with wedges, and leading the shoots from a single vine into several trenches,reinforcing the slenderness of each shoot by tying it to a rod, and not loppingoff the branches which run out from the sides. A farmer at Novara, not contentwith a multitude of shoots carried from tree to tree nor with an abundance ofbranches, also twines the main branches round forked props set in the ground;and thus beside the faults of the soil the wines are also made harsh by themethod of cultivation. Another mistake is made with the vines near the city ofLa Riccia, which are pruned every other year, not because that is beneficial fora vine but because owing to the low price at which the wine sells the expensesmight exceed the return. In the Casigliano district they follow an intermediatecompromise, and by the plan of pruning away only the decayed parts of the vineand those beginning to wither, and leaving the rest to bear grapes relieved ofsuperfluous weight, the scantiness of the injury inflicted serves instead of allnutriment; but except in a rich soil this method of cultivation degenerates intoa wild vine.

The trees for training vines on require the ground to be ploughed as deep aspossible, although the system of growing corn there does not need this.It is not customary for them to be trimmed of leaves, and this economizeslabour. They are pruned together with the vine, light being let through thedensity of branches that are superfluous and consume nutriment. We have giventhe rule against leaving lopped ends facing north or south, and it is better notto let them face west either, as wounds facing in those directions too sufferfor a long time and heal with difficulty, because of undergoing excessive coldor heat; there is not the same freedom as in the ease of the vine, since treeshave fixed aspects, but it is easier to hide away the wounds of a vine and twistthem in any direction you like. In pruning trees cup-like hollows should be madewith a mouth sloping downwards, to prevent water from lodging in them.

XXXVI. Props should be placed against a vine which it may catch hold ofand climb up if they are taller than it is. It is said that espaliers forvines of high quality should be cut about March l9th-23rd, and, if it isintended to keep the grapes for raisins, when the moon is on the wane, but thatthose cut between the old moon and the new are immune from all kinds of insects.Another theory holds the opinion that vines should be pruned by night at fullmoon when the moon is in the Lion or Scorpion or Archer or Bull; and in generalthat they should be planted when the moon is at full, or at all events iswaxing. In Italy a gang of ten farmhands is enough for a hundred acres ofvineyard.

XXXVII. And having treated of the planting and cultivation of trees withsufficient fullness, since we have said enough about palms and tree-medick amongforeign trees, in order that nothing may be lacking a statement must be given ofthe other natural features of great importance in relation to all these matters.For even trees are liable to attacks of diseasesince what created object isexempt from these evils? But forest trees at all events are said not to have anydeadly diseases and only to be liable to damage by hail when they are budding orin flower, and also to be nipped by heat or exceptionally cold wind coming outof season, for cold weather in its proper season actually does them good, as wehave stated. 'What then?' it will be said. 'Does not frost kill evenvines?' Well, that is how a fault of soil is detected, because it only happenson chilly ground. And consequently we approve of cold in winter time that is dueto the climate and not to the soil. And it is not the weakest trees that areendangered by frost, but the largest ones, and when they are thus attacked it istheir tops that dry away first, because the sap has been congealed and has notbeen able to get there.

Some diseases are common to all trees and some are peculiar to special kinds.Common to all are damage by worms and star-blight and pain in the limbs,resulting in debility of the various partsmaladies sharing even their nameswith those of mankind: we certainly speak of trees being mutilated and havingthe eyes of their buds burnt out and many misfortunes of a kind resembling ourown. Accordingly they suffer both from hunger and from indigestion, maladies dueto the amount of moisture in them, and some even from obesity, for instance allwhich produce resin owing to excessive fatness are converted into torch-wood,and when the roots also have begun to get fat, die like animals from excessiveadipose deposit; and sometimes also they die of epidemics prevailing in certainclasses of tree, just as among mankind diseases sometimes attack the slaves andsometimes the urban or the rural lower classes.

Particular trees are attacked by worm in a greater or smaller degree, but nearlyall are liable, and birds detect worm-eaten wood by the hollow sound whenthey tap the bark. Nowadays indeed even this has begun to be classed as aluxury, and specially large wood-maggots found in oak-woodthe name for these iscossesfigure in the menu as a special delicacy, and actually even thesecreatures are fed with flour to fatten them for the table. The trees most liableto be worm-eaten are pears, apples, and figs; those that have a bitter taste anda scent are less liable. Of the maggots found in fig-trees some breed in thetrees themselves, but others are produced by the insect called in Greek thehorned insect; all of them however assume the shape of that insect, and emit alittle buzzing sound. Also the service-tree is infected with red, hairycaterpillars, which eventually kill it; and the medlar as well is liable to thesame disease when it grows old.

Star-blight depends entirely on the heavens, and consequently we must includeamong these causes of injury hail and carbuncle-blight, and also damage due tofrost. The former when the plants are tempted by the warmth of spring to ventureto burst out settles on them while they are fairly soft and scorches the milkyeyes of the buds, the part which in the flower is called the carbuncle. Frost isof a more damaging nature, because when it has fallen it settles down andfreezes, and is not dispelled even by any slight breeze, because it only occurswhen the air is motionless and calm. A peculiarity however of star-blight atthe rising of the Dog-star is a parching heat, when grafts and saplings die,especially figs and vines.

The olive besides suffering from worm, to which it is as liable as is the fig,is also affected by wart, or, as some prefer to call it, fungus or 'platter';this is a scorch caused by the sun.Catostates that red scale is also injurious to the olive. Excessive fertility alsousually injures vines and olive. Scab is common to all trees. Eruption and epidermic growths on the bark called 'snails' are maladies peculiar to figs, andthat not in all districtsfor some diseases belong to particular localities.

But just as man is subject to affliction of thesinews, so also is a tree, and in two ways, as is the case with man: for theforce of the disease either attacks its feet, that is the roots, or itsknuckles, that is the fingers of the top branches, which project farthest fromthe whole body; with the Greeks there are special names for each of thesediseases. Consequently they turn black, and first there is pain all over andthen the parts mentioned also become emaciated and brittle, and lastly comeswasting consumption and death, the sap not entering or not permeating the partsaffected. Figs are extremely liable to this disease, but the wild fig is immunefrom all the maladies we have so far specified. Scab is caused by gentle fallsof dew occurring after the rising of the Pleiades; for if the dew has been morecopious it gives the tree a good drenching, and does not streak it with scab,although the green figs fall off; but if there has been excessive rain afig-tree is liable to another malady due to dampness of the roots.

In addition to worm-disease and star-blight vines suffer from a disease of thejoints that is peculiar to them; it is due to three causesfirst, loss of budsowing to stormy weather, second, as noted byTheophrastus, pruning done with an upward cut, and third, damage causedby lack of skill in their cultivation; for all injuries to which vines areliable are felt in their joints. One kind of star-blight is dew-disease, whenthe grapevines shed their blossoms, or when the grapes shrivel up into a hardlump before they grow big. Vines are also sickly when they have been nipped bycold, the eyes being injured by frostbite after the branches have been pruned.This also happens owing to unseasonable hot weather, since everything depends onmeasure and on a fixed proportion. Defects may also be caused by the fault ofthe vine-dressers, when the vines are tied too tight, as has been said, or elsewhen the digger trenching round them has injured them with a damagingblow, or even when a careless person ploughing underneath them has displaced theroots or scaled the bark off the trunk; also a contusion may be caused bypruning with too blunt a knife. All of these causes make it more difficult for avine to bear cold or hot weather, since every harmful influence from outsidemakes its way into the sore. But the most delicate of all trees is the apple,and particularly any kind that bears sweet fruit. With some trees weaknesscauses barrenness but does not kill them, as is the case with a pine or a palmif you lop off their top, as they cease to bear but do not die. Sometimes alsothe fruit by itself is attacked by disease but not the tree, if there has been alack of rain or of warm weather or wind at the times when they are needed, or ifon the contrary they have been too plentiful, for the fruit falls off ordeteriorates. The worst among all kinds of damage is when a vine or olive hasbeen struck by heavy rain when shedding its blossom, as the fruit is washed offat the same time.

Heavy rain also breeds caterpillars, noxious creatures that gnaw away thefoliage of olives, and others the flower too, as at Miletus, andleave the half-eaten tree shamefully disfigured. This pestilence is bred bydamp sticky heat; and another one due to the same cause occurs if too keen a sunfollows, and burns in the damage done by the damp and so alters its nature.There is in addition a malady peculiar to olives and vines, called cobweb, whenthe fruit gets wrapped up in a soft of webbing which stifles it. There are alsocertain currents of air which are specially blighting to olives, though they dryup other fruit as well. As to worm, in some trees even the fruits of themselvessuffer from itapples, pears, medlars and pomegranates; but in the case of theolive an attack of worm has a twofold result, inasmuch as if they breed underthe skin they destroy the fruit, while if they have been in the actual stone,gnawing it away, they make the fruit larger. Rain following the rising of Arcturus prevents their breeding; and also if this rain is accompanied by asouth wind it breeds worms in overripe olives as well, which are thenparticularly liable to fall off when ripening. This happens particularly witholives in damp localities, making them very unattractive even if they do notdrop off. There is also a kind of gnat troublesome to some fruits, for instanceacorns and figs, which appears to be bred from the sweet juice a secretedunderneath the bark at that season; and indeed these trees are usually sickly.

Some influences of seasons or localities cannot properly be called diseases,since they cause instantaneous death, for instance when a tree is attacked bywasting or blast, or by the effect of a special wind prevailing in a particulardistrict, like the sirocco in Apulia or the Olympias wind in Euboea, which if itblows about midwinter shrivels up trees with dry cold so that no amount ofsubsequent sunshine can revive them. This kind of blight infests narrow valleysand trees growing by rivers, and particularly vines, olive and figs; and whenthis has occurred, it is at once detected at the budding season, though ratherlater in the case of olives. But it is a sign of recovery in all of them if theylose their leaves; failing that, the trees which one would suppose to have beenstrong enough to resist the attack die. Sometimes however the leaves dry on thetree and then come to life again. Other trees in the northern countries like theprovince of Pontus and Thrace suffer from cold or frost if they go on for sixweeks after midwinter without a break; but both in that region and in theremaining parts of the world, a heavy frost coming immediately after the treeshave produced their fruit kills them even in a few days.

Kinds of damage due to injury done by man have effects proportionate to theirviolence. Pitch, oil and grease are particularly detrimental to young trees. Tostrip off the bark all round trees kills them, except in the case ofthe cork tree, which is actually benefited by this treatment, because the barkthickening stifles and suffocates the tree; nor does it do any harm to purslaneif care is taken not to cut into the body of the plant as well. Beside this, thecherry, the vine and the lime shed some bark, though not the layer next to thebody which is essential to life, but the layer that is forced outward asanother forms underneath it. The bark of some trees, for instance planes, isfissured by nature. That of the lime after it is stripped grows again almost inits entirety. Consequently with trees the bark of which forms a sear, the searsare treated with mud and dung, and sometimes they do the tree good, if thestripping is not followed by a period of exceptionally cold or hot weather. Butsome trees, for instance hard oaks and common oaks, die, but rather slowly,under this treatment. The time of year also matters; for instance if a fir or apine is stripped of its bark while the sun is passing through the Bull or theTwins, when they are budding, they die at once, whereas if they undergo the sameinjury in winter they endure it longer; and similarly the holm-oak, the hard oakand the common oak. If only a narrow band of bark is removed, it causes no harm,as with the trees above mentioned, although with weaker trees at all events andin a thin soil to remove the bark even from only one part kills the tree. Asimilar effect is also produced by lopping the top of a spruce, prickly cedar orcypress, for to remove the top or to scorch it with fire is fatal to thesetrees; and the effect of being gnawn by animals is also similar. Indeed,according toVarro, as we have stated,an olive goes barren if merely licked by a she-goat. Certain trees die of thisinjury, but some only deteriorate, for instance almonds, the fruit of which ischanged from sweet to bitter, but others are actually improved, for instance thepear called the Phocian pear in Chios. For we have mentioned trees that areactually benefited by having the top lopped off. Most trees die also when thetrunk is split, excepting the vine, apple, fig and pomegranates, and some merelyfrom a wound, though the pine and all the resinous trees despise this injury.For a tree to die when its roots are cut off is not at all surprising; mosttrees die even when deprived not of all their roots but of the largest ones orthose among them that are essential to life.

Trees kill one another by their shade or the thickness of their foliage and byrobbing each other nutriment; they are also killed by ivy binding themround, and mistletoe does them no good, and cytisus kills them, and they arekilled by the plant calledhalimon by the Greeks. The nature of some plants though not actually deadly is injurious owing to its blend of scents or of juicefor instance the radish and the laurel are harmful to the vine; for the vine can be inferred to possess a sense of smell, and to be affected by odours in a marvellous degree, and consequently when an evil-smellingplant is near it to turn away and withdraw, and to avoid an unfriendly tang.This supplied Androcydes with anantidote against intoxication, for which he recommended chewing a radish. Thevine also abhors cabbage and all sorts of garden vegetables, as well as hazel,and these unless a long way off make it ailing and sickly; indeed nitre and alumand warm seawater and the pods of beans or bitter vetch are to a vine thedirest poisons.

XXXVIII. Among the maladies of trees it is in place to speak also ofprodigies. We find that figs have grown underneath the leaves of the tree, avine and a pomegranate have borne fruit on their trunk, not on a shoot or abranch, a vine has borne grapes without having any leaves, and also olives havelost their leaves while the fruit remained on the tree. There are also marvelsconnected with accident: an olive has come to life again after being completelyburnt up, also fig-trees in Boeotia gnawed down by locusts have budded afresh.Trees also change their colour and turn from black to white, not always withportentous meaning, but chiefly those that grow from seed; and the white poplarturns into a black poplar. Some people also think that the service-tree goesbarren if transplanted to warmer localities. But it is a portent when sourfruits grow on sweet fruit-trees and sweet on sour, and figs on a wild fig-treeor the contrary, and it is a serious manifestation when trees turn into othertrees of an inferior kind, from an olive into a wild olive or from a white grapeor green fig into a black grape or a black fig, or as when a plane-tree at Laodicea changed into an olive on the arrival ofXerxes. Not to launch out into anabsolutely boundless subject, the volume byAristander teems with portents of this nature in Greece, as do the NotesofGaius Epidius in our own country,including cases of trees that talked. An alarming portent occurred a littlebefore the civil wars ofPompey the Great,when a tree in the territory of Cumae sank into the ground leaving a fewbranches projecting; and a statement was found in theSibylline Books that this portended aslaughter of human beings, and that the nearer to the city the portent hadoccurred the greater the slaughter would be.

Another class of portent is when trees grow in thewrong places, as on the heads of statues or on altars, and when different kindsof trees grow on trees themselves. At Cyzicus before the siege a fig-tree grewon a laurel; and similarly at Tralles about the time ofCaesar's civil wars a palm grew up onthe pedestal of the dictator's statue. Moreover at Rome during the war withPerseus a palm-tree grew up on the altar of Jove on the Capitol, portendingvictory and triumphal processions; and after this tree had been brought down bystorms, a fig-tree sprang up in the same place, this occurring during thecensorship ofMarcus Messala andGaius Cassius, a period which accordingto so weighty an authority as Piso dates the overthrow of the sense of honour. Aportent that will eclipse all those ever heard of occurred in our own day in theterritory of the Marrucini, at the fall of the emperorNero: an olive grove belonging to aleading member of the equestrian order namedVettius Marcellus bodily crossed the public highway, and the cropsgrowing on the other side passed over in the opposite direction to take theplace of the olive grove.

XXXIX. Now that we have set out the diseases of trees it is suitable alsoto state the remedies for them. Some of these are common to all trees and somepeculiar to some of them. Remedies common to all are loosening the soil, bankingit up, admitting air to the roots or covering them up, making a channel to givethem water or to drain it away, dung refreshing them with its juice, pruning torelieve them of weight, also letting out the sap like a surgical blood-letting,scraping a ring of bark, stretching out the vine-sprays and checking the shoots,trimming off and as it were polishing up the buds if they have been shrivelledand roughened by cold weather. Some trees like these treatments more and othersless, for example the cypress scorns both water and dung and hates being duground and pruned and all kinds of nursing, in fact irrigation kills it, whereasit is exceptionally nourishing for vines and pomegranates. In the case of thefig irrigation nourishes the tree itself but makes the fruit decay. Almond-treeslose their blossom if the ground round them is made clean by being dug over.Also trees that have been grafted must not be dug round before they are strongand begin to bear fruit. Most trees however want to have their burdensome andsuperfluous growth pruned away, just as we have our nails and hair cut. Oldtrees are cut down entirely and spring up again from some sucker, but they willnot all do this but only those whose nature we have stated to allow ofit.

XL. Irrigation is good for trees in the heat of summer but bad for themin winter; in the autumn its effect varies and depends on the nature ofthe soil, inasmuch as in the Spanish provinces the vintager picks the grapeswhen the ground is under water, whereas in the greater part of the world it paysto drain off the rain water even in autumn. Irrigation is most beneficial aboutthe rising of the Dog-star, and even then not too much of it, because it hurtsthe roots when they are soaked to the point of intoxication. The age of the treealso controls the due amount; young saplings are not so thirsty. But those thatrequire most watering are those that have been used to it, whereas those whichhave sprung up in dry places only need a bare minimum of moisture.

XLI. The harsher vines need to be watered, at all events in the Fabiidistrict of the territory of Sulmo in Italy, where they irrigate even theplough-land; and it is a remarkable fact that in that part of the country waterkills herbaceous plants but nourishes corn, and irrigation takes the place of ahoe for weeding. In the same district they irrigate the land round the vines atmidwinter to prevent their suffering from cold, the more so if snow is lying orthere is a frost; this process is there called 'warming' the vines, owing to theremarkable influence of the sun on the river, which in summer is almostunbearably cold.

XLII. We shall point out the remedies for glowing-coal-blight and mildewin the next Book. In the meantime the list of remedies includes a sort ofscarification. The bark when rendered meagre by disease shrinks up and exerts anundue amount of compression on the vital parts of the tree; for this thevine-dressers holding a pruning knife with a very sharp edge in both hands pressit into the trunk and make long incisions downwards, and as it were loosen itsskin. It proves that this treatment has been beneficial if the scars widen outand fill up with new wood growing between their edges;

XLIII. and to a large extent the medical treatment of trees resemblesthat of human beings, as the bones of trees also are treated by perforation.Bitter almonds are made into sweet ones if the stem of the tree has the earthdug away round it and a ring of holes pierced in it at the bottom, and then thegum exuding is wiped off. Also elms can be relieved of useless sap by havingholes pierced in them above the level of the earth right into the cambium whenthey are getting old, or when they are observed to be receiving excessivenourishment. The sap is also discharged from the bark of figs when swollen bymeans of light cuts made on a slant; this treatment prevents the fruit fromfalling off. Fruit-trees that make buds but produce no fruit are treated bymaking a cleft in the root and inserting a stone in it, and this makes thembear; and the same result is produced in almonds by driving in a wedge of hardoak, and in pears and service-berries by means of a wedge of stone pine, andcovering up the hole with ashes and earth. It also pays to cut round the rootsof vines and figs when over-luxuriant and to put ashes on the cut parts. Latefigs are produced if those of the first crop are picked off the tree stillunripe, when they are a little larger than a bean, as a second crop grows whichripens later. Also fig-trees are made stronger and more productive if the tipsof all the branches are docked when they begin to make foliage. The object ofthe process that employs the gall-insect from the wild fig is to ripen thefruit.

XLIV. In the gall-insect process it is clear that theunripe figs give birth to gnats, since when these have flown away the fruit isfound not to contain any seeds, which have obviously turned into the gnats;these are so eager to escape that most of them leave a foot or part of a wingbehind them in forcing their way out. There is also another kind of gnat with aGreek name meaning 'sting-fly'; these resemble drone bees in their slothand malice, and also in killing the genuine and serviceable insects; for thesting-flies kill the real gnats and themselves die with them. The seeds of figsare also infested by moths, a remedy against them being to bury a slip of mastich upside down in the same hole. But the way to make fig-trees bear verylarge crops is to dilute red earth with the lees from an olive-press, mix dungwith it, and pour the mixture on the roots of the trees when they are beginningto make leaves. Of wild figs the black ones and those growing in rocky placesare the most highly spoken of, because they contain the largest number ofgrains; the best times for the actual process of transference of the gall-insectfrom the wild fig is said to be just after rain has fallen.

XLV. But it is of the first importance to avoid allowing our remedies toproduce other defects, which results from using remedial processes to excess orat the wrong time. To prune away branches is beneficial for trees, but toslaughter them every year without respite is extremely unprofitable. A vine onlyrequires a yearly trimming, but myrtles, pomegranates and olives one everyother year, because they produce shoots with great rapidity. All other treesshould be trimmed less frequently, and none in autumn; and they must not evenhave their trunks scraped except in spring. Pruning must not be assault andbattery: every part of the tree that is not actually superfluous is conducive toits vitality.

XLVI. A similar method belongs to dung. Trees delight in it, but caremust be taken not to apply it while the sun is hot, or while it is too fresh, orstronger than is necessary. Swine dung burns the vines unless used at intervalsof five years, except if it is diluted by being drenched with water; and so willmanure made from tanners refuse unless water is mixed with it, and also if it isused too plentifully: the proper amount is considered to be three modiifor every ten square feet. Anyhow that will be decided by the nature of thesoil.

XLVII. Pigeon and swine manure are also used for dressing wounds intrees. If pomegranates produce sour fruit, it is advised to dig round the rootsand apply swine's dung; then in that year the fruit will have a flavour of wine,but next year it will be sweet. Others are of opinion that pomegranates shouldbe watered four times a year with human urine mixed with water, an amphorato each tree, or that the ends of the branches should be sprinkled with silphium diluted with wine; and that if the fruit splits on the tree, its stalkshould be twisted; and that figs in any case should have dregs of olive oilpoured on them, and other trees when ailing wine-lees, or else lupines should besown round their roots. It is also good for the fruit to pour round the treewater in which lupines have been boiled. Figs are liable to fall off when itthunders at the Feast of Vulcan; a remedy is to have the ground round thetrees covered with barley straw in advance. Cherries are brought on and made toripen by applying lime to the roots; but with cherries also, as with allit is better to thin the crop, in order to make the fruit left on growbigger.

Some trees are improved by severe treatment or stimulated by a pungent applicationfor instance the palm and the mastich, which get nutriment from salt water. Ashes also have the effect of salt, but it acts more gently; consequently they are sprinkled on figs and on rue, to prevent their getting maggotty or rotting at the roots. It is also advised to pour salt water on the roots of vines if they are too full of moisture, but if their fruit falls off, to sprinkle ashes with vinegar and smear them on the vines themselves, or ashes with sandarach if the grapes rot; but if the vines do not bear, to sprinkle and smear them with ashes mixed with strong vinegar; and if they do not ripen their fruit but let it dry up first, the vines should be lopped down to the roots and the wound and fibres of the wood drenched with strong vinegar and stale urine and covered up with the mud so produced, and repeatedly dug round. If olives give too little promise of fruit, growers bare their roots and expose them to the winter cold, and the trees profit by this drastic treatment. All these methods depend on the state of the weather in each year and sometimes are required later and sometimes more speedily. Also fire is beneficial for some plants, for instance reeds, which when burnt off grow up again thicker and more pliable. Cato moreover gives prescriptions for certain medicaments, also specifying quantityfor the roots of the bigger trees an amphora, for those of the smaller ones half that measure of olive-lees and water in equal amounts, and his instructions are first to dig round the roots and then to pour the liquid on them gradually. In the ease of an olive it should be used more copiously, straw having first been put round the stem, and the same with a fig; with a fig, especially in spring, earth should be heaped up round the roots, and this will ensure that the unripe fruit will not fall off and the tree will bear a larger crop and will not develop roughness of the bark. In a similar manner to prevent a vine from breeding leaf-rolling caterpillar he advises boiling down two gallons of lees of olive-oil to the thickness of honey, and boiling it again mixed with a third part of bitumen and a fourth part of sulphur, this second boiling being done in the open air because the mixture may catch fire indoors; and he says this preparation is to be smeared round the bases and under the arms of the vines, and that will prevent caterpillar. Some growers are content with submitting the vines for three days on end to the smoke from this concoction boiled to the windward of them. Most people think there is as much food value for the plants in urine as Cato assigns to wine-lees, provided it is mixed with an equal quantity of water, because it is injurious if used by itself. Some give the name of the 'fly' to a creature that gnaws away the young grapes; to prevent this they wipe the pruning-knives on a beaver skin after they have been sharpened and then use them for pruning, or smear them with bear's blood after pruning. Ants also are pests to trees; these are kept away by smearing the trunks with a mixture of red earth and tar, and also people get the ants to collect in one place by hanging up a fish close by, or they smear the roots of the tree with lupin pounded with oil. Many people kill ants and also moles with the dregs of olive oil, and to protect the tops of the trees against caterpillars and pests productive of decay they advise touching them with the gall of a green lizard, but as a protection against caterpillars in particular they say that a woman just beginning her monthly courses should walk round each of the trees with bare feet and her girdle undone. Also to prevent any creature from injuring the foliage by noxious nibbling they recommend sprinkling the leaves with cow-dung mixed with water every time there is a shower of rain, as the rain smears the poison of the mixture over the tree: so remarkable are some of the devices invented by human skill, inasmuch as most people believe that hailstorms can be averted by means of a charm, the words of which I would not for my own part venture seriously to introduce into my book, although Cato has published the words of a charm for sprained limbs which have to be bandaged to reed splints. The same author has allowed the felling of consecrated trees and groves after a preliminary sacrifice has been performed, the ritual of which and the accompanying prayer he has reported in the same volume.

I. OUR next subject is the nature of the various kinds of grainand of gardens and flowers and the other products of Earth's bounty beside treesor shrubs, the study of herbaceous plants being itself of boundless scope, ifone considers the variety and number, the blossoms, scents and colours, and thejuices and properties of the plants that she engenders for the health or thegratification of men. And in this section it is our pleasant duty first of allto champion Earth's cause and to support her as the parent of all things,although we have already pleaded her defence in the opening part of thistreatise. Nevertheless, now that our subject itself brings us to consider heralso as the producer of noxious objects, they are our own crimes with which wecharge her and our own faults which we impute to her. She has engenderedpoisonsbut who discovered them except man? Birds and beasts are content merelyto avoid them and keep away from them. And although the elephant and the ure-oxsharpen and whet their horns on a tree and the rhinoceros on a rock, and boarspoint the poniards of their tusks upon both trees and rocks, and even animalsknow how to prepare themselves for inflicting injury, yet which of themexcepting man also dips its weapons in poison? As for us, we even poison ourarrows and add to the destructive properties of iron itself; we dye even therivers and the elemental substances of Nature, and turn the very means a of lifeinto a bane. Nor is it possible for us to suppose that animals do not know ofthese things; for we have indicated the preparations that they make to guardagainst encounters with serpents and the remedies that they have devised toemploy after the battle. Nor does any creature save man fight with poisonborrowed from another. Let us therefore confess our guilt, we who are notcontent even with natural products, inasmuch as how far more numerous are thevarieties of them made by the human hand! Why, are not even poisons actually theproduct of man's violence? Their livid tongue flickers like the serpent's, andthe corruption of their mind scorches the things it touches, maligningall things as they do and like birds of evil omen violating even the darknessthat is their own element and the quiet of the night itself with their groaning,the only sound they utter, so that like animals of evil omen when they evencross our path they forbid us to act or to be of service to life. And they knowno other reward for their abhorred vitality than to hate all things. But in thismatter also Nature's grandeur is the same: how many more good men has sheengendered as her harvest! flow much more fertile is she in products that giveaid and nourishment! We too then will continue to enrich life with the value weset on these things and the delight they give us, leaving those brambles of thehuman race to the consuming fire that is theirs, and all the more resolutelybecause we achieve greater gratification from industry than we do from renown.The subject of our discourse is indeed the countryside and rustic practices, butit is on these that life depends and that the highest honour was bestowed inearly days.

II. Romulus at the outset instituted the Priests of the Fields, andnominated himself as the twelfth brother among them, the others being the sonsof his foster-mother Acca Larentia; it was to this priesthood that was assignedas a most sacred emblem the first crown ever worn at Rome, a wreath of ears ofcorn tied together with a white fillet; and this dignity only ends with life,and accompanies its holders even into exile or captivity. In those days twoacres of land each was enough for the Roman people, who assigned to no one alarger amountwhich of the persons who but a little time before were the slavesof the EmperorNero would have beensatisfied with an ornamental garden of that extent? They like to have fishpondslarger than that, and it is a thing to be thankful for if someone does notinsist on kitchens covering a greater area. Numa established worship of the gods with an offering of corn andwinning their favour with a salted cake, and, according to Hemina, of roasting emmer wheat becauseit was more wholesome for food when roastedthough he could attain this only inone way, by establishing that emmer was not in a pure condition for a religiousoffering unless it had been roasted.

It was alsoNuma who established theFeast of Ovens, the holiday when emmer is roasted, and the equally solemnholiday dedicated to the boundary-marks of estates, these bounds being in thosedays particularly recognized as gods, with the goddesses Seia named from sowingthe seed and Segesta from reaping the harvest, whose statues we see in theCircusthe third a of these divinities it is irreverent even to mention by nameindoorsand people used not even to taste the produce of a new harvest orvintage before the priests had offered a libation of the first-fruits.

III. An area of land that one yoke of oxen could plough in a dayused to be called an acre, and a distance which oxen could be drivenwith a plough in a single spell of reasonable length was called a furlong; thiswas 40 yards, and doubled longways this made an acre. The most lavish giftsbestowed on generals and valorous citizens were the largest area of land that aperson could plough round in one day, and also a contribution from the wholepeople of one or two quarterns of emmer wheat a head. Moreover the earliest surnames were derived from agriculture: the name 'Pilumnus' belonged to theinventor of the 'pestle' for corn-mills, 'Piso' came from 'pounding' corn, andagain families were named Fabius or Lentulus or Cicero according as someone wasthe best grower of some particular crop. One of the Junius family received thename of Bubulcus because he was very good at managing oxen. Moreover amongreligious rites none was invested with more sanctity than that of Communion inWheat, and newly married brides used to carry in their hands an offering ofwheat. Bad husbandry was judged an offence within the jurisdiction of thecensors, and, asCato tells us, topraise a man by saying he was a good farmer and a good hush and man was thoughtto be the highest form of commendation. That is the source of the wordlocyples, meaning 'wealthy', 'full of room',i.e. of land. Our wordfor money itself was derived frompecus, 'cattle', and even now in thecensor's accounts all the sources of national revenue are termed 'pastures',because rent of pasture-land was for a long time the only source of publicincome. Moreover flues were only specified in terms of payment of sheep andoxen; nor must we omit the benevolent spirit of the law of early times, in thata judge imposing a fine was prohibited from specifying an ox before he hadpreviously fined the offender a sheep. There were public games in honour ofoxen, those conducting them being called the Bubetii. KingServius stamped first the bronze coinagewith the likeness of sheep and oxen. Indeed the Twelve Tables made pasturinganimals by stealth at night on crops grown under the plough, or cutting it, acapital offence for an adult, and enacted that a person found guilty of itshould be executed by hanging, in reparation to Ceres, a heavier punishment thanin a conviction for homicide; while a minor was to be flogged at the discretionof the praetor or sentenced to pay the amount of the damage or twice thatamount. In fact the system of class and office in the state itself was derivedfrom no other source. The rural tribes were the most esteemed, consisting ofthose who owned farms, whereas the city tribes were tribes into which it was adisgrace to be transferred, this stigmatizing lack of activity. Consequentlythe city tribes were only four, named from the parts of the city in which theirmembers resided, the Suburan, Palatine, Colline and Esquiline. They used toresort to the city on market-days and consequently elections were not allowed tobe held on market-days, so that the common people of the country might not becalled away from their homes. Beds of straw were used for a siesta and forsleeping on. Finally the actual word 'glory' used to be 'adory', owing to thehonour in which emmer was held. For my own part I admire even actual words usedin their old signification; for the following sentence occurs in theMemoranda of the Priesthood: 'Let aday be fixed for taking augury by the sacrifice of a dog before the corn comesout of the sheath and before it penetrates through into the sheath.'

IV. Accordingly these being the customs not only were the harvestssufficient for them without any of the provinces providing food for Italy, buteven the market price of corn was unbelievably low. Manius Marcius when aedile of the plebsfor the first time [456 B.C.] provided the people with corn at the priceof an as a peck.Lucius MinuciusAugurinus, who had procured the conviction of Spurius Maelius, when he was tribune ofthe people reduced the price of emmer to an as for a fortnight, andconsequently had his statue erected outside the Triplets' Gate, the cost beingmet by public subscription.Titus Seiusduring his aedileship supplied the public with corn at an as a peck, onaccount of which he too had statues erected to him on the Capitol and thePalatine, and he himself at the end of his life was carried to his cremation onthe shoulders of the populace. Then it is recorded that in the summer of theyear in which the Mother of the Gods was carried to Rome there was a largerharvest than in the preceding ten years.MarcusVarro states that at the date whenLucius Metellus gave a procession of a very large number of elephants inhis triumph, the price of a peck of emmer wheat was oneas, as also wasthat of a gallon of wine, 30 pounds of dried figs, 10 pounds of oil and 12pounds of meat. Nor was this the result of the large estates of individuals whoousted their neighbours, inasmuch as by the law of Licinins Stolo the limit was restrictedto 500 acres, and Stolo himself was convicted under his own law because he owneda larger amount of land, held under his son's name instead of his own. Such wasthe scale of prices when the state had already some luxury. At any rate there isa famous utterance ofManius Curius, whoafter celebrating triumphs and making a vast addition of territory to 290 B.C.the empire, said that a man not satisfied with seven acres must be deemed adangerous citizen; for that was the acreage assigned for commoners after theexpulsion of the kings. What therefore was the cause of such great fertility?The fields were tilled in those days by the hands of generals themselves,and we may well believe that the earth rejoiced in a laurel-decked ploughshareand a ploughman who had celebrated a triumph, whether it was that those farmerstreated the seed with the same care as they managed their wars and marked outtheir fields with the same diligence as they arranged a camp, or whethereverything prospers better under honourable hands because the work is done withgreater attention. The honours bestowed onSerranus found [297 B.C.] him sowing seed, which was actually theorigin of his surname. An apparitor brought to Cincinnatus his commission asdictator when he was ploughing his four-acre property on the Vatican, the landnow called the Quintian Meadows, and indeed it is said that he had stripped forthe work, and the messenger as he continued to linger said, 'Put on yourclothes, so that I may deliver the mandates of the Senate and People of Rome'.That was what apparitors were like even at that time, and their name itself awas given to them as summoning the senate and the leaders to put in animmediate appearance from their farms. But nowadays those agriculturaloperations are performed by slaves with fettered ankles and by the hands ofmalefactors with branded faces! although the Earth who is addressed as ourmother and whose cultivation is spoken of as worship is not so dullthat when we obtain even our farm-work from these persons one can believe thatthis is not done against her will and to her indignation. And we forsooth aresurprised that we do not get the same profits from the labour of slave-gangs asused to be obtained from that of generals!

V. Consequently to give instructions for agriculture was an occupation ofthe highest dignity even with foreign nations, inasmuch as it wasactually performed by kings such as Hiero,Attalus Philometor andArchelaus, and by generals such asXenophon and also the CarthaginianMago, on whom indeed our senate bestowedsuch great honour, after the taking of Carthage, that when it gave away thecity's libraries to the petty kings of Africa it passed a resolution that in hisease alone his twenty-eight volumes should be translated into Latin, in spite ofthe fact thatMarcus Cato had alreadycompiled his book of precepts, and that the task should be given to personsacquainted with the Carthaginian language, an accomplishment in whichDecimus Silanus, a man of mostdistinguished family, surpassed everybody. But we have given at thebeginning a list of the philosophers of originality and the eminent poets andother distinguished authors whom we shall follow in this volume, althoughspecial mention must be made ofMarcus Varro,who felt moved to publish a treatise on this subject in the eighty-first year ofhis life.

Vine-growing began among the Romans much later, and at the beginning, as ofnecessity, they only practised agriculture, the theory of which we willnow deal with, not in the common method but, as we have done hitherto, by makingan exhaustive research into both ancient practices and subsequent discoveries,and at the same time delving into causes and principles. We shall also treat ofastronomy, and shall give the indubitable signs which the stars themselvesafford as regards the earth, inasmuch as authors who have hitherto handled thesesubjects with some degree of thoroughness may be thought to have been writingfor any class of people rather than farmers.

VI. And first of all we will proceed for the most part by the guidance oforacular precepts, which in no other department of life are more numerous ormore trustworthyfor why not assign oracular value to precepts originating fromthe infallible test of time and the supremely truthful verdict of experience?

We will borrow a commencement fromCato:'The agricultural class produces the bravest men, the most gallant soldiers andthe citizens least given to evil designs.' `In buying a farm do not be tooeager. In rural affairs do not be sparing of trouble, least of all in buyingland'; a bad purchase is always repented. Those about to buy land should beforeall things give an eye to 'the water supply, the road, and the neighbour'. Eachof these rules admits of an important and unquestionable interpretation.Cato advises that in regard to theneighbouring farmers further consideration should be given to the question howprosperous they look; 'for in a good district', he says, 'the people look ingood condition'. Atilius Regulus who wastwice consul during the Punic war a used to say that it is a mistake to buyunhealthy land in the most fertile districts or the most healthy land indistricts that have been worked out. The healthy quality of the district is notalways disclosed by the complexion of the inhabitants, because people can carryon even in very unhealthy localities when they are used to them. Moreover somedistricts are healthy during portions of the year, but no place is reallysalubrious unless it is healthy all the year round. 'Land with which the ownerhas a continual struggle is bad land.'Cato bids us as one of the first pointsto see that the land, if in the position stated above has a good quality of itsown, that there is a supply of labour near, and a thriving town, routes forcarrying produce away by water or by road, and that the farm is furnished withgood buildings and has been well farmedit is in this that I notice most peoplemake a mistake, as they think that the purchaser scores from slack farming onthe part of the previous landlord, whereas nothing is a greater source of lossthan a farm that has been neglected. For this reasonCato says that it is better to purchasefrom a good landlord, and that the lessons to be learnt from others should notbe despised, and that it is the same with land as with a human beingit may makelarge profits, yet if it also involves large expenses, not much balance is leftover. InCato's opinion the mostprofitable in part of a farm is a vineyard--and not without reason, since aboveeverything he has been cautious as to the matter of outlay of moneyand next heputs kitchen-gardens well supplied with water; and this is true, if they arenear a townand the old word for 'meadows' means 'land ready to hand'.Cato moreover when asked what was themost reliable source of profit said, 'Good pasture', and when asked what was thenext best, said, 'Fairly good pasture the most important point in consideringprofit being that the crop that was going to cost the smallest outlay inexpenses was the crop most to be recommended. This is a question decideddifferently in different places, in accordance with the suitability of thevarious localities; and the same applies toCato's dictum that a farmer ought to be a good seller; and that he shouldbegin to plant his farm without delay, in his youth, but only build when theland is fully under cultivation, and even then go slowly (and the best courseis, as the common saying was, to profit by the folly of other people providedhowever that keeping up houses is not allowed to be a burden on your estate);but that the owner who is well housed should nevertheless keep visiting his farmrather frequentlyand it is a true saying that 'the master's face does more goodthan the back of his head'.

VII. The satisfactory plan is that the house shall not be inadequate tothe farm nor the farm to the house, not as was done on adjacent estates by Lucius Lucullus andQuintus Scaevola, acting on oppositeprinciples though at the same period, whenScaevola's farmhouse would not hold the produce of his farm andLucullus's farm was not big enough forhis housea sort of extravagance that occasioned the censor's rebuke that therewas less ground to plough than floor-space to sweep. The proper arrangementrequires a certain amount of technical skill. Quite recently Gaius Marius, who was seven timesconsul, built a country house in the district of Miseno, but he relied on theskill he had acquired in planning the layout of a camp, so that evenSulla the Fortunate declared that allthe others had been blind men in comparison withMarius. It is agreed that a countryhouse ought not to be put near a marsh nor with a river in front of italthoughHomer has stated with the greatest truththat in any case there are always unhealthy currents of air rising from a riverbefore dawn. In hot localities the house should look north, in cold ones southand in temperate situations due east.

As to proofs by which the quality of the land itself can be judged, we maypossibly be thought to have spoken of these with sufficient fullness whendiscussing the best kind of soil, but nevertheless we will still supplement theindications we have given by some words ofCatomore particularly: 'The danewort or the wild plum or the bramble, thesmall-bulb, trefoil, meadow grass, oak, wild pears and wild apple areindications of a soil fit for corn, as also is black or ash-coloured earth. Allchalk land will scorch the crop unless it is an extremely thin soil, and so willsand unless it also is extremely fine; and the same soils answer much better forplantations on level ground than for those on a slope.'

In old times it was thought that to observe moderation in the sizeof a farm was of primary importance, inasmuch as the view was held thatit was more satisfactory to sow less land and plough it better; and I observethatVirgil was of this opinion.And if the truth be confessed, large estates have been the ruin of Italy, andare now proving the ruin of the provinces toohalf of Africa was owned by sixlandlords, when the EmperorNero putthem to death; though Gnaeus Pompeiusmust not be cheated out of this mark of his greatness also: he never bought landbelonging to a neighbouring estate.Mago'sopinion that a landlord after buying a farm ought to sell his town housethatbeing the opening with which he begins the exposition of his instructionswastoo rigorous, and not to the advantage of public affairs, though nevertheless ithas the effect of showing that he laid stress on the need for constantoversight.

The next point requiring attention is the efficiency of bailiffs, andCato has given manyinstructions with regard to these. Let it be enough for us to say that thebailiff ought to be as near as possible to his master in intelligence, andnevertheless not think so himself. Farming done by slave-gangs hired from housesof correction is utterly bad, as is everything else done by desperate men. Itmay appear rash to quote one dictum of the old writers, and perhaps it may bejudged impossible to credit unless its value is closely examinedit is thatnothing pays less than really good farming. Lucius Tarius Rufus, who, though of extremely humble birth, by hissoldierly efficiency won a consulship, though in other respects a man ofold-fashioned economy, spent the whole of the money he had accumulated throughthe generosity of his late MajestyAugustus,about 100 million sesterces, in buying up farms in Picenum and farming them withthe purpose of making a name for himself, so that his heir refused to take overthe estate. Is it our opinion then that this policy means ruin and starvation?Nay rather, I vow, it is that moderation is the most valuable criterion of allthings. Good farming is essential, but superlatively good farming spells ruin,except when the farmer runs the farm with his own family or with persons whom heis in any case bound to maintain. There are some crops which it does not pay thelandlord to harvest if the cost of the labour is reckoned, and olives are noteasily made to pay; and some lands do not repay very careful farmingthis issaid to be the case in Sicily, and consequently newcomers there find themselvesdeceived.

VIII. What then will be the most profitable of farming land? Presumably tofollow the oracular dictum: By making good from bad. But it is only fairto justify our forefathers who laid down rules for conduct by their teachings;for the term 'bad lands' they meant to be understood to mean the cheapest lands,and the chief point in their economy was to keep down expenses to the minimum.For the sort of instructions in question were given by men who though they hadheaded triumphal processions deemed ten pounds of silver as part of one'sfurniture a criminal extravagance, who when their bailiff died insisted onleaving their victories and returning to their farms, and the cultivation ofwhose estates was taken over by the government and who commanded armies whilethe senate acted as their bailiff. Then come all those other oracularutterances: Whoever buys what his farm could supply him with is a worthlessfarmer; whoever does by day work that he could do by night, except during badweather, is a bad head of a family, and he who does on working days things thathe ought to do on holidays is a worse; and one who works indoors on a fine dayrather than in the field is the worst farmer of all.' I cannot refrain fromadducing one instance from old times which will show that it was customary tobring before the Commons even questions of agriculture, and will exhibit thekind of plea that men of those days used to rely on to defend their conduct. Gaius Furius Chresimus, a liberatedslave, was extremely unpopular because he got much larger returns from a rathersmall farm than the neighbourhood obtained from very large estates, and he wassupposed to be using magic spells to entice away other people's crops. He wasconsequently indicted by thecurule aedileSpurius Albinus; and as he was afraid he would be found guilty, when thetime came for the tribes to vote their verdict, he brought all his agriculturalimplements into court and produced his farm servants, sturdy people and alsoaccording toPiso's description welllooked after and well clad, his iron tools of excellent make, heavy mattoeks,ponderous ploughshares, and well-fed oxen. Then he said: 'These are my magicspells, citizens, and I am not able to exhibit to you or to produce in court mymidnight labours and early risings and my sweat and toil.' This procured hisacquittal by a unanimous verdict. The fact is that husbandry depends onexpenditure of labour, and this is the reason for the saying of our forefathersthat on a farm the best fertilizer is the master's eye.

The remaining rules will be given in their proper places, according asthey belong to the various kinds of agriculture. In the meantime we will notomit the principles of general application which occur to us, andparticularly that most humane and most profitable advice ofCato to do your best to win the esteemof your neighbours.Cato gives reasonsfor this advice, but for our part we imagine that nobody can doubt what thereasons are. Also one ofCato's firstpieces of advice is a warning to keep your farm hands in goodcondition. That in agriculture nothing must be done too late is a ruleuniversally held, as is a second rule that each thing must be done at its owntime, and a third that it is no use calling back lost opportunities. Themalediction uttered byCato againstrotten land has been pointed out at sufficient length; though he is never tiredof declaring that whatever can be done by means of an ass costs the leastmoney. Bracken dies in two years if you do not let it make leaf, the best way tokill it is to knock off the stalk with a stick when it is budding, as the juicetrickling down out of the fern itself kills the roots. It is also said thatferns plucked up about midsummer do not spring up again, nor do those cut with areed or ploughed up with a reed placed on the ploughshare. Similarly they alsoadvise ploughing up reed with bracken placed on the ploughshare. A field grownover with rushes should be turned up with the spade after having been firstbroken with two-pronged forks. Brushwood is best removed by setting fire to it.When land is too damp it is very useful to cut ditches through it and drain it;and in clayey places to leave the ditches open, but in looser soil to strengthenthem with hedges or let them have theft sides sloping and on a slant; and toblock up some and make them run into other larger and wider ones, and, ifopportunity offers, to pave them with flint or gravel; and to stay their mouthswith two stones, one on each side, and roof them over with another stone ontop.Democritus has put forward a methodof clearing away forest by soaking lupin-flower for one day in hemlock juice andsprinkling it on the roots of the trees.

IX. And now that the ground has been prepared, we shall proceed todescribe the nature of the various kinds of grain. There are two primaryvarieties, the cereals, such as wheat and barley, and the legumina, such as thebean and chick-pea. The difference between them is too well known to needdescription.

X. There are also two varieties of corn itself distinguished by thedifferent seasons at which they are sown: winter grains, which are sown aboutthe setting of the Pleiades and get their nourishment through the winter fromthe earth, for instance wheat and barley, and summer grains, which are sown insummer before the rising of the Pleiades, for instance common and Italian millet, gingelly, clary and winter cress: at all events this is the method of Italy. InGreece and Asia however all grains are sown after the setting of the Pleiades,while in Italy some are sown at both dates, and some of these have a thirdsowing, in spring. Some persons give the name of spring grain to common millet,Italian millet, lentils, chick-pea and groatswheat, but term bread-wheat,barley, beans and turnip autumn-sowing grains. In the class of wheat onedivision consists of fodder sown for animals, such as mixed feed, and the samealso in the leguminous plants, such as vetch; but lupine is grown for the use ofanimals and men in common.

All the leguminous plants except the bean have a single root, which has a woodysubstance because it is not divided into many branches; the chick-pea has thedeepest root. Corn has a number of fibrous roots without ramifications. Barleybursts out of the ground seven days after it is first sown, leguminousplants on the fourth day, or at latest the seventh, beans from fifteen to twentydays; in Egypt leguminous plants emerge on the third day. In barley one end ofthe grain sends out a root and the other a blade, which flowers before the othercorn; and the root shoots out from the thicker end of the grain and the flowerfrom the thinner, whereas with all other seeds both root and flower come fromthe same end.

Corn is in the blade during winter; in the spring time corn of the wintervariety shoots up into a stalk, but common and Italian millets into a knottedhollow straw, and sesame into a stalk like fennel. The fruit of all kinds ofsown grain is either contained in ears, as in the case of wheat and barley, andis protected against birds and small animals by a fence of beard, or is enclosedin pods, as with leguminous plants, or in capsules, as with gingelly and poppy.Both millets are accessible also to small birds, in what can only be calledjoint ownership with the grower, inasmuch as they are contained in thin skins,leaving them unprotected. Panic, named from its panicles or tufts, has a headthat droops languidly and a stalk that tapers gradually almost into a twig; itis heaped with very closely packed grains, with a corymb that is at its longesta foot in length. In millet the hairs embracing the seed curve over with afringed tuft. There are also varieties of panic, for instance thefull-breasted kind, clustered with small tufts growing out of the ear, and witha double point; moreover these grasses are of various colours, white, black, redand even purple. Bread of several kinds is made even from millet, but verylittle from panic; but there is no grain heavier in weight or that swells morein baking: they get sixty pounds of bread out of a peck, and a peck of porridgeout of three-sixteenths of a peck soaked in water. A millet has been introducedinto Italy from India within the last ten years that is of a black colour, witha large grain and a stalk like that of a reed. It grows to seven feet in height,with very large hairsthey are called the maneand is the most prolific of allkinds of corn, one grain producing three-sixteenths of a peck. It should be sownin damp ground.

Some kinds of grain begin to form the ear at the third joint of the stalk andsome at the fourth, but it still remains concealed. Wheat a hasfour articulations in each stalk, emmer six and barley eight; but the ear doesnot begin to form before the above-mentioned number of articulations iscomplete; when this has given signs of occurring, in four or at latest five daysthey begin to blossom, and after the same number of days or a few more theyfinish flowering; but with barley this happens in seven days at latest.Varro states that the grains are fullyformed in thirty-six days and are ready for reaping after eight months.

Beans shoot out into leaves and then throw out a stalk which is divided by nojoints. The rest of the leguminous plants are tough and woody. Some of themare branchingthe chick-pea, the bitter vetch and the lentil. In some thestems spread along the ground if they are not propped up, but peas climb ifgiven a prop, or else they deteriorate. The bean is the only one of theleguminous plants that has a single stem; the lupine also has only one but itdoes not stand up straight, all the others having branches with a very thinwoody stalk, but all of them hollow. Some send out a leaf from the root, somefrom the top, for instance wheat and barley. Each of these and all the plantsthat make straw have one leaf at the topthough barley leaves are rough andthose of the rest smoothwhereas the bean, the chick-pea and the pea aremany-leaved. In corn the leaf is like that of a reed; those of the bean and alarge part of the leguminous plants are round; those of the fitch and the pearather long, that of calavance veined, that of sesame and winter cress thecolour of blood. Only the lapin and the poppy shed their leaves. Leguminousplants remain longer in flower, and among them more particularly the fitch andthe chick-pea, but longest of all the bean, which flowers for forty days, thoughthe single stalks do not keep their flowers so long, since when one goes offanother begins, nor does the whole crop flower at the same time, as with corn,but all the pods form on different days, the blossom starting first at thebottom and rising gradually.

When cereals have finished flowering, theygradually swell and ripen in 40 days at most, and the same is the case with thebean, but the chick-pea ripens in the fewest days, as it is completely ready in40 days from sowing. Millet (common and Italian) and gingelly and all thesummer grains ripen within 40 days of blossoming, although with considerabledifferences due to soil and weather; for in Egypt barley is reaped in the sixthmonth after sowing and wheat in the seventh, while in Greece barley is cut inthe seventh month and in the Peloponnese in the eighth, and wheat even later.Grains growing on a stalk form ears with a texture like a tuft of hairs; inbeans and leguminous plants the grains are in pods shooting on each sidealternately. Cereals are stronger to withstand winter, but the leguminous plantsprovide a more substantial article of food.

In wheat the grain has several coats, but barley and good emmer wheat arelargely naked, and the oat is especially so. Wheat has a taller stalk thanbarley, but barley has a more prickly ear. Hard wheat, common wheat and barleyare threshed on a threshing floor; thus they are also sown without the husk,just as they are milled, because they are not dried first. On the other handemmer wheat, and common and Italian millet cannot be freed of husk until theyhave been dried, and consequently these grains are sown unthreshed, with theirhusks on. People also keep emmer in its little husks for sowing, and do not dryit by heat.

XI. Of these grains the lightest is barley, which rarely exceeds fifteenpounds to the peck, and beans twenty-two pounds. Emmer is heavier and wheatheavier still. In Egypt they make flour out of olyra, a third kind of corn thatgrows there. The Gallic provinces have also produced a special kind of emmer,the local name for which isbracê, while with us it is calledscandala; it hasa very glossy grain. There is also another difference in that it gives aboutfour corn used by the Roman nation for 300 years.

XII. There are several kinds of wheat that have been produced byvarious races. For my own part I should not rank any of them with Italian wheatfor whiteness and for weight, for which it is particularly distinguished.Foreign wheat can only be compared with that of the mountain regions of Italy;among foreign kinds Boeotia has obtained the first rank, then Sicily, and afterthat Africa. The third place for weight used to belong to Thracian and Syrianwheat and later also to Egyptian, by the vote of athletes in those days, whosecapacity for cereals, resembling that of cattle, had established the order ofmerit that we have stated. Greece also gave praise to wheat from Pontus, whichdid not get through to Italy; but of all the varieties of grain Greece gave thepreference to dracontias, strangias and the wheat of Scinnnte,recognized by the thickness of the straw, because of which it used to countthese kinds as appropriate for a rich soil. For sowing in damp soils Greeceprescribed spendias, a very light and extremely scanty-growing grain with a verythin stalk, because it required a great deal of nourishment. These were theopinions held in the reign ofAlexander theGreat, when Greece was most famous and the most powerful state in thewhole world, although nevertheless about 145 years before his death the poetSophocles in his play Triptolemus praised Italian cornbefore all other kinds, in the phrase of which a literal translation is'And that happy Italy glows white with bright white wheat'; and also today theItalian wheat is especially distinguished for whiteness, which makes it moresurprising to me that the later Greeks have made no mention of this corn.

At the present the lightest in weight among the kinds of wheat imported to Romeis the wheat Gaul, and that brought from the Chersonese, as theydo not exceed twenty pounds a peck, if one weighs the grain by itself. Sardiniangrain adds half a pound to this figure, and Alexandrian a third of a poundmorethis is also the weight of Sicilian wheatwhile that of Southern Spainscores a whole pound more and that of Africa a pound and three-quarters. InItaly north of the Po the peck of emmer to my knowledge weighs 25 pounds, and inthe Chiusi neighbourhood even 26 pounds. It is a fixed law of nature that in anykind of commissariat bread a third part is added in the making to the weight ofthe grain, just as that the best wheat is that which absorbs three quarts ofwater into the peck of grain kneaded. Some kinds of grain used by themselvesgive their full weight, for instance a peck of Balearic wheat produces 35 poundsof bread, but some only do so when blendedfor example, Cyprian wheat andAlexandrian, which used by themselves do not go beyond 20 pounds a peck. Cypruswheat is of a dusky colour and makes black bread, and consequently the whiteAlexandrian is mixed with it, and that gives 25 pounds of bread to the peck. Thewheat of the Thebaid in Egypt makes a pound more. To knead the flour with seawater, which they frequently do in seaside places for the sake of economizingsalt, is extremely inexpedient, as there is nothing else that renders the bodymore liable to disease. When the corn of Gaul and Spain of the kinds we havestated is steeped to make beer the foam that forms on the surface in the processis used for leaven, in consequence of which those races have a lighter kind ofbread than others. There is also a difference in the stalk, that of the bettersort of grain being thicker. Thracian wheat is clothed with a great many husks,which is necessary for that region because of the excessive frosts. The samereason has also led to the discovery of a three-month wheat, because the snowholds back the ground; it is reaped about three months after sowing, at the sametime as wheat is harvested in the rest of the world. This wheat is known allover the Alps, and in the provinces with cold climates no corn flourishes betterthan this; moreover it has a single stem and in no region holds much grain, andit is never sown except in a thin soil. There is actually a two-month variety inthe neighbourhood of Aenus in Thrace, which begins to ripen six weeks after itis sown; and it is surprising that no corn weighs heavier, and that it producesno bran. It is also used in Sicily and Achaia, in both cases in mountaindistricts, and in Euboea in the neighbourhood of Garystus. So greatly isColumella mistaken in his opinion thateven three-month wheat is not a distinct variety, although it is of extremeantiquity. The Greeks call itsetanion. It is said that in Bactria the grains ofwheat grow so large that a single grain is as big as our ears of corn.

XIII. The one sown first of all the cereals is barley. Afterexplaining the nature of each variety we will also give the date for sowing.India has both cultivated and wild barley, and from it the natives make theirbest bread, and also porridge. Their favourite grain is however rice, of whichthey make a drink like the barley-water made by the rest of mankind. Rice leavesare fleshy, resembling leek but broader; the plant is 18 inches high, with apurple blossom and a root of a round shape like a precious stone.

XIV. Barley is the oldest among human foods, as is proved by the Athenianceremony recorded byMenander,and by the name given to gladiators, who used to be called 'barley-men'. Alsothe Greeks prefer it to any other grain for porridge. There are several ways ofmaking barley porridge: the Greeks soak some barley in water and then leave itfor a night to dry, and next day dry it by the fire and then grind it in a mill.Some after roasting it more thoroughly sprinkle it again with a small amount ofwater and dry it before milling; others however shake the young barley out ofthe ears while green, clean it and while it is wet pound it in a mortar, andwash it of husk in baskets and then dry it in the sun and again pound it, cleanit and grind it. But whatever kind of barley is used, when it has been gotready, in the mill they mix in three pounds of flax seed, half a pound ofcoriander seed, and an eighth of a pint of salt, previously roasting them all.Those who want to keep it for some time in store put it away in new earthenwarejars with fine flour and its own bran. Italians bake it without steeping it inwater and grind it into fine meal, with the addition of the same ingredients andmillet as well.

XV. Barley bread was much used in earlier days, but has been condemned byexperience, and barley is now mostly fed to animals, although the consumption ofbarley-water is proved so conclusively to be very conducive to strengthand health: Hippocrates, one of the most famous authorities on medical science,has devoted one whole book to its praises. Utica barley-water is of outstandingquality. There is a kind in Egypt made of the double-pointed grain. The kind ofbarley used for making this drink in Andalusia and Africa is called by Turraniussmooth barley. The same authority is of opinion that alpaca and oryza(rice) are the same plant. The recipe for making barley-water is universallyknown.

XVI. Hulled-wheat grain is used in a similar way for making pap,at all events in Campania and in Egypt;

XVII. and starch is made from, every kind of wheat and common wheat,but the best from three-month wheat. For its discovery we are indebted tothe island of Chios, and that is where the best kind comes from today. Its nameis Greek, and means 'made without milling'. Next to the starch made fromthree-month wheat is the kind made of the lightest sort of wheat. This is soakedwith fresh water in wooden tubs, with the grain completely covered, the waterbeing changed five times in the course of a day, and preferably in the nighttime as well, so as to get it mixed up evenly with the grain. When it is quitesoft but before it goes sour it is strained through linen or wicker baskets andpoured out on a tiled surface that has been smeared with leaven, and left tothicken in the sun. Next to the starch of Chios that from Crete is most highlyspoken of; and then comes the Egyptian kind. The test of its quality is smoothconsistency and light weight, and the condition of being flesh. It has moreoverbeen mentioned already byCato amongourselves.

XVIII. Barley meal is used as a medicine, and it is remarkable how intreating cattle pills made of it after it has been hardened by roastingat the fire and afterwards ground, sent down into the animal's stomach by thehuman hand, serve to increase the strength and enlarge the muscles of the body.Some ears of barley have two rows of grains and some more, up to as many as six.In the grain itself there are some varieties: it is longer and smoother orshorter and rounder, lighter or darker in colour, the kind with a purple shadebeing of a rich consistency for porridge; the light-coloured grain offers theweakest resistance to storms. Barley is the softest of all the grains. It likesto be sown only in a dry, loose soil, which must also be of rich quality. Itschaff is one of the best, indeed for straw there is none that compares with it.Barley is the least liable to damage of all corn, because it is harvested beforethe wheat is attacked by mildew (and so wise farmers only sow wheat for thelarder, whereas barley is sown by the sack, as the saying is), and consequentlyit brings in a return very quickly; and the most prolific kind is the barleyharvested at Carthage in Spain in the month of April. In Celtiberia this barleyis sown in the same month, and there are two crops in the same year. All barleyis cut sooner than any other grain, as soon as it first ripens, because thegrain is carried on a brittle straw and contained in a very thin chaff. Moreoverwe are told that it makes better pearl-barley if it is lifted before itsripening has been completed.

XIX. Varieties of wheat are not the same everywhere, and where they arethe same they do not always bear the same names. The most widely known of themand the most prevalent are emmer (the old name for which was adoreum), commonwheat and hard wheatthese are common to most countries. Ariaca wheatwhich is indigenous in the Gallic provinces is also frequent in Italy; whilezea, olyra, and 'rice' or tiphe are only found in Egypt,Syria, Cilicia and Asia and Greece. Egypt makes a prime flour out of its ownwheat, but it by no means matches that of Italy. The places that use sea havenot got our emmer. Zea also is found in Italy, particularly in Campania, and iscalled 'seed'; it has that name as being a remarkable thing, as we shall soonexplain, which is the reason forHomer'sexpression zeidoros aroura, 'the tilth that gives us sea'it isnot on account of its 'bestowing life', as some people think. Starch of acoarser quality than the kind mentioned before but otherwise identical is madefrom it. Emmer is the most hardy of every kind and the one that resists winterbest. It stands the coldest localities and those that are under-cultivated orextremely hot and dry. It was the first food of the Latium of old times, astrong proof of this being found in the offerings of adoria, as we have said. Itis clear however that for a long time the Romans lived on pottage, not onbread, since even today foodstuffs are also called 'pulmentaria', and Ennius,the oldest of our bards, describing a famine during a siege, recalls howfathers snatched away a morsel from their crying children. Even nowadaysprimitive rituals and birthday sacrifices are performed with gruel-pottage; andit appears that pottage was as much unknown to Greece as pearl-barley was toRome.

XX. No grain is greedier than wheat or draws more nourishment out of thesoil. Common wheat may properly designate the choicest variety, whether inwhiteness or goodness or weight. It is suitable for moist districts like thosein Italy and Gallia Comata, but across the Alps it only keeps its character inthe territory of Savoy and Reims, while in the other parts of that country itchanges in two years into ordinary wheat. The cure for this is to select itsheaviest grains for sowing. Common wheat flour makes bread of the highestquality and the most famous pastry. The top place in Italy is taken by a mixtureof Campanian common wheat flour with that grown at Pisa, the former beingreddish but the chalk-like Pisa variety whiter and heavier. A fair yield fromthe Campanian grain called 'bolted' is to give four sixteenths of fine flour tothe peck, or from what is called common grain, not bolted, five sixteenths, aswell as half a peck of fine flour and four sixteenths of the coarse meal called'seconds', and the same amount of bran; whereas Pisa wheat should give foursixteenths of prime flour, while of the other kinds the yield is the same. The wheats of Chiusi and Arezzo give an additional sixteenth of prime flour, but inthe remaining qualities they are on a level. If however it is wished to makespecial flour, the return is sixteen pounds of bread and three pecks of secondsand half a peck of bran. This depends on different methods of milling; forgrain. ground when dry gives more flour, but if sprinkled with salt water itmakes a whiter meal, but keeps more back in the bran. The name for flour,farina, is obviously derived from far, emmer. A peck offlour made of Gaulle conmion wheat gives 20 pounds of bread, that of the Italiankind two or three pounds more, in the case of bread baked in a tinfor loavesbaked in the oven they add two pounds in either kind of wheat.

'Hard' flour is made from hard wheat, the most highly esteemed coming fromAfrica. A fair return is half a peck from a peck with five sixteenths of specialflourthat is the name given in the case of hard wheat to what in common wheatis called the 'flower'; this is used in copper works and paper millsand inaddition four sixteenths of second quality flour and the same amount of bran,but from a peek of 'hard' flour 22 pounds of bread and from a peck of flower ofwheat 16 pounds. The price for this when the market rate is moderate is 40asses a peek for flour, 8 asses more for 'hard' flour and twice asmuch for bolted common wheat. There is also another distinction, that whenbolted a single time it gives 17 pounds of bread, when twice 18, when threetimes 19⅓, and 2½ pounds of second quality bread, the same amount of shorts andsix sixteenths of bran.

Common wheat never ripens evenly, and yet no corn crop is less able to standdelay as, owing to its delicacy of structure, the ears that have ripened shedtheir grain at once. But it is less exposed to danger in the straw than othercereals, because it always has the ear on a straight stalk and it does not holddew to cause rust. Best emmer makes the sweetest bread; the grain itself is ofcloser fibre than ordinary emmer and the ear is at once larger and heavier: apeck of the grain seldom fails to make 16 pounds. In Greece it is difficult tothresh and consequentlyHomer speaks ofit as being fed to cattlefor his word olyra means this grain; but on theother hand in Egypt it is easy to thresh and gives a good yield. Emmer has nobeard, nor has common wheat, excepting the kind called Laconian. With these arealso to be classedbromos andtragos, entirely foreign grains, resembling riceimported from the east. Tiphe itself also belongs to the same classthegrain from which a rice is produced in our part of the world. With the Greeksthere is also zea, and according to their account that grain and tiphedegenerate and go back to wheat, if they are sown after being ground, thoughnot at once, but two years later.

XXI. Nothing is more prolific than wheatNature having given it thisattribute because it used to be her principal means of nourishingmaninasmuch as a peck of wheat, given suitable soil like that of the Byzaciamplain in Africa, produces a yield of 150 pecks. The deputy governor of thatregion sent to his late MajestyAugustusalmostincredible as it seemsa parcel of very nearly 400 shoots obtained from a singlegrain as seed, and there are still in existence despatches relating to thematter. He likewise sent toNero also360 stalks obtained from one grain. At all events the plains of Lentini andother districts in Sicily, and the whole of Andalusia, and particularly Egyptreproduce at the rate of a hundredfold. The most prolific kinds of wheat arebranched wheat and what they call hundred-grain wheat. Also a single beanstalkhas before now been found laden with a hundred beans.

XXII. We have specified gingelly and common and Italian millets as summergrains. Gingelly comes from India, where it is also used for making oil; thecolour of the grain is white. A grain that resembles it in Asia and Greece iserysimum, and the grain called with us irio would be identical withit were it not that it is more filled out, and is to be reckoned as a drugrather than a cereal. Of the same nature is also the irio called in Greecehorminum, though it resembles cummin; it is sown with gingelly. No animal willeat either this or irio while green.

XXIII. Not all grains are easy to crush, infact Etruria pounds the ears of emmer, after it has been roasted, with a pestleshod with iron at the end, in a handmill that is serrated and denticulatedinside with grooves radiating from a centre, so that if people put their weightinto it while pounding the grains are only splintered up and the iron is broken.The greater part of Italy uses a bare pestle, and also wheels turned by movingwater, and a millstone. As to the actual method of pounding corn we will putforward the opinion ofMago: he saysthat wheat should be steeped in a quantity of water beforehand, and afterwardsshelled of husk and then dried in the sun and well pounded in a mortar; andbarley should be treated in a similar way; of the latter, he says, 20 sixteenthsshould be wetted with two sixteenths of water. Lentils must be roasted first andthen mixed with bran and lightly pounded, or with a fragment of unbaked brickand half a peck of sand added to each 20 sixteenths. Fitch to be treated in thesame ways as lentils. Gingelly to be steeped in warm water and spread out, andthen rubbed well and dipped in cold water so that the chaff may float to thetop, and again spread out in the sun on a linen sheet; and if this is not donevery quickly it turns musty with a livid colour. Also there are various methodsof pounding the grains themselves which are cleaned of husk. When only the earis pounded by itself, to be used by goldsmiths, it is called flakes, but if itis beaten out on a threshing-floor together with the straw it is called chaff;this in the larger part of the world is used as fodder for cattle. The refusefrom millet, panic and gingelly is calledapluda, and by other names in otherplaces.

XXIV. Millet flourishes particularly well in Campania, where it is usedfor making a white porridge; it also makes extremely sweet bread. Moreover theSarmatian tribes live chiefly on millet porridge, and even on the raw meal,mixed with mare's milk or with blood taken from the weins in a horse's leg.Millet and barley are the only grains known to the Ethiopians.

XXV. The provinces of Gaul, and particularly Aquitaine, also use panic,and so also do the parts of Italy on the banks of the Po, thoughadding to it beans without water. The races of the Black Sea prefer panic to anyother food. All the other kinds of summer corn flourish even better in landwatered by streams than in rainy districts, but millet and panic are not at allfond of water, as it makes them to leaves. People advise not growing them amongvines or fruit trees, as they believe that this crop impoverishes the soil.

XXVI. Millet is specially used for making leaven; if dipped inunfermented wine and kneaded it will keep for a whole year. A similar leaven isobtained by kneading and drying in the sun the best fine bran of the wheatitself, after it has been steeped for three days in unfermented white wine. Inmaking bread cakes made of this are soaked in water and boiled with prime flourof emmer and then mixed with the flour, this processbeing thought to produce the beat bread. The Greeks have decided that two-thirdsof an ounce of leaven is enough for every two half-pecks of flour. Moreoverthough these kinds of leaven can only be made in the vintage season, it ispossible at any time one chooses to make leaven from water and barley, makingtwo-pound cakes and baking them in ashes and charcoal on a hot hearth or anearthenware dish till they turn brown, and afterwards keeping them shut up invessels till they go sour; then soaked in water they produce leaven. But whenbarley bread used to be made, the actual barley was leavened with flour ofbitter vetch or chickeling; the proper amount was two pounds of leaven to everytwo and a half pecks of barley. At the present time leaven is made out of theflour itself, which is kneaded before salt is added to it and is then boileddown into a kind of porridge and left till it begins to go sour. Generallyhowever they do not heat it up at all, but only use the dough kept over from theday before; manifestly it is natural for sourness to make the dough ferment, andlikewise that people who live on fermented bread have weaker bodies, inasmuch asin old days outstanding wholesomeness was ascribed to wheat the heavier it was.

XXVII. As for bread itself it appearssuperfluous to give an account of its various kindsin some places bread calledafter the dishes eaten with it, such as oyster-bread, in others from its specialdelicacy, as cake-bread, in others from the short time spent in making it, ashasty-bread, and also from the method of baking, as oven bread or tin loaf orbaking-pan bread; while not long ago there was even bread imported from Parthia,called water bread because by means of water it is drawn out into a thin spongyconsistency full of holes; others call it just Parthian bread. The highest meritdepends on the goodness of the wheat and the fineness of the bolter. Some useeggs or milk in kneading the dough, while even butter has been used by racesenjoying peace, when attention can be devoted to the varieties of pastry-making.The Ancona country still retains the popularity it won in the invention of breadfrom using spelt as the material; this bread is steeped for nine days and on thetenth day they knead it up with raisin juice into the shape of a long roll andafterwards put it in earthenware pots and bake it in ovens, the pots breaking inthe process. It is not used for food unless it has been soaked, for whichchiefly milk or honey-water is employed.

XXVIII. There were no bakers at Rome down to the war with KingPerseus, [171-168 BC] over 580 yearsafter the foundation of the city. The citizens used to make breadthemselves, and this was especially the task of the women, as it is even now inmost nations.Plautus already speaks ofbakers, using the Greek word, in his play namedAulularia, which has caused greatdebate among the learned as to the authenticity of the line, and it isproved by the expression occurring in Ateius Capito that it was in his day usualfor bread to be baked for more luxurious people by cooks, and only those whoground spelt were called 'grinders'; nor used people to have cooks ontheir regular staff of servants, but they hired them from the provision market.The Gallic provinces invented the kind of bolter noade of horse-hair, whileSpain made sieves and meal-sifters of flax, and Egypt of papyrus and rush.

XXIX. But among the first things let us give a recipe for alica, a veryexcellent and healthy food, by means of which Italy has undoubtedly won the palmfor cereals. It is no doubt also made in Egypt, but of a rather contemptiblequality, whereas in Italy it occurs in a number of places, for instance in thedistricts of Verona and Pisa, but the most highly recommended variety inCampania. There beneath cloud-capped mountains lies a plain extending in all forabout 40 miles on the level. The ground of this plain, to begin by stating thenature of the soil, being dusty on the surface but spongy underneath and alsoporous like pumice, what is a fault in mountain country turns into an advantage,as the earth allows the frequent rainfall to percolate and passes it through,and so as to facilitate cultivation has refused to become soaked or swampy,while at the same time it does not give back the moisture it receives by anysprings, but warms it up inside itself to a moderate temperature and retains itas a kind of juice. The land is in crop all the year round, being sown once withItalian millet and twice with emmer wheat; and yet in spring the fields havinghad an interval of rest produce a rose with a sweeter scent than the gardenrose, so far is the earth never tired of giving birth; hence there is a commonsaying that the Campanians produce more scent than other people do oil. But asthe Campanian plain surpasses all the lands of the world, so in the same degreeis Campania itself surpassed by the part of it called Leboriae, and by theGreeks the Phlegraean Plain. This district is bounded on either side by consularroads That run from Pozzuoli and from Cumae to Capua.Alica is made from 'zea'which we have already called by the name of 'seed'. Its grain is pounded in awooden mortar so as to avoid the hardness of stone grating it up, themotive power for the pestle, as is well known, being supplied by the labour ofconvicts in chains; on the end of the pestle there is a cap of iron. After thegrain has been stripped of its coats, the bared kernel is again broken up withthe same implements. The process produces three grades of alicavery small,seconds, and the largest kind which is called in Greek 'select grade'. Stillthese products have not yet got their whiteness for which they aredistinguished, though even at this stage they are preferable to theAlexandrian alica. In a subsequent process, marvellous to relate, an admixtureof chalk is added, which passes into the substance of the grain and contributescolour and fineness. The chalk is found at a place called White Earth Hill,between Pozzuoli and Naples, and there is extant a decree of his late MajestyAugustus ordering a yearly payment of200,000 sesterces from his privy purse to the people of Naples as rent for thishillthe occasion was when he was establishing a colony at Capua; and he addedthat his reason for importing this material was that the Campanians had statedthat alica could not be made without that mineral. (In the same hill sulphur isalso found, and the springs of the Araxus which issue from it are efficaciousfor improving the sight, healing wounds and strengthening the teeth.)

A spurious alica is manufactured chiefly from an inferior kind of sea growing inAfrica, the ears of which are larger and blacker and on a short stalk. These aremixed with sand and pounded, and even so there is a difficulty in rubbing offthe husks, and only half the quantity of naked grain is produced; and afterwardsa quarter the amount of white lime is sprinkled into the grain, and when thishas stuck together with it they bolt it through a flour-sieve. The grain thatstays behind in the sieve is called residuary and is the largest in size. Thatwhich goes though is sifted again in a finer sieve, and is called seconds, andlikewise the name of sieve-flour is given to that which in a similar mannerstays behind in a third extremely fine sieve that only lets grains like sandthrough. There is another method of adulteration which is everywhere used: theypick out from wheat the whitest and largest grains, half boil them in pots andafterwards dry them in the sun to half their former size and then again lightlysprinkle them with water and crush them in a mill. A more attractive kind ofgroats calledtragum is made from zea than from other wheat,although it is in fact merely a spurious alica; but it is given whiteness by anadmixture of milk boiled in it instead of chalk.

XXX. The next subject is the nature of the leguminous plants, among whichthe highest place of honour belongs to the beau, inasmuch as the experimenthas been made of using it for making bread. Bean meal is called lomentum, and itis used in bread made for sale to increase the weight, as is meal made from allthe leguminous plants, and nowadays even cattle fodder. Beans are used in avariety of ways for all kinds of beasts and especially for man. With mostnations it is also mixed with corn, and most of all with panic, for this purposeit is either used whole or broken up rather fine. Moreover in ancient ritualbean pottage has a sanctity of its own in sacrifice to the gods. It occupies ahigh place as a delicacy for the table, but it was thought to have a dullingeffect on the senses, and also to cause sleeplessness, and it was under a banwith thePythagorean system on thataccountor, as others have reported, because the souls of the dead are containedin a bean, and at all events it is for that reason that beans are employed inmemorial sacrifices to dead relatives. Moreover according to Varro's account it is partly for thesereasons that a priest abstains from eating beans, though also because certainletters of gloomy omen are to be found inscribed on a bean-flower. There is alsoa special religious sanctity attached to the bean; at all events it is thecustom to bring home from the harvest a bean by way of an auspice, this beingconsequently called the harvest-home bean. Also it is supposed to bring luck atauctions if a bean is included in a lot for sale. It is undoubtedly the casethat the bean is the only grain that even when it has been grazed down by cattlefills out again when the moon is waxing. It cannot be thoroughly boiled in seawater or other water with salt in it.

The bean is sown first of the leguminous plants,before the setting of the Pleiades, so that it may get ahead of winter.Virgil advises sowing it all through thespring, as is the custom of Italy near the river Po, but the majority of peopleprefer bean crops of early sowing to the produce of three months' growth, forthe pods and stalks of beans sown early make the most acceptable fodder forcattle. When the bean is in flower it particularly wants water, but when it hasshed its blossom it only needs little. It serves instead of stable manure tofertilize the ground it is grown in; consequently in the districts of Macedonand Thessaly when it begins to blossom the farmers plough up the fields. It alsogrows wild in most places, for example the islands of the North Sea, for whichour name is consequently the Bean Islands, and it also grows wild all overMauretania, though this bean is very hard and incapable of being cooked. It alsogrows in Egypt, where it has a thorny stalk which makes the crocodiles keep awayfrom it for fear of injuring their eyes. The stalk is two yards long at most andthe thickness of a finger: if it had knots in it, it would be like a soft reed;it has a head like a poppy, is rose-coloured, and bears not more than thirtybeans on each stalk; the leaves are large; the actual fruit is bitter even insmell, but the root is a very popular article of diet with the natives, and iseaten raw and cooked in every sort of way; it resembles the roots of reeds. TheEgyptian bean also grows in Syria and Cilicia, and at the Lake of Torone inChalcidice.

XXXI. Vegetables sown in autumn or spring are the lentil and in Greecethe pea. The lentil likes a thin soil better than a rich one, and in any case adry climate. Egypt has two kinds of lentil, one rounder and blacker, the otherthe normal shape, which has given the name of lenticle applied to small flasks.I find it stated in writers that a lentil diet conduces to an equable temper.Peas must be sown in sunny places, as they stand cold very badly; consequentlyin Italy and in severer climates they are only sown in spring, in yielding soilthat has been well loosened.

XXXII. It is the nature of the chick-pea to contain an element of saltness, and consequently it scorches the soil, and ought not to be sownwithout having been soaked the day before. There are several varieties differingin size, colour, shape and flavour. One resembles a ram's head and so is called'ram's chick-pea'; of this there is a black variety and a white one. There isalso the dove-pea, another name for which is Venus's pea, bright white, round,smooth and smaller than the ram's chick-pea; it is used by religious ritual inwatch-night services. There is also the chickling vetch, belonging to adiminutive variety of chick-pea, uneven in shape and with corners like a pea.But the chick-pea with the sweetest taste is one that closely resembles thebitter vetch; the black and red varieties of this are firmer than the white.

XXXIII. The chick-pea has round pods, whereas those of other leguminousplants are long, and broad to fit the shape of the seed; the pod of the pea iscylindrical. The pods of calavance are eaten with the seeds themselves.They may be sown in any ground you like from the middle of October to thebeginning of November. Leguminous plants ought to be plucked as soon as theybegin to ripen, because the seeds quickly jump out and when they have fallen onthe ground cannot be found; and the same as regards lupine. Nevertheless itwould be proper to speak first about the turnip,

XXXIV. (authors of our nation have only touched on it in passing,but the Greeks have dealt with it rather more carefully, although even they haveplaced it among kitchen-garden plants), if we are to follow the proper order, asthe turnip should be mentioned directly after corn or at all events after thebean, since its utility surpasses that of any other plant. For to begin with itgrows as fodder for all animals, nor is it the lowest in rank among herbs tosatisfy the needs of the various kinds of birds as well, and the more so if itis well boiled in water. Cattle also are fond of its leaves, even man esteeming turnip tops when in season no less than cabbage sprouts, also liking them whenthey are yellow and have been left to die in barns even more than when green.But turnip itself keeps if left in the earth where it grows, and also afterwardsif left spread out, almost till the next crop comes, and it serves as aprecaution against scarcity of food. It ranks third after wine and corn amongthe products of the country north of the Po. It is not particular in its choiceof soil, growing where almost nothing else can be grown. It actually thrives onmist and frost and cold, growing to a marvellous size: I have seen turnipsweighing over 40 pounds. Among our own articles of diet it is popularized byseveral modes of dressing, and it holds the field for salads when subdued by thepungency of mustard, and is actually stained six different colours beside itsown, even purple: indeed that is the only suitable colour served at table. TheGreeks have produced two primary classes of turnip, the male and the female, andhave shown a way of growing both from the same seed, as they turn male when sownmore thickly, and also in difficult ground. The smaller the seed is the betterits quality. The Greeks distinguish in all three kinds of turnip, as it eitherspreads out into breadth or makes a round ball, while a third kind they havenamed wild turnip, with a root running out to a great length like a radish, andan angular leaf with a rough surface and an acid juice which if extracted atharvest time and mixed with a woman's milk makes an eyewash and a cure for dimsight. They are believed to grow sweeter and bigger in cold weather; warmweather makes them run to leaves. The prize goes to turnip grown in the Norciadistrictit is priced at a sesterce per pound, and at two sesterces in a time ofscarcityand the next to those grown on Monte Compatri:

XXXV. but the prize for navews goes to those grown at San Vettorino.Navews have almost the same nature as turnips: they are equally fond of coldplaces. They are sown even before the first of March, 4 sixteenths of a peck inan acre. The more careful growers recommend ploughing five times before sowingnavew and four times for turnip, and manuring the ground in both cases; and theysay that turnip grows a finer crop if the seed is ploughed in with some chaff.They advise that the sower should strip for the work, and should offer a prayerin the words, 'I sow for myself and my neighbours.' For both these kinds sowingis properly done between the holidays of two deities, Neptune and Vulcan, and asa result of careful observation it is said that these seeds give a wonderfullyfine crop if they are sown on a day that is as many days after the beginning ofthe period specified as the moon was old when the first snow fell in thepreceding winter. In warm and damp localities turnip and navew are also sown inspring.

XXXVI. The next most extensively used plant is the lupine, as itis shared by men and hoofed quadrupeds in common. To prevent its escaping thereapers by jumping out of the pod the best remedy is to gather it immediatelyafter rain. And of all crops sown none has a more remarkable quality ofsensitiveness to the heavenly bodies and the soil. In the first place it turnsround every day with the sun, and tells the time to the husbandman even incloudy weather. Moreover it blossoms three times and buds three times; all thesame, it does not like to be covered with earth, and it is the only seed that issown without the ground being ploughed. It requires most of all a gravelly anddry and even sandy soil, and in any case needs no cultivation. It has such alove for the earth that when it falls on soil however much overgrown withbriars it penetrates among leaves and brambles and gets through with its root tothe ground.

We have stated that fields and vineyards are enriched by a crop of lupines; andthus it has so little need for manure that it serves instead of manure of thebest quality, and there is no other crop that costs no expenditure at allseeingthat it does not require carrying to the spot even for the purpose of sowing: itsows itself directly from the crop, and does not even need to be scattered,falling on the ground of its own accord. And it is the earliest of all crops tobe sown and the latest to be carried, both operations generally taking place inSeptember, because if it does not grow ahead of winter it is liable to sufferfrom frost. Moreover it can be left just lying on the ground with impunity, asit is protected from all animals by its bitter flavour if a fall of rain doesnot occur immediately so as to cover it up; although nevertheless growersusually cover it up in a light furrow. Among thicker soils it likes red earthbest; to enrich this it must be turned up after the plant has blossomed threetimes, but when planted in gravel the soil must be turned after every secondblossoming. The only kinds of soil it positively dislikes are chalky and muddysoils, and in these it comes to nothing. It is used as a food for mankind aswell after being steeped in hot water; as for cattle, a peck per head of stockmakes ample and strength-giving feed, while it is also used medicinally forchildren as a poultice on the stomach. It suits the seed best to be stored in asmoky place, as in a damp place maggots attack the germ and reduce it tosterility. If lupine is grazed off by cattle while in leaf, the only thing to bedone is to plough it in at once.

XXXVII. Vetch also enriches the soil, and it too vets. entails no labourfor the farmer, as it is sown after only one furrowing, and it is not hoed ormanured, but only harrowed in. There are three seasons for sowing itabout thetime of the setting of Arcturus, so that it may provide pasture in Decemberatthat date it is best sown for seed, for it bears seed just as well when grazeddown; the second sowing is in January, and the last in March, which is the bestcrop for providing green fodder. Of all crops sown vetch is the one that isfondest of a dry soil; it does not dislike even shady localities. If it ispicked when ripe, its grain supplies chaff that is preferred to all others. Ifsown in a vineyard planted with trees it takes away the juice from the vines andmakes them droop.

XXXVIII. The fitch also is not difficult to cultivate. This needs weedingmore than the vetch; and it too has medicinal properties, indeed the fact thathis late MajestyAugustus was cured byit stands on record in his own letters. Five pecks of seed are enough for oneyoke of oxen in a day. It is said to be injurious to oxen if sown in March andto cause cold in the head if sown in autumn, but sowing it in early spring makesit harmless.

XXXIX. Silicia or fenugreek also is sown after a mere scratchingof the ground, in a furrow not more than four inches deep, and the worse it istreated the better it comes ona singular proposition that there is somethingthat is benefited by neglect; however the kinds called black spelt and cattlemash need harrowing, but no more.

XL. The name for secale in the subalpine district of Turin isasia; it is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation; its stalkcarries a large head but is a thin straw; it is of a dark sombre colour, andexceptionally heavy. Wheat is mixed in with this to mitigate its bitter taste,and all the same, it is very unacceptable to the stomach even so. It grows inany sort of soil with a hundred-fold yield, and serves of itself to enrich theland.

XLI. Cattle-mash obtained from the refuse of wheat is sown very thick,occasionally with an admixture of vetch as well. In Africa the same mash isobtained from barley. All of these plants serve as fodder, and so does thethrowback of the leguminous class, of plant called wild vetch, which pigeonsare so fond of that they are said never to leave a place where they have beenfed on it.

XLII. In old times there was a kind of fodder whichCato callsocinum, used to stop scouringin oxen. This was got from a crop of fodder cut green before it seeded.Mamilius Sura gives another meaning tothe name, and records that the old practice was to mix ten pecks of bean, two ofvetch and the same of fitch for each acre of land and sow this mixture inautumn, preferably with some Greek oats mixed in as well, as this doesnot drop its seed; he says that the usual name for this mixture was ocinum, andthat it used to be grown for cattle.Varroexplains the name as due to its rapid growth, deriving it from the Greek wordfor 'quickly'.

XLIII. Lucerne is foreign even to Greece, having been imported from Mediaduring the Persian invasions underDarius[492-450 B.C.]; but so great a bounty deserves mention even among the first ofthe grains, since from a single sowing it will last more than thirty years. Instalk and leaf it resembles trefoil, being jointed, and as the stalk riseshigher the leaves become narrower. Amphilochus devoted one volume to lucerne andtree-medick. The land for it to be sown in is broken in autumn after beingcleared of stones and weeded, and is afterwards ploughed over and harrowed andthen covered with chalk, the process being repeated a second and a third timeat intervals of five days, and after the addition of manureit requires a dryand rich soil or else a well-watered oneand after the land has been thusprepared the seed is sown in May, as otherwise it is liable to damage fromfrost. It is necessary for the whole plot to be occupied with closely sown seed,and for weeds shooting up in between to be debarredthis is secured by sowingthree modii to the acreand care must be taken that the sun may not scorch theseed up, and it ought to be covered over with earth immediately. If the soil bedamp or weedy, the lucerne is overpowered and goes off into meadow; consequentlyas soon as it is an inch high it must be freed from all weeds, by hand inpreference to hoeing. It is cut when it is beginning to flower and every time itflowers again: this happens six times, or at the least four times, in a year. Itmust be prevented from running to seed, because till it is three years old it ismore useful as fodder. It must be hoed in springtime and rid of all otherplants, and till the third year shaved down to the earth with weeding-hoes: thismakes the rest of the plants die without damaging the lucerne itself, because ofthe depth of its roots. If weeds get the upper hand, the sole remedy is in theplough, by repeatedly turning the soil till all the other roots die. It must notbe fed to cattle to the point of repletion, lest it should be necessary to letblood. Also it is more useful when green, as it dries into a woody state andfinally thins out into a useless dust.

About tree-medick, which itself also is given a very high rank among fodder, wehave spoken sufficiently among the shrubs. And now we have to completeour account of the nature of all the cereals, in one part of which we must alsospeak about diseases.

XLIV. The first of all forms of disease in wheat is the oat. Barley alsodegenerates into oats, in such a way that the oat itselfcounts as a kind of corn, inasmuch as the races of Germany grow crops of it andlive entirely on oatmeal porridge. The degeneration in question is principallydue to dampness of soil and climate, but a subsidiary cause is contained inweakness of the seed, if it is held back too long in the ground before it shootsout. There is also the same explanation if it was rotten when it was sown. Butit is recognizable the moment it breaks out of the ground, which shows that thecause is contained in the root. There is also another disease arising in closeconnection with oats, when after the grain has begun to fill out but its growthis not yet mature, before it makes a strong body it becomes hollow and emptyowing to some noxious blast and fades away in the ear by a sort of abortion.

Wind is injurious to wheat and barley at three seasonswhen they are in floweror directly after they have shed their flower or when they are beginning toripen; at the last stage it shrivels up the grain, while in the preceding easesits influence is to prohibit the seed from forming. Successive gleams of sunappearing out of cloud are also injurious. Also maggots breed in the root whenafter rains following seed-time a sudden spell of heat has enclosed themoisture in the ground. They also grow in the grain when heat following raincauses the ear to ferment. There is also a small beetle called the canthariswhich gnaws away corn crops. When food fails, all these, creatures disappear.Olive oil, pitch and grease are detrimental to seeds, and care must be taken notto let seed come in contact with them before it is sown. Rain is beneficial tocrops while in the stalk from the time of germination, but it damages wheat andbarley when in blossom; although it does no harm to leguminous plants,excepting chick-pea. Corn crops when beginning to ripen are damaged by rain,and particularly barley. Also there is a white grass like Italian millet thatsprings up all over the fields, and is also fatal to cattle. As for darnel,caltrops, thistle and burdock, I should not count these any more than bramblesamong diseases of cereals, but rather among pestilences of the soil itself. Oneof the most harmful climatic maladies of corn crops and vines is rust. This ismost frequent in a district exposed to dew and in shut-in valleys that have nocurrent of air through them, whereas windy places and high ground on thecontrary are free from it. Among the vices of corn is also overabundance, whenthe stalks fall down under the burden of fertility. But a vice common to allcultivated crops is caterpillars, which even attack chick-pea when rain makes ittaste sweeter by washing away its saltness.

There is a weed that kills off chick-pea and fitch by binding itself round them,it is calledorobanche; and in a similar way wheat is attacked by darnel,barley by a long-stalked plant calledacgilops and lentils by an axe-leavedwhich the Greeks call axe-grass from its resemblance; these also kill the plantsby twining round them. In the neighbourhood of Philippi they give the name ofateramum to a weed growing in rich soil that kills the bean plant, and the nameteramum to one that has the same effect in thin soil, when a particular wind hasbeen blowing on the beans when damp. Darnel has a very small seed enclosed in aprickly husk. When used in bread it very quickly causes fits of giddiness, andit is said that in Asia and Greece when the managers of baths want to get rid ofa crowd they throw darnel seed on to hot coals. Also the phalangium, a littlecreature of the spider class, breeds in the fitch, if there is a wet winter.Slugs breed amongst vetch, and sometimes small snails which are produced fromthe ground and eat away the vetch in a surprising manner.These broadly speakingare the diseases of grain.

XLV. Such cures of these diseases as pertain to grain in the blade are tobe found in the hoe, and when the seed is being sown, in ashes; but thediseases that occur in the seed and round the root canbe guarded against by taking precautions. It is believed that seedsteeped in wine before sowing is less liable to disease. Virgil recommendssteeping bean in native soda and dregs from oil-presses, and alsoguarantees this as a method of increasing its size. Others however hold the viewthat it grows specially well if it is kneaded in a mixture of urine and waterthree days before sowing; and at all events that if the crop is hoed three timesit will yield a peck of crushed beans from a peck of whole beans; and that theother kinds of seeds are not liable to maggots if mixed with crushed cypressleaves, and also if sown just before a new moon. As a cure for diseases ofmillet many recommend carrying a toad round the field at night before it is hoedand then burying it in the middle of the field, with a pot for a coffin; it isthen prevented from being damaged by a sparrow or by worms; but it must be dugup before the field is sown, otherwise the land turns sour. They also say thatseed is made more fertile if it is touched by the forequarters of a mole.Democritus advises soaking all seedsbefore they are sown in the juice of the plant that grows on roof-tiles, calledin Greekaeizoon and by other people 'under-the-eaves', and in ourlanguage 'squat' or 'little finger'. But if damage is being done by blight andby worms adhering to the roots, a common remedy is to sprinkle the plant withpure olive oil lees, not salted, and then to hoe, and if the crop is beginningto shoot out into knots to weed it, so that weeds may not get the upper hand. Iknow for a fact that flights of starlings or sparrows, the plague of common andItalian millets, can be driven away from them by burying a plant, the name ofwhich is unknown to me, at the four corners of the field, with the remarkableresult that no bird whatever will enter it. Mice are driven away by sprinklingthe seed with the ashes of a weasel or a cat dissolved in water or with water inwhich those animals have been boiled; but their poison makes an odour even inbread, and consequently it is thought more satisfactory to steep the seed inox-gall. As for the greatest curse of corn, mildew, fixing branches of laurel inthe ground makes it pass out of the fields into their foliage. Excessiveluxuriance in corn-crops is corrected by grazing cattle on them, provided thecorn is still in the blade, and although it is eaten down even several times itsuffers no injury in the ear. It is absolutely certain that if the ears arelopped off even once the grain becomes longer in shape and hollow inside andworthless, and if sown does not grow. Nevertheless at Babylon they cut the corntwice and the third time pasture it off with cattle, as otherwise it would makeonly leaves. Even so the exceptional fertility of the soil returns crops with afifty-fold increase, and to more industrious farmers even with a hundredfold.Nor is there any difficulty in the method of letting the ground be under wateras long as possible, in order that its extremely rich and substantial fertilitymay be diluted. But the Euphrates and the Tigris do not carry mud on to the landin the same way as the Nile does in Egypt, nor does the soil itself producevegetation; but nevertheless its fertility is so great that a second crop growsof its own accord in the following year from the seeds trodden in by thereapers. This extreme difference of soil prompts me to distribute my descriptionof the various kinds of land among the different crops.

XLVI. This then is the opinion ofCato:'In thick and fertile land wheat should be sown; but if the same land is liableto fog, turnip, radishes, common and Italian millets. In cold or damp landsowing should be done earlier, but in warm land later. In a ruddle-soilor in dark or sandy soil, if it is not damp, sow lupine; in chalk and red earthand rather damp land, emmer wheat; in dry land that is free from grass and notovershaded, wheat; beans in strong soil, but vetch in the least damp and weedysoil; common and other bare wheats in an open and elevated locality that getsthe warmth of the sun as long as possible; lentils in poor and ruddle-soil thatis free from grass; barley in fallow land and also in land that can produce asecond crop; three-month wheat where the land could not ripen an ordinary cropand which is rich enough to produce a second crop.

The following also is acute advice: 'In a rather thin soil crops should be sownthat do not need much moisture, for instance tree-medick, and such of theleguminous plants, except chick-pea, as are gathered by being pulled up out ofthe ground and not by being cutwhich is the reason why they are called "crops",because that is how they are "cropped"but in rich land the plants thatneed greater nutriment, such as greens, wheat, common wheat, flax. Under thismethod consequently thin soil will be assigned to barley, as its root demandsless nourishment, while more easily worked and denser earth will be allotted towheat. In a rather damp place emmer will be sown in preference to other wheat, but in soil of medium quality this and also barley. Hillsides produce astronger wheat but a smaller crop of it. Emmer and common wheat can do with bothchalky and marshy soil.'

The only portent arising from grain crops that I for my part have comeacross occurred in the consulship ofPubliusAelius andGnaeus Cornelius, theyear in whichHannibal was overcome: itis stated that on that occasion corn grew on trees.

XLVII. And now that we have spoken fully about the kinds of grain and ofsoil, we will now speak about the method of ploughing, beginning with an accountof the easy conditions prevailing in Egypt. In that country the Nileplays the part of farmer, beginning to overflow its banks at the new moon inmidsummer, as we have said, at first gently and then more or violently, as longas the sun is in the constellation of the Lion. Then when the sun has passedover into the Virgin it slows down, and when the sun is in the Scales itsubsides. If it has not risen more than 18 feet, there is certain to be afamine, and likewise if it has exceeded 24 feet; for it retires more slowly inproportion as it has risen in greater flood, and prevents the sowing of seed. Itused to be commonly believed that the custom was to begin sowing after thesubsidence of the Nile and then to drive swine over the ground, pressing downthe seed in the damp soil with their footprints, and I believe that in formerdays this was the common practice, and that at the present day also the sowingis done without much heavier labour; but nevertheless it is certain that theseed is first scattered in the mud of the river after it has subsided and thenploughed in. This is done at the beginning of November, and afterwards a few menstub up the weedstheir name for this process isbotanismusbut the rest ofthe labourers only visit the fields a little before the first of April, taking asickle with them. However the harvest is completed in May, and the straw isnever more than an ell long, as the subsoil is sand and the corn only gets itssupport from the mud. The district of the Thebaid has corn of better quality,because Egypt is marshy. Seleucia in Babylon has a similar method but greaterfertility, owing to the overflow of the Euphrates and the Tigris, as there theamount of flooding is controlled by the hand of man. Syria also ploughs with anarrow furrow, whereas in Italy in many parts eight oxen strain panting at oneploughshare. In every department of agriculture but most of all in this one thegreatest value attaches to the oracular precept: 'what the particular districtwill stand.'

XLVIII. Ploughshares are of several kinds. The coulter is the name forthe part fixed in front of the share-beam, cutting the earth before it is brokenup and marking out the tracks for the future furrows with incisions which theshare sloping backward is to bite out in the process of ploughing. Another kindis the ordinary share consisting of a lever with a pointed beak, and a thirdkind used in easy soil does not present an edge along the whole of theshare-beam but only has a small spike at the extremity. In a fourth kind ofplough this spike is broader and sharper, ending off in a point, and using thesame blade both to cleave the soil and with the sharp edge of the sides to cutthe roots of the weeds. An invention was made not long ago in the Grisonsfitting a plough of this sort with two small wheelsthe name in the vernacularfor this kind of plough is plaumorati; the share has the shape of aspade. This method is only used for sowing in cultivated land and land that isnearly fallow; the breadth of the share turns the turves over; men at oncescatter the seed on it and draw toothed harrows over the furrows. Fields thathave been sown in this way do not need hoeing, but this method of ploughingrequires teams of two or three pairs of oxen. It is a fair estimate for fortyacres of easy soil and thirty of difficult to be rated as a year's workfor one team of oxen.

XLIX. In ploughing it is extremely important to obey the oracularutterance ofCato: 'What is goodfarming? Good ploughing. What is second best? Ploughing. What third? Manuring.''Do not plough a crooked furrow. Plough in good time.' In comparatively mildplaces breaking the ground should begin at midwinter, but in colder districts atthe spring equinox; and it should begin earlier in a dry region than in a dampone, and earlier in a dense soil than a loose one and in a rich soil than in apoor one. Where the summers are dry and oppressive and the land chalky or thin,it pays better to plough between midsummer and the autumnal equinox, but in themiddle of the hot weather in places where summer heat is moderate, rainfallsfrequent and the soil rich and grassy. It is the rule to stir a deep heavy soileven in the winter, but a very thin and dry one a little before sowing.

Ploughing also has rules of its own: Do not touch a muddy soil. Plough with allyour might. Break the ground before you plough. The value of the lastprocess is that turning the turf kills the roots of the weeds. Some peoplerecommend beginning to break the ground at all events at the spring equinox.Land ploughed once in spring is called 'springworked land', from the fact ofthe date; spring-working is equally necessary in the case of fallow landfallowis land sown every other year. Oxen when going to plough should be harnessed tothe yoke as tightly as possible, to make them hold their heads up whenploughingthat makes them least liable to gall their necks; if the ploughing isin between trees and vines, they must wear basket-work muzzles to prevent theirnibbling off the tenderest of the buds; a small billhook should be hung on theplough-tail to cut through roots withthis is better than letting the ploughtear them up, which is a strain on the oxen; when ploughing finish the row anddo not halt in the middle while taking breath. It is a fair day's work to breakan acre with a nine-inch furrow and to plough over again an acre and a half,given an easy soil, but otherwise, to break half an acre and plough over oneacre, since Nature has appointed laws even for the labour of animals. Everyfield must be worked with straight furrows and then with slanting furrows aswell. Hilly ground is ploughed only across the slope of the hill, but with theshare pointing now up hill and now down; a and man has such capacity for labourthat he can actually perform the function of oxenat all events mountain racesdispense with this animal and do their ploughing with hoes. Unless a ploughmanbends his back to his work he goes crookedthe charge of 'prevarication' is ametaphorical term transferred to public life from ploughing: anyhow itmust be avoided in the department of its origin. The share should be cleaned nowand then with a stick tipped with a scraper. The ridges between two furrowsshould not be left untidy, so that clods of earth may not fall off them. A fieldthat needs harrowing after the crop has been sown is badly ploughed: the groundwill only have been worked properly where it is impossible to tell in which oftwo opposite directions the share went. It is also usual to make intermediaterunnels by means of a larger furrow, if the place requires this, for these todraw off the water into the ditches.

After the cross-ploughing has been done there follows the harrowing of clodswith a framework or a rake where circumstances require it, and, wherelocal custom allows, this second breaking is also repeated after the seed hasbeen sown, by means of a harrow-framework or with a board attached to the ploughcovering up the seedsthis process is called ridging; if they are not covered, this is 'unridging'the original use of the word that means 'raving'.Virgil when he said that the best cropis one that 'twice hath felt the sun and twice the cold', is understoodto have desired a fourth ploughing before sowing. Where the soil is ratherdense, as it usually is in Italy, it is better to plough five times beforesowing, but in Tuscany nine times. With beans and vetch however it is alabour-saving plan involving no loss to dispense with preliminary breakingbefore sowing.

We will not omit one additional method of ploughing that has been devised inItaly north of the Po owing to damage caused by war. When the Salassi weredevastating the farms lying below the Alps they made an attempt to destroy thecrops of panic and millet that were just appearing above the ground: but afterNature proved contemptuous of their efforts, they ploughed in the crops; thesehowever came up in multiplied abundance, and thus taught us the practice ofploughing inartrare as it is now called, that as I believe being theform at that time in use of the wordaratrare. This is done either whenthe stem is beginning to grow or when it has already shot up as far as thesecond or third set of leaves. Nor will we withhold a recent instance that wasascertained two years ago in the Trier country: the crops having been nipped byan extremely cold winter, in March they actually sowed the fields again, and hada very bounteous harvest.

We will now give the remaining methods of cultivation corresponding to thevarious kinds of corn.

L. Common, emmer, hard naked and other emmer wheats and barley should beharrowed, hoed and stubbed on the days that will be stated; a single hand peracre will be enough for each of these kinds of grain. Hoeing loosens in thespring season the harshness of the soil that has been hardened by the rigour ofwinter, and lets in the fresh sunshine. One who is going to hoe must beware ofdigging underneath the roots of the corn. Naked and emmer wheats, barley andbeans are better for two hoeings. Stubbing, when the crop has begun to make ajoint, liberates the roots of the corn by pulling up useless weeds anddisengages the crop from clods of turf. Of the legnminous plants chick-pea needsthe same treatment as emmer; beans do not want much stubbing, as they overpowerweeds; lupine is only harrowed; common and Italian millets are harrowed andhoed, but not hoed a second time and not stubbed; fenugreek and calavances areharrowed only. There are some kinds of ground the fertility of whichnecessitates combing the crop while in the bladethe comb is another kind ofharrow fitted with pointed iron teethand even then they also afford pasture forcattle; and the crops that have been eaten down as pasture have to beresuscitated with the hoe. But in Bactria and Africa and at Cyrene all theseoperations are rendered superfluous by the indulgence of the climate, and aftersowing they only go back into the fields at harvest, because the dry atmosphereprevents weeds, the crops depending for nourishment on the dew-fall at night.Virgil advises letting the fields 'liefallow turn and turn about', and if the extent of the farm allows it, this isundoubtedly extremely useful; but if conditions forbid it, emmer wheat should besown in ground which has borne a crop of lupines or vetch or beans, and plantsthat enrich the land. And another point to be noticed as of first importance isthis, that some interim crops are sown for the sake of other crops if these havemade an unsatisfactory return, as we have said in the preceding volumenot torepeat the same things too often; for the quality of each particular soil is ofthe greatest importance.

LI. There is a city-state of Africa called Tacape, in the middle of thedesert on the route to the Syrtes and Great Leptis, which has the exceptionallymarvellous blessing of a well-watered soil. There is a spring that distributeswater over a space of about three miles in every direction, giving a generoussupply, but nevertheless it is distributed among the population only at specialfixed periods of the day.

Here underneath palms of exceptional size there are olives, under the olivesfigs, under the figs pomegranates, and under those vines; and underneath thevines is sown corn, and later leguminous plants, and then garden vegetables, allin the same year, and all nourished in the shade of something else. A plot ofsoil there measuring four cubits either way, a cubit being measured not from theelbow to the fingertips but to the closed fist, is sold for four denarii. Butthe unique point is that there are two vintages a year, the vines bearing twiceover; and if fertility were not exhausted by multiplied production, each cropwould be killed by its own exuberance, but as it is, something is beinggathered all the year round, and yet it is an absolute fact that this fertilityreceives no assistance from human beings.

There is also a great difference of quality in the water supplied to wateredplaces. In the province of Narbonne there is a celebrated spring with the nameof Orga, in which plants grow that are so much sought after by oxen that theyput their whole heads under water in trying to get them; but it is a well-knownfact that those plants though growing in water only get their nutriment fromshowers of rain. Consequently it is necessary for everybody to know the natureof the soil and of the water in his own district.

LII. If the land is of the kind which wedesignated 'tender', after harvesting the barley it will be possible to sowmillet, and when that has been got in turnip-seed, and when the millet andturnip have been harvested barley again, or else wheat, as is done in Campania;and land of that nature is sufficiently ploughed by being hoed. Another order ofrotation is for ground where there has been a crop of emmer wheat to lie fallowduring the four winter months and to be given spring beans; but it should notlie fallow before being sown with winter-beans. With a soil that is too rich itis possible to employ rotation, sowing a leguminous crop at a third sowing afterthe wheat has been carried; but a thin soil had better be left fallow till theyear after next. Some people forbid sowing wheat except in land that has lainfallow the year before.

LIII. A very important part of this topicis occupied by the proper way of using dung, about which we have also spoken inthe preceding volume. The one thing known to everybody is that the land must notbe sown unless it has been manured, although even this matter has special rulesapplying to it. You must not sow millet, panic, turnip or navew except in groundthat has been manured, but if the ground has not been manured, you should sowwheat in it rather than barley. Similarly also in the case of fallows, althoughit is held that in these beans should be sowed, in every case you must sow thatcrop after the soil has been manured as recently as possible. A person intendingto sow something in the autumn should pile dung on the land in September, at allevents after rain has fallen; but if intending to sow in the springtime, heshould spread dung during the wintereighteen loads of dung is the proper amountto be given to an acre; but be careful not to spread it before ploughing. Butafter the seed has been sown, if this manuring has been neglected, the followingstage is, before you weed, first to scatter like seed some dust of droppingsobtained from hen-coops. But to fix a precise limit for this treatment also, theright amount is to get one load of manure per head of smaller animals and tenloads per head of oxen. If that be not forthcoming, it would look as if thefarmer had been slack in providing litter for his stock. Some people think thatmanuring is best done by keeping the flocks and herds permanently out of doorspenned up with netting. If the land is not manured it gets chilled, and if it isgiven too much manure it becomes burnt up; and it pays better to do the manuringfrequently than to manure to excess. It stands to reason that the warmer thesoil is the less manure it should be given.

LIV. The best seed is last year's; two-year old of seed is inferior,three-year old very poor, and beyond that it is barren; in fact all things havea limited period of fertility. The seed that falls to the bottom on thethreshing-floor should be kept for sowing, as it is the best because theheaviest, and there is no other more efficient way of distinguishing it. An earhaving its seeds separated by gaps will be discarded. The best grain is thatwhich is reddish in colour and which when crushed by the teeth shows the samecolour inside, and one that has more white inside is inferior. It is awell-known fact that some lands take more seed and others less, and thissupplies farmers with a binding and primary augury: when the earth receives theseed more greedily, it is believed to be hungry and to devour the seed. The planis for sowing to be done more quickly in damp places, to prevent the seed frombeing rotted by moisture, but later in dry places, so that the rainfalls maycome afterwards to prevent the seed from lying for a long time withoutgerminating and so withering away; and similarly when sowing is hurried on itpays to scatter the seed thickly, because it conceives slowly, but when sowingis late, to scatter it thin, because excessive closeness kills it. Also there isa certain science in scattering the seed evenly; at all events the hand mustkeep in time with the pace of walking, and always go with the right foot. Alsoit comes about by some not obvious method used by certain people that luck iskind to them and brings a good return. Seed should not be transferred from coldplaces to warm ones nor from early ripening districts to late ones, and nothingshould be transferred in the contrary directions either, as some people out ofmistaken ingenuity have advised.

LV. The right amounts of seed per acre to sow in soil of medium qualityare: bare or common wheat 5 pecks, emmer or seed (the kind of grainto which we give that name) 10; barley 6, beans a fifth more than in the ease ofwheat, vetch 12, chick-pea, chickling vetch and peas 3, lupine 10, lentil 3 (butit is considered desirable to sow lentils mixed with dry dung), fitch 6,fenugreek 6, calavances 4, hay-grass 20, common and Italian millets a quarter ofa peck, or more in a rich soil and less in a thin one. There is also anotherdistinction to make: in thick or chalky or moist soil 6 pecks of bare or commonwheat, but in loose and dry and fertile soil 4; for a meagre soil makes a smalland empty ear unless it has the corn stalks far apart, whereas fields with arich soil produce a number of stalks from a single seed and yield a thick cropfrom thinly scattered seed. Consequently the rule given is to sow between fourand six pecks, adding or subtracting a fifth in accordance with the nature ofthe soil, and the same in a densely planted place or on sloping land as in thinsoil. To this applies that oracular utterance, which it is so important toobserve: 'Do not grudge the cornfield its seed.' To this Attius in hisPraxidike added the advice to sow whenthe moon is in the constellations of the Ram, the Twins, the Lion, the Scalesand Aquarius, butZoroaster advisedsowing when the sun has crossed 12 degrees of the Scorpion and the moon is inthe Bull.

LVI. There follows the question postponed to this place, a question thatneeds very careful considerationthat of the proper date for sowing the crops;it is in a large degree connected with astronomy, and consequently we will beginby setting out the views of all authors in regard to it.Hesiod, the leader of mankind inimparting agricultural instruction, gave only one date for sowing, to begin atthe setting of the Pleiades; for he wrote in the Greek country of Boeotia where,as we have said, that is the custom for sowing. It is agreed among the mostcareful observers that, as in the propagation of birds and animals, so with theearth, there exist certain impulses leading to conception; and the Greeks definethis as the period when the earth is warm and moist.Virgil prescribes sowing bare and emmerwheats after the setting of the Pleiades, barley between the autumnal equinoxand mid-winter, but vetch and calavances and lentils at the setting of Bootes;with the consequence that it is important to ascertain the exact dates of therising and setting of these and other stars. There are some who advise sowingbefore the setting of the Pleiades, at all events in dry land and in theprovinces with a warm climate, because the seed keeps safely, there being nodamp to make them rot, and within a day after the next fall of rain they breakout; while others recommend sowing immediately after the setting of thePleiades, because about a week later rains follow; and some advise beginning tosow at the autumnal equinox in cold places, but later in warm districts, so thatthe crops may not be too far forward before winter. But it is universally agreedthat sowing must not be done in the period of midwinter, for the convincingreason that winter seeds when sown before midwinter break out in a week, but ifsown after it scarcely begin to appear in four weeks. There are some who hastenmatters on and put forward the dictum that, while sowing in haste often provesdeceptive, sowing late always does. Others on the opposite side think thatsowing even in spring is preferable to sowing in a bad autumn, and that if thisis necessary it should be done between the arrival of the west wind a and thespring equinox. Some people ignore nice points of meteorology and fix limits bythe calendar: flax, oats and poppy in spring and up to the Feast of the FiveDays, a practice even now observed in the districts north of the Po,beans and common wheat in November, emmer wheat at the end of September on toOctober 15, and others after that date on to November 1. Thus these latterwriters pay no attention to Nature, while the previous set pay too much, andconsequently their elaborate theorizing is all in the dark, as the issue liesbetween countrymen and literary, not merely astronomical, pundits! And it mustbe confessed that these matters do chiefly depend on the weatheras in factVirgil enjoins first before all else tolearn the winds and the habits of the stars, and to observe them just in thesame way as they are observed for navigation. It is an arduous and a vastaspirationto succeed in introducing the divine science of the heavens to theignorance of the rustic, but it must be attempted, owing to the vast benefit itconfers on life. Nevertheless we must first submit to contemplation thedifficulties of astronomy, which even experts have been conscious of, in orderthat subsequently our minds may more happily pass on from the study of theheavens and discern the actual events of the past whose future occurrence cannotbe known in advance.

LVII. First of all it is almost impossible to explain the system of theactual days of the year and that of the movement of the sun, because to the 365days an intercalary year adds a quarter of a day and of a night, andconsequently definite periods of the stars cannot be stated. In addition to thisthere is the admitted obscurity of the facts, as sometimes the specification ofthe seasons runs in advance, and by a considerable number of days (the Greekterm for this is προχειμάζειν), whereas at other times it comesbehind (in Greek έπιχειμάζειν), and in general the influence of theheavens falls down to the earth in one place more quickly and in another placemore slowly; this is the cause of the remark we commonly hear on the return offine weather, that a constellation has been completed. Moreover although allthese things depend on stars that are stationary and fixed in the sky, thereintervene movements of stars and hailstorms and rain, these also having noinconsiderable effect, as we have shown, and they disturb the regularity of theexpectation that has been conceived. And we must not think that this occurs onlyto ourselvesit also deceives the rest of the animals, which have greatersagacity about this matter, inasmuch as it is a thing on which their lifedepends; and the birds of summer are killed by exceptionally late orexceptionally early frosts, and those of winter by untimely spells of heat.This is whyVirgil teaches the necessityof acquiring a thorough knowledge of the system of the planets also, warning usto watch the transit of the cold star Saturn. Some people think that butterfliesare the most reliable sign of spring, on account of the extremely delicatestructure of that insect; but in the very year in which I am writing thistreatise it has been noticed that their supply has been three times annihilatedby a return of cold weather, and that migratory birds arriving on January 27brought a hope of spring that was soon dashed to the ground by a spell of verysevere winter. The procedure is twofold: first of all it consists in trying toobtain a general principle from celestial phenomena, and then this principle hasto be investigated by special signs. Above all there is the variation due to theconvexity of the world and the terrestrial globe, the same star revealingitself to different nations at a different time, with the consequence that itsinfluence is not operative everywhere on the same days. Additional difficultyhas also been caused by authors through their observations having been taken indifferent regions, and because in the next place they actually publish differentresults of observations made in the same regions. But there were three mainschools, the Chaldean, the Egyptian and the Greek; and to these a fourth systemwas added in our own country [46 BC] byCaesar during his dictatorship, who with the assistance of the learnedastronomer Sosigenes brought the separate years back into conformity with thecourse of the sunand this theory itself was afterwards corrected (when anerror had been found), so as to dispense with an intercalary day for a period oftwelve successive years, for the reason that the year which had previously beengetting in advance of the constellations had begun to lag behind in relation tothem. Both Sosigenes himself in histhree treatisesthough more careful in research than the other writers henevertheless did not hesitate to introduce an element of doubt by correctinghis own statementsand also other authors whose names we prefixed to this volumea have published these theories, although it is seldom that the opinions of anytwo of them agree. This is less surprising in the case of the rest, as they hadthe excuse of difference of localities; but as for those who have differed intheir views in the same country, we will give one case of disagreement as anexample: the morning setting of the Pleiades is given byHesiodfor there is extant anastronomical work that bears his name alsoas taking place at the close of theautumnal equinox, whereas Thales puts iton the 25th day after the equinox,Anaximanderon the 30th,Euctemon on the 44th, andEudoxus on the 48th. We follow theobservation ofCaesar specially: thiswill be the formula for Italy; but we will also state the views of others, sincewe are not treating of a single country but of the whole of nature, though weshall not arrange them under the head of their authors, for that would be alengthy matter, but of the regions concerned. Only readers should remember that,for the sake of brevity, when Attica is mentioned they must understand theCyclades islands to be included; when Macedonia, Magnesia and Thrace; whenEgypt, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Cilicia; when Boeotia, Locris and Phocis and theadjoining regions always as well; when the Dardanelles, the Galhpoli peninsulaas far as Monte Santo; when Ionia, Asia and the islands belonging to it; whenthe Morea, Achaia and the lands lying to the west of it; and the term Chaldeanswill indicate Assyria and Babylonia. That the names of Africa and the provincesof Spain and Gaul are not mentioned will cause no surprise, because none ofthose who have published accounts of the risings of the constellations have madeobservations in respect of those countries. Still it will not involve adifficult calculation to ascertain them in those countries as well, by means ofthe explanation of parallels which we have set out in Book Six, which indicatesthe astronomical relationship not only of nations but of individual cities aswell. Therefore by taking the circular parallel belonging to the countries wehave specified and applying it to those that the particular student is seeking,the risings of the constellations will be the same throughout the parts of allthe parallels where shadows are of equal length. It is also necessary to pointout that the seasons themselves have their own periods every four years, andthat they too return without great variation under the system of the sun, butthat they are also lengthened every eight years at the hundredth revolution ofthe moon.

LVIII. The whole system however is based on three lines ofobservationthe rising and the setting of the constellations and the periods ofthe seasons themselves: there are two modes of observing the risings andsettings, as the stars are either hidden by the arrival of the sun and cease tobe visible, or they present themselves to the view on the sun's departure (sothat custom would have done better to designate the latter as the stars''emergence' rather than 'rising', and the former as their 'occultation' ratherthan 'setting'); or by means of the following mode by the day on which therisings and settings of the stars begin or cease to be visible at the rising orsetting of the sun, these being designated their morning or evening risings andsettings according as each of them occurs at dawn or at dusk. They require intervals of at least three-quarters of an hour before sunrise or after sunset in order to be visible. Moreover there are some stars that rise and set twice; and all that is said here refers to the stars which we have stated to be fixed stars.

LIX. The divisions of the seasons are fixed by the fourfold distributionof the year corresponding with the increases and decreases of daylight. Frommidwinter onward this increases in length, and in 90 days 3 hours at the springequinox the day becomes equal to the night. From then to the summer solstice, aperiod of 94 days 12 hours, the day is longer than the night ... until theautumn equinox, and then the night having become equal to the day goes onincreasing from that point until midwinter, a period of 88 days 3 hours (in thepresent passage the term `hours' in each addition and subtraction denotesequinoctial hours and not the hours of any day in particular) and all thesechanges occur at the eighth degree of the signs of the zodiac, midwinter at theeighth degree of Capricorn, about December 26, the equinox at the eighth of theRam, the summer solstice at the eighth of the Crab and the other equinox at theeighth of the Scaleswhich days themselves also usually give some indications ofchanges of weather. Again these periods are also divided by particular momentsof time, all of them at middaysince between the solstice and the autumnalequinox the setting of the Lyre on the 46th day marks the beginning of autumn,and from that equinox to midwinter the morning setting of the Pleiades on the44th day marks that of winter, and between midwinter and the equinox theprevalence of a west wind on the 45th day marks the period of spring, and themorning rising of the Pleiades on the 47th day from the spring equinox marks thebeginning of summer. We will start from sowing-time of wheat, that is from themorning setting of the Pleiades; and we need not interrupt our explanation andincrease the difficulty of the subject by mentioning the minor stars, inasmuchas it is at the same date that the stormy constellation of Orion sets after itsextensive course.

LX. Most people anticipate the times for sowing, and begin to sow corn atthe eleventh day of the autumnal equinox, as for nine days after the rising ofthe Crown there is an almost certain expectation of rain. But Xenophon tells us not to begin beforethe Deity has given the signalthis our Roman authorCicero understood as being done by afall of rain; although the true method is not to sow before the leaves havebegun to fall. Some think that this occurs exactly at the setting of thePleiades on November 10, as we have said, and even clothes-dealers go by thatconstellation, and it is very easy to identify in the sky;consequently dealers out to make money, who are careful to watch for chances,make forecasts as to the winter from its setting: thus by a cloudy setting itforetells a wet winter, and they at once raise their prices for cloaks, whereasby a fine weather setting it foretells a hard winter, and they screw up theprices of all other clothes. But our friend the farmer, not learned inastronomy, may find this sign of the weather among his hedgerows and merely bylooking at his own land, when he has seen the leaves fall: in that way theyear's weather can be estimated, as they fall later in some cases and earlier inothers, for the weather is perceived as it is affected by the nature of theclimate and the locality, and this method contains the advantage that while itis universal and worldwide it is also at the same time peculiar to eachparticular locality. This may surprise anyone who does not remember that thepennyroyal hung up in our larders blossoms exactly on midwinter day: so fullyhas Nature willed that nothing shall be hidden; consequently she has also givenus this signal for sowing. This is the true account of the situation, bringingwith it Nature's own proofs, inasmuch as she actually advises this mode ofapproaching the land and promises it will serve as a substitute for manure, andtells us that the land and the crops are shielded by herself against the rigoursof frost, and warns us to make haste.

LXI.Varro has advised keepingthis rule at all events in sowing beans. Others say that beans should be sown ata full moon, but lentils between the 25th and 30th day of the lunar month, andalso vetch on the same days, that being the only way to keep them free fromslugs. Some people advise that date for sowing for fodder, but recommend sowingin the spring to obtain seed.

There is also another more obvious method due tostill more remarkable foresight on the part of Nature, under the head of whichwe will register the opinion ofCiceroin his own words:

One of these seasons, this last one, is the same also for sowing flax and poppy.For poppyCato gives the following rule:'On land used for corn burn any twigs and brushwood left over from yourutilization of them. Sow poppy in the place where you have burnt them'. Wildpoppy boiled in honey is wonderfully serviceable for making throat-cures, andalso cultivated poppy is a powerful soporific. So far as to winter sowing.

LXII. But correspondingly to complete a sort of summary of the wholesubject of cultivation, it will be suitable at the same time to manurethe trees, also to bank up the vinesone hand is enough to do an acreand wherethe nature of the locality will allow, to prune the trees and the vines, toprepare the ground with a double mattock for seed-plots, to open up the ditches,to drain water off the land, and to wash out and put away the wine-press. Do notput under the hens to hatch after November 1 until midwinter is past;all through the summer till that date give thirteen eggs to each hen, but fewerin winter, though not less than nine.Democritus thinks that the weather through the winter will be the same asit was on the shortest day and the three days round it, and he thinks so too inregard to the summer and the weather at the summer solstice.

In most cases the fourteen days round midwinterbring mild weather with calm winds for the sitting of the kingfishers. But inthese and all other matters we shall have to conjecture the influence of thestars from the outcome of their indications, and at all events not expectchanges of weather to answer to bail on dates fixed in advance.

LXIII. Avoid attending to the vine at midwinter.Hyginus recommends straining the winethen, or even racking it off a week after the shortest day has passed,provided a week-old moon coincides with it; and planting cherries aboutmidwinter. It is proper at that date to put acorns in soak as fodder for oxen,a peck per yokea larger quantity is injurious to their health; and it issaid that whenever they are given this feed, if it is not fed to them for atleast 30 days in succession, an outbreak of mange in the spring will cause youto repent. We have given this as the time for cutting timber; and the otherkinds of work may be arranged chiefly in the night time, as the nights are somuch longerweaving wicker baskets, hampers and rush baskets, cutting torches,preparing squared vine-props at the rate of thirty and rounded poles at the rateof sixty a day in daytime, and by artificial light five props and ten poles inan evening and the same number in the early morning.

LXIV. From midwinter till the west windblows the important stars that mark the dates, according toCaesar's observations, are the Dog-starsetting at dawn on December 30, the day on which the Eagle is reported to set inthe evening for Attica and the neighbouring regions; on January 4 according toCaesar's observations the Dolphin risesat dawn and the next day the Lyre, the Arrow setting in the evening on the sameday for Egypt; likewise on January 8 the Dolphin before mentioned sets in theevening and there are some days of continuous wintry weather for Italy; and soalso when the sun is seen to pass into Aquarius, which happens about January 17.On January 25 the star in the breast of the Lion called according to Tubero the Royal Star sets in themorning and the Lyre sets in the evening of February 4. In the concluding daysof this period, whenever the weather conditions allow, the ground should beturned up with a double mattock for planting roses and vinesseventy hands ateenough for an acreand ditches should be cleaned or new ones made, and the timebefore daybreak should be used for sharpening iron tools, fitting handles,repairing broken vats, doing up the shelters used for sheep and cleaning the sheeps' fleeces by scraping them.

LXV. Between the period of west wind and the spring equinox, February 16forCaesar marks three days ofchangeable weather, as also does February 22 by the appearance of the swallowand on the next day the rising of Arcturus in the evening, and the same on March5Caesar noticed that this bad weathertook place at the rising of the Crab, but the majority of the authorities put itat the setting of the Vintageron March 8 at the rising of the northern part ofthe Fish, and on the next day at the rising of Orion; in Attica it is noticedthat the constellation Kite appears.Caesaralso noted March 15the day that was fatal to himas marked by the setting ofthe Scorpion, but stated that on March 18 the Kite becomes visible in Italy andon March 21 the Horse sets in the morning.

This space of time is an extremely busy period for farmers and speciallytoilsome, and it is one as to which they are particularly liable to go wrongthefact being that they are not summoned to their tasks on the day on which thewest wind ought to blow but on which it actually does begin to blow. This mustbe watched for with sharp attention, and is a signal possessed by a day in thatmonth that is observable without any deception or doubt whatever, if one givesclose attention. We have stated in Volume Two the quarter in which that windblows and the exact point from which it comes, and we shall speak about itrather more fully a little later. In the meantime, starting from the day,whichever it is, on which it begins to blownot however necessarily February 8,but whether before that date, when the spring is early, or afterwards, whenwinter goes on after that day, countrymen should find themselves torn betweeninnumerable anxieties and should finish off all the primary tasks which cannotbe postponed. Three-month wheat must be sown, vines pruned by the method we havestated, olives attended to, fruit-trees planted and grafted, vineyards dugover, seed-plots arranged and others restored, reeds, willows and broomsplanted and cut, and elms, poplars and ash trees planted in the manner statedabove. Then it is also suitable to weed the cornfields and hoe the winter crops,and especially emmer wheat; for the latter there is a definite rule, to hoe whenit has begun to have four blades showing, but in the case of beans not beforethey have three leaves out, and even then they should be cleaned with a lighthoe rather than dug over, and anyway when they flower they must not be touchedduring the first fortnight. You should only hoe barley in dry weather. Youshould have your pruning finished by the equinox. An acre of vineyard takesfour hands to prune, and tying up the vines on a tree takes one hand foreach fifteen trees. This is the time moreover for kitchen-gardens and rose-bedsto be attended to, a subject which will be dealt with separately in thefollowing Books, and it is also the time for landscape gardening; and then isthe best occasion for making ditches. The ground is now opened for futureoperations, asVirgil in particularadvises, to allow the sun thoroughly to dry the clods. The more useful opinionrecommends ploughing only ground of medium quality in the middle of spring,because in a rich soil the furrows are at once seized on by weeds and in a thinsoil the spells of heat that follow dry them up and take away all moisture fromthe seeds that are to come; there is no question that it is best to plough landof these sorts in the autumn.

The following are the rules given byCato for operations in spring: 'to make ditches for the seed-plots,layer vine-nurseries, plant elms, figs, fruit-trees and olives in thick and dampsoils, under a dry moon to manure meadows that are not going to be irrigated,and to protect them from westerly winds, and to clean them and root up noxiousweeds; to prune fig-trees lightly, make new seed-beds and repair old onestheseoperations to be done before you begin to dig over the vineyard.'Cato also says: 'You should begin toplough thin and sandy soils when the pear-tree blossoms, and afterwards ploughthe successively heaviest and wettest lands last of all.' Consequently therewill be two signs for this ploughing, the sign of the mastich showing its firstfruit and that of the pear blossoming. There will also be a third sign, that ofthe squill in the growing bulbs and that of the narcissus among the plants usedfor wreaths; for these also flower three times, marking the first ploughing bytheir first flowering, the second by the middle one and the last by thethirdinasmuch as things afford hints for other things different from them. Andone of the first precautions to be taken is to prevent beans when in flower fromcoming in contact with ivy; for that season is a baneful and deadly onewith ivy. Some plants however also have special signs of their own, for instancethe fig: when a few leaves are sprouting from the top, like a vinegar-cup, thatindicates that it is the best time for planting fig-trees.

LXVI. The vernal equinox appears to end on March 25. Between thatday and the morning rising of the Pleiades the first of April according toCaesar indicates bad weather. ThePleiades set on the evening of April 3 in Attica and on the day after in Boeotia, but forCaesar and theChaldeans on April 5, when for Egypt Orion and his sword begin to set. Thesetting of the Scales on April 8 according toCaesar announces rain. In the evening The Little Pigs, a stormyconstellation bringing boisterous weather on land and sea, sets for Egypt onApril 18; it sets on April 16 for Attica and April 17 forCaesar, indicating four successive daysof bad weather, but on the 20th for Assyria. This constellation is commonlycalled Parilicium, because April 21, the birthday of the city of Rome, on whichfine weather usually returns, has given a clear sky for observing the heavens,although because of the clouds that it brings with it the Greek name for theconstellation is Hyades, which our countrymen, owing to the similarity ofthe Greek name supposed in their ignorance to have been given it with referenceto the word for 'pigs', and so have called the stars the Little Pigs. InCaesar's calendar April 24 is also amarked day. On April 25 the Kids rise for Egypt, and on April 26 the Dog sets inthe evening and the Lyre rises in the morning for Boeotia and Attica. On April27 Orion entirely disappears for Assyria, and on the 28th the Dog. On May 2 theLittle Pigs rise in the morning for Caesar, and on May 8 the She-goat,portending rain, while the Dog sets for Egypt in the evening of the same day.That is a fairly precise account of the movements of the constellations down toMay 10, which is the date of the rising of the Pleiades.

In this space of time the farmer must hurry on during the firstfortnight with work which he has not had time to finish before theequinox, while realising that this is the origin of the rude habit of jeering atpeople pruning their vines by imitating the note of the visiting bird called thecuckoo, as it is considered disgraceful and deserving of reproach for that birdto find the pruning-hook being used on the vine; and consequently wanton jokes,though men are merely being made sport of in early spring, are thought to beobjectionable as bringing bad luck. To such an extent on the land is everytrifle set down as a hint given by Nature.

In the latter part of this period Italian and common millets are sown, theproper time for sowing them being when the barley has ripened. And the signalike of the barley being ripe and for sowing these crops consists in the fieldsin the evening shining with glow-worms (that is what the country-people callthose starlike flights of insects, the Greek name for which is lampyrides)thanks to Nature's unbelievable kindness.

LXVII. She had already formed the remarkable group of the Pleiades inthe sky; yet not content with these she has made other stars on the earth, asthough crying aloud: 'Why gaze at the heavens, husbandman? Why, rustic, searchfor the stars? Already the slumber laid on you by the nights in your fatigue isshorter. Lo and behold, I scatter special stars for you among your plants, and Idisplay them to you in the evening and as you unyoke to leave off work, and Istimulate your attention by a marvel so that you may not be able to pass themby: do you see how their fire-like brilliance is screened by their folded wings,and how they carry daylight with them even in the night? I have given you plantsthat mark the hours, and in order that you may not even have to avert your eyesfrom the earth to look at the sun, the heliotrope and the lupine revolve keepingtime with him. Why then do you still look higher and scan the heavensthemselves? Lo! you have Pleiades at your very feet.' Glow-worms do not maketheir appearance on fixed days or last a definite period, but certain it is thatthey are the offspring of this particular constellation. Consequently anybodywho does his summer sowing before they appear 'will have himself to thank forlabour wasted.' In this interval also the little bee comes forth and announcesthat the bean is flowering, and the bean begins to flower to tempt her out. Wewill also give another sign of cold weather being ended: when you see themulberry budding, after that you need not fear damage from cold.

Well then, a list of things to be done: to plant olive-cuttings and rake overbetween the olive trees themselves; in the first days of the equinox toirrigate the meadows; when the grass has grown to a stalk, to shut off thewater; to trim the vine (the vine too has a rule of its own: it must be trimmedwhen the shoots have made four inches in lengthone hand can trim an acre); tostir over the corn crops again (hoeing takes 20 days). It is thought that tostart hoeing at the equinox injures both vines and corn. This is also the timefor washing sheep.

After the rise of the Pleiades the weather is indicated forCaesar by the morning setting of Arcturus on the following day, the rise of the Lyre on May 13, the setting ofthe She-goat, and in Attica of the Dog, in the evening of May 21. On May 22, asobserved byCaesar, Orion's Sword beginsto set; in the evening of June 2, according toCaesar, and for Assyria also, the Eagle rises; on the morning of June 7Arcturus sets for Italy, and on the evening of June 10 the Dolphin rises. OnJune 15 Orion's Sword rises, but in Egypt this takes place four days later.Moreover on June 21 Orion's Sword, as observed byCaesar, begins to set; while on June 24the longest day and shortest night of the whole year make the summer solstice.In this interval of time the vines are pruned and care is taken to give an oldvine one digging round and a new one two; sheep are sheared, lupins are ploughedin to manure the land, the ground is dug over, vetches are cut for fodder, beansare gathered and then threshed.

Meadows are mown about June 1. The cultivation of these is extremely easy forthe farmer and involves very little outlay; it requires the following remarks tobe made about it. Land should be left in grass where the soil is rich or damp orwatered by streams, and the meadows should be watered by the rainfall or by apublic aqueduct. If there are weeds, the best plan is to plough up the land andthen harrow and hoe it, and sprinkle it with seed fallen out of the hay fromhaylofts and from mangers before the weeds are harrowed; and it is best not toirrigate the land in the first year, nor to use it for grazing before the secondcutting of the hay, so that the grass may not be torn up by the roots or troddendown and weakened. Meadows go off with age, and need to be revived by sowing inthem a crop of beans or turnip or millet, and afterwards in the following yearcorn, and in the third year they should again be left fallow; and moreover everytime they are cut they should be gone over with the sickle, for the purpose ofcutting all the growth that the mowers have passed over; for it is verydetrimental indeed for any weeds to spring up that will scatter seeds. The bestcrop in meadow land is clover, the next best grass; money-wort is the worst, andit also bears a terrible pod; horse-hair, named from its resemblance to horses'hair, is also a hateful weed. The time for mowing is when the stalk has begun toshed its blossom and to grow strong; the grass must be cut before it begins todry up. 'Do not mow your hay too late,' saysCato; 'cut it before the seed is ripe.' Some farmers irrigate the fieldsthe day before mowing, but where there is no means of doing this it is better tomow when there are heavy falls of dew at night. Some parts of Italy mow afterharvest. Mowing was also a more expensive operation in former days, when onlyCretan and other imported whetstones were known, and these would only liven upthe blade of a scythe with the help of olive oil; and consequently a man mowinghay used to walk along with a horn to hold the oil tied to his leg. Italy gaveus whetstones used with water, which keep the iron in order instead of a file,though the water very soon makes them go green with rust. Of scythes themselvesthere are two kinds: the Italian kind is shorter, and handy to use even amongbrambles, whereas the scythe used on the large farms of the Gallic provinces arebigger, in fact they economize labour by cutting through the stalks of the grassin the middle and missing the shorter ones. An Italian mower holds the sicklewith only his right hand. It is a fair day's work for one labourer to cut anacre of grass, or to bind 200 sheaves weighing four pounds each. After the grassis cut it must be turned towards the sun, and it must not be piled in shockstill it is dry; unless this rule is carefully kept, the shocks are certain togive off a sort of vapour in the morning and then to be set alight by the sunand to burn up. A hayfield should be irrigated again after it has been mown, soas to provide a crop of autumn hay called the aftermath. At Terni in Umbria evenhayfields not irrigated are mown four times a year, but those with irrigationare in most places mown three times, and afterwards as much profit is made outof the pasture as from the hay. Accordingly keeping herds and breeding draft-animals will supply each farmer with his own policy, a most lucrative tradebeing breeding horses for chariot-racing.

LXVIII. We have said that the summersolstice comes round on June 24, in the eighth degree of the Crab. This is animportant turning-point of the year, an important matter in the world. Frommidwinter to this point the days continually grow longer. The sun itselfclimbing northward for six months and having scaled the heights of heaven, fromthat goal begins to slope and to descend towards the south, proceeding foranother six months to increase the length of the nights and to subtract from themeasurement of the day. From this point onward is the time for plucking andcollecting the various successive crops and for preparing against the fiercecruelty of winter, and to have this change marked with unmistakable signs wasonly Nature's duty; consequently she has placed such signs in the very hands ofthe farmers, and has bidden the foliage to turn round on that very day and toindicate that the heavenly body has completed its courseand not the leaves ofthe forests and of trees distant from human habitation, so compelling thoseseeking the signs to have to go into remote valleys and mountains, nor yetagain the foliage of the trees of the city and those that are only grown by theornamental gardener, albeit these may be seen at a country house as well; butNature turns round the foliage of the olive that confronts us at every step, ofthe lime-tree which we employ for a thousand practical purposes, and even of thewhite poplar that is married to the vines. Nor is that yet sufficient. 'You havethe elm,' she says, 'that is enriched with the vine; I will turn the foliage ofthis tree also. You strip its leaves for fodder, or prune them off: look atthese, and you have a sign of the heavens, for they look towards another quarterof the sky than that towards which they faced yesterday. You use the willow tomake withes for binding all thingsthe lowliest of trees, you yourself are awhole head taller: its leaves also I will turn round. Why complain that you area mere peasant? It is not owing to me that you do not understand the heavens andknow the things thereof. I will bestow a sign upon your ears also: only listento the cooing of the ring-doves, and beware of thinking that midsummer is pastuntil you have seen the dove sitting on her nest.'

Between the solstice and the setting of the Lyre, on June 26 byCaesar's reckoning, Orion rises, andOrion's Belt on July 4, in the region of Assyria, while in that of Egypt in themorning rises the scorching constellation of Procyon, which has no name with theRomans, unless we take it to be the same as the Little Dog; it has agreat effect in producing hot weather as we shall show a little later. On July 4the Crown sets in the morning for the people of Chaldea and for Attica thewhole of Orion rises on that day. On July 14 Orion ceases rising for theEgyptians, on July 17 Procyon rises for Assyria, and then three days later thegreat constellation recognized almost everywhere among all people, which. wecall the rising of the Dog-star, when the sun has entered the first quarter ofthe Lion: this occurs on the 23rd day after midsummer. Its rising influencesboth the seas and the lands, and indeed many wild animals, as we have said inthe proper places; nor is this constellation less reverenced than the stars thatare assigned to various gods; and it kindles the fire of the sun, andconstitutes an important cause of the summer heat. On July 20 the Eagle sets inthe morning for Egypt, and the breezes that herald the seasonal winds begin toblow, which inCaesar's opinion isperceived in Italy on July 23. The Eagle sets for Attica on the morning of thatday, and the Royal Star in the breast of the Lion rises, according toCaesar, on the morning of July 30. OnAugust 6 one-half of Arcturus disappears; and on August 11 the setting of theLyre brings the beginning of autumn, according toCaesar's note, but a true calculationhas discovered that the date of this is really August 8.

In this interval of time the crisis for the vines occurs, theconstellation which we have called the Little Dog deciding the fate of thegrapes, as it is the date at which they begin to be 'charred', as it is called,as though they had been scorched up by a blighting red-hot coal. Hail and stormyweather do not compare with this disaster, nor any of the disasters which haveever caused high market prices, inasmuch as these are misfortunes affectingsingle farms, whereas charring affects a wide expanse of country although theremedy would not be difficult if mankind did not prefer slandering Nature tobenefiting themselves. The story goes thatDemocritus, who was the first person to realise and point out thealliance that unites the heavens with the earth, when the wealthiest of hisfellow-citizens despised his devotion to these studies, foresaw, on theprinciple which we have stated and shall now explain more fully, that the risingof the Pleiades would be followed by an increase in the price of oil, which atthe time was very cheap because of the crop of olives expected; and he bought upall the oil in the whole of the country, to the surprise of those who knew thatthe things he most valued were poverty and learned repose; and when his motivehad been made manifest and they had seen vast wealth accrue to him, he gave backthe money paid him for the olives to the anxious and covetous landlords, nowrepentant, being content to have given this proof that riches would be easilywithin his reach when he chose. A similar demonstration was later given by Sextius, a Roman student of philosophyat Athens. Such is the opportunity afforded by learning, which it is myintention to introduce, in treating of the operations of agriculture, as clearlyand convincingly as I am able.

Most people have stated that rust in corn and glowing-coal blight in vines arecaused by dew burnt into them by very hot sunshine, but I think. This is partlyerroneous, and that all blight is caused by frost only, the sun being guiltless.Close attention to the facts will make this clear; for first of all blight isnever found to occur except at night and before the sun gives any heat, and itdepends entirely on the phases of the moon, since damage of this sort only takesplace at the moon's conjunction or at full moon, that is, when the moon'sinfluence is powerfulfor the moon is at the full at both phases, as we haveoften said, but at the point of its conjunction it reflects back to thesky all the light it has received from the sun. The difference between the twophases is great, but it is obvious: the moon is hottest in summer and cold inwinter at the conjunction, whereas on the contrary when full it makes the nightscold in summer and warm in winter. The reason is clear, but it is not the onegiven by Fabianus and the Greek authors.During the moon's conjunction in summer she must necessarily run with thesun in an orbit very near to our earth, glowing with the heat that shereceives from his fire close at hand, whereas in winter she must be further awayat her conjunction, because the sun also withdraws, and likewise when at thefull in summer she must retire a long way from the earth, being in opposition tothe sun, whereas in winter the full moon comes towards us following the sameorbit as in summer. Consequently, being herself naturally humid, whenever sheis cold she freezes up the hoar-frosts falling at that season to an unlimitedextent.

LXIX. But before all things we ought to remember that there are two kindsof damage done by the heavens. One we entitle tempests, a term understood toinclude hailstorms, hurricanes and the other things of a similar nature, theoccurrence of which is termed exceptionally violent weather; these take theirorigin from certain noxious constellations, as we have said more than once, forinstance Arcturus, Orion, the Kids. The other are those that occur when the skyis quiet and the nights fine, nobody perceiving them except after they havetaken place; these are universal, and widely different from the former ones,being termed by some people rust, by others burning and by others coal-blight,though sterility is a term universally applied to them. Of these last we willnow speak, as they have never been treated by any writer before us; and we willbegin by stating their causes.

These are two in number, in addition to that depending on the moon, and they aresituated in only a few quarters of the heavens. For the Pleiades speciallyconcern farm produce, inasmuch as their rising marks the beginning of summer andtheir setting that of winter, embracing in the six months' space between themthe harvest and vintage and ripening of all vegetation. And the sky alsocontains the constellation called the Milky Way, which is also easilyrecognized a by observing two others, the Eagle in the northern region and inthe southern the Little Dog, which we have mentioned in its proper place. TheMilky Way itself passes through the Archer and the Twins, cutting theequinoctial orbit twice at the sun's centre-point, the intersections beingmarked by the Eagle on .one side and the Little Dog on the other. Consequentlythe influences of each of these constellations reach to all cultivated lands,inasmuch as these are the only points at which the centres of the sun and earthcorrespond. Consequently if on the dates of these constellations the atmosphereis clear and mild and transmits this genial milky juice to the lands of theearth, the crops grow luxuriantly; but if the moon scatters a dewy cold afterthe manner previously described, the admixture of bitterness, like sourness inmilk, kills off the infant offspring. The measure of this injury in variouscountries is that occasioned in each part of earth's convex surface by thecombination of each of these two causes, and so it is not perceivedsimultaneously in the whole of the world, as daybreak is not either. We havesaid that the Eagle rises in Italy on December 20, and Nature's system does notpermit any of the crops sown to be of certain promise before that day; but ifthe moon happens then to be in conjunction, all the winter and early springproduce is bound to suffer damage.

The life of men in early times was rude and illiterate; but nevertheless it willbe found that mere observation was not less ingenious among them than theory isnow. There were three seasons which they had to fear for their crops, and onthis account they instituted the holidays and festivals of Robigalia, Floraliaand Vinaha. Numa in the eleventh year of his reign established the Feast ofRobigalia, which is 710-672 B.C. now kept on April 25, because that is about thetime when the crops are liable to be attacked by mildew.Varro has given this date as fixed bythe sun occupying the tenth degree of the Bull, as theory then stated; but thetrue explanation is that on one or other (according to the latitude of thevarious observers) of the four days from the twenty-ninth day after the springequinox to April 28 the Dog sets, a constellation of violent influence initself and the setting of which is also of necessity preceded by the setting ofthe Little Dog. So the same people in 238 BC in obedience to the Sibyl'soracles, instituted the Floralia on April 23, in order that all vegetation mightshed its blossom favourably. This day is dated byVarro at the sun's entering the 14thdegree of the Bull; consequently if full moon falls within these four days, thecrops and all the vegetation then in flower will inevitably suffer injury. TheFirst Vinaliaf established in former days on April 23 for tasting the wines, hasno reference to the fruits of the earth, nor yet have the festivals so farmentioned to the vines and olives, because their sprouting begins at the rise ofthe Pleiades, on May 10, as we have explained. This is another four-day periodin which it is desirable that the fields may not be fouled by dewfor the coldconstellation of Arcturus, setting the next day, nips themand much more is itdesirable that a full moon may not come at this period. On June 2 the Eagle fora second time rises in the evening, and this is a critical day for olives andvines in blossom if a full moon coincides with it. For my own part I am alsoinclined to consider that June 24, the solstice, is in a similar case, and alsothe rising of the Dog 23 days after the solstice, though only if the moon'sconjunction falls then, as harm is done by the extreme heat and the young grapesare ripened prematurely into a hard knob. Again, harm is done by a full moon onJuly 4, when the Little Dog rises for Egypt, or at all events on July 17 when itrises for Italy, and similarly between July 20, when the Eagle sets, and July23. The festival of the Second Vinalia, kept on August 19, has no connexion withthese influences.Varro fixes it at thetime when the Lyre is beginning to set in the morning, which he holds to be thebeginning of autumn and a holiday established for propitiating the weather; butat the present day observation shows that the Lyre sets on August 8.

Within these periods falls the sterilizing influence of the heavens, though Iwould not deny the possibility that it is liable to alteration by localclimatic conditions, whether cold or hot. But it is enough for us to havedemonstrated the principle, leaving the details to be ascertained by individualobservation; at all events it will not be doubted that one or other of twothings, full moon or the moon's conjunction, is responsible. And in thismatter admiration for Nature's benevolence suggests itself, as to the fact that,in the first place, because of the fixed courses of the stars this disastercannot possibly happen every year, and only on a few nights in the year, andthat its occurrence is easy to forecast, and that, in order to prevent its beingapprehended through all the months, it has also been foreseen by the lawthat governs the stars; that the moon's conjunctions are safe in summer exceptfor a period of two days, and a. full moon safe in winter and only formidable insummer and when the nights are shortest, but they have not the same potency byday; moreover that this is so easily understood that that tiny creature the ant,at the moon's conjunction keeps quite quiet, but at full moon works busily evenin the nights; that the bird called theparra disappears on the very day whenSirius rises, and remains concealed till it sets, while the oriole, on thecontrary, comes out exactly on midsummer day; but that neither phase of themoon is harmful even at night except in fine weather and when there is not abreath of wind, because dews do not fall when it is cloudy or a wind is blowing,and even so there are remedies available.

LXX. When you have occasion for alarm, make bonfires about the vineyardsand fields of trimmings or heaps of chaff and weeds and bushes that havebeen rooted up, and the smoke will act as a cure for them; smoke from chaff isalso helpful against fogs, in places where fogs do damage. Some people adviseburning three crabs alive among the trees to prevent the vines being injured bycoalblight, others roasting the flesh of a sheat-fish in a slow fire towindward, so that the smoke may spread all through the vineyard.Varro gives the information that avineyard suffers less damage from storms if, at the setting of the Lyre,which marks the beginning of autumn, a picture of a bunch of grapes is placedamong the vines as a votive offering. Archibius in his letter toAntiochus,king of Syria, says that if a toad is buried in a new earthenware jar in themiddle of a cornfield, the crop will not be damaged by storms.

LXXI. The following arc the rural operations belonging to this interval:to turn up the ground again, to dig round the trees, or to bank them up where ahot locality calls for itexcept in a very rich soil crops just budding must notbe dugto clean seed-plots with the hoe, to harvest barley, to prepare thethreshing-floor for the harvest, inCato'sopinion by dressing it with olive-lees, and inVirgil's with chalk, a more laborious method. But for the most partpeople only level it and smear it with a rather weak solution of cow-dung; thisappears to be enough to prevent dust.

LXXII. There are various methods of actually getting in the harvest. Onthe vast estates in the provinces of Gaul very large frames fitted with teethat the edge and carried on two wheels are driven through the corn by a team ofoxen pushing from behind; the ears thus torn off fall into the frame. Elsewherethe stalks are cut through with a sickle and the ear is stripped off between twopitchforks. In some places the stalks are cut off at the root, in others theyare plucked up with the root; and those who use the latter method explain thatin the course of it they get the land broken, although really they are drawingthe goodness out of it. There are also these differences: where they thatch thehouses with straw, they keep it as long as possible, but where there is ashortage of hay, they require chaff for litter. Straw of Italian millet is notused for thatch; common millet stalks are usually burnt on the ground; barleystalks are kept as extremely acceptable to oxen. The Gallic provinces gatherboth millets ear by ear, with a comb held in the hand.

The ear itself when reaped in some places is beaten out with threshing-sledgeson a threshing-floor, in others by being trodden on by mares, and in otherplaces it is thrashed out with flails. Wheat is found to give a larger yieldthe later it is reaped, but to be of finer quality and stronger theearlier it is reaped. The most obvious rule is to reap it 'before the grainhardens and when it has begun to gain colour', but there is an oracularutterance, 'Better to do your reaping two days too soon than two days too late.'Common and bare wheats require the same method on the threshing-floor and in thegranary. Emmer being difficult to thresh is best stored with its chaff, and onlyhas the straw and the beard removed. The majority of countries use chaff forhay; the thinner and finer it is and the nearer to dust, the better, andconsequently the best chaff is obtained from millet, the next best from barley,and the worst from wheat, except for beasts that are being worked hard. In rockyplaces they leave straw to dry and then break it up with a flail, to use it aslitter for cattle, but if there is a shortage of chaff the straw also is groundfor fodder. The method is as follows: it is cut rather early, and sprinkled withstrong brine and then dried and rolled up into trusses, and so fed to oxeninstead of hay. Some people also set fire to the stubble in the field, a processadvertised by the high authority ofVirgil;their chief reason however for this plan is to burn up the seed of weeds. Thesize of the crops and scarcity of labour cause various procedures to be adopted.

LXXIII. A connected subject is the method of storing corn. Somepeople recommend building elaborate granaries with brick walls a yard thick,and moreover filling them from above and not letting them admit draughts of airor have any windows; others say they should only have windows facing north-eastor north, and that they should be built without lime, as lime is very injuriousto corn: the recommendations made with regard to the dregs of olive-oil havebeen pointed out above. In other places, on the contrary, they build theirgranaries of wood and supported on pillars, preferring to let the air blowthrough them from all sides, and even from below. Others think the grain shrinksin bulk if laid on a floor entirely off the ground, and that if it lies under atile roof it gets hot. Many moreover forbid turning over the grain to air it,as the weevil does not penetrate more than four inches down, and beyond that thegrain is in no danger.Columellaalso advises a west wind when corn is harvested, at which I for my part amsurprised, as generally it is a very dry wind. Some people tell us to hang up atoad by one of its longer legs at the threshold of the barn before carrying thecorn into it. To us storing the corn at the proper time will seem mostimportant, as if it is got in when insufficiently ripened and firm, or storedwhile hot, pests are certain to breed in it.

There are several causes that make grain keep: they are found either in the huskof the grain when this forms several coats, as with millet, or in the richnessof the juice, which may be enough to supply moisture, as with gingelly, or inbitter flavour, as with lupine and chickling vetch. It is specially in wheatthat grubs breed, because its density makes it get hot and the grain becomescovered with thick bran. Barley chaff is thinner, and also that of theleguminous plants is scanty, and consequently these do not breed grubs. A beanis covered with thicker coats, and this makes it ferment. Some people sprinklethe wheat itself with dregs of olive oil to make it keep better, eight gallonsto a thousand pecks; others use chalk from Chalcis or Caria for this purpose, oreven wormwood. There is also an earth found at Olynthus and at Cerinthus inEuboea which prevents grain from rotting; also if stored in the ear corn hardlyever suffers injury. The most paying method however of keeping grain is inholes, calledciri, as is done in Cappadocia and Thrace, and in Spain andAfrica; and before all things care is taken to make them in dry soil and then tofloor them with chaff; moreover the corn is stored in this way in the ear. If noair is allowed to penetrate, it is certain that no pests will breed in thegrain.Varro states that wheat so storedlasts fifty years, but millet a hundred, and that beans and leguminous grain, ifput away in oil jars with a covering of ashes, keep a long time. He also recordsthat beans stored in a cavern in Ambracia lasted from the period of KingPyrrhus toPompey the Great's war with the pirates,a period of about 220 years. Chick-pea is the only grain which does not breedany grubs when kept in barns. Some people pile leguminous seed in heaps on tojars containing vinegar, placed on a bed of ashes and coated with pitch,believing that this prevents pests from breeding in them, or else they put themin casks that have held salted fish and coat them over with plaster; and thereare others who sprinkle lentils with vinegar mixed with silphium, and when theyare dry give them a dressing of oil. But the speediest precaution is to gatheranything you want to save from pests at the moon's conjunction. So it makes avery great difference who wants to store the crop or who to put it on themarket, because grain increases in bulk when the moon is waxing.

LXXIV. Next in accordance with the division of the seasons comes autumn,from the setting of the Lyre to the equinox and then the setting of the Pleiadesand the beginning of winter. In these periods important stages are marked by theHorse rising in the region of Attica and the Dolphin setting for Egypt and byCaesar's reckoning on the evening ofAugust 12. On August 22 the constellation called the Vintager begins to rise atdawn forCaesar and for Assyria.,announcing the proper time for the vintage; an indication of this will be thechange of colour in the grapes. On August 28 the Arrow sets for Assyriaand also the seasonal winds cease to blow. On September 5 the Vintager rises forEgypt, and in the morning Arcturus for Attica, and the Arrow sets at dawn. OnSeptember 9, according toCaesar, theShe-goat rises in the evening, while half of Arcturus becomes visible onSeptember 12, indicating very unsettled weather on land and at sea for fivedays. The account given of this is that if there has been rain while theDolphin was setting it will not rain while Arcturus is visible. The departureof the swallows may be noted as the sign of the rise of that constellation,since if they are overtaken by it they are killed off. On September 16 the Earof Corn held by the Virgin rises for Egypt in the morning and the seasonal windscease; this also appears forCaesar onSeptember 15 and for Assyria on September 19; and on September 21 forCaesar the knot in the Fishes settingand the Eqninoctial Constellation itself on September 24. Then there is generalagreement, which is a rare occurrence, betweenPhilippus, Callippus, Dositheus, Parmeniscus, Conon, Crito, Democritus andEudoxus, that the She-goat rises in the morning of September 28 and theKids on September 29. On October 2 the Crown rises for Attica at dawn, and theCharioteer sets for Asia and forCaesarin the morning of October 3. On October 4 the Crown begins to rise forCaesar, and in the evening of the nextday the Kids set. On October 8 forCaesarthe bright star in the Crown rises, and in the evening of October 10 thePleiades; and on October 15 the whole of the Crown. In the evening of October 16the Little Pigs rise. At daybreak on October 31 forCaesar Arcturus sets and the Little Pigsrise. In the evening of November 2 Arcturus sets. On November 9 Orion's Swordbegins to set; and then on November 11 the Pleiades set.

The agricultural operations that come in these periods of time include sowingturnip and navew, on the days that we have stated. It is commonly thought bycountry people that it is a mistake to sow turnip after the departure of thestork; our own view however is that it should be sown in any case after theFeast of Vulcan, and the early kind when Italian millet is sown, but that thetime for vetch and calavance and plants for fodder is after the setting of theLyre; it is recommended that this should take place when the moon is silent.This is also the time for getting ready a store of leaves; to collectfour leaf-baskets full is a fair day's work for one woodman. If they are storedwhen the moon is on the wane they do not decay; but they ought not to be drywhen collected.

In old days the vines were never thought to be ripe for the vintage before theequinox, but nowadays I notice they are commonly pulled at any time;consequently we must also specify the times for this by their signs andindications. The rules are as follows: 'Do not pick a bunch of grapes when theyare warm'that is during unbroken dry weather, with no rain in between; 'Do notpick a bunch of grapes if wet with dew', that is if there has been dew in thenight, and not before it has been dispelled by the sun. 'Begin the vintage whenthe grape-shoot begins to droop down to the stem, or when after a grape has beenremoved from a cluster it has been clearly noticed that the gap does not fill upand that the grapes are no longer getting bigger.' It is a very great advantagefor the vintage to coincide with a crescent moon. One pressing ought to filltwenty wine-skins: that is a fair basis. A single wine press isenough for twenty wine-skins and vats to serve twenty acres of vineyard. Somepress the grapes with a single press-beam, but it pays better to use a pair,however large the single beams may be. It is length that matters in the case ofthe beams, not thickness; but those of ample width press better. In old dayspeople used to drag down the press-beams with ropes and leather straps, and bymeans of levers: but within the last hundred years the Greek pattern of presshas been invented, with the grooves of the upright beam running spirally,some makers fitting the tree with a star, but with others the tree raises withit boxes of stones, an arrangement which is very highly approved. Within thelast twenty years a plan has been invented to use small presses and a smallerpressing-shed, with a shorter upright beam running straight down into themiddle, and to press down the drums placed on top of the grape-skins with thewhole weight and to pile a heap of stones above the presses. This is also thetime for gathering fruit; one should watch when any falls off owing to ripenessand not because of windy weather. This is also the season for pressing out thelees of wine and for boiling down grape-juice, on a night when there is no moon,or, if done in the daytime, it should be at full moon, or on any other dayseither before the moon rises or after it sets; and the grapes should notbe obtained from a young vine nor from one growing on marshy ground; and only aripe bunch should be used. It is thought that if wood is brought in contact withthe vessel, the liquor gets a burnt and smoky flavour. The proper time for thevintage is the period of 41 days from the equinox to the setting of the Pleiades;we meet with a wise saying of growers who hold that from that day onward it isno good at all to tar a cold wine-butt. Still, before now I have seen vintagersat work even on the first of January owing to shortage of vats, and must beingstored in tanks, or last year's wine being poured out of the casks to make roomfor new wine of doubtful quality. This is not so often due to an overabundantcrop as to slackness, or else to avarice lying in wait for a rise in prices. Thepublic-spirited method of an honest head of a household is to use the output ofeach year as it comes; and this is also quite equally the most profitable plan.As for the other matters relating to wines enough has been said already, andalso it has been stated that as soon as the vintage is done the olives must atonce be picked; and we have given the facts concerning olive-growing and theoperations that must be done after the setting of the Pleiades.

LXXV. To these statements we will add what is necessary about the moonand winds and about weather forecasts, so as to complete our account ofastronomic considerations.Virgilfollowing the statement paraded byDemocritushas even thought proper to assign particular operations to numbered days of themoon, but our own motive, in this section also of our work as in the whole ofit, is the practical value of general rules.

All cutting, gathering and trimming is done with less injury to the trees andplants when the moon is waning than when it is waxing. Manure must not betouched except when the moon is waning, but manuring should chiefly be done atnew moon or at half moon. Geld hogs, steers, rams and kids when the moon iswaning. Put eggs under the hen at the new moon. Make ditches at full moon, inthe night-time. Bank up the roots of trees at full moon. In damp land sow seedat the new moon and in the four. days round that time. They also recommendgiving corn and leguminous grains an airing and storing them away towards theend of the moon, making seed-plots when the moon is above the horizon, andtreading out grapes when it is below it, as well as felling timber and the otheroperations which we have specified in their proper places. Nor is theobservation of the moon specially easy, and we have already spoken of it inVolume II; but to give what even countrymen may be able to understand:whenever the moon is seen at sunset and in the earlier hours of thenight, she will be waxing and will appear to be cut in half, but when she risesat sunset opposite the sun, so that sun and moon are visible at the same time,then it will be full moon. When she rises with the sunrise and withholds herlight in the earlier hours of the night and prolongs it into daytime, she willbe waning and will again show only half; but when she has ceased to be visibleshe is in conjunction, the period designated 'between moons'. During theconjunction she will be above the horizon as long as the sun is and during thewhole of the first day, on the second day ten and a quarter twelfths of an hourof the night, and then on the third day and on to the 15th with the samefractions of an hour added in progression. On the 15th day she will be above thehorizon all night and also below it all day. On the 16th she will remain belowthe horizon ten and a quarter twelfths of the first hour of the night, and shewill go on adding the same fraction of an hour every day in succession until theperiod of conjunction, and will add from the daytime to the last parts of thenight above the horizon as much as she subtracts from its first parts when belowthe earth. She will complete thirty revolutions in alternate months but subtractone from that number every alternate month. This will be the theory of thecourse of the moon; that of the winds is somewhat more intricate.

LXXVI. After observing the position of sunrise on any given day, letpeople stand at midday so as to have the point of sunrise at their leftshoulder: then they will have the south directly in front of them and the northdirectly behind them; a path running through a field in this way will be calleda cardinal line. It is better then to turn round, so as to be able to see yourown shadow, which will otherwise be behind you. So, having interchanged yourflanks, so as to have the sunrise of that day at your right shoulder and thesunset at your left, it will be midday when your shadow directly in front of youbecomes smallest. Through the middle of the length of this shadow you will haveto draw a furrow with a hoe or make a line with ashes let us say 20 ft. long,and at the centre of this line, that is 10 ft. from each end, to draw asmall circle, which may be called the umbilicus or navel. The part of theline towards the head of the shadow will be in the direction of the north wind.You who prune trees, do not let the cut ends of them face in that direction, norshould trees carrying vines or vines themselves do so except in the province ofAfrica, in the Cyrenaica and in Egypt; when the wind is in that quarter, do notplough or perform any of the other operations we shall mention. The part of theline towards the feet of the shadow, facing south, will indicate the south wind,the Greek name of which is as we said Notus: when the wind comes from thatquarter, husbandman, do not deal with timber or the vine. For Italy this is adamp wind or else extremely hot,indeed for Africa it brings fiery heat togetherwith fine weather. In Italy bearing branches should face in this direction, butnot the pruned branches of trees or vines; and this wind in the four days of thePleiades is to be dreaded for the olive, and avoided for their slips by thegrafter or for their buds by those engaged in budding. It may be suitable togive some warnings as to the times of day in this region. Woodman, do not prunefoliage at midday. Shepherd, when you perceive noon to be approaching as theshadow contracts, drive your flocks out of the sun into a shady place. When youare pasturing your flocks in summer, let them face west in the forenoon andeast in the afternoon; otherwise it is harmful, as it is in winter and spring tolead them out into pasture wet with dew [and it has been said above that youmust not let them feed facing north], as they go lame, and get blear-eyed fromthe wind, and die of looseness of the bowels. You must make the ewes face thiswind when they are being covered, if you want them to have ewe lambs.

LXXVII. We have said that the umbilicus must be drawn at the middle of the line. Let another line run transversely through the middle of the umbilicus; this line will run due east and west, and a path that cuts across the land on this line will be called the 'decuman'. Then twoother lines must be drawn obliquely to form an X, so as to run down from theright and left of the northern point to the left and right of the southernpoint. All these lines must run through the same umbilicus, and they must all beequal and the spaces between all of them must be equal. This system will have tobe worked out once in each plot of land, or, if you mean to employ itfrequently, a wooden model of it may be made consisting of rods of equal lengthfitted into a small but circular drum. Under the method I am explaining helpmust be afforded to the understanding even of persons unacquainted with thesubject: the rule is to examine the position of the sun at noon, as that isalways the same, whereas the sunrise is at a different point in the sky everyday from where it was yesterday, so nobody must suppose that the right plan isto take a line on sunrise.

Having thus worked out a part of the heavens, theend of the line next to north on the east side of it will give the point ofsunrise at the summer solstice, that is on the longest day, and the position ofthe north-east wind, the Greek name for which is Boreas. You should plant treesand vines facing this point; but beware of ploughing or sowing corn orscattering seed when this wind is blowing, for it nips and chills the roots oftrees that yon will bring to plant. Be taught in advance: some conditions aregood for strong full-grown trees and others for saplings. (Nor have I forgottenthat the Greeks place in this quarter the wind they call Caecias; butAristotle, a man of immense acuteness,who took that very view, also gives the earth's convexity as the reason why thenorth-east wind blows in the opposite direction to the African wind.) Andnevertheless the farmer need not fear a north-east wind all the year round inthe operations mentioned above; at midsummer it is softened by the sun, andchanges its nameit is called Etesias. Consequently be on your guard when youfeel the wind cold, and when a north easter is forecast, as it does so muchmore damage than a wind due north. North-east is the direction in which thetrees and vines should face in Asia, Greece, Spain, the coastal parts of Italy,Campania and Apulia. Breeders who desire to get male stock should pasture theirflocks exposed to this wind, so that it may thus fecundate the sire whencoupling. The African wind, the Greek name for which is Libs, will blow from thesouth-west, directly opposite to Aquilo; when animals after coupling turntowards this quarter, you may be sure that they have got females.

The third line from the north, which we have drawn transversely tothe shadow and have called thedecuman, will have the sunrise at the equinoxesand the Subsolanus wind, called by the Greeks Apheliotes. This is the properaspect for farm-houses and vineyards in healthy localities. This wind itselfbrings gentle rains; still Favonius, the wind in the opposite quarter, blowingfrom the equinoctial sunset, the Greek name for which is Zephyrus, is gentlerand drier. This is the direction in whichCatorecommended that olive-yards should face; this wind inaugurates the spring, andopens up the land, having a healthy touch of cold, and it will give the righttime for pruning vines, tending crops, planting trees. grafting fruit-trees andtreating olives; and its breeze will have a nutritive effect. The fourth linefrom the north, lying nearest the south on the eastern side, will have thesunrise at midwinter and the wind Volturnus, the Greek name for which is Eurus,which itself also is rather dry and warm; this is the proper aspect for beehivesand for vineyards in Italy, and the provinces of Gaul. Directly opposite toVolturnus will blow Corus, from the point of sunset at midsummer, on the sunsetside of north, its Greek name being Argestes; it also is one of the coldestwinds, as are all those blowing from the north; it also brings hailstorms, andis quite as much to be avoided as the north wind. If Volturnus begins to blowfrom a clear part of the sky, it will not last till night, whereas Subsolanusgoes on for the greater part of the night. Whatever the wind is, if it is feltto be hot it will last for several days. The earth suddenly drying up foretellsa north-east wind, and if it becomes damp from no visible fall of moisture, asouth wind.

LXXVIII. The theory of the winds having now in fact been set out, inorder to avoid repetition it is the best plan to pass on to the remaining meansof forecasting the weather, since I see that this subject also appealed greatlytoVirgil, inasmuch as he records thateven in harvest time the winds often engage in battles that are ruinous toinexpert farmers. It is recorded thatDemocritus above mentioned when his brotherDamasus was reaping his harvest, inextremely hot weather besought him to leave the rest of the crop and make hasteto get what he had already cut under cover, his prophecy being confirmed a fewhours later by a fierce storm of rain. Moreover it is also recommended only toplant reeds when rain is impending and to sow corn when a shower is about tofollow. We therefore briefly touch on these subjects also, examining the mostrelevant facts, and we will take first weather forecasts derived from the sun.

A clear sunrise without burning heat announces a fine day, but a pale sunrisepromises a wintry day with hail. If there was also a fine sunset the day before,the promise of fine weather is all the more reliable. If the sun rises in avault of clouds it foretells rain, and likewise when the clouds are red beforeit rises it foretells wind, or if black clouds also mingle with the red, rain aswell; when the rays of the rising or setting sun seem to coalesce, that meansrain. If the setting sun is surrounded by red clouds, these guarantee fineweather the next day; but if at sunrise the clouds are scattered some tothe south and some to the north, although the sky round the sun may be fine andclear, they will nevertheless indicate rain and winds, while if when the sun isrising or setting its rays appear shortened, that will be a sign of rain. If atsunset it rains or the sun's rays attract cloud towards them, they willdenote stormy weather for the following day. When at sunrise the rays do notshoot out with great brilliance, although the sun is not surrounded by clouds,they will portend rain. If before sunrise clouds form in masses, they willforetell rough stormy weather, but if they are driven away from the east and goaway westward, fine weather. If clouds form a ring round the sun, the less lightthey leave the more stormy will be the weather, but if even a double ring ofcloud is formed, the storm will be all the more violent; and if this occurs atsunrise or sunset, so that the clouds turn red, that will be a sign of a verybad storm indeed. If the clouds do not surround the sun but hang over it theywill presage wind in the quarter they come from, and if they arc from the south,rain as well. If the rising sun is surrounded with a ring, wind is to beexpected in any quarter in which the ring breaks; but if the whole of it slipsaway equally, it will give flue weather. If the sun when risingstretches out its rays a long way through the clouds and the middle of its diskis free of cloud, it will be a sign of rain; if the sun's rays become visiblebefore it rises this will mean rain and wind; if the setting sun has awhite ring round it, it means a slight storm in the night; if mist, a moreviolent storm; if the sun when so surrounded is bright, wind; if the ring isvery dark, there will be a strong wind in the quarter in which the ring breaks.

LXXIX. The prognostics of the moon must rightfully come next. Egypt paysmost attention to the moon's fourth day. It is believed that if she rises brightand shines with clear brilliance, she portends fine weather, if red, wind, ifdark, rain, for the next fortnight. The moon's horns being blunted are always asign of rain, and when they shoot up threateningly, of wind, but particularly onthe fourth day of the moon. If the upper horn points stiffly north it presages anorth wind, if the lower horn a south wind; if both horns are upright, a windynight. If the moon on her fourth night is surrounded by a bright ring,this will be a warning of both wind and rain.Varro writes as follows: If on the fourth day of the moon her horns areupright, this will presage a great storm at sea, unless she has a circlet roundher, and that circlet unblemished, since that is the way in which she shows thatthere will not be stormy weather before full moon. If the moon at full has halfof her disk clear, this will be a sign of fine weather, but if it is red, thatwill mean wind, and if darkish, rain. If the moon is enclosed in mist or in acircle of clouds, it will signify wind in the quarter in which the circlebreaks; if she is surrounded by two rings, it will mean stormier weather, andthe more so if there are three rings or if the rings are dark, broken and tornapart. If the new moon at her birth rises with her upper horn blacked out, shewill bring rain when she wanes, but if it is the lower horn, before she is full,and if the blackness is at her centre, she will bring rain at full moon. If whenfull she has a circle round her, it will denote wind in the quarter where thecircle shines brightest, and if at her rising the horns are thicker, it willdenote a terrible storm. If when there is a west wind blowing the moon does notmake an appearance before her fourth day, she will be accompanied by wintryweather for the whole month. If on her sixteenth day she has a more violentlyflaming appearance, this will presage violent storms.

There are also eight periodic points of the moon herself, corresponding to herangles of incidence with the sun, and most observers only notice the moon'sprognostics between those points; they are the 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, 19th, 23rdand 27th days of the moon, and the day of her conjunction.

LXXX. In the third place must come the observation of the stars. Theseare sometimes seen to move to and fro, and this is immediately followed by windin the quarter in which they have given this presage. When at the periodicpoints that we have set out the whole sky is equally brilliant, it will afford afine and cold autumn. If spring and summer do not pass without a chilly period,they will cause a fine and misty autumn, with less wind. Fine weather in autumnmakes a windy winter. When the brightness of the stars becomes suddenlyobscured, and that not by cloud or mist, rain or heavy storms are threatened.If several shooting stars are seen, they will announce winds from the quartersin the direction of which they travel, making a white track, steady winds if thestars twinkle, but if this occurs in several parts of the sky, shifting windsand blowing from all quarters. If one of the planets is enclosed by a circle, itmeans rain. In the constellation of the Crab there are two small stars calledthe Little Asses, with a small gap between them containing a little nebulacalled the Manger; when this nebula ceases to be visible in fine weather, afierce storm follows; but if the northern one of the two stars is obscured bymist, there is a southerly gale, and if the southern one, a gale from the north.A double rainbow foretells rain, or coming after rain, fine weather, but thisis not so certain; a ring of clouds round certain stars is a sign of rain.

LXXXI. A thunderstorm in summer with more violent thunder than lightningforetells wind in that quarter, but one with less thunder than lightning is asign of rain. If there are flickers of lightning and claps of thunder in a clearsky, there will be stormy weather, but this will be extremely severe when itlightens from all four quarters of the sky; lightning in the north-east onlywill portend rain for the next day, and lightning in the north a north wind.Lightning on a fine night in the south, west or north-west will indicate windand rain from the same quarters. Thunder in the morning signifies wind, andthunder at midday rain.

LXXXII. When clouds sweep over the sky infine weather, wind is to be expected in whichever quarter the clouds come from.If they mass together in the same place and when the sun approaches arescattered, and if this takes place from a northern direction, they will portendwinds, but if from a southern, rain. If when the sun is setting clouds rise intothe sky on either side of the sun, they will signify stormy weather; if they aremore lowering in the east they threaten rain for the night, but if in the west,rain the next day. If a number of clouds spread like fleeces of wool in theeast, they will presage rain lasting three days. When clouds settle down on thetops of the mountains, the weather will be stormy; but if the tops become clear,it will turn fine. When there is heavy white cloud, a hailstorm, a `white storm'as it is called, will be imminent. A patch of cloud however small seen in a finesky will give a storm of wind.

LXXXIII. Mists coming down from the mountains or falling from the sky orsettling in the valleys will promise fine weather.

LXXXIV. Next after these, signs are given by fires on the earth. Whenthey are pallid and crackling they are perceived as messengers of storms; alsoit is a sign of rain if fungus forms in lamps, and if the flame is spiral andflickering. When the lights go out of themselves or are hard to light, theyannounce wind; and so do sparks piling up on the top of a copper pot hangingover the fire, or live coal sticking to saucepans when you take them off thefire, or if when the fire is banked up it sends out a scattering of ashes oremits a spark, or if cinders on the hearth cake together and if a coal fireglows with extreme brilliance.

LXXXV. Water also gives signs. If when the sea is calm the water in aharbour sways about or makes a splashing noise of its own, it foretells wind,and if it does so in winter, rain as well; if the coasts and shores re-echoduring a calm, they foretell a severe storm, as also do noises from the seaitself in a calm, or scattered flakes of foam, or bubbles on the water.Jellyfish on the surface of the sea portend several days' storm. Often also thesea swells in silence, and blown up in unusually high waves confesses that thewinds are now inside it.

LXXXVI. And predictions are also given by in certain soundsoccurring in the mountains and by moanings of the forests and leaves rustlingwithout any breeze being perceptible; and by the down off poplars and thornsfluttering, and feathers floating on the surface of water, and also in bells apeculiar ringing sound foretelling a storm about to come.

LXXXVII. Presages are also given by animals: for instance dolphinssporting in a calm sea prophesy wind from the quarter from which they come, andlikewise when splashing the water in a billowy sea they also presagecalm weather. A cuttlefish fluttering out of the water, shell-fish adhering toobjects, and sea-urchins making themselves fast or ballasting themselves withsand are signs of a storm; so also frogs croaking more than usual, and cootsmaking a chattering in the morning, and likewise divers and ducks cleaning theirfeathers with their beak are a sign of wind, and the other water-birds flockingtogether, cranes hastening inland, and divers and seagulls forsaking the seaor the marshes. Cranes flying high aloft in silence foretell fine weather, andso also does the night-owl when it screeches during a shower, but it prophesiesa storm if it screeches in fine weather, and so do crows croaking with a sort ofgurgle and shaking themselves, if the sound is continuous, but if they swallowit down in gulps, this foretells gusty rain. Jays returning late from feedingforetell stormy weather, and so do the white birds when theycollect in flocks, and land birds when they clamour while facing a piece ofwater and sprinkle themselves, but especially a rook; a swallow skimming alongso close to the water that she repeatedly strikes it with her wing; and birdsthat live in trees going to cover in their nests; and geese when they make acontinuous clamouring at an unusual time; and a heron moping in the middle ofthe sands.

LXXXVIII. Nor is it surprising that aquatic birds or birds in generalperceive signs of coming changes of atmosphere; sheep skipping and sporting withunseemly gambols have the same prognostications, and oxen sniffing the sky andlicking themselves against the way of the hair, and nasty swine tearing upbundles of hay that are not meant for them, and bees keeping in hiding idly andagainst their usual habit of industry, or ants hurrying to and fro or carryingforward their eggs, and likewise earthworms emerging from their holes.

LXXXIX. It is also a well-ascertained fact that trefoil bristles and raises its leaves against an approaching storm.

XC. Moreover when we are at table during our meals vessels into which food is put foretell dreadful storms by leaving a smudge on the sideboard.

I. AN account of the constellations, seasons and weather has now beengiven that is easy even for non-experts to understand does not leave any roomfor doubt; and for those who really understand the matter the countrysidecontributes to our knowledge of the heavens no less than astronomy contributesto agriculture. Many writers have made horticulture the next subject; wehowever do not think the time has come to pass straight to those topics, and weare surprised that some persons seeking from these subjects the satisfaction ofknowledge, or a reputation for learning, have passed over so many matterswithout making any mention of all the plants that grow of their own accord orfrom cultivation, especially in view of the fact that even greater importanceattaches to very many of these, in point of price and of practical utility,than to the cereals. And to begin with admitted utilities and with commoditiesdistributed not only throughout all lands but also over the seas: flax is aplant that is grown from seed and that cannot be included either among cerealsor among garden plants;but in what department of life shall we not meet with it, or what is moremarvellous than the fact that there is a plant which brings Egypt so close toItaly that of two governors of Egypt Galeriusreached Alexandria from the Straits of Messina in seven days andBalbillus in six, and that in the summer[AD 55] 15 years later the praetorian senatorValerius Marianus made Alexandria from Pozzuoli in nine days with a verygentle breeze? or that there is a plant that brings Cadiz within seven days'sail from the Straits of Gibraltar to Ostia, and Hither Spain within four days,and the Province of Narbonne within three, and Africa within two? The lastrecord was made byGaius Flavius, deputyof the proconsulVibius Crispus, evenwith a very gentle wind blowing. How audacious is life and how full ofwickedness, for a plant to be grown for the purpose of catching the winds andthe storms, and for us not to be satisfied with being borne on by thewaves alone, nay that by this time we are not even satisfied with sails that arelarger than ships, but, although single trees are scarcely enough for the sizeof the yardarms that carry the sails, nevertheless other sails are added abovethe yards and others besides are spread at the bows and others at the sterns,and so many methods are employed of challenging death, and finally that out ofso small a seed springs a means of carrying the whole world to and fro, a plantwith so slender a stalk and rising to such a small height from the ground, andthat this, not after being woven into a tissue by means of its natural strengthbut when broken and crushed and reduced by force to the softness of wool,afterwards by this ill-treatment attains to the highest pitch of daring! Noexecration is adequate for an inventor in navigation (whom we mentioned abovein the proper place), who was not content that mankind should die upon landunless he also perished where no burial awaits him. Why, in the precedingBookwe were giving a warning to beware of storms of rain and wind for the sake ofthe crops and of our food: and behold man's hand is engaged in growing andlikewise his wits in weaving an object which when at sea is only eager for thewinds to blow! And besides, to let us know how the Spirits of Retribution have favoured us, there is no plant that is grown more easily; and to show us that itis sown against the will of Nature, it scorches the land and causes the soilactually to deteriorate in quality.

II. Flax is chiefly grown in sandy soils,and with a single ploughing. No other plant grows more quickly: it is sown inspring and plucked in summer, and owing to this also it does damage to the land.Nevertheless, one might forgive Egypt for growing it to enable her to import themerchandise of Arabia and India. Really? And are the Gallic provinces alsoassessed on such revenue as this? And is it not enough that they have themountains separating them from the sea, and that on the side of the ocean theyare bounded by an actual vacuum, as the term is? The Cadurci, Caleti, Ruteni,Biturigcs, and the Morini who are believed to be the remotest of mankind, infact the whole of the Gallic provinces, weave sailcloth, and indeed by this timeso do even our enemies across the Rhine, and linen is the showiestdress-material known to their womankind. This reminds us of the fact recorded byVarro that it is a clan-custom in thefamily of the Serrani for the women not to wear linen dresses. In Germany thewomen carry on this manufacture in caves dug underground; and similarly also inthe Alia district of Italy between the Po and the Ticino, where the linen winsthe prize as the third best in Europe, that of Saetabis being first, as thesecond prize is won by the linens of Retovium near the Alia district and Faenzaon the Aemilian Road. The Faenza linens are preferred for whiteness to those of Alia, which are always unbleached, but those of Retovium are supremely fine intexture and substance and are as white as the Faventia, hut have no nap, whichquality counts in their favour with some people but puts off others. This flaxmakes a tough thread having a quality almost more uniform than that of aspider's web, and giving a twang when you choose to test it with your teeth;consequently it is twice the price of the other kinds.

And after these it is Hither Spain that has a linen of special lustre, due tothe outstanding quality of a stream that washes the city of Tarragon, in thewaters of which it is dressed; also its fineness is marvellous, Tarragonbeing the place where cambrics were first invented. From the same province ofSpain Zoëla flax has recently been imported into Italy, a flax specially usefulfor hunting-nets; Zoelà is a city of Gallaecia near the Atlantic coast. The flaxof Comae in Campania also has a reputation of its own for nets for fishing andfowling, and it is also used as a material for making hunting-nets: in fact weuse flax to lay no less insidious snares for the whole of the animal kingdomthan for ourselves! But the Cumae nets will cut the bristles of a boar and eventurn the edge of a steel knife; and we have seen before now netting of such finetexture that it could be passed through a man's ring, with running tackle andall, a single person carrying an amount of net sufficient to encircle a wood!Nor is this the most remarkable thing about it, but the fact that each string ofthese nettings consists of 150 threads, as recently made for Fulvius Lupus who died in the office ofgovernor of Egypt. This may surprise people who do not know that in abreastplate that belonged to a former king of Egypt namedAmasis, preserved in the temple ofMinerva at Lindus on the island of Rhodes, each thread consisted of 365separate threads, a fact whichMucianus,who held the consulship three times quite lately, stated that he had proved tobe true by investigation, adding that only small remnants of the breastplate nowsurvive owing to the damage done by persons examining this quality. Italy alsovalues the Pelignian flax as well, but only in its employment by fullersno flaxis more brilliantly white or more closely resembles wool; and similarly the flaxgrown at Cahors has a special reputation for mattresses: this use of it is aninvention of the provinces of Gaul, as likewise is flock. As for Italy, thecustom even now survives in the word used for bedding. Egyptian flax isnot at all strong, but it sells at a very good price. There are four kinds inthat country, Tanitic, Pelusiac, Butie and Tentyritie, named from the districtswhere they grow. The upper part of Egypt, lying in the direction of Arabia,grows a bush which some people call cotton, but more often it is called by aGreek work meaning 'wood': hence the namexylina given to linens made ofit. It is a small shrub, and from it hangs a fruit resembling a bearded nut,with an inner silky fibre from the down of which thread is spun. No kinds ofthread are more brilliantly white or make a smoother fabric than this. Garmentsmade of it are very popular with the priests of Egypt. A fourth kind is called othoninum; it is made from a sort of reed growing in marshes, but only from its tuft. Asia makes a thread out of broom, of which specially durable fishing-nets are made, the plant being soaked in water for ten days; the Ethiopians and Indians make thread from apples, and the Arabians from gourds that grow on trees, as we said.

III. With us the ripeness of flax is ascertained by two indications, theswelling of the seed or its assuming a yellowish colour. It is thenplucked up and tied together in little bundles each about the size of a handful,hung up in the sun to dry for one day with the roots turned upward, and then forfive more days with the heads of the bundles turned inward towards each other sothat the seed may fall into the middle. Linseed makes a potent medicine; it isalso popular in a rustic porridge with an extremely sweet taste, made in Italynorth of the Po, but now for a long time only used for sacrifices. When thewheat-harvest is over the actual stalks of the flax are plunged in water thathas been left to get warm in the sun, and a weight is put on them to press themdown, as flax floats very readily. The outer coat becoming looser is a sign thatthey are completely soaked, and they are again dried in the sun, turned headdownwards as before, and afterwards when thoroughly dry they are pounded on astone with a tow-hammer. The part that was nearest the skin is calledoakumitis flax of an inferior quality, and mostly more fit for lamp-wicks; neverthelessthis too is combed with iron spikes until all the outer skin is scraped off. Thepith has several grades of whiteness and softness, and the discarded skin isuseful for heating ovens and furnaces. There is an art of combing out andseparating flax: it is a fair amount for fifteen ... to be carried out fromfifty pounds' weight of bundles; and spinning flax is a respectable occupationeven for men. Then it is polished in the thread a second time, afterbeing soaked in water and repeatedly beaten out against a stone, and it is woveninto a fabric and then again beaten with clubs, as it is always better forrough treatment.

IV. Also a linen has now been invented that is incombustible, itis called 'live' linen, and I have seen napkins made of it glowing on the hearthat banquets and burnt more brilliantly clean by the fire than they could be bybeing washed in water. This linen is used for making shrouds for royalty whichkeep the ashes of the corpse separate from the rest of the pyre. The plantsgrows in the deserts and sun-scorched regions of India where no rain falls, thehaunts of deadly snakes, and it is habituated to living in burning heat; it israrely found, and is difficult to weave into cloth because of its shortness; itscolour is normally red hut turns white by the action of fire. When any of it isfound, it rivals the prices of exceptionally fine pearls. The Greek name for itisasbestinon, derived from its peculiar property.Anaxilaus states that if this linen iswrapped round a tree it can be felled without the blows being heard, as itdeadens their sound. Consequently this kind of linen holds the highest rank inthe whole of the world. The next place belongs to a fabric made of fine flaxgrown in the neighbourhood of Elis in Achaia, and chiefly used for women'sfinery; I find that it formerly changed hands at the price of gold, four denariifor one twenty-fourth of an ounce. The nap of linen cloths, principally thatobtained from the sails of seagoing ships, is much used as a medicine, and itsash has the efficacy of metal dross. Among the poppies also there is a kind fromwhich an outstanding material for bleaching linen is extracted.

V. An attempt has been made to dye even linen so as to adapt it for ourmad extravagance in clothes. This was first done in the fleets ofAlexander the Great when he was voyagingon the river Indus, his generals and captains having held a sort of competitioneven in the various colours of the ensigns of their ships; and the river banksgazed in astonishment as the breeze filled out the bunting with its shiftinghues.Cleopatra had a purple sail whenshe came withMark Antony to Actium, andwith the same sail she fled. A purple sail was subsequently the distinguishingmark of the emperor's ship.

VI. Linen cloths were used in the theatres as awnings, a plan firstinvented byQuintus Catulus whendedicating the Capitol. NextLentulus Spintheris recorded to have been the first to stretch awnings of cambric in the theatre,at the games of Apollo. Soon afterwardsCaesarwhen dictator stretched awnings [49-44 B.C.]. over the whole of the Roman Forum,as well as the Sacred Way from his mansion, and the slope right up to theCapitol, a display recorded to have been thought more wonderful even than theshow of gladiators which he gave. Next even when there was no display of gamesMarcellus the son ofAugustus's sisterOctavia, during his period of office asaedile, in the eleventh consulship of his uncle, from the first of August onwardfixed awnings of sailcloth over the forum, so that those engaged in lawsuitsmight resort there under healthier conditions: what a change this was from thestern manners ofCato the ex-censor, whohad expressed the view that even the forum ought to be paved with sharp pointedstones! Recently awnings actually of sky blue and spangled with stars have beenstretched with ropes even in the emperorNero'samphitheatres. Red awnings are used in the inner courts of houses andkeep the sun off the moss growing there; but for other purposes white hasremained persistently in favour. Moreover as early as the Trojan war linenalready held a place of honourfor why should it not be present even in battlesas it is in shipwrecks?Homer testifiesthat warriors, though only a few, fought in linen corslets. This material wasalso used for rigging ships, according to the same author as interpreted by themore learned scholars, who say that the wordsparta used byHomer means 'sown'.

VII. As a matter of fact the employment of esparto began many generationslater, and not before the first invasion of Spain by the Carthaginians.Esparto also is a plant, which is self-sown and cannot be grown from seed;strictly it is a rush, belonging to a dry soil, and all the blame for itattaches to the earth, for it is a curse of the land, and nothing else can bebrown or can spring up there. In Africa it makes a small growth and is of nouse. In the Cartagena section of Hither Spain, and not the whole of this but asfar as this plant grows, even the mountains are covered with esparto grass.Country people there use it for bedding, for fuel and torches, for footwear andfor shepherd's clothes; but it is unwholesome fodder for animals, except thetender growth at the tops. For other purposes it is pulled out of the ground, alaborious task for which gaiters are worn on the legs and the hands are wrappedin woven gauntlets, and levers of bone or holm-oak are used; nowadays the workgoes on nearly into winter, but it is done most easily between the middle of Mayand the middle of June, which is the season when the plant ripens.

VIII. When it has been plucked it is tied up in bundles in a heap for twodays and on the third day untied and spread out in the sun anddried, and then it is done up in bundles again and put away under cover indoors.Afterwards it is laid to soak, preferably in sea water, but flesh water alsowill do if sea water is not available; and then it is dried in the sun and againmoistened. If need for it suddenly becomes pressing, it is soaked in warm waterin a tub and put to dry standing up, thus securing a saving of labour. Afterthat it is pounded to make it serviceable, and it is of unrivalled utility,especially for use in water and in the sea, though on dry land they prefer ropesmade of hemp; but esparto is actually nourished by being plunged in water, as ifin compensation for the thirstiness of its origin. Its quality is indeed easilyrepaired, and however old a length of it may be it can be combined again with anew piece. Nevertheless one who wishes to understand the value of thismarvellous plant must realize how much it is employed in all countries for therigging of ships, for mechanical appliances used in building, and for otherrequirements of life. A sufficient quantity to serve all these purposes will befound to exist in a district on the coast of Cartagena that extends less than100 miles along the shore and is less than 30 miles wide. The cost of carriageprohibits its being transported any considerable distance.

IX. We may take it on the evidence of the Greek word for a rush that theGreeks used to employ that plant for making ropes; though it is well knownthat afterwards they used the leaves of palm trees and the inner bark oflime trees. It is extremely probable that the Carthaginians imported the use ofesparto grass from Greece.

X.Theophrastus states that thereis a kind of bulb growing in the neighbourhood of river banks, whichcontains a woolly substance (between the outer skin and the edible part) that isused as a material for making felt slippers and certain articles of dress; buthe does not state, at all events in the copies of his work that have come intomy hands, either the region in which this manufacture goes on or any particularsin regard to it beyond the fact that the plant is called 'wool-bearing'; nordoes he make any mention at all of esparto grass, although he has given anextremely careful account of all plants at a date 390 years before our time (aswe have also said already in another place); which shows that esparto grass cameinto use after that date.

XI. And now that we have made a beginning in treating of themarvels of nature, we shall proceed to take them in order, by far the greatestamong them being that a plant should spring up and live without having any root.The growths referred to are called truffles; they are enveloped all round withearth and are not strengthened by any fibres or at least filaments, nor yetdoes the place they grow in show any protuberance or undergo cracks; and theythemselves do not stick to the earth, and are actually enclosed in a skin, sothat while we cannot say downright that they consist of earth, we cannot callthem anything but a callosity of the earth. They usually grow in dry and sandysoils and in places covered with shrubs. They often exceed the size of a quince,even weighing as much as a pound. They are of two kinds, one gritty in textureand unkind to the teeth, and the other devoid of impurities; they also differ intheir colour, which is red or black, and the inside is white. The Africanvariety is the most highly spoken of. I do not think it can be easilyascertained whether they grow in size, or whether this blemish of the earthforthey cannot be understood as anything elseforms at once a ball of the size thatit is going to be; nor whether they are alive or not, for they decay in the sameway as wood does. We know for a fact that when Lartius Licinius, an official of praetorian rank, was serving as Ministerof Justice at Cartagena in Spain a few years ago, he happened when biting atruffle to come on a denarius contained inside it, which bent his front teeth;this will clearly show that truffles are lumps of earthy substance balledtogether. One thing that is certain is that truffles will be found to belong tothe class of things that spring up spontaneously and cannot be grown from seed.

XII. There is also a similar plant the name of which in the province of Cyrene is which has a remarkably sweet scent and flavour, but ismore fleshy than the truffle; and one in Thrace callediton, and one inGreece, ceraunion or 'thunder-truffle'.

XIII. Peculiarities reported about truffles are that they spring up whenthere have been spells of rain in autumn and repeated thunderstorms, andthat thunderstorms bring them out particularly; that they do not last beyond ayear; and that those in spring are the most delicate to eat. In some placesacceptable truffles only grow in marshy places, for instance at Mytilene it issaid that they only grow on ground flooded by the rivers, when the floods havebrought down seed from Tiara: that is the place where most grow. The most famousAsiatic truffles grow round Lampsacus and Alopeconnesus, and the most famousGreek ones in the district of Elis.

XIV. The fungus class also includes those called by the Greeks pezicae, which grow without root or stalk.

XV. Next after these we will speak about laser-wort, a remarkablyimportant plant, the Greek name for which is silphium; it wasoriginally found in the province of Cyrenaica. Its juice is called laser,and it takes an important place in general use and among drugs, and is sold forits weight in silver denarii. It has not been found in that country now for manyyears, because the tax-farmers who rent the pasturage strip it clean by grazingsheep on it, realizing that they make more profit in that way. Only a singlestalk has been found there within our memory, which was sent to the EmperorNero. If a grazing flock ever chances tocome on a promising young shoot, this is detected by the indication that a sheepafter eating it at once goes to sleep and a goat has a fit of sneezing. And fora long time now no laser-wort has been imported to us except what grows in Persiaor Media and Armenia, in abundant quantity but much inferior quality to that ofCyrenaica, and even so adulterated with gum, sacopenium, or with crushedbeans; this makes it even more necessary for us not to omit to state the factsthat in the consulship ofGaius ValeriusandMarcus Herennius, 30 pounds oflaser-wort plant was imported to Rome by the government, and that during thedictatorship ofCaesar, at the beginningof the civil war he produced out of the treasury together with gold and silver1500 lbs. of laser-wort plant.

We find it stated in the most reliable authors of Greece that this plant firstsprang up in the vicinity of the Gardens of the Hesperids and the Greater Syrtisafter the ground had been suddenly soaked by a shower of rain the colour ofpitch, seven years before the foundation of the town of Cyrenae, which was inthe year of our city 143; that the effect of this rainfall extended over 500miles of Africa; and that the laser-wort plant grew widely in that country as anobstinate weed, and if cultivated, escaped into the desert; and that it has alarge thick root and a stalk like that of fennel and equally thick. The leavesof this plant used to be calledmaspetunt; they closely resembledparsley, and the seed was like a leaf, the actual leaf being shed off in spring.It used to be customary to pasture cattle on it; it first acted as a purgative,and then the beasts grew fat and produced meat of a marvellously agreeablequality. After the plant had shed its leaves the people themselves used to eatthe actual stalk, cooked in all sorts of ways, boiled and roasted; with themalso it operated as a purge for the first six weeks. The juice used to beobtained in two ways, from the root and from the stalk, and the twocorresponding names for it wererizias andcazciias, the latterinferior to the former and liable to go had. The root had a black rind. Thejuice itself was adulterated for trade purposes by being put into vessels with amixture of bran added and then shaken up till it was brought into ripecondition; without this treatment it went bad. A proof of its being ripe was itscolour and dryness, the damp juice having completely disappeared. Other accountssay that the plant had a root more than 18 inches long, and that at all eventsthere was an excrescence on it protruding above the surface of the ground; thatwhen an incision was made in this, a juice resembling milk would flow out; andthat there was a stalk growing above the excrescence which they calledmagydaris; that the plant had leaves of a golden colour which servedas seed, being shed after the rise of the Dog-star when a south wind was blowing,and that out of these fallen leaves shoots of laser-wort used to spring, bothroot and stalk making full growth in the space of a year. These authors alsostated that it was customary to dig round the roots of the plant; and that itdid not act as a purge with cattle, but if they were ailing it cured them, orelse they died at once, the latter not happening in many cases. The former viewcorresponds with the Persian variety of silphium.

XVI. There is another kind of laser-wort calledmagydaris,which is gentler and less violent in its effects, and has no juice; thisgrows in the neighbourhood of Syria, not being found in the Cyrenaica region.Also there is a plant growing in great abundance on Mount Parnassus that iscalled laserwort plant by some persons. All these varieties are used foradulteration, bringing discredit on a very salutary and useful commodity. Thefirst test of the genuine article is in the colour, which is reddish, and whiteinside when the mass is broken; and the next test is if the juice that drips outis transparent and melts very quickly in saliva. It is employed as an ingredientin a great many medicaments.

XVII. There are also two kinds that are known only to the avariciousherd, as they are very profitable articles of trade. First comes madder, whichis indispensable for dyeing woollens and leather; the most highly esteemed isthe Italian, and especially that grown in the neighbourhood of Rome, and almostall the provinces teem with it. It grows of itself, but a variety that resembles fitch, but has prickly leaves and stalk, is also grown from seed. This plant has a jointed stem, with five leaves arranged in a circle round each joint. The seed is red and finally turns black, and the root red. Its medicinal properties we shall state in their proper place.

XVIII. But the plant called the rootlet has a juice that is only used forwashing woollens, contributing in a remarkable degree to their whiteness andsoftness. It can he grown anywhere under cultivation, but an outstandingself-sown variety occurs in Asia and Syria, on rocky and rugged ground, thoughthe most highly esteemed grows beyond the Euphrates. Its stalk being slenderresembles fennel; and it is much sought after by the natives to supply articlesof food or perfumes, according to the ingredients with which it is boiled down.It has the leaf of an olive. The Greek name of this plant is 'little sparrow'.It flowers in summer, and the blossom is pretty to look at but has noscent. It is a thorny plant, with a stalk covered with down. It has no seed, buta large root, which is cut up for the purpose mentioned.

XIX. It remains to return from these plants to the cultivation of gardens,a subject recommended to our notice both by its own intrinsic nature and bythe fact that antiquity gave its highest admiration to the garden of the Hesperids and of the kingsAdonis andAlcinous, and also to hanging gardens,whether those constructed bySemiramisor bySyrus King of Assyria, about whosework we shall speak in another volume. The kings of Rome indeedcultivated their gardens with their own hands; in fact it was from his gardenthat evenTarquin the Proud sent thatcruel and bloodthirsty message to his son. In our Laws of the Twelve Tables theword 'farm' never occursthe word 'garden' is always used in that sense, while agarden is denoted by 'family estate'. Consequently even a certain sense ofsanctity attached to a garden, and only in a garden and in the Forum do we seestatues of Satyrs dedicated as a charm against the sorcery of the envious,although Plautus speaks of gardens asbeing under the guardianship of Venus. Nowadays indeed under the name of gardenspeople possess the luxury of regular farms and country houses actually withinthe city. This practice was first introduced at Athens by that connoisseur ofluxurious ease,Epicurus; down to hisday the custom had not existed of having country dwellings in towns.

At Rome at all events a garden was in itself a poor man's farm; the lowerclasses got their market-supplies from a gardenhow much more harmless theirfare was then! It gives more satisfaction, forsooth, to dive into the depth ofthe sea and seek for the various sorts of oysters at the cost of a shipwreck,and to fetch birds from beyond the river Rion, birds which not even legendaryterrors can protectin fact these actually make them more prized! or togo fowling for other birds in Numidia and among the tombs of Ethiopia, or tofight with wild beasts, and, in hunting for game for someone else to devour, tobe devoured oneself! But I protest, how little does garden produce cost, howadequate it is for pleasure and for plenty, did we not meet with the samescandal in this as in everything else! We could no doubt have tolerated thatchoice fruits forbidden to the poor because of their flavour or their size ortheir portentous shape should be grown, that wines should be kept to mature withage and robbed of their virility by being passed through strainers, and thatnobody should live so long as not to be able to drink vintages older thanhimself, and that luxury should also have long ago devised for itself a maltedporridge made from the crops and should live only on the marrow of the grain, aswell as on the elaborations and modellings of the bakers' shopsone kind ofbread for my lords and another for the common herd, the yearly produce graded inso many classes right down to the lowest of the lout: but have distinctions beendiscovered even in herbs, and has wealth established grades even in articles offood that sell for a single copper? The ordinary public declares that even amongvegetables some kinds are grown that are not for them, even a kale beingfattened up to such a size that there is not room for it on a poor man's table.Nature had made asparagus to grow wild, for anybody to gather at random; but loand behold! now we see a cultivated variety, and Ravenna produces heads weighingthree to a pound. Alas for the monstrosities of gluttony! It would surprise usif cattle were not allowed to feed on thistles, but thistles areforbidden to the lower orders! Even the water-supply is divided into classes,and the power of money has made distinctions in the very elements. Some peopledrink snow, others ice, and turn what is the curse of mountain regions intopleasure for their appetite. Coolness is stored up against the hot weather, andplans are devised to keep snow cold for the months that are strangers to it.Other people first boil their water and then bring even that to a wintertemperature. Assuredly mankind wants nothing to be as nature likes to have it.Shall even a particular kind of plant be reared to serve only the rich man'stable? Can nobody have been warned by the Sacred Mount or the Aventine Hill, andthe secessions of the angry Commons? Doubtless the provision-market will levelup persons whom money divides into classes. And so, I vow, no impost at Romebulked larger than the market dues in the outcry of the common people, whodenounced them before all the chiefs of state until the tax on this commoditywas remitted, and it was discovered that there was no method of rating that wasmore productive or safer and less governed by chance as this payment is trustedto the poorest, the surety is in the soil, and the revenues lie in opendaylight, just as does the surface of their land, rejoicing in the sky whateverbe its aspect.

Cato singsthe praises of garden cabbages; people in old days used to estimate farmers bytheir garden-produce and thus at once to give a verdict that there was a badmistress in the house where the garden outside, which used to be called thewoman's responsibility, was neglected, as it meant having to depend on thebutcher or the market for victuals. Nor did people approve very highly ofvegetables as they do now, since they condemned delicacies that require anotherdelicacy to help them down. This meant economizing oil, since it was actuallycounted as a reproach to need a rich sauce. Those products of the garden weremost in favour which needed no fire for cooking and saved fuel, and which were aresource in store and always ready; whence their name of salads, easy to digestand not calculated to overload the senses with food, and least adapted tostimulate the appetite. The fact that one set of herbs is devoted to seasoningshows that it used to be customary to do one's borrowing at home, and that therewas no demand for Indian pepper and the luxuries that we import from overseas.Indeed the lower classes in the city used to give their eyes a daily view ofcountry scenes by means of imitation gardens in their windows, before the timewhen atrocious burglaries in countless numbers compelled them to bar out all theview with shutters. Therefore let vegetables also have their need of honour anddo not let things be robbed of respect by the fact of their being common,especially as we see that vegetables have supplied even the names of greatfamilies, and a branch of the Valerian family were not ashamed to bear thesurname Lettuce. Moreover some gratitude may attach to our labour and researchon the ground thatVirgil also confessedhow difficult it is to provide such small matters with dignified appellations.

XX. There is no doubt that it is proper to have gardens adjoining thefarm-house, and that they should be irrigated preferably by a river flowing pastthem, if it so happens, or if not, be supplied with water from a well by meansof a wheel or windmills, or ladled up by swing-beams. The soil should be brokenup in preparation for autumn a fortnight after the west wind sets in, and goneover again before midwinter. It will take eight men to dig over an acre of land,mix dung with the soil to a depth of three feet, mark it out in plots and borderthese with sloping rounded banks, and surround each plot with a furrowed path toafford access for a man and a channel for irrigation.

XXI. Some plants growing in gardens are valued for their bulb, others fortheir head, others for their stalk, others for their leaf, others for both,others for their seed, others for their cartilage, others for theirflesh, or for both, others for their husk or skin and cartilage, others fortheir fleshy outer coats.

XXII. Some plants produce their fruits in the earth, others outside aswell, others only outside. Some grow lying on the ground, for instance gourdsand cucumbers; these also grow in a hanging position, though they are muchheavier even than fruits that grow on trees, but the cucumber is composed ofcartilage and flesh and the gourd of rind and cartilage; the gourd is the onlyfruit whose rind when ripe changes into a woody substance. Radishes, navews andturnips are hidden in the earth, and so in a different way are elecampane,skirret and parsnips. Some plants we shall call of the fennel class, forinstance dill and mallow; for authorities report that in Arabia mallowsgrow into trees in seven months, and serve as walking-sticks. There is aninstance of a mallow-tree on the estuary of the town of Lixus in Mauretania, theplace where the Gardens of the Hesperids are said to have been situated; itgrows 200 yards from the ocean, near a shrine of Hercules which is said to beolder than the one at Cadiz; the tree itself is 20 ft. high, and so large roundthat nobody could span it with his arms. Hemp will also be placed in a similarclass. Moreover there are also some plants to which we shall give the name of'fleshy', for instance the spongy plants that grow in water-meadows. As to thetough flesh of funguses, we have mentioned it already in treating the nature oftimber and of trees, and in the ease of another class, that of truffles,a short time ago.

XXIII. Belonging to the class of cartilaginous plants and growing on thesurface of the ground is the cucumber, a delicacy for which the emperorTiberius had a remarkablepartiality; in fact there was never a day on which he was not supplied with it,as his kitchen-gardeners had cucumber beds mounted on wheels which they movedout into the sun and then on wintry days withdrew under the cover of framesglazed with transparent stone. Moreover it is actually stated in the writings ofearly Greek authors that cucumber seed should be soaked for two days in milkmixed with honey before it is sown, in order to make the cucumbers sweeter. Theygrow in any shape they are forced to take; in Italy green ones of the smallestpossible size are popular, but the provinces like the largest ones possible, andof the colour of wax or else dark. African cucumbers are the most prolific, andthose of Moesia the largest. When they are exceptionally big they are calledpumpkins. Cucumbers when swallowed remain in the stomach till the next day andcannot be digested with the rest of one's food, but nevertheless they are notextremely unwholesome. They have by nature a remarkable repugnance for oil, andan equal fondness for water; even when they have been cut from the stem, theycreep towards water a moderate distance away, but on the contrary they retreatfrom oil, or if something is in their way or if they are hanging up, they growcurved and twisted. This may be observed to take place even in a single night,because if a vessel with water is put underneath them they descend towards it ahand's breadth before the next morning, but if oil is similarly near they willbe found curved into crooked shapes. Also if their flower is passed down into atube they grow to a remarkable length. Curious to say, just recently a new formof cucumber has been produced in Campania, shaped like a quince. I amtold that first one grew in this shape by accident, and that later a variety wasestablished grown from seed obtained from this one; it is called apple-pumpkin.Cucumbers of this kind do not hang from the plant but grow of a round shapelying on the ground; they have a golden colour. A remarkable thing about them,beside their shape, colour and smell, is that when they have ripened, althoughthey are not hanging down they at once separate from the stalk.Columella gives a plan of his own forgetting a supply of cucumbers all the year roundto transplant the largestblackberry bush available to a warm, sunny place, and about the spring equinoxto cut it back, leaving a stump two inches long; and then to insert a cucumberseed in the pith of the bramble and bank up fine earth and manure round theroots, so that they may withstand the cold. The Greeks have produced three kindsof cucumbers, the Spartan, the Sevtalic and the Boeotian; of these it is saidthat only the Spartan variety is fond of water. Some people tell us to steepcucumber seed in the plant calledcidia pounded up before sowing it,which will produce a cucumber having no seed.

XXIV.The gourd is also of a similar nature, at all events in its manner of growing:it has an equal aversion for cold and is equally fond of water and manure. Bothgourds and cucumbers are grown from seed sown in a hole dug in the groundeighteen inches deep, between the spring equinox and midsummer, but mostsuitably on the day of the Parilia. Some people however prefer to start sowinggourds on March 1 and cucumbers on March 7, and to go on through the Feast ofMinerva. These two plants both climb upward with shoots creeping over the roughsurface of walls right up to the roof, as their nature is very fond of height.They have not the strength to stand without supports, but they shoot up at arapid pace, covering vaulted roofs and trellises with a light shade. Owing tothis they fall into these two primary classes, the roof-gourd and the commongourd which grows on the ground; in the former class a remarkably thin stalk hashanging from it a heavy fruit which a breeze cannot move. The gourd as well asthe cucumber is made to grow in all sorts of long shapes, mostly by means ofsheathes of plaited wicker, in which it is enclosed after it has shed itsblossom, and it grows in any shape it is compelled to take, usually in the formof a coiled serpent. But if allowed to hang free it has before now been seenthree yards long. The cucumber makes blossoms one by one, one flowering on thetop of the other, and it can do with rather dry situations; it is covered withwhite down, especially when it is growing.

There are a larger number of ways of using gourds. To begin with, thestalk is an article of food. The part after the stalk is of an entirelydifferent nature; gourds have recently come to be used instead of jugs inbathrooms, and they have long been actually employed as jars for storing wine.The rind of gourd while it is green is thin, but all the same it is scraped offwhen they are served as food; and although it is healthy and agreeable in avariety of ways, it is nevertheless one of the rinds that cannot be digested bythe human stomach, but swell up. The seeds that were nearest the neck of theplant produce long gourds, and so do those next to the bottom, though the gourdsgrown from them are not comparable with those mentioned above; the seeds in themiddle grow into round gourds, and those at the sides into thick and shorterones. The seeds are dried in the shade, and when they are wanted for sowing theyare steeped in water. The longer and thinner gourds are, the more agreeable theyare for food, and consequently those which have been left to grow hanging aremore wholesome; and this kind contain fewest seeds, the hardness of which limitstheir agreeableness as an article of diet. Gourds kept for seed are not usuallycut before winter; after cutting they are dried in smoke for storing seeds ofgarden plantsthe farm's stock in store. A plan has been invented by which theyare preserved for food alsoand the same in the case of cucumbersto last almostuntil the next crops are available. This method employs brine; but it is reported that gourds can also be kept green in a trench dug in a shady place andfloored with sand and covered over with dry hay and then with earth. There arealso wild varieties of both cucumbers and gourds, as is the case with almost allgarden plants; but these also only possess medicinal properties, and thereforethey will be deferred to the Books devoted to them.

XXV. The remaining plants of a cartilaginous nature are all hidden inthe ground. Among these, we might appear to have already spoken amply about theturnip, were it not that medical men class the round plants in this group asbeing of the male sex and the more spread out and curved ones as female, thelatter being superior in sweetness and easier to store; though after beingrepeatedly sown they turn into male plants. The same authorities have made fourclasses of navews, the Corinthian, Cleonaean, Liothasian and Boeotian, the lastalso called merely the green turnip. Of these the Corinthian turnip grows to avery large size, with its root almost bare, for only this kind grows upward,not down into the ground as the others do. The Liothasian kind is by some calledThracian navew; it stands cold extremely well. The Boeotian navew is sweet, andalso is remarkable for its short round shape, not being elongated like theCleonaean variety. In fact, generally speaking, navews the leaves of which aresmooth also themselves have a sweeter taste, and those with rough and angularand bristly leaves are more bitter. There is also a wild kind the leaves ofwhich resemble colewort. At Rome the prize is given to the turnips of SanVettorino, and next to those of Norcia, and the third place to the localvariety. The rest of the facts about growing navews have been stated in the passage dealing with turnips.

XXVI. Radishes consist of an outer skin and a cartilage, and with many ofthem the skin is even thicker than the bark of some kinds of trees. Theyhave an extremely pungent flavour, which varies in proportion to the thicknessof the skin. The other parts as well are sometimes of a woody substance. Theyhave a remarkable power of causing flatulence and eructation; consequently theyare a vulgar article of diet, at all events if cabbage is eaten immediatelyafter them, though if the radish itself is eaten with over-ripe olives, theeructation caused is less frequent and less offensive. In Egypt the radish isheld in remarkable esteem because it produces oil, which they make from itsseed. The people are very fond of sowing radish seed if opportunity offers,because they make more profit from it than from corn and have a smaller duty topay on it, and because no plant there yields a larger supply of oil. The Greekshave made three kinds of radish, distinguished by difference of the leavesthewrinkled a radish, the smooth radish and third the wild kind; though the lasthas smooth leaves, they are shorter and round, and numerous and bushy; the tasteof this radish is however rough, and it acts like a drug with a purgativeeffect. Among the kinds mentioned before however there is also a differencearising from the seed, since some produce an inferior seed and some an extremelysmall one; but these defects only apply to the wrinkled-leaf variety. Our ownpeople have made other classesthe Monte Compatri radish, named from itslocality, a long and semi-transparent radish, and another shaped like a turnipwhich they call Syrian radish, about the sweetest and most tender of any, andexceptionally able to stand the winter. It appears however to have been importedfrom Syria only lately, since it is not found mentioned in the authorities;still, it lasts through the whole of the winter. There is also one wild variety,called by the Greekscerais, in the Pontus countryarmor, orby other peopleleuce, and by our nationarmoracia; thisradish grows more leaves than root. But in testing the value of all kinds ofradishes most attention is given to the stems, as those of a harsh flavour havestems that are rounded and thicker and grooved with long channels, and theleaves themselves are more crinkled and have prickly corners.

The radish likes to be sown in loose, damp soil. It dislikes dung and is contentwith a dressing of chaff; and it is so fond of cold that in Germany it grows asbig as a baby child. Radish for the spring crop is sown after February 13, andthe second sowing, which is a better crop, is about the Festival of Vulcan; butmany also sow it in March and April and in September. When it begins to makegrowth, it pays to bank up every other leaf on each plant and to earth up theroots themselves, as a root that projects above the ground becomes hard and fullof holes.Aristomachus advises strippingoff the leaves during winter, and piling up earth round the plants to preventmuddy puddles forming round them; and he says that this will make them grow agood size in summer. Some authors have stated that if a hole is made by drivingin a stake and covered at the bottom with chaff to a depth of six inches, and aseed is sown in it and dung and earth are heaped on it, a radish grows to thesize of the hole. All the same they find saltish soils specially nourishing, andso they are even watered with salt water, and in Egypt, where they areremarkable for sweetness, they are sprinkled with soda. Also brackishness hasthe effect of entirely removing their pungency, and making them like radishesthat have been boiled, inasmuch as boiling a radish sweetens it and turns itinto something like a navew.

Medical men recommend giving raw radishes with salt for the purpose ofconcentrating the crude humours of the bowels, and they use this mixtureto act as an emetic. They also say that radish juice is an essential specificfor disease of the diaphragm, inasmuch as in Egypt, when the kings orderedpost mortem dissections to be made for the purpose of research intothe nature of diseases, it was discovered that this was the only dose that wascapable of removing phtheiriasis attacking the internal parts of theheart. Also it is said that the radish was rated so far above all other articlesof food that, such is the frivolity of the Greeks, in the temple ofApollo at Delphi, a radish modelled in gold was dedicated as a votive offering,though only a silver beetroot and a turnip of lead. You might be sure thatManius Curius was not a native ofDelphi, the general who is recorded in our annals to have been found by theenemy's envoys roasting a turnip at the fire, when they came bringing the goldwhich he was going indignantly to refuse. Also the Greek author Moschion wrote a whole volume about theradish. Radishes are considered an extremely valuable article of food in wintertime, though at the same time people think them to be always bad for the teeth,because they wear them down; at all events they can be used for polishing ivory.There is a great antipathy between radishes and vines, which shrink away fromradishes planted near them.

XXVII. The rest of the plants that we have placed in the cartilaginousclass are of a woodier substance, and it is noticeable that they all have anextremely pungent taste. Among these there is one wild kind of parsnip thatgrows of its own accord, and another kind belonging to Greece that is grown froma root or from seed set at the beginning of spring or else in autumn, accordingtoHyginus, in February or in August orSeptember or October, the ground having been dug over as deeply as possible. Aroot only a year old begins to be serviceable, but a two year old plant is morevaluable; it is more agreeable in autumn, and especially for boiling insaucepans, and even so it has a pungency that cannot be got rid of. Themarsh-mallow differs from the parsnip in being of a more slender shape; it iscondemned as an article of diet, but is useful for medical purposes. There isalso a fourth kind of plant that bears the same resemblance to a parsnip, whichour people call the Gallic parsnip, but the Greeks, who have subdivided it alsointo four classes, calldaucos; this will have to be mentioned among themedicinal plants.

XXVIII. The skirret also has been advertised by the emperorTiberius's requisitioning an annualsupply of it from Germany. There is a castle on the Rhine called Gelb where aspecially fine kind of skirret grows, showing that cold localities suit it. Itcontains a core running through its whole length, which is drawn out when ithas been boiled, though nevertheless a great part of its bitterness remains,which when it is used as a food is modified by adding wine sweetened with honey,and is actually turned into an attraction. The larger parsnip also contains acore of the same kind, though only when it is a year old. The time for sowing skirret is in the months of February, March, April, August, September andOctober.

XXIX. Elecampane is shorter and more substantial than the rootsdescribed, and also more bitter; eaten by itself it disagrees violently with thestomach, but it is very wholesome when blended with sweet things. There areseveral ways of overcoming its acridity and rendering it agreeable: it is driedand pounded into flour and seasoned with some sweet juice, or it is boiled orkept in soak in vinegar and water, or steeped in various ways, and then mixedwith boiled down grapejuice or flavoured with honey or raisins or juicy dates.Another method again is to flavour it with quinces or sorbs or plums, andoccasionally with pepper or thyme, making it a tonic particularly salutary for aweak digestion; it has become specially stimulating from having been the dailydiet ofJulia the daughter ofAugustus. Its seed is superfluous, as itis propagated like a reed, from eyes cut out of the root; it also, like the skirret and the parsnip, is planted at either season, spring or autumn, withlarge spaces left between the plantsfor elecampane not less than a yard,because it throws out shoots over a wide space. Skirret is better transplanted.

XXX. Next after these in natural properties are the bulbs, whichCato particularly recommends for cultivation, specially praising the Megarian kind. But the most famous bulb isthe squill, although it naturally serves as a drug and is used for increasingthe sourness of vinegar; and no other bulb is of larger size, just as also noother has a more powerful pungency. There are two kinds used for medicine, themale squill with white leaves and the female squill with dark leaves; and thereis also a third kind, agreeable as an article of diet, called Epimenides'ssquillthis has a narrower leaf with a less pungent taste. All produce a verylarge quantity of seed, though they come up more quickly if grown from the bulbsthat shoot out round their sides; and to make them grow bigger, the leaves,which in this plant are of a large size, are bent down in a circle round themand covered with soil, so causing the heads to draw all the juice intothemselves. They grow wild in very large quantities in the Balearic Islands and Iviza, and throughout the Spanish provinces. The philosopherPythagoras wrote a whole book aboutthem, including an account of their medicinal properties, which we shall recordin the next Volume. The remaining kinds of bulbs differ in colour and size andin flavour, some being eaten raw, for instance in the Crimea; next after thesethe ones that grow in Africa are most highly spoken of, and then those ofAnulia. The Greeks have distinguished the following kindsbolbine, setanion,opition, cyix, aegilops and sisyrinchion; the last possessesthe remarkable property that its bottom roots grow in winter, but in thespringtime, when the violet has appeared, these diminish while the actual bulb,on the other hand, afterwards begins to swell out. Among the varieties of bulbthere is also the one that in Egypt they call the arum, which is verynear to the squill in size and to the sorrel in foliage, with a straightstalk a yard long of the thickness of a walking-stick, and a root of softersubstance, which can even be eaten raw. Bulbs are dug up before the beginning ofspring, or else they at once go off in quality; it is a sign that they are ripethen the leaves become dry at the lower end. The rather green ones aredisapproved of, as also are the long and the small ones, whereas those of areddish colour and rounder shape are praised, as also are those of the largestsize. Usually their top has a bitter taste and the middle parts are sweet.Previous writers have stated that bulbs only grow from seed, but as a matter offact they spring up of themselves in the plains near Palestrina, and also inunlimited quantity in the country round Reims.

XXXI. Nearly all kitchen-garden plants have only a single root,for instance radish, beet, parsley mallow. Sorrel has the largest root,going as far as a yard and a half into the ground (the root of the wild sorrelis smaller), and its root is full of sap, and lives a long time even after beingdug up. In some of these plants, however, for instance parsley and mallow, theroot is fibrous, in some, for instance basil, woody, in others fleshy, as inbeet or still more in saffron, and with some, for instance radish and turnip,the roots consist of rind and flesh, and the roots of some, for instancehay-grass, are jointed. Those which have not a straight root support themselvesimmediately with a great many hairy fibres, for instance orage and blite; butsquill and the bulbs and onion and garlic only throw out straight roots. Some ofthe plants that grow self-sown have more root than leaf, for instancepartridge-plant and crocus. Wild thyme, southernwood, turnips, radishes, mintand rue blossom all in a bunch. All other plants shed their blossom all at onceas soon as they have begun to do so, but basil does so gradually, starting fromthe bottom, and consequently it flowers for a very long time. This also happensin the case of the heliotrope. Some plants have a white flower, others yellowand others purple. Wild marjoram and elecampane shed their leaves from the topdown, and so sometimes does rue when it has been damaged by an accident. Theonion and the leek have especially hollow leaves.

XXXII. In Egypt people swear by garlic and onions as deities intaking an oath. Among the Greeks the varieties of onion are the Sardinian, Samothracian, Alsidenian, setanian, the split onion, and the Ascalon onion,named from a town in Judea. In all these the body consists entirely ofcoats of greasy cartilage; also they all have a smell which makes one's eyeswater, especially the Cyprus onions, but least of all those of Cnidos. Thesmallest of all except the Tuscany onion is the setanian, though it has a sweettaste; but the split onion and the Ascalon onion need flavouring. The splitonion is left with its leaves on in winter, these being pulled off in spring,and others grow in their place at the same divisions, from which these onionsget their name. This has suggested the recommendation to strip the other kindsalso of their leaves, so as to make them grow to heads rather than run to seed.Ascalon onions also have a peculiar nature, being in a manner sterile at theroot, and consequently the Greeks have advised growing them from seed and notplanting them, and moreover sowing them rather late, about springtime, buttransplanting them when they are in bud; this method, they say, causes them tofill out and grow quickly, making up for the time lost. But in their case hasteis necessary, because when ripe they quickly go rotten. If growls from rootsthey throw out a stalk and run to seed, and the bulb withers away. There is alsoa difference of colours, the whitest onions growing at Issus and at Sardis.Those of Crete are also esteemed, though the question is raised whether they areidentical with the Ascalon variety, because when grown from seed they make largeheads but run to stalk and seed when planted; they only differ from the Ascalononions in their sweet flavour. In our country we have two principal varieties,one the kind of onion used for seasoning, the Greek name for which isgetion-leek and the Latin 'pallaeana', which is sown in March, April or May,and the other the onion with a head, which is sown after the autumn equinox orwhen the west wind has begun to blow in the springtime. The varieties of thelatter, in order of their degrees of pungency, are the African, the Gallic, andthose of Tusculum, Ascalon and Amiternae. Those of the roundest shape are thebest; also a red onion is more pungent than a white one, or a dry one than onestill fresh, and a raw one than one that has been cooked, and also than one thathas been kept in store. The Amitemum kind is grown in cold and damp places, andis the only one that grows with a head only, like garlic, all other varietiesbeing grown from seed and next summer producing no seed but only a head whichgoes on growing in size; but in the following year just the contrary, seed isproduced but the actual head goes rotten. Consequently every year there are twoseparate processes, seed being sown to produce onions and onions planted forseed. Onions keep best stored in chaff. The scallion has hardly any head at all,only a long neck, and consequently it all goes to leaf, and it is cut backseveral times, like common leek; consequently it also is grown from seed, not byplanting. In addition, they recommend digging over the ground three times andweeding out the plant-roots before sowing onions; and using ten pounds of seedto the acre, with savoury mixed in, as the onions come up better; and moreoverstubbing and hoeing the ground four times, if not more. Our farmers sow theAsealon onion in February. The seed of onions isharvested when they begin to turn black, before they get dry.

XXXIII. It may also be suitable to mention the leek in this family ofplants, especially as importance has recently been given to the chive by theemperorNero, who on certain fixed daysof every month always ate chives preserved in oil, and nothing else, not evenbread, for the sake of his voice. It is grown from seed sown just after theautumnal equinox; if it is for the purpose of chives, it must be sown ratherthickly. It goes on being cut in the same bed till it gives out; and if it isbeing grown to make heads it is always well manured before it is cut. When it isfully grown, it is moved to another bed, after having the points of the leavesabove the central part carefully trimmed off and the tips of the coats drawnback from the heads. Growers in former times used to broaden out the heads byputting them under a stone or a potsherd, and the same with bulbs as well; butnow the practice is gently to pull the roots loose with a hoe, so that beingbent they may feed the plant and not draw it apart. It is a remarkable fact thatalthough the leek likes manure and a rich soil, it hates damp places.Nevertheless there is a connexion between the varieties and some peculiarity ofthe soil: the most highly esteemed kind belongs to Egypt, and the next to Ostiaand to La Iticcia. There are two kinds of chive; one with grass-green leaves,with distinct markings on themthis is the chive used by druggistsand anotherkind with leaves of a yellower colour and rounder in shape, on which themarkings are less prominent. There is a story that a member of the Order ofKnights named Mela, when recalled from a deputy-governorship by the emperorTiberius to be impeached for maladministration, in extreme despair swallowed adose of leek-juice weighing three denarii in silver, and immediately expiredwithout suffering any pain. A larger dose is said to have no injurious effect.

XXXIV. Garlic is believed to be serviceable for making a number ofmedicaments, especially those used in the country. It is enveloped in very fineskins in entirely separate layers, and then consists of several kernels in acluster, each of these also having a coat of its own; it has a pungent flavour,and the more kernels there were the more pungent it is. Garlic as well as onionsgives an offensive smell to the breath, though when boiled it causes no smell.The difference between the various kinds consists in the time they take toripenthe early kind ripens in 60 daysand also in their size. Ulpicum alsocomes in this class, the plant called by the Greeks Cyprian garlic, or by othersantiscorodon; it holds a high rank among the dishes of the country people,particularly in Africa, and it is larger than garlic; when beaten up in oil andvinegar it swells up in foam to a surprising size. Some people say that ulpiciimand garlic must not be planted in level ground, and advise placing it in littlemounds a yard apart like a chain of forts; there must be a space of four inchesbetween the grains, and as soon as three leaves have broken out the plants mustbe hoed over: they grow larger the oftener they are hoed. When they begin toripen, their stalks are pressed down into the earth and covered up: thisprevents their making too lush foliage. In cold soils it pays better to plant inthe spring than in autumn. Moreover with all of these plants, to prevent theirhaving an objectionable smell, it is advised to plant them when the moon isbelow the horizon and to gather them when it is in conjunction. The GreekwriterMenander states that peopleeating garlic without taking these precautions can neutralize the smell byeating after it a beetroot roasted on the hot coals. Some people think that thebest time for planting both garlic and ulpicum is between the Feast of theCrossways and the Feast of Saturn. Garlic can also be grown from seed, but it isa slow process, as the head only makes the size of a leek in the first year anddivides into cloves in the second year, making full growth in the third year;and some people think that this variety of garlic is a finer kind. It must notbe allowed to run to seed, but the stalks must be twisted up for purposes ofpropagation, so that it may form a stronger head. But if garlic or onions arewanted to keep for some time, their heads should be soaked in warm salt water;that will make them last longer and will render them better for use, thoughbarren in seeding. Others are content to begin by hanging them up over burningcoal, and think that this expedient is quite sufficient to prevent theirsprouting, which it is well known that garlic and onions do even when out of theground, and after enlarging their small stalk they wither away. Also some peoplethink that garlic keeps best when stored in chaff. There is also another garliccalled alum that grows self-sown in the fields, which, after having been boiledto prevent its shooting up again, is scattered about as a protection against theravages of birds that eat up the seeds, and the birds that swallow it at oncebecome stupefied, and if you wait a little, go completely unconscious andcan be caught by hand. There is also a wild kind called bear's garlic, with asimilar smell, which has a very small head and large leaves.

XXXV. Of kitchen-garden plants the quickest to grow are basil, blite,rape and rocket; these break out of the ground two days after they are sown.Dill comes up in 3 days, lettuce 4, radish 9, cucumber 5, gourd even 6cucumberis earliercress and mustard 4, summer beet 5, winter beet 9, orage 7, onions13 or 19, long onion 9 or 11; coriander is more obstinate, and indeed cunila andwild marjoram do not come up before 30 days, but the most difficult of all isparsley, for it comes up in 39 days at the quickest, and in the majority ofcases in 49 days. Something also depends on the age of the seed, as fresh seedcomes up more quickly in the case of leek, long onion, cucumber and gourd, butparsley, beet, cress, cunila, wild marjoram and coriander grow more quickly fromold seed. There is a curious thing about beet seed that the whole of it does notgerminate in the same year but some only in the year following, and some eventwo years later; and consequently a quantity of seed only produces a moderatecrop. Some plants only produce seed in the same year as they are planted, butsome more often, for instance parsley, leek and long onion, as these when oncesown retain their fertility and come up several years running.

XXXVI. The seeds of most plants are round, but those of some oblong; in afew they are foliated and broad, for instance orage, in some narrow andgrooved, for instance cummin. They differ in colour as well, dark or lighter,and also in woody hardness. The seeds of radishes, mustard and turnip arecontained in a pod; the seed of coriander, dill, fennel and curnxnin has nocover, that of blite, beet, orage and basil is covered with a skin, while thatof lettuces is wrapped in down. No seed is more prolific than basil; theyrecommend sowing it with curses and imprecations. to make it come up moreabundantly; when it. is sown the earth is rammed down. Also people sowing cumminpray for it not to come up. It is difficult for seeds contained in a pod to getdry, particularly basil, and consequently they are all dried artificially tomake them fertile. In any case plants grow better when the seed is sown in heapsthan when it is scattered; indeed it is on that principle that they sow leek andparsley tied up in strips of rag, and also before sowing parsley they make ahole with a dibble into which they put dung. All plants grow either from seed orfrom slips, or some both from seed and from cuttings, as rue, wild marjoram,basilfor people lop off the top of this plant too when it has reached theheight of a palm; and some plants grow both from seed and from a root, as onion,garlic, bulbs, and the perennials the roots of which stay alive. But with plantsthat grow from a root the root lives a long time and throws out shoots, forinstance bulbs, long onions and squills. Others make shrubby growth and withoutheads, for instance parsley and beet. When the stalk is cut back, nearly allplants except those which have not got a rough stem throw out fresh shoots,indeed basil, radish and lettuce put out new shoots that can be used; lettuce isthought to be even sweeter if grown from a fresh sprouting. Anyway radish ismore agreeable when its leaves have been stripped off before it runs to stalk.The same is also true in the case of turnips, for they likewise if banked upwith earth after the leaves have been pulled off go on growing and last intosummer.

XXXVII. Basil, sorrel, spinach, cress, rocket, orage, coriander and dillare plants of which there is Set., only one kind, as they are the same in everylocality and no better in one place than another. It is a common belief that ruewhich you have stolen grows better, just as stolen bees are believed to do verybadly. Wild mint, cat-mint, endive and pennyroyal spring up even without beingsown. On the other hand plants which we have mentioned and are going to mentionhave several varieties, and particularly parsley. The parsley that grows wild indamp places has a Greek name meaning marsh-parsley; it has asingle leaf and is not of shaggy growth; again, the Greek name of another, amany-leaved parsley resembling marsh-parsley, but growing in dry places, ishorse-parsley; a third kind is called mountain-parsley in Greekit has theleaves of hemlock, a thin root, and seed like that of dill only smaller.Moreover cultivated parsley also has varieties in the leaf, which is bushy andcrinkled or scantier and smoother, and also in the stalk, thinner or thicker,and in some plants the stalk is white, in others purple, in others mottled.

XXXVIII. The Greeks have distinguished three kinds of lettuce, one withso broad a stalk that it is said that the wicket-gates of kitchen gardens areoften made of them; these plants have leaves rather larger than those of thegreen garden-lettuce, and extremely narrow, the nutriment being apparently usedup elsewhere; the second kind has a round stalk, and the third is asquat-growing plant, called the Spartan lettuce. Other people have classifiedlettuces by colour and season of sowing, saying that the black lettuce is thekind sown in January, the white in March and the red in April, and that all ofthese kinds can be transplanted at the end of two months. More preciseauthorities make a larger number of varieties, the purple, the crinkly, the Cappadocian, the Greekthe last with a smoother leaf and a broad stalk, and inaddition the lettuce with a long and narrow leaf, which resembles endive; whilethe worst kind of all has been given the name in Greek of bitter lettuce, incondemnation of its bitter taste. There is moreover another variety of whitelettuce the Greek name for which is poppy-lettuce, from its abundance of juicewith a soporific property, although all the lettuces are believed to bringsleep; this was the only kind of lettuce in Italy in early times, which accountsfor the Latin name for lettuce, derived from the Latin for milk. A purplelettuce with a very large root is called Caecilius's lettuce, while a round onewith a very small root and broad leaves is called in Greek the anti-aphrodisiac,or otherwise the eunuch's lettuce, because this kind is an extremely potentcheck to amorous propensities. Indeed they all have a cooling quality, andconsequently are acceptable in summer. They relieve the stomach of distaste forfood and promote appetite. At all events it is stated that the late lamentedAugustus in an illness, thanks to thesagacity of his doctor,Musa, was curedby lettuce, which had been refused him by the excessive scruples of his previousdoctor,Gaius Aemilius; this was such agood advertisement for lettuces that the method was then discovered of keepingthem into the months when they are out of season, pickled in honey-vinegar. Itis also believed that lettuces increase the blood-supply.

There is also a varietycalled the goat-lettuce of which we shall speak among drugs; and only quiterecently there has begun to be introduced among the cultivated lettuces a kindheld in considerable esteem called the Cilician lettuce, which has the leaf ofthe Cappadocian kind, only crinkly and broader.

XXXIX. Endive cannot be said to belong either to the same class of plantas lettuce or to another class, being better able to endure the winter andhaving more acridity of flavour; but its stalk is equally agreeable. It is sownafter the spring equinox, and the seedlings are bedded out at the end of thespring. There is also a wild endive called in Egypt succory, about which morewill be said elsewhere. A method has been discovered of preserving all thestalks or leaves of lettuces by storing them in pots and boiling them insaucepans while fresh. Lettuces can be sown all the year round in favourablesoil that is watered by streams and manured, with two months between sowing andbedding out and two between that and maturity. The regular plan, however, is tosow just after midwinter and to bed out when the west wind sets in, or else tosow then and bed out at the spring equinox. White lettuce stands the winterbest. All garden plants are fond of moisture and manure, especially lettuce, andeven more endive: indeed it pays to plant them with the roots smeared with dungand to loosen the ground round them and fill up with dung. Some use other meansalso of increasing their size, cutting them back when they have reached sixinches high and giving them a dressing of fresh swine's dung. As for colour, itis thought that at all events lettuces grown from white seed can be blanched ifas soon as they begin to grow sand from the sea-shore is heaped round them up tohalf their height and the leaves as they start sprouting are tied hack againstthe plants themselves.

XL. Beet is the smoothest of the garden plants. The Greeksdistinguish two kinds of beet also, according to the colour, black andwhitishthey prefer the latter, which has a very scanty supply of seed, and callit Sicilian beet; indeed they prefer lettuce also with distinctive quality ofwhiteness. Our people distinguish two kinds of beet according to time ofsowing, spring beet and autumn beet, although beet is also sown in June, and theplant transplanted in autumn. Beets also like even their roots to be smearedwith dung, and have, a similar liking for a damp place. Beets are also made intoa salad with lentils and beans, and are dressed in the same way as cabbages, thebest way being to stimulate their insipidity with the bitterness of mustard. Thedoctors have pronounced beet to be more unwholesome than cabbage, on account ofwhich there are persons who scruple even to taste beets when served at table;and consequently they are preferably an article of diet for people with strongdigestions. Beets have a double structure, that of the cabbage, and, at theactual head of the root as it springs up, that of an onion. They are most valuedfor width, which is secured, as in lettuces, by placing a light weight on themwhen they have begun to assume their colour. No other garden plant growsbroader: occasionally beets spread out to two feet across, the nature of thesoil also contributing a great deal to this, inasmuch as the widest spreadingbeets grow in the territory of Circeii. Some people think that beets are bestsown when the pomegranate is in blossom, and transplanted when they have begunto make five leaves; and that by a remarkable difference (if this really exists)white beet acts as a purge and black beet as an astringent; and that when theflavour of wine in a cask is getting spoiled by 'cabbage' it can berestored to what it was by plunging in some leaves of beet.

XLI. Cabbages and kales which now have pre-eminence in gardens, I do notfind to have been held in honour among the Greeks; butCato sings marvellous praises of thehead of cabbage, which we shall repeat when we deal with medicine. He classifiescabbages as followsa kind with the leaves wide open and a large stalk,another with a crinkly leaf, which is called celery-cabbage, and a third with,very small stalks; the last is a smooth and tender cabbage, and he puts itlowest in value. Cabbage is sown all the year round, since it is also cut allthe year round, but it pays best to sow it at the autumnal equinox; and it istransplanted when it has made five leaves. In the next spring after its firstsowing it yields sprout-cabbage; this is a sort of small sprout from the actualcabbage stalks, of a more delicate and tender quality, though it was despised bythe fastidious taste of Apicius and owing to him byDrusus Caesar, not without reproof fromhis fatherTiberius. After thesprout-cabbage from the same stalk we get summer and autumn sprouts, and thenwinter ones, and a second crop of sprout-cabbage, as no kind of plant is equallyproductive, until it gets exhausted by its own fertility. The second sowingbegins at. the spring equinox, and the seedling is bedded out at the end ofspring, so that it may not bear in the sprout-cabbage stage before makingcabbage-head; the third is about midsummer, and the produce of this is beddedout during the summer if the place is rather damp and in autumn if it is drier.It has a more agreeable taste if it has not had much moisture or manure, butmakes a more abundant growth if they have been plentiful. Ass's dung makes themost suitable manure for it.

Growing cabbages is also one of the ways of supplying table luxuries, so it willnot be out of place to pursue the subject at greater length. A way to produce akale of outstanding flavour and size is if first of all you sow it in groundthat has been dug, and next keep pace with the shoots breaking through the soilby earthing them up and when they begin to rise to a luxuriant height makeanother pile of earth against them by raising the bank so that not more thantheir head emerges. The kind so grown is called Tritian cabbage, and it may beestimated that it takes twice the usual outlay and trouble. There are quite anumber of other varieties: Cumae cabbage, with its leaf close to the ground anda spreading head; La Riccia cabbage, no taller in height, with a leaf moreplentiful than tenderthis kind is considered extremely useful becauseunderneath almost all the leaves it throws out small sprouts of a peculiar kind;the Pompeii cabbage is taller, and has a thin stalk near the root but growsthicker between the leaves, these being scantier and narrower, but theirtenderness is a valuable quality. This cabbage cannot stand cold, which actuallypromotes the growth of Bruttian cabbages with their extremely large leaves, thinstalk and sharp taste. The Sabellian cabbage has leaves that are quiteremarkably crisp and so thick as to exhaust the stalk itself, but these are saidto be the sweetest of all the cabbages. There have recently come into notice theLacuturna cabbages from the valley of La Iticcia, which have a very large headand leaves too many to count; some of these cabbages are bunched together into acircular shape and others bulge out broadwise; and no other cabbages make morehead, not counting the Tritian kind, which is sometimes seen with a headmeasuring a foot across, and which sprouts as early as any other sort. But withany kind of cabbages hoarfrosts contribute a great deal to their sweetness,although a frost after the cabbages have been cut does the plants a great dealof damage, unless the pith is safeguarded by using a slanting cut. Cabbagesintended for seed are not cut. A peculiarly attractive kind is one that neverexceeds the size of a young plant; they call thesehalmyridia, becausethey only grow on the seacoast. They say that these keep green even on a longvoyage if as soon as they are cut they are prevented from touching the earth bybeing put into oil-jars that have been dried just before and are bunged up so asto shut out all air. Some people think that the plant will mature more quicklyif in the process of transplanting some seaweed is placed under the foot-stalk,or else a pinch of pounded soda, as much as can be picked up with three fingers;and some have a plan of sprinkling the leaves with soda ground up with trefoilseed. Soda added in cooking also preserves the greenness of cabbages, as doesalso Apicius's a recipe for steepingthem in oil and salt before they are boiled. There is a method of graftingvegetables by cutting short the shoots and inserting into the pith of the stalkseed obtained from other plants; this has even been done in the case of wildcucumber. There is also a kind of wild cabbage which has been made famousparticularly by the songs and jests of the troops at the triumph of the latelamentedJulius, as in capping versesthey taunted him with having at the siege of Durazzo made them live on whitecharlockthis was a hit at the stinginess with which he rewarded their services.This is a wild cabbage sprout.

XLII. Of all cultivated vegetables asparagus needs the most delicateattention. Its origin from wild asparagus has been fully explained, and howCato recommends growing it in reed-beds.There is also another kind less refined than garden asparagus but less pungentthan the wild plant, which springs up in many places even in mountain districts;the plains of Upper Germany are full of it, the emperorTiberius not ineptly remarking that inthat country a plant very like asparagus grows as a weed. In fact the kind thatgrows wild in the island of Nisita off the coast of Campania is deemed far thebest asparagus there is. Garden asparagus is grown from root-clumps, for it is aplant with a large amount of root and it buds very deep down. When the thin stemfirst shoots above ground the plant is green, and the shoot while making alonger stalk simultaneously tops off into grooved protuberances. It can also begrown from seed. No subject included byCatois treated more carefully, and it is the last topic of his book, showing that itwas a novelty just creeping in. His advice is to dig over a place with a damp orheavy soil and sow the seeds six inches apart each way, so as to avoid treadingon them; and moreover to put two or three seeds in each hole, made with a dibblealong a lineobviously at that time asparagus was only grown from seed.He recommends doing this after the vernal equinox, using plenty of dung, frequently cleaning with the hoe, taking care not to pull up the asparagus withthe weeds, in the first year protecting the plants against winter with straw,uncovering them in spring and hoeing and stubbing the ground; and settingfire to the plants in the third spring. The earlier asparagus is burnt off, thebetter it thrives, and consequently it is specially suitable for growing inreed-beds, which burn speedily. He also advises not hoeing the beds before theasparagus springs up, for fear of disturbing the roots in the process ofhoeing; next plucking off the asparagus heads close to the root, because if theyare broken off, the plant runs to stalk and dies off; going on plucking themtill they run to seed (which begins to mature towards springtime) and burningthem off, and when the asparagus plants have appeared, hoeing them over againand manuring them. Nine years later, he says, when the plants are now old, theymust be separated and the ground worked over and manured, and then they must bereplanted with the tufts spaced out a foot apart. Moreover he expresslyspecifies using sheep's dung, as other manure produces weeds. No method ofcultivation tried later has proved to be more useful, except that theynow sow about February 13 by digging in the seed in heaps in little trenches,usually preparing the seed by soaking it in dung; as a result of this processthe roots twine together and form tufts, which they plant out at spaces of afoot apart after the autumn equinox, the plants going on bearing for ten years.There is no soil that asparagus likes better than that of the kitchen-gardens atRavenna, as we have pointed out. I find it stated that corruda (which I take tobe a wild asparagus, called by the Greekshorminos ormyacanthosas well as by other names) will also come up if pounded rams' horns are dug inas manure.

XLIII. It might bethought that all the vegetables of value had now beenmentioned, did not there still remain an extremely profitable article of trade,which must be mentioned not without a feeling of shame. The fact is it is wellknown that at Carthage and particularly at Cordova crops of thistlesyield a return of 6000 sesterces from small plotssince we turn even themonstrosities of the earth to purposes of gluttony, and actually grow vegetableswhich all four-footed beasts without exception shrink from touching. Thistlesthen we grow in two ways, from a slip planted in autumn and from seed sownbefore March 7, the seedlings from which are planted out before November 13, orin cold localities about the season of the west wind. They are sometimes manuredas well, if heaven so wills, and come up more abundantly. They are alsopreserved in honey diluted with vinegar, with the addition of laser-wort root andcummin, so that there may be no day without thistles for dinner.

XLIV. A cursory description can suffice for the rest of the plants. Thebest time for sowing basil is said to be at the Feast of Pales,and some say in autumn also, advising that when it is sown for winter the seedshould be moistened with vinegar. Also rocket and cress can be grown very easilyeither in summer or in winter. Rocket particularly thinks nothing of cold. Itsproperties are quite different from those of lettuce, and it acts as anaphrodisiac; consequently it is usually blended with lettuce in a salad, so thatthe excessive chilliness of the lettuce may be tempered and counterbalanced bybeing mingled with an equal amount of heat. Cress has got its Latin name fromthe pain that it gives to the nostrils, and owing to this the sense ofvigorousness has attached itself to that word in the current expression asdenoting a stimulant. It is said to grow to a remarkably large size in Arabia.

XLV. Rue also is sown when the west wind blows in spring, and just afterthe autumn equinox. It hates cold weather, damp and dung, and likes sunny, dryplaces and a soil containing as much brick-clay as possible; it requires to bemanured with ashes, which are also mixed with the seed to banish caterpillars.Rue was held in special importance in old times: I find that honied wineflavoured with rue was given to the public byCornelius, Quintus Flamininus's colleague in the consulship, after theelection had been concluded. Rue is so friendly with the fig that it growsbetter under this tree than anywhere else. It can also be grown from a slip,preferably inserted into a hole made in a bean, which holds the slip firmly andnourishes it with its juice. It also reproduces itself by layering, since if theend of a branch curves over, when it touches the ground the plant at oncestrikes root. Basil also has the same properties, except that its seed drieswith more difficulty. Stubbing rue is a process not without difficulty, becauseit causes itching ulcers, unless it is done with the hands protected by glovesor safeguarded by oiling. The leaves of rue are also preserved, being kept inbundles.

XLVI. Parsley sowing begins at the vernal equinox, the seed being firstgently pounded in a mortar: it is thought that the parsley is made crisper bythis process, or if the seed is rolled or trodden into the earth after beingsown. A peculiarity of parsley is that it changes its colour. Achaia it has thedistinction of providing the wreath worn by the winners of the sacred contest at Neniea.

XLVII. This is also the time for planting mint, using ashoot, or if it is not yet making bud, a matted tuft. Mint is equally fond ofdamp ground. It is green in summer and turns yellow in winter. There is a wildkind of mint calledmentastrum; this is propagated by layering, like a vine, orby planting stalks end downwards. The name of mint has been altered in Greecebecause of its sweet scent; it used to be calledmintha, from which ourancestors derived the Latin name, but now it has begun to be called by a Greekword meaning 'sweet-scented'. It is agreeable for stuffing cushions, andpervades the tables with its scent at country banquets. One planting lasts for along period. It is closely related to pennyroyal, which has the property whichwe have spoken of more than once of flowering when it is in a larder. Theseother herbs, I mean mint and also pennyroyal and catmint, are kept in the samekind of way. Yet of all the seasonings which gratify a fastidious taste, cumminis the most agreeable. It grows on the surface of the ground, hardly adhering tothe soil and stretching upward, and it should be sown in the middle of spring,in crumbly and specially warm soils. Another kind of cummin is the wild varietycalled country cummin, or by other people Thebaic cummin. Forpounding up in water and using as a draught in cases of stomachache the mosthighly esteemed kind in our continent is that grown at Carpetania, thoughelsewhere the prize is awarded to Ethiopian and African cummin; however someprefer the Egyptian to the African.

XLVIII. A herb of exceptionally remarkable nature is black-herb, theGreek name for which is horse-parsley, and which others callzmyrnium. It isreproduced from the gum that trickles from its own stalk, but it can also begrown from a root. The people who collect its juice say that it tastes likemyrrh, andTheophrastus states that itsprang first from sown myrrh seed. Old writers had recommended sowinghorse-parsley in uncultivated stony ground near a garden wall; but at thepresent day it is sown in land that has been dug over and also after a west windhas followed the autumn equinox. The reason for the old plan was that the caperalso is sown principally in dry places, after a plot has been hollowed outfor deep digging and stone banks have been built all round it: otherwise itstrays all over the fields and takes the fertility out of the soil. It blossomsin summer and continues green till the setting of the Pleiades; it is most athome in sandy soil. The bad qualities of the caper that grows over seas we havespoken of among the exotic shrubs.

XLIX. The caraway is also an exotic, and bears a name derived fromthe country it belongs to; it is chiefly for the kitchen. It will grow inany country if cultivated in the same way as black-herb, though the kind mosthighly spoken of grows in Carla, and the next best in Phrygia.

L. Lovage grows wild in the mountains of its native Liguria, but iscultivated everywhere; the cultivated kind is sweeter but lacks strength. Somepeople call itpanax, but the Greek writer Crateuas gives that name tocow-cunila, though all others call thatconyra, which isreally cunilago, while real cunila they callthymbra. With us cunila hasanother name also being calledsatureia and classed as a spice. It is sown inFebruary; and it is a rival of wild marjoram, the two never being used asingredients together, because they impart a similar flavour; but only theEgyptian wild marjoram is reckoned superior to cunila.

LI. Pepperwort also was originally an exotic. It is sown after the springwest wind starts, and then, when it has begun to shoot, it is cut down close tothe ground and afterwards hoed and manured. Subsequently the plant thus treatedis serviceable for two years with the same shoots, provided it is not attackedby a severe winter, as it is very incapable of bearing cold. It grows to aheight of as much as eighteen inches; it has the leaves of the bay-tree, butsofter. It is always used mixed with milk.

LII. Git is grown for use in bakeries, anise and dill for the kitchen andfor doctors; sacopenium, employed for adulterating laserwort, is also grown as agarden plant, but only for medicinal purposes.

LIII. There are some plants that are sown in company with others, forinstance the poppy, which is sown with cabbage and purslain, and rocket is sownwith lettuce. There are three kinds of cultivated poppy: the white, the seed ofwhich in old days used to be roasted and served with honey at second course; itis also sprinkled on the top crust of country loaves, an egg being poured on tomake it stick, while celery and git are used to give the bottom crust a festivalflavour. The second kind of poppy is the black poppy, from which a milky juiceis obtained by making an incision in the stalk. The third kind is called by theGreeksrhoeas and in our country wild poppy; it does indeed growuncultivated, but chiefly in fields sown with barley; it resembles rocket, andgrows eighteen inches high, with a red flower which falls very quickly, andwhich is the origin of its Greek name. We shall speak of the remaining kinds ofself-sown poppy under the head of drugs. That the poppy has always been infavour at Rome is indicated by the story ofTarquinius the Proud, who knocked off the heads of the tallest poppies inhis garden and by means of this unspoken rebus conveyed to the envoys sent tohim by his son that sanguinary answer of his.

LIV. Again there is another group of plants which are sown at the autumnequinoxcoriander, dill, orage, mallow, sorrel, chervil, the Greek name forwhich is lad's love, and mustard, which with its pungent taste and fiery effectis extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it isimproved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sownit is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it fallsgerminates at once. It is also used to make a relish, by being boiled down insaucepans till its sharp flavour ceases to be noticeable; also its leaves areboiled, like those of all other vegetables. There are three kinds of mustardplant, one of a slender shape, another with leaves like those of turnip, and thethird with those of rocket. The best seed comes from Egypt. The Athenian wordfor mustard isnapy, those of other dialectsthlaspi andlizard-herb.

LV. Most mountains teem with thyme and wild mint, for instance themountains of Thrace, and so people pluck off sprays of them there and bring themdown to plant; and they do the same at Sicyon from mountains there and at Athensfrom Hymettus. Wild mint is also planted in a similar manner; it grows mostabundantly on the walls of wells and round fish-pools and ponds.

LVI. There remain the garden plants of the fennel-giant class, forinstance fennel, which snakes are very fond of, as we have said, and which whendried is useful for seasoning a great many dishes, and thapsia, whichclosely resembles it, of which we have spoken among foreign bushes, and thenhemp, which is exceedingly useful for ropes. Hemp is sown when the spring westwind sets in; the closer it grows the thinner its stalks are. Its seed when ripeis stripped off after the autumn equinox and dried in the sun or wind or by thesmoke of a fire. The hemp plant itself is plucked after the vintage, and peelingand cleaning it is a task done by candle light. The best is that of Arab-Hissar,which is specially used for making hunting-nets. Three classes of hemp areproduced at that place: that nearest to the bark or the pith is considered ofinferior value, while that from the middle, the Greek name for which is'middles', is most highly esteemed. The second best hemp comes from Mylasa. Asregards height, the hemp of Rosea in the Sabine territory grows as tall as afruit-tree. The two kinds of fennel-giant have been mentioned above among exoticshrubs. In Italy its seed is an article of diet; in fact it is stored in potsand lasts for as much as a year. Two different parts of it are used asvegetables, the stalks and the branches. This fennel is called in Greekclump-fennel, and the parts that are stored, clumps.

LVII. Garden vegetables are also liable to disease, like the rest of theplants on earth. For instance basil degenerates with old age into wild-thyme andsisymbrium into mint, and old cabbage seed produces turnip, and so on. Alsocummin is killed by broom-rape unless it is thoroughly cleaned: this is a plantwith a single stalk and a root resembling a bulb, and it only grows in a thinsoil. Another disease peculiar to cummin is scab. Also basil turns pale at therising of the Dog-star. All plants indeed turn yellow when a woman comes nearthem at her monthly period. Also various insects breed on gardenplantsspringtails in turnips, caterpillars and maggots in radish, and also onlettuces and cabbage, both of which are more infested by slugs and snails thanradish; and the leek has special insects of its own, which are easily caught bythrowing dung on the plants, as they burrow into it. According to Sabinus Tiro in his bookOn Gardening, which he dedicated to Maecenas, it is also bad for rue,savoury, mint or basil to come in contact with iron.

LVIII. The same author has given an account of a remedy against ants,which are not the least destructive of pests in gardens not well supplied withwater; the plan is to stop up the mouths of ant-holes with sea-slime or ashes.But the most effective thing for killing ants is the heliotrope plant; and somepeople also think that water in which an unbaked brick has been soaked isinjurious to these insects. A protection for rapes is to sow some fitch withthem, and similarly chick-pea for cabbages, as it keeps off caterpillars. Ifneglect of this precaution has led to the appearance of caterpillars, the remedyis to sprinkle them with a decoction of wormwood or of houseleek; we havementioned this class of plant, which some callimmortel. It isstated that if cabbage seed is soaked in the juice of houseleek before beingsown, the cabbages will be immune from all kinds of insects; and it is saidthat caterpillars can be totally exterminated in gardens by fixing up on a stakethe skull of an animal of the horse class, provided it is that of a female.There is also a story that a river crab hung up in the middle of a garden is aprotection against caterpillars. Some people touch plants which they want to beimmune from caterpillars with slips of blood-red cornel. Also gnats infest dampgardens, especially if there are any shrubs in them; these can be driven away byburning galbanum resin.

In regard to the deterioration of seeds, some keeplonger than others, for instance coriander, beet, leek, cress, mustard, rocket,savory and the pungent seeds generally; while the seeds of orage, basil, gourdand cucumber do not keep so well, and summer seeds in general are not so strongas winter ones. The least lasting is long-onion seed. Of these however whichkeep best none is of any use after four years, at all events for sowing; theyare fit for kitchen use even beyond that period.

LIX. There is a curative property specially effective for raffish, beet,rue and savory in salt water, which moreover also contributes a greatdeal to their sweetness and to their fertility. All other plants are benefitedby being watered with fresh water, the most useful for the purpose being waterfrom streams, which is extremely cool and very sweet to drink; water from a pondor brought by a conduit is not so useful, because it carries with it the seedsof weeds. However it is rain that nourishes plants best, as rainwater alsokills insects that breed on them.

LX. For gardens the times for watering are in the morning and theevening, so that the water may not be heated by the sun. It only suits basil towater it at midday as well; for it is thought that this plant even when firstsown will break out most rapidly if at the first stage it is watered with waterthat is warm. All plants grow better and larger when transplanted, most of allleeks and navews. Also transplanting has a medicinal effect, and such plants aslong onion, leek, radishes, parsley, lettuces, turnip and cucumber cease tosuffer from injuries when transplanted. But almost all the wild varieties, forexample savory, wild marjoram, rue, are smaller in leaf and stalk, and have amore acrid juice. Indeed sorrel is the only one of all the plants of which thewild variety is the better, the cultivated sorrel is calledrumix, and it is thestrongest of all the plants grown under cultivation or wild; at all events it isreported that when once it has been established it lasts on and is neverovercome, and that it is specially everlasting when close to water. It is onlyused for the table mixed with pearl-barley, which gives it a softer and moreagreeable flavour. The wild variety supplies a number of drugs. (And so carefulhas research been to overlook nothing, that I actually find it stated in a poemthat if the seeds of leek, rocket, lettuce, parsley, endive and cress areplanted enclosed in hollow pellets of goat's dung, each seed in a separatepellet, they come up wonderfully. With plants of which there is also a wildvariety, the latter are thought to be more dry and acrid than the cultivatedsort.)

LXI. Now we ought also to speak of the difference of the juices andflavours of herbs, this being even greater in their case than in fruits. Thejuice of savory, wild marjoram, cress and mustard has an acrid taste; the juiceof wormwood and centaury is bitter, that of cucumbers, gourds and lettuceswatery; that of thyme and cunilago pungent; that of parsley, dill and fennelpungent and scented. The only flavour not found in plants is the taste of salt,though occasionally it is present as a sort of external layer, like a dust, andthis only in the case of the small chick-pea.

LXII. And to show how unfounded, as so frequently, is the view ordinarilyheld, all-heal has the taste of pepper, and still more so has pepperwort, whichconsequently is called pepper-plant; and grass of Lebanon has the scent offrankincense, and alexanders that of myrrh. About all-heal enough has been saidalready. Libanotis grows in thin powdery soil, and in places where there is aheavy dew; it has the root of olusatrum, exactly like frankincense; when a yearold it is extremely wholesome for the digestion. Some people call it by anothername, rosemary. Alexanders is a garden herb that grows in the same places, andits root has the taste of myrrh. Pepperwort grows in the same way. The remainingplants are peculiar in both scent and taste, for example anise; and so great istheir diversity and their potency that not only is one of them modified byanother but it is entirely counteracted: cooks use parsley to remove the tang ofvinegar from their dishes, and parsley enclosed in bags is also employed bybutlers to rid wine of disagreeable odour.

And so far we have spoken about garden plants merely as providing articles of diet. There still remains indeed a most important operation of nature in the same department, inasmuch as hitherto we have only treated of their produce and given certain summary outlines; whereas the true nature of each plant can only be fully understood by studying its medicinal effect, that vast and recondite work of divine power, and the greatest subject that can possibly be found. Due regard for method has led us not to combine with each object in succession the question of its medicinal value, because a different set of people are concerned with the requirements of medical practice, and either topic would have met with lone interruptions if we had mixed the two together. As it is, each subject will occupy its own section, and any who wish will be able to combine them.

I. FROM this point we are going to deal with a most important workof nature, namely to tell man his proper foods, and to force him toacknowledge that his means of living are unknown to him. Nobody should bedeceived by the meanness of the names into considering this a petty or triflingtask. Herein will be told of Nature at peace or at war with herself, along withthe hatreds and friendships of things deaf and dumb, and even without feeling.Moreover, to increase our wonder, all of them are for the sake of mankind. TheGreeks have applied the terms 'sympathy' and 'antipathy' to this basic principleof all things: water putting out fire; the sun absorbing water while the moongives it birth; each of these heavenly bodies suffering eclipse through theinjustice of the other. Furthermore, to leave the more heavenly regions, themagnetic stone draws iron to itself while another kind of stone repels it; thediamond, the rare delight of wealth, unbreakable and invincible by all otherforce, is broken by goat's blood. Other marvels, equally or even more wonderful,we shall speak of in their proper place. I only ask pardon for beginning withtrivial though healthful objects. First I shall deal with kitchen-garden plants.

II. We have said that there is a wild cucumber much smaller thanthe cultivated kind. From it is made the drug called elaterium by pressing thejuice out of the seed. Unless, to prepare it, the cucumber be cut openbefore it is ripe, the seed spurts out, even endangering the eyes. After beinggathered, the cucumber is kept for one night and then cut open on the next daywith a reed. The seed too is kept in ash to prevent the juice from running away.This when pressed out is received in rain water, where it falls to the bottom.Then it is thickened in the sun, and made into lozenges for the great benefit ofmankind, being good for dim vision, eye diseases and sores of the eyelids. It issaid that if the roots of vines are touched by this juice the grapes are notattacked by birds. The root too when boiled in vinegar is used as ointment incases of gout, and its juice cures toothache. Dried and mixed with resin itheals impetigo, itch, what are calledpsora and lichen, parotid swellings andsuperficial abscesses; it restores the natural colour to scars, while the juiceof the leaves mixed with vinegar and poured by drops into the ears is a remedyfor deafness.

III. The proper season to prepare elaterium is the autumn, andno drug keeps for a longer period. It begins to be potent when three years old;if it is desired to use it earlier, the lozenges must be made less harsh bywarming them in vinegar in a new clay pot over a slow fire. The older it is thebetter, and it has been known to keep, soTheophrastus tells us, for two hundred years, and its power to put outthe flame of a lamp it retains right up to the fiftieth year. Indeed, the testof genuine elaterium is whether its application makes a flame flicker up anddown before putting it out. The pale smooth variety is better than thegrass-green and rough, and is slightly bitter. lit is thought that conception isaided by cucumber seed if a woman keeps it fastened to her body without itshaving touched the ground; while labour is easier if, without her knowledge,the seed, wrapped in ram's wool, be tied to her loins; but it must be hastilycarried out of the house immediately after delivery.

As to this cucumber itself, those who sing its praises tell us that the bestvariety grows in Arabia, and the next best in Arcadia; some report thatin Cyrene grows a cucumber like the heliotrope, of the size of a walnut,appearing between the leaves and the branches; its seed is curled backlike a scorpion's tail but white in colour. Moreover, some call this cucumber'scorpion'; both its seed and elaterium are most effective antidotes tothe sting of the scorpion. The regular dose as purge or emetic is from half toone obolus, according to the idiosyncrasy of the patient, a larger dose beingfatal. Similar are the doses when taken in drink as a remedy for phthiriasis anddropsy. Mixed with honey or old olive oil it is used to cure quinsy and trachealaffections.

IV. Many authorities hold that this cucumber is the same as that knownamong us as the serpentine, and by some as the stray cucumber, a decoction ofwhich spread over things prevents mice from touching them. The same authoritiessay that a decoction of it in vinegar applied externally gives immediate reliefto gout and to diseases of the joints; that lumbago is cured by the seed driedin the sun, then pounded, and administered in doses of twenty denarii in half a sextarius of water, and that sudden tumours are cured by a liniment made bymixing it with woman's milk. Elaterium promotes menstruation but causesabortion when taken by women with child. It is good for asthma and also forjaundice when I injected into the nostrils. Smeared in the sunshine on the face,it removes therefrom freckles and spots.

V. Many authorities assign all these qualities to the cultivatedcucumbers, which even apart from cucumfret. them is of great importance. Forinstance, the seed too, a three-finger pinch of it, when pounded with cummin andtaken in wine, is beneficial for coughs, for phrenitis when drunk inwoman's milk, a dose of an acetabulum for dysentery, and with an equal weight ofcummin for expectoration of pus. Taken in hydromel it is good for diseases ofthe liver. With sweet wine it is diuretic, while for kidney pain it is used withcumrnin as an enema.

VI. The gourds calledpepones make a very refreshing food, and arealso laxative. Their pulp is used as an application for fluxes or pains of theeyes. The root is a cure for the hard sores, like honeycomb, which they callceria. It also acts as an emetic; it is dried and pounded into flour, the dosebeing four oboli taken in hydromel, but after it has been drunk a walk of half amile must be taken. This flour is also used as an ingredient in skin-smoothingcosmetics. The rind too serves as an emetic and clears the face of spots. Theleaves also of any kind of cultivated gourd have when applied externally thesame effect. The same, mixed with honey, also cure night rash and mixed withwine dog-bites and the bite of multipedes, an insect calledseps by the Greeks.It is rather long, with hairy legs, and is particularly harmful to cattle. Thebite is followed by swelling, the wound suppurating. The cucumber itself by itssmell revives those who have fainted. When peeled and cooked in oil, vinegar andhoney, cucumbers are, it is firmly held, more pleasant to the taste.

VII. There is also found a wild gourd, called by the Greeks σομφός,hollow inside (whence its name), of the thickness of a finger, growing onlyin rocky soils. If it be chewed the juice is very beneficial to the stomach.

VIII. Another kind of wild gourd is calledcolocynthis. The fruit issmaller than the cultivated, and full of seed. The pale variety is more usefulthan the grass-green. Taken by itself when dried it is a drastic purge. Usedalso as an enema an injection is a remedy for all complaints of the bowels, ofthe kidneys, and of the loins, as well as for paralysis. After the seed has beenpicked out, hydromel is added and boiled down to one half, which gives a verysafe strength for an injection of four oboli. The stomach is benefited also bytaking pills made of the dry powder mixed with boiled honey. In jaundice sevenseeds of it are taken, to be followed immediately by hydromel. The pulp added towormwood and salt cures toothache, while its juice warmed with vinegar makesloose teeth firm. Rubbed on with oil it likewise relieves pains of spine, loinsand hips. Moreover, wonderful to relate, an equal a number of its seeds,fastened to the body in a cloth, is said to reduce those fevers which the Greekscall periodic. The warmed juice, also, of the shredded cultivated colocynthiscures earache, and its inner pulp without the seed corns on the feet, as wellas the suppurations called by the Greeks άποστήματα. The juice obtainedby boiling down the whole pulp along with the seeds makes loose teeth firm andstops toothache, and a boiled mixture of it with wine stops inflammation of theeyes. An application of the pounded leaves with fresh cypress leaves, or of thefruit alone, roasted in a clay pot, reduced to powder and added to goose grease,is a cure for wounds. Moreover, when fresh, with shreds of its bark it coolsgout and inflammations of the head, especially of babies, and erysipelasby the application to the part affected of the same shreds, or of theseeds. The juice from scrapings, mixed with rose-oil and vinegar, makes aliniment which cools the heat of fevers. The dust of the dried fruit applied toburns is wonderfully healing. Chrysippusthe physician disapproved of gourds as food, but there is a general agreementthat they are very beneficial to the stomach, and also for ulceration of theintestines and bladder.

IX. The turnip too has its medicinalproperties. A hot application cures chilblains, besides preventing the feet frombeing chilled. A hot decoction of it is good even for cold gout, and raw turnip,pounded and mixed with salt, for every ailment of the feet. The seed, made intoliniment or drunk in wine, is said to protect against snake bites and poisons;many moreover hold that taken in wine and oil it serves as an antidote.Democritus entirely disapproved of theturnip as a food on the ground that it causes flatulence; Diocles, however, praised it highly,maintaining that it is also aphrodisiac.Dionysius agrees, holding that its effect is greater when it is seasonedwith rocket, and that, when roasted and made into an ointment with grease, it isgood for pain in the joints.

X. Wild turnip grows chiefly in fields; it is bushy, with a white seed,which is twice as big as that of the poppy. For smoothing the skin of the faceor of the whole body it is used when mixed with equal parts of the meal ofvetches, barley, wheat and lupins. The root is not good for anything.

XI. The Greeks retain in pharmacology also two varieties of navews. Theone with angular leaf-stalks, and a flower like that of dill, called bunion, isbeneficial for the purgings of women, for the bladder and for the urine, in theform of a decoction, drunk in hydromel, or in a drachma of the juice; the seed,roasted and ground, taken in four cyathi of warm water, is good for dysentery.It checks urine, however, if a linseed drink be not taken with it. The otherkind of navew is calledbunias; it is like the radish and turnip, its seed beinga splendid remedy for poisons, for which reason it is also used in antidotes.

XII. We have said that there is also a wild radish. The most popular kindis found in Arcadia, although it also grows elsewhere. It is rather useful as adiuretic. This is its only merit, for in other respects it is heating. In Italyit is also calledarmoracia.

XIII. Cultivated radishes moreover, besides what has been said aboutthem, purge the stomach, loosen phlegm, promote urine and bring away bile. Inaddition, a decoction of the skin in wine, drunk in the morning up to three cyathi, break up and eliminate gall-stones. A decoction of the same in vinegarand water is used as liniment for the bites of serpents. The radish too is goodfor a cough if taken with honey in the morning on an empty stomach; its seed toowhen roasted and chewed by itself. To use a radish as an amulet and to drinkeither a decoction of its leaves in water or its juice neat in doses of twocyathi is good for phthiriasis. Good for inflammation is a liniment of radishescrushed by themselves, and for a fresh bruise a liniment made from the skin withhoney. Lethargic persons are benefited by eating them at their hottest,asthmatics by the seed, first roasted and then beaten up with honey. Radishesare also useful for poisons, counteracting the sting of the cerastes and ofthe scorpion. With hands rubbed with radish or its seed you may handle thesecreatures without fear, and a radish placed on scorpions kills them. Radishestoo counteract the poisons of fungi and of henbane, and moreover, as Nicander tells us, the effects ofdrinking bull's blood. Both the physicians with the name ofApollodorus prescribe radishes to begiven for mistletoe poisoning; butApollodorusof Citium recommends the pounded seed in water, he of Tarentum the juice.Radishes also reduce the size of the spleen, and are good for the liver andpains in the loins; taken also with vinegar or mustard they are beneficial incases of dropsy, lethargus, epilepsy and melancholia.Praxagoras would administer it topatients with iliac, and Plistonicus tothose with coeliae disease. If eaten with honey they also cure ulcers of theintestines and suppurations of the chest. Some for these purposes prefer tocook them in mud; [Mayhoff's reading: 'to smear them over with mud beforecooking.'] if so taken they promote, according to them, the menstrualdischarge. Taken with vinegar or honey they bring away intestinal worms; adecoction of them boiled down to one third, drunk with wine, is good forintestinal hernia; so taken they draw off superfluous blood. For these purposesand for spitting of blood Mediusprescribes that they should be given cooked, as well as to women lying-in toincrease the supply of milk;Hippocratesthat radishes should be rubbed on the head of women when the hair falls off, andthat they should be placed on the navel for pains in the womb. They also bringscars back to the original colour of the skin. An application also of the seedsoaked in water arrests ulcers calledphagedaenae.Democritus thinks that as a foodradishes are aphrodisiac; for this reason, perhaps, some have maintained thatthey are injurious to the voice. The leaves, but only those of the long radish,are said to improve the eyesight; should however too strong a dose of radish beapplied as a remedy, they prescribe the immediate use of hyssop, for it isantipathetic. For deafness the juice of the radish is dropped into the ear. But,for those who would vomit, it is very useful to eat radishes after ameal.

XIV. Like the parsnip is the hibiscum, which some call the wild mallow,and others πλειστολοχεία; it is a cure for ulcers and for brokencartilages and bones. The leaves, taken in water, relax the bowels; they keepserpents away, and used as a liniment heal the stings of bees, wasps andhornets. Its root dug up before sunrise is wrapped in wool of the colour callednatural, taken moreover from a ewe that has given birth to a ewe lamb, and boundon scrofulous sores, even when they have suppurated. Some think that when it isto be used for this purpose the root should be dug up with a tool ofgold, care being taken not to let it touch the ground.Celsus too prescribes a decoction of theroot in wine as a liniment for cases of gout without swelling.

XV. Another kind is staphylinus, which they call stray parsnip. Its seed,crushed and taken in wine, soothes a swollen belly, and the hysterical chokingsand pains of women, to such an extent that it restores the womb to normal,benefits their abdomen, moreover, if applied in raisin wine, benefiting menalso when pounded with an equal part of bread and drunk in wine as a cure forbellyache. It is diuretic also, and if applied fresh with honey, or after beingsprinkled dry on flour it stays phagedaenic ulcers. Its root, taken in hydromel,Dieuches prescribes against affectionsof the liver, spleen, loins and kidneys;Cleophantus in cases also of chronic dysentery.Philistion boils it in milk; forstrangury he prescribes four ounces of the root, giving it in water for dropsy,likewise for those stricken by pitonitetanus, pleurisy and epilepsy. It is saidthat those who carry it are not bitten by serpents, and that those who haveeaten of it, if bitten, receive no hurt; for bites it is applied with axlegrease, and its leaves are chewed as a remedy for indigestion.Orpheus said that there is instaphylinus a love-philtre, perhaps because it is a proved fact that when eatenit is an aphrodisiac; for which reason some have declared that by it conceptionis aided. For all other purposes the cultivated kind too is powerful, but thewild plant is more efficacious, especially that growing on rocky soils. The seedof the cultivated kind too is a cure for the sting of scorpions when taken inwine or vinegar and water. Its root used as a dentifrice is a cure fortoothache.

XVI. In Syria very great pains are taken over kitchen-gardens; hence theGreek proverb: 'Syrians have plenty of vegetables.' They sow a vegetable calledby somegingidion that is very like staphylinus, only it is slighter and morebitter, though its properties are the same. lit is eaten, cooked or raw, withgreat advantage to the stomach, for it dries up all its humours, however deepthese may lie.

XVII. Wild (or stray) skirret is like the cultivated kind and has similarproperties. It stimulates the appetite, banishing distaste for food, if taken invinegar and silphium, or with pepper and honey wine, or if you like with fishsauce. It is both diuretic, asOphionbelieves, and an aphrodisiac.Dioclestoo is of the same opinion, and moreover thinks that it acts as a cordial inconvalescence, or is very useful after many vomitings.Heraclides prescribed it for mercurypoisoning, for occasional impotence and in convalescence. Hicesius said that the reason why itappeared to be harmful to the stomach was that no one could eat three skirretsin succession; adding however that it was beneficial to convalescents who arebeginning to take wine again. The juice, especially of the cultivated variety,checks looseness of the bowels if drunk with goats' milk.

XVIII. Since most people confuse the two similar Greek names, σέσελι andσέσελι (σίλι), we have added some account of sili or hartwort, though itis a plant generally known. The best is that of Massilia, for its seed is broadand yellow; the next best, the Aethiopian, is darker, and the Cretan has thestrongest smell of all. The root has a pleasant smell, and the seed, it is said,even the vultures eat. When drunk in white wine it is beneficial to man forchronic cough, ruptures and convulsions; likewise for opisthotonic tetanus,affections of the liver, colic and strangury, in doses of two or threespoonfuls. The leaves also are useful because they aid parturition, even thatof quadrupeds; it is said that does, when about to give birth, make this theirspecial food. The leaves are also applied to erysipelas, and digestion is muchhelped if the leaf or seed be eaten after food. It arrests also looseness ofbowels in quadrupeds, either pounded and mixed with their drink, or chewed upwhen they eat their food. It acts as a cure for diseases of oxen, if taken withsalt or pounded and injected.

XIX. Elecampane too chewed by people fasting strengthens theteeth. If it is taken from the ground so as not to touch it, a confection of itis healing for a cough; the juice moreover of the boiled root expels worms, anddried in the shade its powdered form cures cough, convulsions, flatulence andaffections of the trachea. It keeps off the bite of poisonous creatures. Anapplication of the leaves steeped in wine is used for lumbago.

XX. There are nowild onions. Cultivated onions, by the running caused by the mere smell, is acure for feebleness of vision; an even better cure is to apply to the eye someof the juice. Onions are also said to induce sleep, and chewed with bread toheal sores in the mouth; fresh onions applied in vinegar, or dry with honey andwine, dog-bites, provided that the bandage is taken off three days after.Applied in the same way they also heal abrasions. An onion cooked in ash manyhave applied with barley flour to fluxes of the eyes, and to sores of thegenitals. The juice of onions they used as ointment for eyesores, albugo andargema with honey for serpent bites and all kinds of ulcers, with woman's milkfor sore ear-laps, and dropped it into them with goose grease or honey forsinging or hardness of hearing. Diluted with water it was prescribed for thosesuddenly smitten with dumbness. In toothache it was poured by drops into themouth to rinse the teeth; likewise on to wounds made by any wild beasts,especially to those of scorpions. In mange and itch crushed onions have beenrubbed on the places affected. Boiled onions were given to eat to those affectedby dysentery or lumbago; onion-peelings burnt to ash were applied in vinegar toserpent bites, and onions themselves in vinegar for those of the multipede.Apart from what has been said, there are remarkable differences of opinion amongphysicians. The latest opinion holds that they are injurious to the viscera andthe digestion, causing, it is said, flatulence and thirst. The school ofAsclepiades holds that, used as food,onions promote a healthy complexion, and, if they are eaten daily on an emptystomach, preserve a good state of health, are useful to the stomach, loosen thebowels by putting the air in motion, disperse haemorroids when used as asuppository, and the juice, added to that of fennel, is very beneficial in casesof incipient dropsy; added to rue and honey it is used for quinsy, and fordispelling lethargus.Varro is ourauthority that an onion steeped in salt and vinegar, and then dried, is notattacked by worms.

XXI. Cutleek stops bleeding at the nose if the nostrils be pluggedwith leek pounded, or mixed with gall-nut or mint; fluxes also after miscarriageare arrested by drinking the juice with woman's milk. It cures chronic cough,and affections of the chest and lungs. By an application of the leaves arehealed pimples, burns and epinyctisis called a sore, also known assyce, in thecorner of the eye and perpetually running; some give the same name to lividpustules causing restlessness at night a ... and other sores by leeks poundedwith honey; the bites of beasts are treated by leek in vinegar, as are those ofserpents and other poisonous creatures. Affections of the ears, however, aretreated by leeks and goats, gall, or else leeks and mead in equal proportions.With woman's milk leeks are used for singing in the ears; for headache the juiceis poured into the nostrils, or two tablespoons of juice with one of honey arepoured into the ears at bedtime. The juice also is drunk with neat wine tocounteract the bites of serpents and of scorpions, and a draught can be takenwith half a sextarius of wine for lumbago. For spitting of blood, moreover, forconsumption, and for chronic catarrhs the juice is beneficial, as is also theleek by itself eaten as food; for jaundice, dropsy and kidney pains anacetabulum of the juice mixed with barley-water. The same dose taken with honeypurges the womb. Leek moreover is eaten to counteract the poisons of fungi; itis applied to wounds, is an aphrodisiac, quenches thirst, serves as a pick-me-upafter drunkenness, but is said to dim the eyesight, and to cause flatulenceswhich do no harm, however, to the stomach but relax the bowels. Leeks impartbrilliance to the voice.

XXII. Headed leek has the same properties as cutleek, but they arestronger. Those who spit blood are given its juice along with ground gall-nut orfrankincense, or with gum arabic.Hippocratesdirects it also to be given without other ingredient, and is of opinion that acontracted womb opens under its influence; likewise that by its use as food thefertility of women is increased. Beaten up, with honey added, it cleanses sores.Cough, catarrh of the chest, and affections of the lungs and of the trachea arecured by it when given in a draught of barley-water or eaten raw, the headexcepted, without bread; it must however be taken only on alternate days, evenif pus be expectorated. Given thus it greatly benefits the voice, venery andsleep. The heads, boiled in water that is twice changed checks diarrhoea andchronic fluxes; a decoction of the skin serves as a dye for grey hair.

XXIII. Garlic has powerful properties, and is of great benefit againstchanges of water and of residence. It keeps off serpents and scorpions by itssmell, and, as some have maintained, every kind of beast. It cures bites whendrunk or eaten, or applied as ointment, being particularly efficacious againstthe haemorrhoids when taken with wine and brought up by vomiting. Lestwe be surprised that it is an antidote against the poisonous bite of theshrewmouse, it neutralizes aconite, which is also known by the name ofpardalianehes ['Panther-strangler.'] as well as henbane and dog-bites; for thewounds of the latter it is made into an ointment with honey. For the bites of serpents it is very efficacious to roast it with its own leaves and make aliniment by adding oil; also for bruises on the body, even if they have swolleninto blisters. Moreover,Hippocratesthinks that garlic fumigations bring away the afterbirth; by its ash mixed withoil he used to restore to health running sores on the head. To asthmatics it isgiven cooked, though some have given it raw. Diocles prescribed it wit centaury for dropsy, or in a split fig as apurge, a more efficient one being fresh garlic taken in neat wine withcoriander; pounded garlic too has by some been given in milk to asthmatics.Praxagoras again mixed it with wine as aremedy for the jaundice, and with oil and pottage for passion; the latterprescription he also used as a liniment for scrofula. The ancients used also togive it raw to madmen,Diocles gave itwell boiled for phrenitis. Pounded and, drunk with vinegar and water it isuseful as a gargle for quinsy. By three pounded heads with vinegar toothache isrelieved, as it is by rinsing the teeth with a decoction, and insertinggarlic itself into the hollow teeth. Garlic juice, mixed with goose-grease, isalso dropped into the ears. Garlic, in drink or injected with vinegar and soda,checks phthiriasis and scurf, catarrhs likewise if boiled with milk,also beaten up or mixed with soft cheese; it relieves hoarseness also if takenthus, or in gruel of peas or beans. On the whole, however, it is more usefulcooked than raw, boiled than roasted. Thus prepared it is also more beneficialto the voice. When cooked in oxymel it expels tapeworms and other parasites ofthe intestines; in pottage it cures tenesmus. Well boiled it is used as ointmentfor pains in the temples; cooked, and then beaten up with honey, it makes anointment for blisters. For a cough a decoction is taken with stale grease, orwith milk; or if there be also spitting of blood or pus, it is roasted underlive ashes and taken with an equal part of honey. For sprains and ruptures it isused with salt and oil. With fat, however, it cures suspected tumours. Mixedwith sulphur and resin it draws the pus from fistulas, with pitch extractingeven arrows. Leprous sores, lichen and freckly eruptions are cleansed and curedby it and wild marjoram, or by a liniment made out of its ash with oil andfish-sauce. Used in this way it is also good for erysipelas. Burnt to ash andmixed with honey it brings back to the original colour parts that areblack-and-blue or livid. It is believed that epilepsy too is cured by garlictaken in food and drink, and that one head of it, taken in a dry wine with an obolus of silphium shakes off a quartan ague. Taken in another way, namelyboiled in broken beans and eaten with food until health is restored, it cures acough, and suppuration of the chest, however severe. It induces sleep also, andmakes the body generally of a ruddier colour. It is believed to act as anaphrodisiac, when pounded with fresh coriander and taken in neat wine. Itsdrawbacks are that it dulls the sight, causes flatulence, injures the stomachwhen taken too freely, and creates thirst. In addition, mixed with emmerwheatand added to their food it is good for poultry to save them from the pip. Beastsof burden are said to pass urine without pain, if their parts are treated withpounded garlic.

XXIV. The chief kind of lettuce growing wild is the onecalled goat-lettuce, which when thrown into the sea kills immediately all thefish in the neighbourhood. Its milk, or juice, when thickened and then added tovinegar, in doses of two oboli to one cyathus of water, is prescribed fordropsical patients. The crushed stalk and leaves, sprinkled with salt, cure acut sinew. The pounded plant and vinegar, used as a mouthwash twice a month inthe morning, keeps away toothache.

XXV. There is a second kind, calledcaesapon by the Greeks, the poundedleaves of which, made into an ointment with pearl-barley, heal sores. These twogrow in the open fields. A third kind growing in woods is called ίσάτις.Its leaves pounded up with pearl-barley are good for wounds. A fourth kind isused by dyers of wools. Its leaves would be like those of wild sorrel, were theynot more numerous and darker. By its root or leaves it stanches bleeding, healsphagedaenic and putrefying ulcers, spreading ulcers, tumours before suppuration,and erysipelas. Taken in drink it is good even for the spleen. Such are thepeculiar properties of the several kinds.

XXVI. The characteristics, however, common to the wild kinds arewhiteness, a stem occasionally a cubit long, and a roughness on the stalk and onthe leaves. Of these kinds, one with round, short leaves is called by some hieracion (hawkweed), since hawks, by tearing it open and wetting their eyeswith the juice, dispel poor vision when they have become conscious of it. Thejuice in all of them is white, in its properties, also, like that of the poppy;collected at harvest by cutting the stem, it is stored in new earthenware, beingexcellent for many purposes. With woman's milk it heals all eye-diseaseswhiteulcers, films, all wounds and inflammations, and especially dimness of sight. Itis also applied to the eyes on wool for fluxes. The same juice purges the bowelsif drunk in vinegar and water in doses not exceeding two oboli. Drunk in wine itheals snakebites, as do its leaves and stalks when pounded and drunk invinegar. They are applied as ointment to a wound, especially for the stings ofscorpions; for those, however, of venomous spiders wine and vinegar are added.They also neutralise other poisons, except those which kill by suffocation, orthose which hurt the bladder, white lead also being an exception. They areapplied to the belly with honey and vinegar to clear away troubles of thebowels. The juice corrects difficulty in making water. Cratenas prescribes it also for dropsyin doses of two oboli with vinegar and a cyathus of wine. Some collect the juiceof the cultivated lettuce also, but it is less efficacious. The specialproperties of lettuces, besides those already mentioned a of causing sleep,checking sexual desire, cooling a heated body, cleansing the stomach and makingblood, are not few; it breaks up flatulence, calms belching, aidsdigestion without ever itself causing indigestion. No other article of diet hasa greater power of both increasing appetite and also of diminishing it. Ineither case moderation of the amount taken is the reason; thus an immoderateamount loosens the bowels, while a moderate amount binds them. Lettuces loosenthick phlegm, and, as some have put on record, clear the senses, being veryuseful to stomachs which are out of order. They are aided for these purposes byoboli of digestive, the mixer modifying the sharpness by the addition of a sweetwine until it is no greater than that of vinegar sauce, mixing with it, if thephlegm be thick, squill or wormwood wine; if a cough also be experienced, hyssopwine. Lettuces are given with wild endive for coeliac affections and forhardness in the abdomen. White lettuce in great quantity is given to melancholicpatients and for bladder troubles.Praxagorasgave it also to patients with dysentery. It is good for fresh burns, if appliedwith salt before the blisters form. They cheek spreading ulcers, if applied atfirst with saltpetre, afterwards in wine. Pounded they are applied in cases oferysipelas. The pounded stalks, added to pearl-barley and applied with coldwater, soothe cramps and sprains, and eruptions of pimples when applied withwine and pearl-barley. In cholera also they have been given cooked in a pan, forwhich purpose the most beneficial are the bitter ones with the largest stems.Some people too inject the lettuce milk. Their stalks thoroughly boiledare said to be very beneficial to the stomach; likewise for sleep the summerlettuce especially, and the milky, bitter kind, which we have calledmeconis.This milk added to woman's milk is prescribed also as very useful for clearnessof vision if the eyes and the head are bathed in good time, and likewise for eyetroubles caused by chill. I find much other extravagant praise of lettuce: thatwith Attic honey it is as good as southernwood for chest complaints; thatmenstruation is regulated by its use as food; that the seed of cultivatedlettuce is given for scorpion stings; that the crushed seed taken in wineprevents libidinous dreams; that noxious waters do not harm those who eatlettuce. Some however have maintained that when eaten too often they impair theeyesight.

XXVII. Not without healing properties is either kind of beet; the freshroot of either the white variety or of the dark, if soaked and hung on acord is said to be efficacious against serpent bites; white beet boiled andtaken with raw garlic against tapeworms. Dark roots boiled in water removedandruff; the dark for all purposes is held to be the more efficacious. Itsjuice relieves headache and giddiness, noises in the ears if poured into them,and it is diuretic. Injected it is a remedy for dysentery and jaundice; thejuice used as liniment relieves toothache, besides being an antidote for serpentbites, but only if extracted from the dark root. A decoction, moreover, of thebeet itself relieves chilblains. White beet applied to the forehead allaysfluxes of the eyes, and mixed with a little alum, erysipelas. Similarly applied,when beaten up without oil it also heals burns. It is also used for eruptions ofpimples; again, when boiled, it is applied to spreading sores, likewise raw formange, and for running sores on the head. Its juice applied with honey to thenostrils clears the head. It is gently boiled with lentils, with vinegar added,in order to relax the bowels. Boiled faster beet checks fluxes of the stomachand bowels.

XXVIII. There is also a wild beet, called by somelimonium, by othersneuroides, with leaves much smaller, thinner and closer together,often having eleven stalks. Its leaves, useful for burns, dry the mouth of thosewho taste them. Its seed, in doses of one acetabulum, is good for dysentery. Theliquid moreover decocted from the root of the beet washes out, it is said, thestains on clothes as well as those on parchment.

XXIX. Endives also are not without their value in medicine.Their juice with rose oil and vinegar relieves headache; moreover, drunk withwine, pains of the liver and bladder; it is also applied to fluxes from theeyes. The wild endive certain among us have calledambubaia. In Egypt they callthe wild kind cichorium; the cultivated they callseris, a variety whichis smaller and has more veins.

XXX. Chicory taken in food or applied as liniment cools gatherings. Thejuice of the boiled-down vegetable loosens the bowels, and benefits liver,kidneys and stomach. Again, if it is boiled down in vinegar it dispels pain ofurination, jaundice also if taken in honey wine, provided that there is nofever. It helps the bladder. Boiled down in water it so helps the purgation ofwomen as even to withdraw the dead unborn baby. The Magi add that those who haveanointed themselves with the juice of the entire plant, mixed with oil, becomemore popular, and obtain their requests more easily. So great indeed are itshealth-giving properties that some call itchreston (useful) otherspancration(almighty).

XXXI. The wild kindsome call ithedypnois has a broader leaf; boiled, itacts as an astringent upon a relaxed stomach, and eaten raw it checks loosenessof the bowels. It is beneficial in dysentery, more so when taken with lentils.Ruptures and cramps are relieved by both kinds, as also are those troubled witha diseased flux of sperm.

XXXII. Seris also, itself very similar to lettuce, is of twokinds. The wild is the better; it is dark and grows in summer, while the wintervariety, which is whiter, is not so good. Each is bitter, and very beneficial tothe stomach, especially to one troubled by a humour. They are cooling when takenwith vinegar in food, and when applied as liniment; they disperse other humoursbesides those in the stomach. With pearl-barley the roots of the wild varietyare taken in a draught to benefit the stomach; for heartburn they are appliedabove the left breast; prepared with vinegar all these are useful for gout, forspitting of blood, and likewise for fluxes of sperm, a dose to be taken onalternate days. Petronius Diodotus, whowrote a medical Herbal, gives many arguments condemning seris altogether, butthe opinion of all others is against him.

XXXIII. It would be a long task to make a list of all the praises of thecabbage, since not only did Chrysippusthe physician devote to it a special volume, divided according to its effects onthe various parts of the body, butDieuchesalso, andPythagoras above all, andCato no less lavishly, have celebratedits virtues; the views of the latter it is meet to set forth all the morecarefully for the sake of learning what medicine the Roman people used for sixhundred years. The earliest Greeks divided cabbage into three varieties; (a) thecurly, which they calledselinas from the resemblance of its leaves to those ofparsley, useful for the stomach and moderately laxative; (b) the helia,with broad leaves growing out of the stem, from which some have called itcaulodes, of no importance in medicine; (c) the third, crambe properlyso-called, with thinner leaves of plain shape and very close together, is morebitter but very beneficial.Cato thinksmost highly of the curly variety, next after it approving the smooth cabbagewith large leaves and big stem. He considers it good for headache, dimness ofthe eyes and sparks in them, for the spleen, the stomach and the hypochondria,when taken raw in the morning with oxymel, coriander, rue, mint and rootof silphium, in doses of two acetabula, saying that their power is so great thathe who pounds the ingredients together feels himself growing stronger. Hetherefore recommends that it should either be pounded with these herbs whentaken in a draught, or at least be in sauce made from them; while for gout andrheumatic joints a liniment should be made with a dash of rue, coriander andsalt, along with barley flour; he adds that its water, boiled down, iswonderfully beneficial for sinews and joints, if they are fomented with it.Wounds, whether fresh or old, and even cancerous sores, which can be healed byno other treatment, should, so he prescribes, first be fomented with hot waterand then have pounded cabbage applied to them twice daily. Similar treatment heprescribes for fistulas also and sprains; for tumours too, both such as must bebrought to a head and those that need to be dispersed. He says that boiledcabbage prevents dreams and sleeplessness, if you eat fasting as much aspossible with oil and salt; gripings it relieves if after boiling it is boileddown again with the addition of oil, salt, cummin and pearl-barley. If when soprepared it is taken without bread, it will, he adds, be more beneficial. Amongother things he tells us that bile is cleared away by drinking cabbage in darkwine; and what is more, he recommends that the urine of a person who has livedon a cabbage diet should be kept, because when warmed it is a cure for pains inthe sinews. I will add his actual words to explain his thought: 'Little boys, ifyou bathe them with such urine, never become weak.' He also advises that thejuice of cabbage should be poured warm into the ears, with wine added, and heinsists that this treatment benefits those who are hard of hearing, and thatimpetigo by the same means is cured without ulceration.

XXXIV. Just because we have dealt withCato it is well to put down now the views of the Greeks also, limitingourselves to making goodCato'somissions. If not overcooked they think that cabbage brings away bile, also thatit loosens the bowels, checking diarrhoea however if it be boiled twice. Ascabbage is the enemy of the vine, they say that it opposes wine; that if takenin food beforehand it prevents drunkenness, taken after drinking it dispels itsunpleasant effects. They hold that cabbage taken as food greatly brightens thevision, and that the benefit is very great indeed if the juice of raw cabbageand Attic honey merely touch the corners of the eyes. They add that cabbage isvery easily digested, and that its use as food clears the senses. The school of Erasistratus loudly declares thatnothing is more useful than cabbage for the stomach and sinews, and he thereforeprescribes it for paralysis and palsy, as well as for spitting of blood.Hippocrates prescribed twice-boiledcabbage and salt for coeliac trouble and dysentery, also for tenesmus and kidneytroubles, holding also that its use as food gave a rich supply of milk tolying-in women and benefited women's purgings. The stalk indeed eaten raw bringsout the dead unborn baby.Apollodorusholds that its seed should be eaten, or its juice drunk, to counteract poisonousfungi;Philistion prescribes it to betaken in goat's milk, with salt and honey, for opisthotonic tetanus. I find thatgout has been cured by eating cabbage and drinking cabbage water; the latter hasbeen given with the addition of salt for heart-bum also and epilepsy, and withwhite wine for a period of forty days for diseases of the spleen, as well asfor jaundice and phrenitis. For hoarseness he prescribes the juice of the rawcabbage as a gargle or drink, but for hiccoughs he recommends it to be taken invinegar with coriander, dill, honey and pepper. An application of it is goodfor flatulence of the stomach, snake bite and putrid sores of long standing; ifyou like, the mere water may be used with barley meal, the juice in vinegar orwith fenugreek. In this way some apply it to aching joints and gouty limbs. Anapplication of it relieves epinyctis and every other kind of spreading eruption,and also sudden dimness of sight; the last too is benefited by eating it invinegar, but for bruises and other livid marks the application should be ofcabbage alone, for leprous sores and itch, of cabbage in vinegar with a ball ofalum. Applied in this way it also prevents the hair from falling out.Epicharmus says that a local applicationof cabbage is very good for troubles of the testes and genitals, that cabbageand crushed beans are more efficacious still, and likewise for convulsions;that with rue it relieves high fever and stomach troubles, and with the seed ofrue it brings away the afterbirth and cures the bite of the shrewmouse. Thedried leaves when powdered purge by vomit or by stool.

XXXV. Of all the varieties of cabbage the most pleasant-tasted is cyma,although it is thought to be unwholesome, being difficult of digestion and badfor the kidneys. Further, we must not forget that the water in which it hasbeen boiled, though praised for its many uses, has a foul smell when poured outon the ground. The ash of dried cabbage-stalks is understood to be caustic, andwith stale grease is used for sciatica, but with silphiurn and vinegar, appliedas a depilatory, it prevents the growth of other hair in place of that pulledout. It is also taken lukewarm in oil, or boiled in water by itself, forconvulsions, internal ruptures, and falls from a height. Has cabbage then nofaults to be charged with? Nay, we find in the same authors that it makes thebreath foul and harms teeth and gums. In Egypt too, because of its bitterness,it is not eaten.

XXXVI.Cato gives vastly higherpraise to the wild, or stray, cabbage, so much so that he asserts that the merepowder of the dried vegetable, collected in a smelling-bottle, or the scentonly, snuffed up the nostrils, removes nose-troubles and any offensive odour.Some call this variety rock-cabbage; it is strongly antipathetic to wine, sothat the vine tries very hard to avoid it, or, if it cannot do so, dies. It hasthin leaves, round, small, and smooth; though rather like the ordinaryvegetable, it is both whiter and more hairy than the cultivated kind. Chrysippus tells us that it healsflatulence, biliousness and fresh wounds, if applied with honey and not removedtill the seventh day; also that beaten up in water it cures scrofula andfistulas. Others moreover maintain that it checks running sores, callednomae,removes too excrescences, and smoothes away scars; that if it is chewed, or ifcabbage water be used with honey as a gargle, sores in the mouth or on thetonsils disappear, as also do the itch and chronic leprous sores, if three partsof it and two of alum in strong vinegar be applied as a liniment. Epicharmusthought this cabbage a sufficient remedy if applied to the bite of a mad dog,and an even better one with the addition of silphium juice and strong vinegar;he also said that dogs are killed by it, if given with their meat. Its seed ifroasted is a help against serpents, fungi, and bull's blood. The boiled leavestaken in food or applied raw with sulphur and soda relieves splenic diseases andalso hardness of the breasts. The ash of its roots even by a mere touch cures aswollen uvula, reduces parotid swellings if applied with honey, and heals bitesof serpents. Of the power of cabbage I will add but one proof, which is bothstriking and wonderful: let the scale form on the inside of any vessel in whichwater is boiled, so that it cannot be scraped away; yet it disappears if cabbageis boiled in them.

XXXVII. Among wild cabbages is also lapsana, which is a foot high, hashairy leaves, being like mustard, except that the flower is whiter. It is eatencooked, and soothes and relaxes the bowels.

XXXVIII. Of all the varieties, sea cabbage is the strongest purgative. Onaccount of its pungency it is cooked with fat meat, and is very bad for thestomach.

XXXIX. The squill used in medicine is white (the dark squill is female),and the whiter it is the more beneficial. When the dried skin has been torn fromit, what is left of the living a plant is cut up and hung on a cord at shortdistances. Afterwards the dry pieces are plunged still hanging into a jar ofvery strong vinegar, so as not to touch any part of the vessel. Then the jar,plastered with gypsum, is placed under tiles which receive the sun the whole daylong. This is done forty-eight days before the solstice. After this number ofdays the vessel is removed and the squills taken out, the vinegar being pouredinto another vessel. This vinegar sharpens the vision, is beneficial for painsof the stomach and sides if taken for two days at a time. But so great is itsstrength that too copious a draught produces for a moment the appearance ofdeath. Even when chewed by themselves squills are good for the gums and teeth.Taken in vinegar and honey they bring away tapeworm and other intestinalparasites. Fresh squills placed under the tongue prevent dropsical patients fromsuffering thirst. They are cooked in several ways: either in a pot lined withfat or clay, to be put into an oven or furnace, or else they are cut up andcooked in a stewpan. Raw squills too are dried, then cut up, boiled in vinegarand then applied to snake bites. Another way is to roast the squills and thenclean them, after which the centre parts are again cooked in water. Thusprepared they are used for dropsy, as a diuretic, drunk with honey and vinegarin doses of three oboli, and also for diseases of the spleen and stomach, whenfood floats undigested, provided that no ulceration is felt, for griping pains,jaundice, and chronic cough with asthma. Scrofula is cleared away by squillleaves, if they are left on for four days; dandruff and running sores by anapplication of squills cooked in oil. Cooked too in honey squills are used asfood, especially to promote digestion. So prepared they also purge the bowels.Cooked in oil and mixed with resin squills heal cracks in the feet. The seedmixed with honey is applied to relieve lumbago. Squills too, hung in a doorway,are said byPythagoras to have power tokeep off evil enchantments.

XL. The other bulbs cure cuts on the face when used with vinegar andsulphur, contraction of the sinews too when pounded up and used by themselves,dandruff when mixed with wine, and the bites of dogs when mixed with honey; Erasistratus would mix them with pitch.The same authority holds that applied with honey they stop a flow of blood.Others add coriander and flour for bleeding at the nose.Theodorus treats lichen also with bulbsin vinegar, adding a dry wine or egg for eruptions on the head. The sameauthority applies them for eye-fluxes, and their centres for dry ophthalmia. Redbulbs in particular, applied in the sun with honey and soda, remove spots on theface, and freckles when applied with wine or with vinegar. They are wonderfullygood too for wounds, either by themselves, or asDamion advises, with honey wine, if theapplication be allowed to remain for four days at least. By the same means hetreats broken ear-laps and hydrocele, adding flour also for pains in the joints.Boiled in wine and applied to the belly they soften hardness abdomen. Fordysentery they are given in diluted with rain-water, for internal spasms in thesize of a bean compounded with silphium. sweating they are bruised and applied.They good for the sinews, and therefore are given to paralytics. Red bulbs,mixed with honey and salt, heal sprains of the foot very quickly. Megarian bulbsare a strong aphrodisiac; garden bulbs taken with concentrated must or raisinwine help delivery; wild bulbs compounded with silphium and swallowed in pillsrelieve intestinal wounds and affections. The seed of the last is taken in wineagainst the bite of venomous spiders. The bulbs themselves are applied invinegar against the bites of serpents. The ancients used to give the seed indrink to persons raving mad. The flowers of bulbs pounded up remove spots on thelegs and patches produced by fire. Dioclesthinks that the eyes are weakened by them. He adds that when boiled they areless useful than roasted, and that according to the strength of every varietythey are difficult of digestion.

XLI. The Greeks call bulbine a plant with leaves like those ofleeks and with a red bulb. This is said to be wonderfully good for wounds,provided that they are recent. The bulb called the emetic from its effects hasdark leaves, longer than those of other kinds.

XLII. Asparagus is reported to be one ofthe most beneficial foods to the stomach. Indeed if cummin is added it dispersesflatulence of the stomach and colon; it improves vision also, moves the bowelsgently, benefits pains in the chest and spine as well as intestinal trouble,wine being added when it is being cooked. For pains in the loins and kidneysasparagus seed is taken in drink in doses of three oboli, an equal quantity ofcummin being added. It is aphrodisiac and very useful as a diuretic, except whenthe bladder has been ulcerated. Very many recommend that the root be pounded andtaken in white wine, when it also disperses stone, and relieves pains of theloins and kidneys. Some also prescribe this root to be taken in sweet wine forpain in the womb. This root boiled down in vinegar is good for elephantiasis. Ifa man is rubbed with a mixture of pounded asparagus and oil it is said that heis never stung by bees.

XLIII. Wild asparagus is called by somecorruda, by others Libyan, by the Atticsorminus. For all the purposes mentionedabove its properties are more efficacious than those of the cultivatedasparagus, and those of the whiter kind are the more powerful. Both relievejaundice. As an aphrodisiac, the water in which it has been boiled isrecommended to be drunk in doses up to a hemina. Its seed has the same effectmixed with dill and taken in doses of three oboli of each. A decoction of thejuice is also given for the bites of serpents. Its root, mixed with the root offennel, is among our most efficacious aids. In cases of haematuria the seed ofasparagus, of parsley, and of cummin is prescribed byChrysippus in doses of three oboli intwo cyathi of wine. He goes on to say that thus prepared, although it isdiuretic, yet it is bad for dropsy, as it is for venery, and also for thebladder unless it is boiled in water; that this water kills dogs if they drinkit; that the juice of the root boiled in wine, if it be held in the mouth, curestoothache.

XLIV. Parsley is universally popular, for sprigs of it are found swimmingin draughts of milk everywhere in the country, and in sauces it enjoys apopularity all its own. Moreover applied with honey to the eyes, provided thatthey are also frequently fomented with a warm decoction, it is wonderfullybeneficial, as also for other fluxes on the limbs, when applied pounded up,either by itself or with bread or pearl-barley. Fish also, if they are sickly inponds, are revived by fresh parsley. But no other plant taken from the groundhas caused such a variety of opinion among the learned. Parsley showsdistinction of sex. Chrysippus says thatfemale parsley has hard and curlier leaves, a thick stem and a sharp, hot taste,Dionysius that it is darker, has ashorter root and breeds grubs; both agree that neither should be classed amongthe foodsnay, that it is altogether a sin to eat parsley, because it isdedicated to the funeral feasts in honour of the dead, and that it is also badfor the eyesight. They say that the stem of female parsley breeds grubs, andbecause of this those who have eaten it, whether male or female, become barren,and actually that sucking babies become epileptic if their nurses have eatenparsley. The male plant however they say is the less injurious. This is why itis not classed among plants utterly taboo. The application of parsley leavessoftens hardness of the breasts. To boil parsley in it makes water sweeter todrink. The juice of the root in particular added to wine relieves lumbago, andhardness of hearing if the same liquid be dropped into the ears. The seed isdiuretic, aids the menses and the afterbirth, and restores bruises to theirnatural colour if they are fomented with a decoction of the seed. Applied withwhite of egg, or boiled in water and drunk, parsley cures kidney troubles, andulcers in the mouth when pounded up in cold water. The seed with wine, or theroot with old wine, breaks up stones in the bladder. The seed is also given, inwhite wine, to jaundice patients.

XLV.Hyginus gives the name ofapiastrum tomelissophyllum, but by general consent the Sardinian variety iscondemned as poisonous; I must however include in the same class all plants soplaced by Greek writers.

XLVI.Olusatrum (alexanders), also calledhipposelinum (horse parsley),is antipathetic to scorpions. Its seed taken in drink cures colic and intestinalworms. The seed too, boiled and drunk in honey wine, cures dysuria. Its root,boiled in wine, expels stone, besides curing lumbago and pains in the side.Taken in drink and applied as liniment it cures the bite of a mad dog. A draughtof its juices warms those who have been chilled. A fourth kind of parsley ismade by some authorities out of oreoselinum (mountain parsley), a straightshrub a palm high, with a seed like cummin, beneficial to the urine andthe menses. Heleoselinum (marsh celery) is especially valuable for the bites ofspiders; this variety and oreoselinum taken in wine promotes the menses.

XLVII. Another kind of parsley, which grows on rocks, is called bysomepetroselinum (rock parsley); it is especially good for abscesses, twospoonfuls of the juice making a dose with one cyathus of juice of horehound andthree cyathi of warm water. Other authorities have added to the parsleysbuselinem (cow parsley), which differs from the cultivated kind in theshortness of its stalk and the redness of its root, although its properties arethe same. They add that taken in drink or applied it is a powerful antidoteagainst the bites of serpents.

XLVIII. Ocimuni (basil) too was severely condemned byChrysippus as injurious to stomach,urine and eyesight, adding that it causes madness, lethargus and liver troubles,and that for this reason goats refuse to touch it, so that men also ought toavoid it. Certain authorities add that pounded ocimum, if covered by a stone,breeds a scorpion, and that ocimum chewed and left in the sun breeds worms; theAfricans moreover hold that a man's life is lost if he is stung by a scorpion onthe same day as he has eaten ocimum. Moreover, some hold that if a handful ofocimum be pounded up with ten sea or river crabs, all the scorpions in theneighbourhood are drawn to it.Diodorusin hisEmpirica says that the useof ocimum as a food breeds lice. The period that followed saw strong defendersof ocimum who said that goats do eat it, that no man's mind has been affected byit, and that in wine and a little vinegar it cures the stings of land scorpionsand the venom of those in the sea. Experience also proves, they say, that ocimumif smelt in vinegar is good for fainting; also for lethargus, and to coolinflammations; for headache, too, if used as a liniment with rose oil or withmyrtle oil or with vinegar, and for eye fluxes if applied in wine. It is saidtoo, to be beneficial to the stomach, to disperse flatulence by belching iftaken in vinegar, to check looseness of the bowels if applied externally, to bediuretic, applied thus to be good for both jaundice and dropsy, and to checkeven the diarrhoea of cholera. Philistiontherefore prescribed ocimum even for coeliac complaints and when boiled fordysentery; some against the advice of Plistonicus prescribe it in wine for tenesmus, spitting of blood andhardness of the hypochondria. Applied to the breasts it checks the flow of milk.It is very beneficial, especially with goose grease, for the ears of babies. Thepounded seed snuffed up the nostrils promotes sneezing, and used as a linimentthe flow of mucus from the head; taken as food in vinegar it purges the womb.Mixed with cobbler's blacking it removes warts. Being aphrodisiac it is alsoadministered to horses and asses at the time of service.

For all these purposes wild ocimum is of greater efficacy, particularly for thetroubles caused by frequent vomitings and for abscesses of the womb, the roottaken in wine being very efficacious for the bites of wild beasts.

XLIX. Rocket seed cures the poisons of scorpions and of theshrewmouse; it keeps off all the little parasites breeding on the body, andremoves spots on the skin of the face when applied with honey, freckles whenapplied with vinegar, reducing livid scars to whiteness when mixed with ox-gall.Taken in wine it is said to harden as it were the feeling of those about to beflogged. As a seasoning for dishes it imparts such a pleasant flavour that theGreeks have called itcuzomon (good broth). It is thought that if the eyes arefomented with slightly pounded rocket, clearness of vision is restored ... thecoughing of babies is soothed. A decoction of its root in water extracts brokenbones. We have already spoken of rocket as an aphrodisiac; if three leaves ofwild rocket plucked with the left hand and pounded are drunk in hydromel, theyso act.

L. On the other hand cress is antaphrodisiac, but as we havealready said sharpens the senses. There are two varieties of it. The white actsas a purge, and carries bile away if one denarius by weight of it be taken inseven of water. It is an excellent cure for scrofula if applied with bean mealand covered with a cabbage leaf. The other kind, which is darker, purges awaypeccant humours of the head, clears the vision, calms if taken in vinegartroubled minds, and benefits the spleen when drunk in wine or eaten with a fig,or a cough if taken in honey, provided that the dose be repeated daily andadministered on an empty stomach. The seed in wine expels all parasites of theintestines, more effectively however if there be added wild mint. Taken withwild marjoram and sweet wine it is good for asthma and cough, and a decoctionin goat's milk relieves pains in the chest. Applied with pitch it dispersessuperficial abscesses; applied in vinegar it extracts thorns from the body andremoves spots. When used for carcinoma white of egg is added. It is applied invinegar to the spleen, but with babies it is best applied in honey. Sextius adds that burnt cress keeps awayserpents, and neutralizes scorpion stings; that the pounded plant relievesheadache, and mange, if mustard be added; that pounded and placed with fig onthe ears it relieves hardness of hearing, and tooth ache if its juice be pouredinto the ears; and that dandruff and sores on the head are removed if the juicebe applied with goose grease. Boils it brings to a head if applied with leaven.It makes carbuncles suppurate and break, and with honey it cleanses phagedaeniculcers. With pearl barley it is applied in vinegar for sciatica and lumbago,likewise for lichen and rough nails, because its nature is caustic. The bestkind, however, is the Babylonian; the wild variety for all the purposesmentioned is the more efficacious.

LI. But among our chief medicinal plants is rue. The cultivatedkind has the wider leaves and the more bushy branches; the wild variety is harshin its effects and sharper in all respects. The juice is extracted by poundingwith a moderate sprinkling of water, and is kept in a copper box. An overdose ofthis juice possesses poisonous qualities, especially in Macedonia near the river Aliaemon. Strangely enough, it is neutralized by the juice of hemlock; so thereare actually poisons of poisons, and hemlock juice is good for the hands andface of those who gather rue. Further, rue, especially the Gallic variety, isone of the chief ingredients of antidotes. Any sort of rue, however, is even byitself a powerful antidote, the pounded leaves being taken in wine, especiallyagainst aconite and mistletoe; likewise, whether given in drink or in food,against poisonous fungi. In like manner it counteracts the bites of serpents,seeing that weasels, when about to fight with them, first protect themselves byeating rue. Rue is good for stings of scorpions and for those of spiders, bees,hornets and wasps, for injuries caused by cantharides and salamanders, and forthe bites of mad dogs. The juice is drunk in wine in doses of one acetabulum,and the leaves pounded or chewed are applied with honey and salt, or afterboiling with vinegar and pitch. It is said that any besmeared with its juice,and even those having it on their persons, are never stung by these poisonouscreatures, and that serpents avoid the fumes that come from burning rue. Itsmost efficient form is the wild root taken with wine. Authorities add that thisroot is more efficacious if the draught be taken out of doors.Pythagoras divided rue also into (a)male, with smaller leaves and of a grass-green colour, and (b) female, with moreluxuriant leaves and more colour. He also thought it injurious to the eyes,wrongly, since engravers and painters use rue as food, with bread or cress, forthe sake of their eyes; wild goats also, they say, cat it to improve theirvision. Many have dispelled dimness by anointing the eyes with its juice addedto Attic honey or to the milk of a woman who has just borne a male child, oreven by touching the corners of the eyes with the pure juice. Rue applied withpearl barley relieves fluxes from the eyes; taken in wine or applied withvinegar and rose oil, headaches likewise; if however the headache be chronic,barley flour and vinegar should be the other ingredients. The same plant soonrelieves indigestion, flatulence and chronic pains of the stomach. It opens thewomb, and corrects displacement of it, if applied in honey to the whole abdomenand chest; added to figs and boiled down to one half it is administered in winein cases of dropsy. In this form it is also taken for pains in the chest, sidesand loins, for coughs and asthma, for complaints of the lungs, liver andkidneys, and for cold shivers. To prevent the after-effects of drinking adecoction of the leaves is taken before indulgence in wine, It is beneficial asa food, raw, boiled or preserved, likewise for colic if boiled in hyssop andtaken with wine. In this form it checks internal haemorrhage, and, if injectedinto them, bleeding nostrils; this form is also good for rinsing the teeth. Thejuice is also poured into the ears for earache, care being taken, as we havesaid, to inject only a moderate quantity if the wild variety is used; but forhardness of hearing and for singing in the ears there is added rose oil or bayoil, or else wine and honey. For phrenitis too the juice of pounded rue ispoured in vinegar over the temples and cranium. Some have also added wild thymeand bay, rubbing with this mixture the head and the neck. Rue has been given invinegar for sufferers from lethargus to smell, and a decoction ofthe juice for epileptics to drink in doses of four cyathi; it has been givenbefore attacks of fever with unbearable chill, and also raw, as food, tosufferers from shivering fits. It is diuretic also, even when there ishaematuria; it promotes too menstruation, and brings away the afterbirth andthe foetus that has died before delivery, asHippocrates holds, if it be taken in sweet, dark wine, or so appliedlocally. He also prescribes fumigation with rue to stimulate the womb. Diocles so applies it in vinegar andhoney with barley meal for heartburn: for severe colic, the meal should beboiled in oil and spread over pieces of fleece. Many moreover also think thattwo drachmae of dried rue and one and a half drachmae of sulphur can be takenfor purilent spittings, and for spitting of blood three sprays boiled in wine.Pounded and taken in wine with cheese it is also given to patients withdysentery. Crumbed into a draught it has also been given with bitumen forshortness of breath; for heavy falls three ounces of seed with one pound of oiland a sextarius of wine. The leaves boiled with oil ate applied to parts thathave been bitten by frost. If it is diuretic, asHippocrates holds, it is strange thatsome prescribe it as an antidiuretic drink for incontinence of urine. Anapplication of rue, with honey and alum, heals itch and leprous sores; vitiligoalso and warts, scrofula and similar complaints, with nightshade, lard and beefsuet; in vinegar and oil, or white lead, erysipelas; in vinegar, carbuncles.Some prescribe the addition of silphium to the ointment, without using it,however, for the treatment of night pustules. A decoction of it is applied toswollen breasts, and with the addition of wax for outbursts of phlegm; forfluxes of the testicles, however, tender sprigs of laurel are added, and soextraordinary is the effect of these on the abdomen that, it is said, by anointment of the wild variety with old axle-grease hernia is healed, as are alsobroken limbs by an application of the pounded seed and wax. The root of rueapplied to the part affected restores to normal blood-shot eyes, and scars orspots on any part of the body. Of the other traditions about rue a remarkableone is that, although it is agreed that rue is by nature hot, yet a bunch of rueboiled in rose oil with one ounce of aloes checks the perspiration of those whohave rubbed themselves with it, and that its use as food hinders the generativepowers. Accordingly it is prescribed for spermatorrhoea and for frequent amorousdreams. Pregnant women must take care to exclude rue from their diet, for I findthat the foetus is killed by it. Of all plants rue is the one most generallyused for the diseases of quadrupeds also, whether it be difficulty of breathingor the bites of noxious creatures; it is injected through the nostrils in wine,or in vinegar if a bloodsucker has been swallowed; in any type of illness it iscompounded as in the corresponding illness in man.

LII. Mentastrum is wild mint, differing from the cultivated kind in theappearance of its leaves, which have the shape of those of ocimum and the smellof pennyroyal, for which reason some call it wild pennyroyal. If these leavesare chewed and applied, elephantiasis is cured, as was discovered in the time ofPompeius Magnus by the chance experimentof some one who for shame smeared his face with them. The same leaves areapplied, or taken in drink, for the bites of serpents, in doses of two drachmaein two cyathi of wine, for the stings of scorpions with salt, oil and vinegar;for the wound of the scolopendra the juice of a decoction is used. The leavesare dried to a powder and kept as an antidote for all poisons. Spread out orburnt, the plant drives away even scorpions. Taken in drink it brings onmenstruation, but it kills the foetus. For ruptures, spasms, orthopnoea, cholicand cholera it is very beneficial, and an external application is so for lumbagoand gout. The juice is injected into ears that are infected with parasites. Itis taken in drink for jaundice, and applied as ointment for scrofula; itprevents amorous dreams, and if taken in vinegar expels worms; for dandruff,vinegar with the plant in it is poured over the head in the sun.

LIII. The smell of mint by itself refreshes our spirits and its flavourgives a zest to food; for this reason it is a familiar ingredient in our sauces.By itself mint prevents milk from turning sour or curdled and thick; for whichreason it is added to milk for drinking, and administered in water or in honeywine to such as are choked by a curdled draught. Through the same property it isbelieved to be a hindrance to generation by not allowing the genital fluids tothicken. Bleeding it checks in both men and women, and stays menstruation;violent disturbance of the bowels also, if taken in water with starch.Ulceration and abscess of the womb are healed by an external application, livercomplaints by doses of three oboli in honey wine, spitting of blood by the samein broth. It is wonderfully good for curing sores on children's heads; it driesa wet and braces a dry trachea, in honey wine and water it clears away purulentphlegm, and benefits the voice, if its juice be taken just before a strain isput upon it, not otherwise; a gargle also of the juice added to rue andcoriander in milk is good for a swollen uvula. With alum it is good for thetonsils, with honey for a rough tongue, and by itself for internal spasms andfor lung complaints. With pomegranate juice, asDemocritus tells us, it stops hiccough and vomitings. The juice of freshmint, inhaled, is good for affections of the nostrils. Pounded by itself mint isgood for cholera, taken in a draught of vinegar, for internal fluxes of blood,made into a plaster with pearl barley, for iliac trouble also and tension of thebreasts. It is also applied to the temples for headache, and it is taken for thewounds caused by the scolopendra, sea scorpion and serpent. It is applied tofluxes of the eyes, to all eruptions on the head, and to rectal troubles. Itprevents too chafing, even if only held in the hand. Added to honey wine it ispoured into the ears. It is even said to cure splenic trouble if it be tasted inthe garden, without plucking it, if he who bites it says on nine consecutivedays that he is curing his spleen; also that a three-finger pinch of the driedpowder taken in water relieves stomach ache, and that the same with a sprinklingof drink expels intestinal worms.

LIV. Pennyroyal and mint are strong allies in reviving people whohave fainted, both being put, in whole sprays, into glass bottles full ofvinegar. For this reasonVarro declaredthat a garland of pennyroyal was more suited to our bedrooms than one of roses,for an application is said to relieve headache; moreover, its very smellprotects the head, so it is reported, against injury from cold or heat, and fromthirst, nor do they suffer from the heat who carry when they are in the sun twosprays of pennyroyal behind their ears. It is also applied with pearl barley andvinegar for pains. The female plant is the more efficacious. This has a mauveflower, but the male a white one. Taken in cold water with salt and pearl barleyit checks nausea; in this form pains in the chest also, and in water by itselfpains in the stomach. Likewise it checks gnawings and vomiting if taken withvinegar and pearl barley; in salt, vinegar and pearl barley it loosens thebowels. Boiled with honey and soda it cures complaints of the intestines; inwine it is diuretic, and if the wine be Aminean it disperses both stone and allinternal pains. In honey and vinegar it relieves menstruation and theafterbirth, replaces displaced uterus and expels the dead foetus. Its seed isgiven to smell in cases of aphasia; to epileptics it is administered withvinegar in doses of one cyathus. If unwholesome water has to be drunk, poundedpennyroyal is sprinkled on it. It relieves physical tiredness if taken in wine;it is rubbed with salt and vinegar on the sinews, and when these are contracted,and with honey for opisthotonic tetanus. A decoction is drunk for serpent bites;pounded it is taken in wine for stings of scorpions, especially if thepennyroyal be grown on dry soil. It is supposed to be good for ulcerations ofthe mouth, and for cough. The flower of the freshly gathered plant, when burnt,kills fleas by its smell.Xenocratesincludes in his prescriptions the administering of a sprig of pennyroyalwrapped in wool to be smelt by sufferers from tertian ague before an attack offever, or its being placed under the bedclothes for the patient to lie on.

LV. Wild pennyroyal has for the same purposes as I have mentioned yetmore beneficial properties. It is like wild marjoram, has smaller leaves thancultivated pennyroyal, and by some is calleddictamnos (dittany). Its tasteincites sheep or goats to bleat; for this reason certain Greeks changing oneletter only have named itbleehon. Its nature is so heating that it raises ablister on the parts of the body to which it is applied. It does a chill goodfor the patient to be rubbed with pounded pennyroyal before a bath, as well asbefore the shivering fit of attacks of ague. For convulsions and gripings of thebowels, and for gout, it is wonderfully efficacious; for cramps it isadministered as a drink with honey and salt; in lung troubles it makesexpectoration easier. Taken with salt it is beneficial for splenic trouble,bladder, asthma and flatulence; a decoction of it, quite as well as the juice,replaces displaced uterus, and is an antidote for the wound inflicted byscolopendra, whether land or sea variety, by scorpions, and especially for thebite of a man. Its root is most efficacious when fresh for spreading ulcers, butthe dried root restores scars to their natural state.

LVI. There is likewise kinship between pennyroyal and catmint. Boileddown to one third in water they disperse chills, help menstruation and allay theheats of summer. Catmint also has power to counteract the poisons of serpents.The smoke and smell of burning catmint drives them away; so those about to sleepin fear of snakes had better place catmint under the bedclothes. The poundedplant is applied to lachrymal fistula, and the fresh plant with one third partof bread mixed in vinegar is used as a liniment for headache. The juice of itdropped into the nostrils when thrown back stops bleeding at the nose; the root likewise, which with myrtle seed makes in warm raisin-wine a gargle that healsquinsy.

LVII. There is also a wild cummin, a very slender plant with fouror five serrated leaves, but, like the cultivated variety, of great use,especially as a remedy for stomach trouble. Pounded and taken with bread, ordrunk in water and wine, it dispels phlegms and flatulence; pipings also andpains in the bowels. All cummin, however, produces paleness in those who drinkthe draughts. At least it is reported that the followers of Porcius Latro, a distinguished teacherof rhetoric, imitated by this means the pallor that had followed his closeapplication to study; and not so long agoJulius Vindex, the famous supporter of freedom againstNero, flattered in this way the hopes oflegacy-hunters. Applied in the form of lozenges or fresh in vinegar itarrests bleeding at the nose; applied by itself it is good for fluxes from theeyes, and applied with honey it is good for them when swollen. For babies it issufficient for it to be placed upon the abdomen. For jaundice it is administeredin white wine after bathing. Ethiopian cummin is given chiefly in vinegar andwater, and in an electuary with honey. The African variety is thought to havethe special quality of checking incontinence of urine. Cultivated cummin, parched, and beaten up in vinegar, is given for troubles of the liver, likewise for vertigo; pounded moreover it is given in sweet wine to those who smart from too acrid urine; for disorders of the womb, in wine, and besides with an application of the leaves wrapped up in wool; for swollen testes it is parched and pounded, and applied with honey or with rose oil and wax. For all thesepurposes wild cummin is more efficacious; moreover with oil it is so for bitesof serpents, and for stings of scorpions and scolopendras. A three-finger pinchin wine checks vomiting and nausea. For colic also it is drunk, or applied hotin lint kept in its place by bandages. Taken in wine it opens up suffocations ofthe womb, the dose being three drachma of cummin in three cyathi of wine. It ispoured into the ears with veal suet or honey, when there are noises or ringingin them. For bruises it is applied with honey, raisins and vinegar, forblack freckles in vinegar.

LVIII. There is a plant very like cummin which the Greeks callami. Some authorities however consider that it is Ethiopian cummin.Hippocrates called it royal cummin,doubtless because he thought that it was more efficacious than the Egyptian.Most people think that it is of an entirely different nature from cununin,because it is thinner and whiter. Yet its use is similar to that of cummin, forit is put under loaves of bread at Alexandria and included among theingredients of Alexandrian sauces. It dispels flatulence and griping, promotesurine and menstruation, relieves bruises and fluxes of the eyes, and taken inwine with linseed in doses of two drachmae it is good for the wounds ofscorpions, and with an equal proportion of myrrh it is especially good for thebite of the cerastes. Like cummin it produces pallor in the complexion of thosewho drink it. A fumigation of it with raisins or resin acts as a purge upon thewomb. It is believed that those women more easily conceive who smell the plantduring sexual intercourse.

LIX. I have said enough about the caper in the treatment offoreign plants. The caper growing overseas is not to be used; that of Italy isless harmful. They say that those who eat capers daily run no risk of paralysisor of pains in the spleen. Its root, pounded and rubbed on the skin in the sun,removes white eruptions. The skin of the root is good for troubles of the spleenif it be taken in wine in doses of two drachmae, but the patient must give upthe use of the bath; it is said that in thirty-five days by urine and by stoolsthe whole spleen is brought away. It is given in drink for lumbago andparalysis. Toothache is eased by pounded caper-seed in vinegar, by a decoctionof it, or by chewing the root. Boiled in oil it is injected for earache. Thesores calledphagedaenic are cured by leaves or freshly gathered root appliedwith honey. In this form the root removes scrofula; boiled In water it removesparotid tumours and worms. For pains in the liver it is pounded and applied withbarley meal. It also cures diseases of the bladder. In vinegar and honey it isalso given for tapeworm: A decoction in vinegar removes sores in the mouth.Authorities agree that the caper is harmful to the stomach.

LX. Lovagesome call itpanacesis good for the stomach, likewisefor convulsions and flatulence. Some have called it ox cunila, but wrongly, as Ihave pointed out.

LXI. Besides the cultivated cunila there are several other kinds used inmedicine. The one called ox cunila has a seed like that of pennyroyal which iscurative if chewed and applied to wounds provided that the bandage is nottaken off till the fifth day after. For the bites of serpents it is taken inwine and applied to the wound after being pounded. The bites made by serpentsthey rub ... likewise tortoises that are going to fight with serpents.Certain people call it panacea (all-heal) in this connection. It relievestumours and troubles of the male organs, applied dry or after pounding theleaves; for every use it combines wonderfully well with wine.

LXII. There is another, called chickencunila by Romans, Heracleotic marjoram by the Greeks. Pounded and with theaddition of salt it is good for the eyes. It relieves a cough also and livercomplaints, pains in the side when mixed into a broth with meal, oil andvinegar, but especially the bites of serpents.

LXIII. There is a third kind, which the Greeks call male cunila, and theRomans cunilago; it has a foul smell, wood-like root and a rough leaf. Of allvarieties of cunila it is said that this has the strongest qualities, that ahandful of it thrown about attracts all the cockroaches in the whole house, thattaken in vinegar and water it is a specific against scorpions, and that if a manbe rubbed over with three a leaves in oil serpents are kept away.

LXIV. On the other hand the cunila called soft has shaggier and pricklybranches, and when pounded the smell of honey, the fingers sticking together atits touch; a second variety smells of frankincense, and we have called itlibanotis. Either kind in wine or vinegar is an antidote against the bites ofserpents; furthermore, pounded and scattered about in water both varieties killfleas.

LXV. Cultivated cunila too has its uses. The juice with rose oil is goodfor the ear-laps, and it is taken by itself in drink for stings. From it growsthe mountain variety, which is like wild thyme and efficacious against the bitesof serpents. It is diuretic and cleanses after childbirth. Wild or cultivatedit is a wonderful stimulus to digestion and to the appetite, or relievesindigestion taken fasting and sprinkled in a drink. Useful too for sprains,taken in barley meal with vinegar and water it is very useful for the stings ofwasps and the like. Other kinds of libanotis will be dealt with in their properplace.

LXVI. Piperitis, which I have also called siliquastrum, is taken indrink for epilepsy.Castor gave afurther description of it: a red, long stem, with its knots close together;leaves like those of the bay; a white, small seed, with a taste like pepper;good for the gums, teeth, sweetness of breath and for belching.

LXVII. Origanum, which rivals cunila in its wild flavour, as I have saidhas many varieties useful in medicine. One isonitis, called by someprasion,and not unlike hyssop. Its special use is to be taken in warm water for gnawingsof the stomach and indigestion, and in white wine for the stings of spiders andscorpions, while it is applied on wool with vinegar and oil for sprains andbruises.

LXVIII. Goat origanum is more like wild thyme. Diuretic, it dispersestumours; if taken in drink it is most efficacious for poisoning by mistletoe orby viper bites, for acid belchings from the stomach and for the hypochondria.With honey it is also given for coughs, pleurisy and pneumonia.

LXIX. Heraclium too has three varieties. The darker one with thebroader leaf is glutinous; the second variety, with a more slender leaf, is moretender and not unlike sampsuchum, which some prefer to call prasion. There is athird kind, intermediate between the other two, but less efficacious thaneither. The best kind, however, is the Cretan, which also has a pleasant smell,the next best that of Smyrna, having less smell, and the Heracleotic, calledonitis, is more useful for drinking. All kinds are used to keep away serpents,are given to eat boiled to those who have been bitten, are diuretic when takenin drink as above, cure with the root of all-heal ruptures and convulsions,dropsy with fig or with hyssop boiled down to one sixth in doses of oneacetabulum, likewise itch, prurigo and psoriasis, if given on going down to thebath. Its juice, with woman's milk, is poured into the ears. It cures thetonsils also and uvula, as well as sores on the head. Boiled, and taken in winewith ashes it neutralizes the poison of opium and gypsum. A dose of oneacetabulum loosens the bowels; it is applied to bruises, and also fortoothache, importing whiteness to the teeth when used as a dentifrice withhoney and soda. It checks bleeding at the nose. For parotid tumours it is boileddown with barley meal, for a rough trachea pounded with gall-nut and honey, andits leaves with honey and salt are good for the spleen. Boiled with vinegar andsalt, and taken in small doses it loosens thick, black phlegm. Beaten up withoil it is poured into the nostrils for jaundice. Tired bodies are rubbed withit, care being taken not to touch the abdomen. With pitch it cures epinyctis;with a roasted fig it brings boils to a head. It is good for scrofulousswellings if applied with oil, vinegar and barley meal, if with fig, for painsin the side, pounded and applied in vinegar for fluxes of blood from thegenitals, and also for bringing away more thoroughly the afterbirth.

LXX. Dittander (pepperwort) is considered to be one of thecaustic plants. So it clears the complexion, but produces sores on the skin,which, however, are easily cured with wax and rose oil. Thus used, it alwaysremoves leprous sores and psoriasis easily, as well as the sores left by scars.It is said that in cases of toothache, if it be attached to the arm on the sidewhere the pain is, this is diverted to it.

LXXI. Git is by some Greeks calledmelanthium, by others,melaspermon.The best has the most pungent smell and the darkest colour. It cures the woundsof serpents and of scorpions. I find that it is applied in vinegar and honey,and that by burning it serpents are kept away. A dose of one drachma also istaken in drink for the wounds of spiders. Pounded, and smelt in a pieceof linen it stops running from the nose, and headaches if applied in vinegar;poured into the nostrils with iris juice it cures fluxes and swellings of theeyes, toothache when boiled with vinegar, ulcers in the month when pounded orchewed; likewise leprous sores and freckles when added to vinegar, difficulty ofbreathing when taken in drink with soda, and indurations, chronic swellings andsuppurations, when used as liniment. It increases the flow of women's milk iftaken daily for a few days. Its juice is collected in a similar way to that ofhenbane, and like it is poisonous if taken in too large doses, a fact moreremarkable because the seed actually makes a most pleasant seasoning for loavesof bread. It cleanses the eyes also, is diuretic and an emmenagogue. Moreover, Ifind that merely by tying thirty grains to the body in a piece of linen, theafterbirth is brought away. It is also said that pounded and applied in urineit cures corns on the feet, and that fumigation with it kills gnats as well asflies.

LXXII. Anise too is taken in wine for the stings of scorpions, being oneof the few remedies specially praised, whether raw or boiled, byPythagoras. Green also or dried, it isvalued for all such foods as require seasoning or sauce; it is also putunder the bottom crust of a loaf. Placed with bitter almonds on the strainers itimproves wine. Moreover, the breath is made more pleasant and bad odour removedif anise be chewed in the early morning along with alexanders and a littlehoney, the mouth being afterwards rinsed with wine, it makes the face look younger. It relieves sleeplessness if hung on the pillow, so that it may besmelt by the sleepers. It sharpens the appetite, to do which has been added tothe arts by luxury, ever since the craving for food ceased to come from toil.For these reasons some have called aniseanicetum.

LXXIII. The most esteemed variety is the Cretan; next comes the Egyptian.This in seasoning takes the place of lovage. To burn it and inhale the fumesthrough the nostrils relieves headache.Evenorrecommends its pounded root to be applied to fluxes of the eyes;Iollas recommends a similar applicationof the plant itself with saffron and wine; by itself, with only pearl barleyadded, he prescribes it for violent fluxes and for extraction of anything whichhas got into the eyes. Applied in water it also removes a cancerous growth inthe nostril. Used as a gargle with hyssop and honey in vinegar it relievesquinsies; it is poured with rose oil into the ears; phlegm in the chest iscleared away by parched anise taken with honey. For a cough it is better topound up in honey fifty bitter almonds, peeled, with an acetabulum of anise. Aremedy very easy indeed to make consists of three drachmae of anise and two ofpoppy mixed with honey and divided into pieces of the size of a bean, the dosebeing three daily. Its chief value, however, is to cause belching, and so itcures flatulence of the stomach, griping of the intestines and coeliac trouble.Boiled, and either smelt or drunk, it also stays hiccough. Its boiled leaves area remedy for indigestion. To smell the juice of the plant boiled with celery astops sneezing. Taken in drink it promotes sleep, disperses stone, staysvomiting and swelling of the hypochondria, besides being very useful for chesttroubles and for the sinews with which the body is girt. It is good for headachealso to pour in drops upon the head the juice of anise boiled with oil. Nothingis considered to be more beneficial to the belly and intestines, and so it isgiven roasted for dysentery and for tenesmus. Some add opium also, pills of thesize of a lupine-seed being swallowed three times a day and washed down in acyathus of wine.Dieuches used the juicealso for lumbago; the pounded seed with mint he gave for dropsy and coeliactrouble;Evenor gave the root also fordiseases of the kidneys.Dalion theherbalist prescribed a poultice of anise and parsley for women in labour, andalso for pain in the womb; he recommended it to be taken with dill in drink bywomen in labour. It is applied also in cases of phrenitis, sometimes freshlygathered and with pearl barley; it is also so applied to babies suffering fromepilepsy or convulsions.Pythagorasindeed declares that no epileptic fit occurs while anise is held in the hand,and for this reason advises that as much as possible be planted near the home.He also says that to smell it makes for easier childbirth, and thatimmediately after delivery it should be given in a draught with a sprinkling ofpearl barley. Sosimenes used it invinegar for all indurations and for fatigue, boiling it in oil after addingsoda. He guaranteed travellers less fatigue if they took anise seed in drink.For flatulence of the stomach Heraclides gave in honey-wine a three-finger pinchof the seed with two oboli of beaver oil, and in like manner for flatulence inthe belly or intestines and for orthopnoea a three-finger pinch of the seed, thesame quantity of henbane, and asses' milk added. Many advise that thoseintending to take an emetic should during the dinner take it in water by acetabulaof anise and ten pounded bay leaves. It relieves suffocation of the womb, if itbe chewed and applied warm, or if it be taken with beaver-oil in oxymel. A doseof a three-finger pinch of cucumber seed and of the same quantity of linseed, inthree cyathi of white wine, dispels vertigo after childbirth. For quartan aguesTlepolemus used a three-finger pinch ofthe seed of anise and fennel, taken in vinegar and one cyathus of honey. Appliedwith bitter almonds it relieves diseases of the joints. There are some whobelieve that its nature neutralizes the poison of asps. Diuretic, it quenchesthirst, is an aphrodisiac, promotes with wine a gentle perspiration, and alsoprotects clothes from moths. It is more efficacious always when fresh and thedarker it is, yet it injures the stomach except when there is flatulence.

LXXIV. Dill too causes belching and relieves griping; itarrests diarrhoea. Its roots in water or wine are applied for fluxes from theeyes. To smell its seed when boiling checks hiccoughs. Taken in water itrelieves indigestion. Its ash relieves an inflamed uvula, but weakens the eyesand the powers of generation.

LXXV. The sacopenium which grows in ourcountry is quite unlike that which comes from overseas. The latter, also calledsagapemon, resembles ammoniac gum. It is good for pains in the sides and in thechest, for convulsions, for chronic coughs and expectoration, and for swellingsof the hypochondria. It cures also vertigo, palsy, opisthotonic tetanus,diseases of the spleen and loins, and violent chills. It is given in vinegar tobe smelt in cases of suffocation of the womb. In other cases it is both given indrink and with oil used as an embrocation. It is also useful as an antidote toharmful drugs.

LXXVI. Of the cultivated poppy I have mentioned three kinds a andI promised to describe other kinds, those of the wild poppy. Of the cultivatedpoppy the calyx itself of the white kind is pounded and is taken in wine toinduce sleep. The seed cures elephantiasis. From the dark poppy a soporific isobtained by making incisions in the stalk, when the buds are forming (asDiagoras advises), or when the flowersare falling (asIollas recommends), atthe third hour of a clear day, that is to say, when the dew on the plant hasdried up. They recommend that the incision be made beneath the head and calyx,and in no other variety either is an incision made into the head itself. Boththis juice and that of any other plant is gathered in wool, or if there be butlittle, by scratching it off, as it is from lettuce, with the thumb nail, doingthe same on the following day to any that has since become drier. Poppy juicehowever being copious thickens, and squeezed into lozenges is dried in theshade; it is not only a soporific, but if too large a dose be swallowed thesleep even ends in death. It is called opium. In this way, we are told, died atBavilum in Spain the father ofPublius LiciniusCaecina, a man of praetorian rank, when an unbearable illness had madelife hateful to him, and so also several others. For this reason a greatcontroversy has arisen. Diagoras andErasistratus have utterly condemned itas a fatal drug, forbidding its use moreover in injections on the ground thatit is injurious to the eyesight.Andreashas added that the only reason why it does not cause instantaneous blindness isbecause it is adulterated at Alexandria. Afterwards, however, its use was not disapproved of in the form of the famous drug called διά κωδυών (diacodion). Theseed too pounded into lozenges with milk is used to induce sleep, also with roseoil for headache; with rose oil too it is poured into the ears for earache. Asa liniment for gout it is applied with woman's milk (the leaves by themselvesare also so used), likewise in vinegar for erysipelas and wounds. I myself,however, should disapprove of its addition to eye salves, and much more to whatare called febrifuges, digestives and coeliacs; the dark poppy, however, isgiven in wine for coeliac trouble. All kinds of cultivated poppy are larger thanthe wild. The heads are round, while those of the wild are long and small,though for all purposes more effective. The poppy is boiled and the liquid drunkfor sleeplessness, with the same water the face is fomented. The best poppiesgrow on dry soils, and where the rainfall is slight. When the heads themselvesand the leaves are boiled down, the juice is calledmeconium, and is much weakerthan opium. The chief test of opium is its smell, that of pure opium beingunbearable; the next best test is to put it in a lamp, when it should burn witha bright, clear flame, and smell only when it has gone out; adulterated opiumdoes not behave in this fashion. Adulterated opium is also harder to light, andis continually going out. A further test of pure opium is by water, on which itfloats as a light cloud, while the impure gathers into blisters. But especiallywonderful is the fact that pure opium is detected by the summer sun. For pureopium sweats and melts until it becomes like freshly gathered juice.Mnesides thinks that opium is best keptby adding. the seed of henbane, others by putting it in beans.

LXXVII. Intermediate between the cultivated poppy and the wild is a thirdkind, for though growing on cultivated land it is self-sown; we have called itrhoeas or roving poppy. Some gather it and eat it straight away with the wholecalyx. It acts as a purge; five heads boiled in three heminae of wine alsoinduce sleep ...

LXXVIII. Of the wild poppy one kind is calledceratitis. Black-seeded, acubit high, with a thick root covered with a hard skin, it has a littlecalyx curved like a little horn. Its leaves are smaller and thinner than thoseof the other wild varieties. The seed is small, ripening at harvest; half anacetabulum of it, taken in honey wine, acts as a purge. The pounded leaves withoil cure eye-ulcers of beasts of burden. Its root, in the proportion of oneacetabulum to two sextarii of water, boiled down to one half, is given forcomplaints of the loins and liver. Its leaves applied in honey are a cure forcarbuncles. This variety is called glaucion by some and paralium by others, forit grows within reach of the sea breezes or in alkaline soils.

LXXIX. A second variety of wild poppy iscalledheradium, by others aphron, having leaves, if you look at it from adistance, that look like sparrows. Its roots are on the surface of the ground,and its seed is like foam. It is from the use of this plant that linen gets itsshiny whiteness. In summer it is pounded in a mortar for epilepsy, the dosebeing an acetabulum in white wine; for it causes vomiting, and is very usefulfor the drug calleddiacodion andarteriace. This preparation however is made bysteeping one hundred and twenty heads of this or any other wild poppy in threesextarii of rain water for two days; then they are thoroughly boiled in the samewater, and after the whole has been dried it is again boiled down to one halfwith honey in a slow heat. More recently there has been added six drachmae ofsaffron, hypocisthis, frankincense and gum arabic, with a sextarius of Cretanraisin-wine. This however is just for show; this simple and old-fashioned remedydepends for its virtues entirely on the poppy and honey.

LXXX. A third variety is tithymalon, called by somemecon, by othersparalion, with a leaf like that of flax, a white flower, and a head of the sizeof a bean. It is gathered when the grape is at its best and then dried in theshade. Its seed, taken in half an acetabulum of honey wine, purges the bowels.But the head of any poppy, whether fresh or dried, if applied to the eyesrelieves fluxes. Opium taken in nearly neat wine, if administered immediately,is an antidote for the stings of scorpions. Some give this property only to thedark variety, if its heads or leaves be pounded up.

LXXXI. There is also purslane, which is calledpeplis, being notmuch more beneficial than the cultivated variety, of which are recordedremarkable benefits: that the poison of arrows and of the serpents haemorrhoidsand prester are counteracted if purslane be taken as food, and if it be appliedto the wound, the poison is drawn out; likewise the poison of henbane ifpurslane be taken in raisin wine, after extraction of the juice. When the plantitself is not available, its seed has a similarly beneficial effect. It alsocounteracts the impurities of water, and if pounded and applied in wine it curesheadache and sores on the head; other sores it heals if chewed and applied withhoney. So prepared it is applied also to the cranium of infants, and to anumbilical hernia; for eye-fluxes in persons of all ages, with pearl bailey, tothe forehead and temples, but to the eyes themselves in milk and honey; also, ifthe eyes should fall forwards pounded leaves are applied with bean husks, toblisters with pearl barley, salt and vinegar. Sores in the mouth and gumboilsare relieved by chewing it raw; toothache likewise and sore tonsils by thejuice of the boiled plant, to which some have added a little myrrh. But to chewit makes firm loose teeth, strengthens the voice and keeps away thirst. Pains atthe back of the neck are relieved by it with equal parts of gall nut, linseedand honey, complaints of the breasts with honey or Cimolian chalk, while asthmais alleviated by a draught of the seed with honey. Taken in salad it strengthensthe stomach. It is applied with pearl barley to reduce high temperature, andbesides this when chewed it also cools the intestines. It arrests vomiting. Fordysentery and abscesses it is eaten in vinegar or taken in drink with cummin,and for tenesmus it is boiled. Whether eaten or drunk it is good forepilepsy, for menstruation if one acetabulum be taken in concentrated must, forhot gout and crysipelas if applied with salt. A draught of its juice helps thekidneys and the bladder, expelling also intestinal parasites. For the pain ofwounds it is applied in oil with pearl barley. It softens indurations of thesinews.Metrodorus, author ofCompendium of Prescriptions from Roots,was of opinion that it should be given after delivery to aid theafterbirth. It checks lust and amorous dreams. A Spanish prince, father of aman of praetorian rank, because of unbearable disease of the uvula, to myknowledge carries except in the bath a root of purslane hung round his neck by athread, being in this way relieved of all inconvenience. Moreover, I have foundin my authorities that the head rubbed with purslane ointment is free fromcatarrh the whole year. It is supposed however to weaken the eyesight.

LXXXII. Coriander is not found among wildplants. The best, as is generally agreed, is the Egyptian. It is an antidote forthe poison of one kind of serpent, the amphisbaena, both taken in drink andapplied. It heals other wounds also, when pounded, besides night rashes andblisters; in this form too, with honey or raisins, all tumours and gatherings,though to treat the anus the pounded plant must be applied in vinegar. Someprescribe three grains of seed to be swallowed before the fit comes on bypatients with tertian ague, or more than three to be applied in ointment to theforehead. There are some who believe that it is beneficial to place corianderbefore sunrise under the pillows. The fresh plant has great power to coolinflammations. Spreading sores also are healed by coriander with honey orraisins, likewise diseased testes, burns, carbuncles and sore ears, fluxes ofthe eyes too if woman's milk be added, while fluxes from belly or intestines arestayed by the seed taken in water. It is also taken in drink with rue forcholera. Intestinal parasites are expelled by coriander seed, taken withpomegranate juice and oil. Xenocratesrecords a great wonder, if it be a fact: that if women take in drink one grainof the seed the menses are retarded for one day, for two days if she takes twograins, and so on, one day's delay for each grain taken.M. Varro thinks that by slightly poundedcoriander and cummin, with vinegar, meat of any kind can be kept sweet in theheat of summer.

LXXXIII. Orache is also found wild, a vegetable accused byPythagoras of causing dropsy, jaundiceand pallor, and of being very hard indeed to digest; he adds as another drawbackthat not even in gardens does anything grow near it without drooping.Dionysius andDiocles have added that very manydiseases arise from it, that it must never be boiled without changing the wateroften, that it is injurious to the stomach, and that it is the cause of frecklesand pimples. I am at a loss to understand whySolon of Smyrna has stated that orache is difficult to grow in Italy.Hippocrates injects it with beet forcomplaints of the womb.Lycus of Naplesprescribed it to be taken in drink for stings of the Spanish fly, and consideredthat it might be applied, scesses, incipient boils, and all indurations; withhoney, vinegar and soda he used it in this way for erysipelas, and likewisegout. It is said to bring away scabrous nails without producing a sore. Thereare some who give its seed with honey for jaundice, add soda and rub the throatand tonsils, besides using it as a purge, boiled either by itself or withmallows or lentils. They also give it as an emetic. They use wild orache as ahair-dye as well as for the purposes mentioned above.

LXXXIV. On the other hand, both kinds of mallow, the cultivatedand the wild, are highly praised. The two lands of them are distinguished by thesize of the leaf. Among cultivated mallows the larger is called by the Greeksmalope; the other is calledmalache, the reason being, it is thought, because itrelaxes the bowels. But of the wild kinds, the one with a large leaf and whiteroots, called althaea, has received from some the name ofphstolochia, from theexcellence of its properties. Mallows make richer every soil in which they aresown. They are efficacious against every sort of stings, especially those ofscorpions, wasps and similar creatures, and those of the shrewmouse. Moreover,those who have been rubbed beforehand with oil and any one of the mallowspounded, or who carry it on their persons, are never stung. A leaf placed on ascorpion paralyses it. Mallows also counteract the poison of white lead. Rawmallow applied with saltpetre extracts splinters and thorns; taken moreoverboiled with its root it counteracts the poison of the sea-hare, some adding thatit must be brought back by vomiting. Other marvels are reported of the mallows,the most wonderful being that whoever swallows daily half a cyathus of the juiceof any one of them will be immune to all diseases. Running sores on the head arecured by mallows that have rotted in urine, lichen and sores in the mouth bythem and honey, dandruff and loose teeth by a decoction of the root. With theroot of the single-stem plant they stab around an aching tooth until the painceases; the same plant a clears scrofula and parotid abscesses, and with theaddition of human saliva superficial abscess also, and that without leaving awound. The seed taken in dark wine clears away phlegm and nausea. The rootattached as an amulet in dark wool stays troubles of the breasts; boiled in milkand taken like broth. it relieves a cough in five days. Sextius Niger says that mallows areinjurious to the stomach; the Theban ladyOlympias that with goose-grease they cause abortion, and others that ahandful of their leaves taken in oil and wine assist the menstruation of women.It is agreed at any rate that women in labour are more quickly delivered ifmallow leaves are spread under them, but they must be withdrawn immediatelyafter delivery for fear of prolapsus of the womb. They give the juice to bedrunk by women in labour; they must be fasting, and the dose is a hemina boileddown in wine. Moreover, they attach the seed to the arm of sufferers fromspermatorrhoea, and mallows are so aphrodisiac thatXenocrates maintains that the seeds ofthe single-stem mallow, sprinkled for the treatment of women, stimulate theirsexual desire to an infinite degree, and that three roots attached near to thepart have a like effect. He says too that injections of mallow are very good fortenesmus and dysentery, and also for rectal troubles, or fomentations may beused. The juice is also given warm in doses of three cyathi to sufferers frommelancholia, and in doses of four to those who are raving; forepilepsy the dose is a hemina of the decoded juice. This juice is also appliedwarm to patients with stone, and to sufferers from flatulence, griping andopisthotonusft. For both crysipelas and burns the leaves are applied boiled downto an oily paste, and they are applied raw with bread for painful wounds. Thejuice of a decoction is good for sinews, bladder and gnawings of the intestines.The paste soothes the womb whether taken by the mouth or injected; the decoctionmakes the passage pleasant. For all purposes mentioned above the root of althaeais more efficacious, especially for spasms and ruptures. Boiled in water itchecks looseness of the bowels; taken in white wine it is good for scrofula,parotid abscesses and inflammation of the breasts, and an application of theleaves, boiled down in wine, removes superficial abscess. The same leaves driedand boiled down in milk cure very quickly the most racking cough.Hippocrates gave the juice of theboiled-down root to be drunk by wounded men who were thirsty through loss ofblood, and applied the plant itself with honey and resin to wounds; likewise tobruises, sprains, and swellings; as above also to muscles, sinews and joints. Hegave it to be taken in wine by patients suffering from cramp or dysentery. Itis remarkable that water to which this root has been added thickens in the openair and congeals. The fresher it is also, the better.

LXXXV. Sorrel (lapathum) has similar properties. There is also awild kind called by someoxalis, by our peoplerumex and by others geldingsorrel. It has a taste very like that of the cultivated kind, pointed leaves,the colour of white beet and a very small root, being when mixed withaxle-grease very efficacious for scrofula. There is also another kind, generallycalled pointed sorrel, even more like the cultivated kind, but with a leaf morepointed and redder, growing only in marshy localities. There are some who speakof a water sorrel, growing in water, and yet another, horse sorrel, larger,paler and more compact than the cultivated kind. The wild sorrels heal thestings of scorpions and protect from stings those who carry them on theirpersons. The root, boiled down in vinegar, is good for the teeth, if the juicebe used as a mouth wash, while to drink the same is good for jaundice. The seedcures inveterate stomach troubles. The root of horse sorrel, in particular,brings away scabrous nails; its seed taken in wine in doses of twodrachmae cures dysentery. The seed of pointed sorret washed in rainwater, withthe addition of a piece of gum arabic, of the size of a lentil, is good forspitting of blood. Most excellent lozenges are made from the leaves and root,with the addition of soda and a little frankincense. When wanted for use theyare steeped in vinegar.

LXXXVI. But the cultivated kind is applied to the forehead for fluxesfrom the eyes. With the root they treat lichen and leprous sores; it is boileddown in wine however for scrofula and parotid abscesses, taken in wine forstone, and applied as liniment for complaints of the spleen, being equally goodfor coelac troubles, dysentery and tenesmus. For all the same purposes the juiceof sorrel is more efficacious; it causes belching, is diuretic, and dispelsdimness of the eyes; put in the bottom of the bath, or rubbed on the bodywithout oil before taking a bath, it also removes itching of the body. The rootalso chewed strengthens loose teeth. A decoction of it with wine checkslooseness of the bowels; the leaves relax them. Solon has added (not to omitanything) another variety, ox sorrel, differing from the others only in thedepth of the root, and by the efficacy of this root, when taken in wine, to curedysentery.

LXXXVII. Mustard, of which we have three kinds among thecultivated plants,Pythagoras judged tobe chief of those whose pungent properties reach a high level, since no otherpenetrates further into the nostrils and brain. Pounded it is applied withvinegar to the bites of serpents and scorpion stings. It counteracts the poisonsof fungi. For phlegm it is kept in the mouth until it melts, or is usedas a gargle with hydromel. For toothache it is chewed, for the uvula it is usedas a gargle with vinegar and honey. It is very beneficial for all stomachtroubles. Taken with food it eases expectoration from the lungs, and is givento asthmatics, as well as for epileptic exhaustion a with the addition of juiceof cucumber. lit clears the senses, and, by the sneezing caused by it, the head;it relaxes the bowels; it promotes menstruation and urine. Pounded with figs and cummin, each being one third of the whole, it is applied externally for dropsy.By its powerful smell when mixed with vinegar mustard revives those in epilepticswoons and women fainting with prolapsus, as well as those afflicted withlethargus. Tordylonthat is, the seed of hartwortis added, and if the lethargybe unusually deep, it is applied with fig in vinegar to the legs or even to thehead. Long-standing pains of the chest, loins, hips, shoulders, and whateverdeep-seated troubles in any part of the body have to be removed, are relieved bythe caustic property of an external application, causing blisters; but whenthere is great hardness the application is made without the fig, or if toosevere burning be feared, between a doubled cloth. They use it with red earthfor mange, itch, leprous sores, phthiriasis, tetanus and opisthotonus. Withhoney they also use it as ointment for scabrous cheeks or dimness ofvision, and the juice is extracted in three ways in an earthen pot, in which itis slightly warmed by the sun. There also exudes from the slender stem of themustard plant a milky juice, which, when it has thus hardened, cures toothache.Seed and root, steeped in must, are pounded together, and a handful is swallowedto strengthen the throat, stomach, eyes, head and all the senses, as well as thelassitude of women, being a very wholesome medicine indeed. Taken in vinegar italso disperses stone. To livid places and bruises it is applied with honey andgoose-grease, or else with Cyprian wax. From mustard-seed, steeped in olive oiland then compressed, there is extracted an oil, which is used for stiffness ofthe sinews, loins and hips, and for violent chills.

LXXXVIII. The same nature and properties as those of mustard are said tobelong to adarca, mentioned in my account of wild plants, which grows on thebark ofreeds right under the tuft.

LXXXIX. Most authorities have placed among the especially valuableplants horehound, called by some Greeksprasion, by otherslinostrophon, by afewphilopais orphilochares, a plant too well known to need description. Itsleaves and seed pounded together are good for the bites of serpents, pains inthe chest and side, and chronic cough; and those who have been troubled withspitting of blood derive extraordinary benefit from its stalks, boiled in waterwith Italian millet to mellow the harshness of the juice. It is appliedexternally with grease for scrofula. There are some who prescribe for a cough atwo-finger pinch of the fresh seed, boiled down with a handful of emmer to whicha little oil and salt has been added, to be swallowed by the patients whenfasting. Others consider incomparable for the same purpose an extract ofhorehound and fennel; three sextarii are extracted and boiled down to two; asextarius of honey is added and the whole is again boiled down to two. The doseshould be a spoonful a day swallowed in a cyathus of water. Pounded horehound with honey is remarkably good for maladies of the male genitals. It clears up lichen if applied in vinegar, and is healing for ruptures, spasms, cramp and the sinews. Taken with salt and vinegar it relaxes the bowels, also helping menstruation and the afterbirth. Dried and powdered it is very efficaciouswith honey for a dry cough, likewise for gangrene and hangnails. The juicemoreover with honey is good for the ear-laps, nostrils, jaundice, and forlessening the secretion of bile; as an antidote for poisons it is among the fewmost effective. The plant itself with iris and honey purges the stomach, clearsthe lungs of phlegm, promotes urine, but should be avoided when there is anulcerated bladder or the kidneys are affected. The juice is also said to improvethe eyesight. Castor records two kinds of horehound, the dark and the white, thelatter being preferred by him. He puts horehound juice into an empty eggshell,and then pours in the egg itself and honey in equal proportions; this mixturewarmed he assures us brings abscesses to a head, cleanses them and heals them.Pounded also he applied horehound with old axle-grease to dog bites.

XC. Wild thyme is thought to be so named from its being a creeping plant; this characteristic is to be found only in the wild kind, mostly inrocky districts; the cultivated does not creep, but grows up to be a palm inheight. That growing spontaneously is a more luxuriant plant, with paler leavesand stalks, an efficacious antidote for serpent bites, particularly those ofcenchris scolopendras, land or sea, and scorpions, the stalks and leaves beingboiled in wine. When burnt it keeps away all such creatures by its smell, and isan especially potent antidote for the poison of marine creatures. For headachea decoction in vinegar is applied to the temples and forehead, rose oil beingadded; so also for phrenitis and lethargus. For griping and strangury, forquinsy and vomiting, four drachmae are taken in water. For liver complaints fouroboli of the leaves are given, and the same in vinegar for splenic troubles. Forspitting of blood it is pounded in two cyathi of oxymel.

XCI. Wild sisymbrium, called by some thymbraeum, grows no higher than afoot. The sisymbrium growing in watery districts resembles cress, and both areefficacious for the stings of such creatures as hornets; the kind growing on drysoil has a pleasant scent and is used for wreaths. The leaf is narrower. Theyboth relieve headache as well as fluxes from the eyes, according to thetestimony of Philinus. Some add bread,but others boil it in wine by itself. It heals night rashes and spots on women'sfaces within four days if applied at night and taken away during the day.Vomiting, hiccough, griping and fluxes of the stomach it checks whether takenin food or drunk as juice. It should not be eaten by pregnant women unless thefoetus be dead, since even an application of it produces abortion. Taken withwine it is diuretic, the wild kind moreover even expels stone. Those who mustremain awake are kept roused by an infusion in vinegar poured on the head.

XCII. Linseed is not only used in combination with other ingredients, butalso by itself removes spots on women's faces, and its juice benefits theeyesight. With frankincense and water or with myrrh and wine it relieves fluxesfrom the eyes, parotid abscesses with honey or grease or wax, fluxes from thestomach when sprinkled in water like pearl barley, and quinsies when boiled inwater and oil and applied externally with anise. It is roasted to checklooseness of the bowels. For coeliac trouble and dysentery it is applied invinegar. For pains of the liver it is eaten with raisins; for consumptionelectuaries are made from the seed with very useful results. Linseed meal, withsoda or salt or ash added, softens indurations of the muscles, sinews, jointsand nape of the neck, as well as the membranes of the brain. With a fig it alsoopens and brings to a head a parotid abscess; with the root moreover of wildcucumber it extracts bodies sticking into the flesh, including pieces of brokenbone. Boiled in wine it prevents a sore from spreading, and with honey checkseruptions of phlegm. With an equal part of cress it cures scabrous nails, withresin and myrrh complaints of the testes and hernia, and in water gangrene.Stomach ache is cured by a decoction of one sextarius of linseed with an equalquantity of fenugreek in hydromel, and dangerous maladies of the intestines andlower trunk by an enema of linseed in oil or honey.

XCIII. Blite seems to be an inactive plant,without flavour or any sharp quality, for which reason inMenander husbands use the name as a termof abuse for their wives. It is injurious to the stomach. It so disturbs thebowels as to cause in some persons. It is said however to be good for scorpionstings when drunk in wine, for corns on the feet when applied in a liniment, andalso, with oil, for diseases of the spleen and for pain in the temples. Used asa food it is thought byHippocrates tocheck menstruation.

XCIV. Spignel is not grown in Italy except by medical men, and by veryfew of these. There are two kinds of it. The more famous is called Athamanticumor Athamanicum, because, as some think, it was discovered byAthamas, or according to others becausethe most esteemed variety is found in Athamania. Its leaves are like those ofanise, the stem being sometimes two feet high; it has many roots, slanting,dark, and occasionally deep, the plant being less red than the other kind. Theroot, pounded or boiled and taken in water, is diuretic, and wonderfully goodfor dispersing flatulence of the stomach, and also for griping and troubles ofthe bladder and of the womb. With honey it is applied to the joints, and anapplication with celery to the lower abdomen is diuretic for babies.

XCV. Fennel has been made famous, as we have said, by serpents,which taste it to east off their old skin and with its juice improve theireyesight. Consequently it has been inferred that by fennel juice especially candimness of human vision also be removed. This juice is collected when the stemis swelling to bud, dried in the sun and applied in honey as an ointment. Themost esteemed is gathered in Spain from the teardrops of the plant. It is alsomade from fresh seed and from incisions in the root when germination has firstbegun.

XCVI. There is in this class of plant a wild variety calledhippomarathum, by some myrsineum, with larger leaves and a sharper taste,taller, as thick as a walking-stick, and with a white root. It grows in warmand rocky soils. Diocles has spoken ofyet another kind of hippomarathum, with a long, narrow leaf, and a seed likethat of coriander. The cultivated kind is used in medicine for the wounds ofscorpions and serpents, the seed being taken in wine. The juice is also droppedinto the ears, where it kills the worms infesting them. The plant itself is aningredient of nearly all condiments, being especially suited for digestives.Moreover, it is placed under the crusts of loaves. The seed braces a relaxedstomach, even if taken in fevers, relieves nausea if pounded and taken in water,and is a highly praised remedy for complaints of the lungs and liver. It stayslooseness of the bowels, if a moderate amount be taken; when taken for gripingit is diuretic, and a decoction drunk when milk fails fills the breasts again.The root cleanses the kidneys when taken with barley water, or if the juice ofthe boiled-down root be drunk with wine. Taken in wine the root is also good fordropsy, likewise for spasms. The leaves are applied in vinegar to inflamedtumours, and they expel stones in the bladder. In whatever way it is taken itcreates an abundance of seed, being very soothing to the privates, whether theroot be boiled down with wine for a fomentation, or the plant be pounded up andapplied in oil. Many also apply it with wax to bruises, and use the root in thejuice or with honey for dog bites, and in wine for the sting of the multipede.Hippomarathum is for all purposes more drastic, expelling stone particularlywell, and with a soft wine doing good to the bladder and to retardedmenstruation. In this the seed is more efficacious than the root. The dose ofeither is a two-finger pinch, ground and added to drink.Petrichus who wroteSerpent-lore andMiecion, author ofPrescriptions from Roots, thoughtnothing more efficacious than hippomarathum for serpent bites.Nicander indeed also has placedit far from last in his list of antidotes.

XCVII. Hemp at first grew in woods, with a darker and rougherleaf. Its seed is said to make the genitals impotent. The juice from it drivesout of the ears the worms and any other creature that has entered them, but atthe cost of a headache; so potent is its nature that when poured into water itis said to make it coagulate. And so, drunk in their water, it regulates thebowels of beasts of burden. The root boiled in water eases cramped joints, gouttoo and similar violent pains. It is applied raw to burns, but is often changedbefore it gets dry.

XCVIII. Fennel-giant has a seed similar to that of dill. The kindwith one stem divided at the top is supposed to be female. The stems are eatenboiled, and are made tasty with brine and honey, being good for the stomach. Ifhowever too many are eaten they cause headache. One denarius of the root in twocyathi of wine is taken for serpent bites, and the root itself is applied tothem. So administered it also cures griping, and in oil and vinegar it checksprofuse perspirations, even in fevers. To swallow the juice of fennel-giant, ofthe size of a bean in quantity, loosens the bowels. The pith from the freshplant is good for the womb, and for all the complaints I have mentioned. To stopbleeding ten seeds are ground and taken in wine or with some pith. There aresome who think that the seed should be given for epilepsy from the fourth day ofthe moon to the seventh, in doses of one spoonful. The nature of fennel-giant isvery poisonous to the murena, a mere touch causing death. Castor thought thatthe juice of the root was also very beneficial to the eyesight.

XCIX. We have also spoken in our description of garden plants ofthe cultivation of thistles, and so we should not put off a discussion of theirmedical value. Of wild thistles there are two kinds: one being more bushy assoon as it leaves the earth, the other is thicker, but has only one stem. Bothkinds have only a few leaves, prickly and with pointed heads, but the latterputs forth in the middle of its points a purple flower, that quickly turns whiteand is gone with the wind; the Greeks call it σκόλυμος. If this kind be poundedand compressed before it flowers, an application of the juice restores skin andhair lost by mange. The root of any kind boiled in water is said to createthirst in those who are drunkards. It strengthens the stomach, and, if we maybelieve the report, it also affects the womb in such a way that male childrenare engendered. Glaucias, at any rate, who seems to have been a most carefulstudent of thistles, put this statement on record. A gum-like mastich comingfrom thistles makes the breath sweet.

C. And now that I am about to leave garden plants, I have appended a veryfamous preparation from them which is used to counteract the poison of venomousanimals. It is carved in verse upon a stone in the temple of Aesculapius in Cos. Take two denarii ofwild thyme, and the same of opopanax and of spignel respectively, one denariusof trefoil seed, of aniseed, fennel-seed, ami and parsley, six denariirespectively, and twelve denarii of vetch meal. These are ground and passedthrough a sieve, and then kneaded with the best wine obtainable into lozenges,each of one victoriatus.* One of these is given at a time mixed with threecyathi of wine.King Antiochus the Greatis said to have used this preparation as an antidote for the poison of allvenomous creatures except the asp.

I.CATO bade us include among ourgarden plants chaplet flowers, especially because of the indescribabledelicacy of their blossoms, for nobody can find it easier to tell of them thanNature does to give them colours, as here she is in her most sportive mood,playful in her great joy at her varied fertility. To all other things in factshe gave birth because of their usefulness, and to serve as food, and so hasassigned them their ages and years; but blossoms and their perfumes she bringsforth only for a dayan obvious warning to men that the bloom that pleases theeye most is the soonest to fade. Not even the painter's art, however, sufficesto copy their colours and the variety of their combinations, whether two kindsare woven together alternately, and also more than two, or whether with separatefestoons of the different kinds chaplets are run through chaplets to form acircle, or crosswise, or sometimes forming a coil.

II. Such ornaments were more meagre as used by the ancients, who calledthemstroppi, from which is derived our strophiolum. Moreover, a general wordwas itself slow in coming into use, as corona was confined to the ornaments usedat sacrifices or as military honours. When however garlands came to be made offlowers, they were calledserta, fromserere or series.The Greeks too adopted this custom not so long ago.

III. For at first it was customary to make from branches of trees thechaplets used at sacred contests as prizes. Later on the custom arose ofvarying the colour by mixing flowers of different hues, in order to heighten theeffect of perfumes and colours in turn. It began at Sicyon through the skill ofPausias the painter and of thegarland-makerGlycera, a lady with whomhe was very much in love; when he copied her works in his paintings, she to egghim on varied her designs, and there was a duel between Art and Nature. Picturesof this kind painted by that famous artist are still extant, in particular theone calledStephaneploeos, in which hepainted the lady herself. This took place later than the hundredth Olympiad.Floral chaplets being now fashionable, it was not long before there appearedwhat are called Egyptian chaplets, and then winter ones, made from dyed flakesof horn at the season when earth refuses flowers. At Rome too gradually therecrept in the namecorollae, given at the first to chaplets because of theirdelicacy, and presently that of corollaria, after the chaplets presented asprizes began to be made of thin plates, bronze, gilt or silvered.

IV.Crassus the Rich was thefirst to make artificial leaves of silver or gold, giving chaplets of them asprizes at his games, to which were also added ribbons. For these to be attachedincreased the honour of the bare chaplet; this fashion was due to the Etruscanchaplets, to which properly only golden ribbons were fastened. For a long timethese ribbons were plain. The custom of engraving them originated with P.Claudius Pulcher, who also addedgold-leaf to the inner bark of the lime tree.

V. Chaplets, however, even those won in sport, were always regarded as adignity, for citizens would go down to the Circus in person to compete in thegames, besides entering for events their own slaves and horses. This customexplains that law of the Twelve Tables, 'Whoso wins a chaplet in person or by hischattel, let it be given him on the ground of his worth.' No one has doubtedthat by the 'chaplet won by his chattel' the law means that earned by slaves orby horses. What then was the honour? It lay in the indefeasible right, on thedeath of the victor or of his parents, to have the chaplet laid on the bodyduring the lying in state at home and when it was being carried out to burial.At other times not even chaplets won at the games were worn indiscriminately,

VI. and on this matter extremely severe rules were enforced. In thesecond Punic War Fulvius, a banker, whowas said to have looked out into the Forum from his veranda wearing in thedaytime a chaplet of roses, was on the authority of the senate led away toprison, not being released before the end of the war.P. Munatius took a chaplet of flowersfrom a statue of Marsyas and placed it on his own head. Ordered by the Triumyinto be put in chains for this offence he appealed to the tribunes of the people,who refused to intervene. Very different was the custom at Athens, where youngrevellers a in the forenoon would resort even to the schools of thephilosophers. Among us no other instance of this outrageous conduct has takenplace except that ofJulia, daughter ofthe lateAugustus, who in her nightfrolics placed a chaplet on the statue of Marsyas, as a letter of that goddeplores.

VII. Flowers as a distinction have been given by the Roman people only toaScipio. He was surnamed Serapio because of his likeness to apig-dealer of that name. He died in his tribunate, being high in the esteem ofthe common people and worthy of the family of the Africani, but not leavingenough. estate to pay for his funeral. So the people contracted for hisfuneral, contributing their pence, and scattered flowers from every point ofvantage along all the route.

VIII. Already by that time chaplets were used to honour the gods, the lares public and private, tombs and spirits of the dead; the highest distinctionwas the plaited chaplet, such as we find always used in ceremonies of the Saffi.Then they changed over to rose wreaths, and to such a height did luxuriousnessrise that no chaplet was fashionable except those stitched together with genuinepetals only, presently only those fetched from India or even beyond. In fact thechaplet deemed the smartest prize is made of nard leaves, or of multicolouredsilk steeped in perfumes. Such is the latest form taken by the luxury of ourwomen.

IX. Among the Greeks indeed there have been written monographs onchaplets by Mnesitheus andCallimachus, physicians who specify whatflowers are injurious to the head; for health is to a certain extent concernedeven in this matter, because it is especially amid the gaiety of drinkingparties that strong scents steal unawares to the head, witness the wickedcunning ofCleopatra. For in thepreparation for the war that culminated at Actium, Antonius, fearing even the attentivenessof the queen herself, would not take food that had not been foretasted. She issaid to have played on his terror by poisoning the tips of the flowers in hischaplet, and then to have laid it on his head. Presently, as the revelry grewwilder, she proposed as a challenge that they 'should drink their chaplets.'Who in such circumstances would suspect treachery? So having gathered thefragments of his chaplet into his cup he was beginning to drink, when she laidon him an arresting hand, with these words: 'Look, I am the woman,Marcus Antonius, against whom, with yournew craze for foretasters, you are carefully on your guard. Such my lack ofopportunity or means to act if I can live without you!' Then a prisoner wasbrought in and ordered by her to drink, who died on the spot. About flowers,besides the authors already mentioned, an account has been written byTheophrastus among the Greeks, and someof our own writers have composed books ofAnthologica. Nobody has, however, followed up the subject of flowersfully, so far as I can discover. Nor shall I now, of course, put chapletstogetherfor that would be mere triflingbut I shall include everything aboutflowers that will seem worthy of record.

X. Our countrymen know among garden plants very few kinds ofchaplet flowers, practically violets only and roses. The rose grows on what isnot so much a shrub as a thorn, appearing also on a bramble; there too ithas a pleasant though faint perfume. Every bud appears at first enclosed in ashell full of grains, which presently swells and, after sloping itself into agreen cone like a perfume box, gradually reddens, splitting and spreading outinto a cup, which encloses the yellow points that stand out of its center. Tomake chaplets is about the least of the uses of the rose. It is steeped in oil,a process known even at the time of the Trojan war, asHomer bears witness.Furthermore, it has made its way, as we have said, into ointments. By itself itpossesses medicinal properties. It is an ingredient of plasters and ofeye-salves by reason of its subtle pungency, even being used as a coating forthe delicacies of our tables, being quite harmless. The most famous kinds ofroses recognized by our countrymen are those of Praeneste and those of Campania.Some have added the Milesian rose, because of its brilliant fiery colour, thoughit never has more than twelve petals. Next after it is esteemed the Trachinian,of a less brilliant red, and then the Alabandian, less highly prized, withwhitish petals; the least prized, having very many, but very small petals, iscalled the prickly rose. For roses differ in the number of their petals, in thesmooth or rough nature of the stem, in colour and in perfume. Those with thefewest petals have five, but in other roses they are more numerous, since thereis one kind called the hundred-petalled rose. In Italy this grows in Campania,but in Greece around Philippi, which however is not its native soil. MountPangaeus in the neighbourhood grows a rose with many but small petals. Thenatives transplant it, improving the variety by mere change of place. This kind,however, has not a very strong perfume, nor has any rose whose petal is verybroad or large; in brief, an indie tion of the degree of perfume is theroughness of the bark.Caepio, who livedwhenTiberius Caesar was Emperor, saidthat the hundred-petalled variety is never put into chaplets, except at the endswhere these are as it were hinged together, since neither in perfume nor inappearance is it attractive. There is also the kind called the Grecian rose byour countrymen, and by the Greeks the lychnis (lamp rose), which appears only inmoist localities? It never has more than five petals, is of the size of theviolet, and has no perfume. Another kind is called Graecula (little Greek rose),the petals of which are rolled together into a bunch. It never opens unlessforced by the hand, and is always like a bud; the petals are very broad. Anotherkind springs from a stem like that of the mallow, with leaves like olive leaves,called mucetum. Between these in size is an autumn rose, namedcoroniola (little chaplet); all of these are without perfume except coroniolaand the rose growing on a bramble. In so many ways is spuriousness possible!In other districts too the genuine rose also depends to a very great extent uponthe soil for its main characteristics. The rose of Cyrene has the finestperfume, for which reason the choicest ointment is to be obtained there. AtCarthage in Spain there is an early rose that blossoms throughout the winter.Weather too makes a difference; for in certain years the rose grows with lessperfume, and furthermore all roses have more perfume on dry soils than on moist.It likes to be grown on soils that are neither rich nor clayey nor irrigated,being content with a rubbly soil, and fond in particular of ground on whichrubble has been spread. The Campanian rose is early, the Milesian late, but theone that continues to flower the latest is the Praenestine. The ground is dugdeeper for roses than for crops, but shallower than for vines. They are veryslow in growing from the seed, which is in the shell itself, right under theflower, and covered with down. For this reason it is preferred to graft shootsinto an incision in the stem. And into the eyelets of the root, as with thereed, there is grafted one kind of rose that is pale, prickly, with very longtwigs and five petals, the second among the Greek roses. Every rosehowever improves with pruning and burning; by transplanting also, as with vines,there is the best and quickest success if slips of the length of four fingers ormore are planted after the setting of the Pleiades and then transplanted atintervals of one foot while the west wind is blowing, the earth being frequentlyturned over around them. Those who try to get their roses early, dig a trench afoot deep about the root, pouring in warm water as the cup is beginning to bud.

XI. The lily [Devil's Garter] comes nearest to the rose in fame,and there is a certain relationship shown in the ointment and oil, which theycall lilinum (oil of lilies). When blended with roses, also, the lily gives agrand combination, making its first appearance when the rose is in mid-season.No flower grows taller; sometimes it reaches three cubits, its neck alwaysdrooping under the weight of a head too heavy for it. The flower is of anexceeding whiteness, fluted on the outside, narrow at the bottom and graduallyexpanding in width after the fashion of a basket. The lips curve outwards andupwards all round; the slender pistil and stamens, the colour of saffron,standing upright in the centre, So the perfume of the lily, as well as itscolour, is twofold, there being one for the corolla, and another for thestamens, the difference being slight. In fact when it is nsed to make ointmentor oil the petals too are not despised. There is a flower not unlike the lilygrowing on the plant called the convolvulus, that springs up among shrubs.Without perfume and without the yellow anthers in the centre, it resembles thelily only in colour, being as it were a first attempt by Nature when she waslearning to produce lilies. White lilies are propagated by all the means thatroses are; more than this, by a peculiar tear-like gum of its own, as is alsohorse-parsley. No plant is more prolific, a single root often sending out fiftybulbs. There is also a red lily that the Greeks callcrinon, some calling itsblossom the dog-rose. The most esteemed kind grows at Antioch and at Laodiceain Syria, next to them comes that of Phaselis. The fourth place is held by thekind growing in Italy.

XII. There is also a bright-red lily, having sometimes adouble stem, and differing from other lilies only in having a fleshier root anda larger bulb, and that undivided. It is called the narcissus. Another varietyof it has a white flower and a reddish bud. There is this further differencebetween the ordinary lily and the narcissus, that the leaves of the latter growstraight out of the root. The most popular sort is found on the mountains of Lycia. A third kind has all its characteristics the same as those of the otherkinds, except that the cup is light green. All the narcissi blossom late, forthe flower comes after the rising of Arcturus and during the autumnal equinox.

XIII. In lily-culture a strange means of dyeing the blooms has beeninvented by the wit of man. For in the month of July drying stems of the lilyare tied together and hung in the smoke. Then, as the little knots barethemselves, these stems in March are steeped in the lees of dark wine or Greekwine, so that they take on the colour. In this state they are planted in littletrenches, with a hemina of lees poured round each. In this way bright-red liliesare produced, and it is wonderful that a plant can be so dyed as to grow a bloomthat is also dyed.

XLV. Next in esteem comes the violet, of which there are severalkinds, the purple, the yellow, the white, all of them planted as are vegetables,from cuttings. Of these kinds however the purple, which comes up wild in sunny,poor soils, springs up with a broader, fleshy leaf, coming straight from theroot. It is the only one to be distinguished from the others by aGreek name, being called ion, from which ianthine cloth gets its name. Of thecultivated violets, the most highly esteemed is the yellow variety. The kindscalled Tusculan and marine have a slightly broader but less perfumed petals. TheCalatian variety however is entirely without perfume and has a very small petal;it is a gift of autumn, but all other kinds bloom in spring.

XV. Nearest to it comes the caltha, both in cawia. colour and in size. Inthe number of the petals it exceeds the marine violet, which never has overfive. The same plant is surpassed in scent, that of the caltha being strong! Noless strong is the scent of the plant which they call royal broom, though it isnot the flowers that smell, but the leaves.

XVI. Baccar (valerian?) too, called by some field nard, hasscent in the root only. That unguents used to be made by the ancients from thisroot we have a witness inAristophanes,a poet of the Old Comedy. Whence some used to commit the error of calling it bya Greek name, baccaris. The scent is very like that of cinnamon. It grows on athin dry soil. Very like it is the plant calledcombretum, taller than thebaccar, and with leaves so thin that they are mere threads. These are only usedas unguents. But the mistake of those also must be corrected who have calledbaccar field nard. For there is another plant with this surname, which theGreeks callasaron, whose shape and appearance we have described among thevarieties of nard. Moreover, I find that the plant is styled asaron, because itis not used in the making of chaplets.

XVII. Wild saffron is better than any other. To grow it in Italyis most unprofitable, as a whole bed of saffron yields only a scruple of theessence. It is propagated from a bulb of the root. The cultivated saffron isbroader, larger and more handsome, but much less potent; it is degeneratingeverywhere, and is not prolific even at Cyrene, where grows a saffron whoseflowers have always been very famous. But the prime favourite is that ofCilicia, and in particular of Mount Corycus, then that of Mount Olympus inLycia, and then that of Centuripa in Sicily. Some have given second place to thesaffron of Thera. Nothing is adulterated as much as saffron. A test of purity iswhether under the pressure of the hand it crackles as though brittle; for moistsaffron, as saffron is when adulterated, makes no noise. Another test is whetherit stings slightly the face and eyes if after the above test you bring the handback to the face. There is a kind of cultivated saffron which isfor its own sake very attractive to the general public, though it really is ofmoderate value, called dialeucon. That of Cyrene, on the other hand, has thedefect of being darker than any other kind, and loses its quality very rapidly.The best everywhere is that having a very rich nature, and a short pistil; thevery worst has an odour of decay. Mucianus is our authority for stating that inLycia after six or seven years it is transplanted to a well-dug bed; in this wayit recovers from its degeneration. It is nowhere used for chaplets, the planthaving a leaf that is but little broader than the fibre. But with wine,especially with sweet wine, powdered saffron makes a wonderful mixture to spraythe theatre. The saffron plant flowers for only a few days at the setting of thePleiades and pushes off the flower with its leaves. It is green at the wintersolstice, when it is gathered. It is dried in the shade; if in winter, so muchthe better. The root also is fleshy and longer-lived than that of any otherplant. Saffron likes to be trodden on and trampled under foot; destroying itmakes it grow better. For this reason it is most luxuriant near footpaths andfountains. Already at the time of the Trojan war it was held in high esteem.Homer, at any rate, praises threeflowerslotus, saffron and hyacinth?

XVIII. All spices and also the plants from which they come have differentcolours, perfumes and juices. It is rare for a thing that smells not tohave a bitter taste; on the contrary sweet substances rarely have any smell; andso wines have more smell than must, and all wild plants than the cultivated. Thesmell of some plants is sweeter at a distance, becoming fainter as the distanceis lessened; for instance, that of the violet. A freshly gathered rose smells ata distance, but a faded rose when nearer. All perfume however is stronger inspring, and in the morning; as the day draws near to noon it growsweaker. Young plants also have less perfume than old ones; the strongest perfumehowever of all plants is given out in middle age. The rose and the saffron havea stronger perfume when they are gathered in fine weather, as have all flowersin warm climates than those in cold. In Egypt however the flowers have verylittle perfume, the atmosphere being misty and full of dew owing to the wideexpanse of river. The scent of some plants is sweet but oppressive. Some, whilegreen, have no smell because of too much moisture, the buceras, for example,which is the same as fenugreek. Watery flowers have perfume not altogetherindependent of the essential juice, the violet for instance, the rose and thesaffron; moreover, watery flowers without this juice always have an oppressiveperfume, for example, both kinds of lily. Southernwood and sweet marjoram havepungent scents. Of some plants the flowers only are pleasant, the other partsbeing scentless, for example, those of the violet and of the rose. Of gardenplants the strongest-scented are those that are dry, like rue, mint and parsley,and such as grow on dry soils. Some products have more scent when old, forexample the quince, and these same have more when gathered than when growing inthe ground. Some have scent only when broken or after being crushed, others onlywhen the skin or bark has been stripped off, others indeed only when burnt, forexample, frankincense and myrrh. Crushed flowers are all more bitter than whenunbroken. A few, such as the melilot, keep their scent longer when dried. Someimpart a scent to the place itself, as does the iris, which also affects thewhole of any tree, the roots of which it happens to touch. The hesperis has astronger scent at night, from which fact it gets its name. No animal has asmell, unless we believe what has been said about the panther.

XIX. This distinction too must not beforgotten, that many flowers, in spite of their perfume, are of no use forchaplets, for example, the iris and Celtic nard, although both have an exquisiteperfume. But the iris is valued only for its root, being grown for unguents andfor medicine. The most highly esteemed is found in Illyria, and even there notin the coastal districts, but in the woody parts near the Drinon and aroundNarona. Next after it comes the Macedonian iris, which is white, thin and verylong. Third in estimation comes the African iris, which is the largest of alland the bitterest to the taste. The Illyrian moreover is of two kinds:raphanitis, so called from its likeness to the radish, which is the better kind,andrhizotomos. The best, which is reddish, causes sneezing if handled, and hasan upright stem a cubit high. The flower is multicoloured, like the rainbow;hence the name 'iris'.

The Pisidian variety, too, is by no meansdespised. Those who are going to dig it up pour hydromel around it three monthspreviously. This is as it were a libation to please the earth. Then they drawthree circles round it with the point of a sword, gather it and at once raise itheavenwards. It is hot by nature, and when handled raises blisters like thoseof a burn. It is especially enjoined that those who gather it should be chaste.Not only when dried, but also when in the ground, it is very easily subject toworms. Previously the best iris oil used to be brought from Leucas and Elisforit has been planted there a long timenow the best comes from Pamphylia, but theCilician too is highly praised, as is also that coming from the northern parts.

XX. Celtic nard has leaves that are rather short, and cannot be plaited.It is held together by its many roots, being really a grass rather than aflower, matted as though squeezed by hand; in short, it is a unique kind ofturf. Pannonia grows it, and the sunny regions of Norieum and of the Alps, and,of the cities, Eporedia; such is its sweetness that it has begun to be 'a goldmine.' Very pleasant is it for this nard to be sprinkled between clothes,

XXI. as the Greeks do with hulwort, a plant extolled in the praises of Musaeus andHesiod, who proclaim it to be useful forall things, and especially for winning reputation and honours, in fact as trulymarvellous, if only it be true, as they assert, that its leaves are white to theeye in the morning, bright-red at midday, and sea-blue at sunset. There are twokinds of it: field hulwort, which is the larger, and wild hulwort, which issmaller. Some call the plant teutrion. The leaves are like the white hairs of aman, spring up straight from the root, and are never taller than a palm inheight.

XXII. Enough has been said about scentedflowers. In this sphere luxury, glad to have conquered nature with its unguents,has with its dyed fabrics gone on to challenge those flowers that are commendedfor their colour. I note that the principal colours are the three following: (1)red, as of the kermes-insect, which, from the loveliness of the dark rose,shades, if you look up at it in a bright light, into Tyrian purple, double-dyedpurple and Laconian purple; (2) amethyst, which from violet itself passes intopurple, and which I have calledianthine. I am discussing general types ofcolour, which shade off into many kinds. (3) The third belongs properly to thepurple of the murex, but includes many kindred shades. One is the colour of theheliotrope, sometimes of a light, though usually of a deeper, tint; another isthat of the mallow, shading into a purple; yet a third, seen in the late violet,is the most vivid of the murex tints. At the present day Nature and luxury arematched together and are fighting out a duel. I read that yellow was theearliest colour to be highly esteemed, but was granted as an exclusive privilegeto women for their bridal veils, and that for this reason perhaps it is notincluded among the principal colours, that is, those common to men and women,since it is joint use that has given the principal colours their dignity.

XXIII. Without a doubt no effort of ours can compete with the amaranth.Yet it is more truly a purple ear than a flower, and is itself without scent. Awonderful thing about it is that it likes to be plucked, growing again moreluxuriant than ever. It comes out in August, and lasts into the autumn. Theprize goes to the amaranth grown at Alexandria, which is gathered for keeping;in a wonderful way, after all flowers are over, the amaranth, if moistened withwater, revives and makes winter chaplets. Its special characteristic is impliedin its name, given to it because it will not wither.

XXIV. The cyanus also declares its colour by its name, and so doesthe holochrysus. All these flowers however were not in use at the time ofAlexander the Great, for writersimmediately after his death were silent about them. This silence is clear proofthat it was subsequently that they became popular. However, who could doubt thatthey were discovered by the Greeks, when Italy uses exclusively the Greek namesin referring to them?

XXV. Butby heaven!Italy herself has given the petellium its name, anautumn flower growing near brambles and esteemed only for its colour, which isthat of the wild rose. It has five small petals. A wonderful thing about thisflower is that the head bends over, and from the joints grow curved petalsinclosing yellow seed forming a small corolla of several colours. The bellio toois yellow, with fifty-five lozenge-shaped little beards. These meadow flowersare used for chaplets, but most of such flowers are of no use and thereforewithout names. Nay, these very flowers are differently named by differentpeople.

XXVI. The chrysocome (golden rod) or chrysitis has no Latin name. It is apalm in height, flowering in clusters of shining gold, with a harsh,tending-to-sweet root, which is dark, and it grows in rocky, shady places.

XXVII. Having now nearly exhausted the subject also of the most popularcolours, I ought to pass on to those chaplets that please only because of thevariety in their make-up. They are of two kinds: some are made of flowers,others of leaves. Among the flowers I would include greenweedfor the yellowblossom of this too is gatheredalso the oleander, and the jujubes of the kindcalled Cappadocian, having a scent like that of olive flowers. Among bramblesgrows the cyclamen, about which I shall say more elsewhere. Its flower, Colossaepurple in colour, is used to make up chaplets.

XXVIII. As foliage for chaplets smilax, ivy and their clusters providethe favourite material; about these I have spoken at length in my chapters onshrubs. There are other kinds also that can be indicated only by their Greeknames, because our countrymen for the most part have paid no attention to thisnomenclature. Though most of them grow in foreign lands, yet I must discussthem, because my subject is not Italy but Nature.

XXIX. So among the leaves used to make chaplets are found those of melotrum, spiraea, wild marjoram, cneorum, thatHyginus calls cassia, conyza, which hecalls cunilago, melissophyllum, known to us as apiastrum, and melilot, which wecall Campanian garland. For in Italy the favourite kind grows in Campania, inGreece at Sunium, next in repute the melilot of Chalcidice and Crete, beingfound however everywhere only in wild, woody districts. That chaplets were inantiquity often made from the melilot is shown by the namesertula (garland),which it has adopted as its own. The scent is near to that of saffron, and so isthe flower itself. The Campanian is very popular indeed, havingvery short and very fleshy leaves.

XXX. The leaves of trefoil also are used for chaplets. There are threekinds of it: the first is called by some Greeksminyanthes, by othersasphaltion, having a larger leaf than the other kinds, which the garland makersuse. The second kind, oxytriphyllon, has a pointed leaf. The third is thesmallest of them all. Among these some have a sinewy stem, such as marathum,hippomarathum, myophonnm. They use also fennel-giant, the clusters of the ivyand a red flower classified in another kind of the ivies and resembles the wildrose. But in these too it is only the colour that pleases, as they have noperfume. There are also two kinds of cneorum, a dark and a white. The latter hasperfume, and both are branchy. They blossom after the autumnal equinox. Thereare also two kinds of wild marjoram used for chaplets, one having no seed, andthe other, which has perfume, being called Cretan.

XXXI. There are two sorts of thyme, the pale and the darkish.Thyme blossoms about the solstices when too the bees sip from it, and aforecast can be made about the honey harvest. For the beekeepers hope for abumper one if there be an abundance of blossom. Showers damage it and make theblossom fall off. The seed of thyme is imperceptible to sight, and yet that ofwild marjoram, although very tiny, does not escape our eye. But what does itmatter that Nature has hidden it? Reason tells us that the seed is in the floweritself, and if that be sown a plant grows from it. What have men left untried?Attic honey is thought more highly of than any in the whole world. Thymetherefore has been imported from Attica, and grown with difficulty, we are told,from the blossom. But a further hindrance arose through another peculiarcharacteristic of Attic thyme, which will not survive in the absence of seabreezes. The same view indeed was held of old about all kinds of thyme, andpeople believed that it was for this reason that it did not grow in Arcadia,while the olive too, they thought, is only found within three hundred stadesfrom the sea. Yet thyme we know today covers even the stony plains of theprovince of Gallia Narbonensis, being almost the only source of revenue,thousands of sheep being brought there from distant regions to browse upon thethyme.

XXXII. Of conyza also two kinds are used in chaplets, male and female.They differ in their leaves. That of the female is thinner, more compressed andnarrower; the male, which is more branched, has a pantile-shaped leaf. Itsblossom too is of a brighter colour; both blossom late, after Arcturus. Thescent of the male is heavier, of the female, sharper; for which reason thefemale is more suited to counteract the bites of beasts. The leavesof the female have the smell of honey; the root of the male is called by somelibanotis, about which I have already spoken.

XXXIII. Chaplets are also made from the leaves of the flower of Jupiter,sweet marjoram, day-lily, southernwood, Helenium, water-mint, wild thyme, allwith woody stalks like those of the rose. The flower of Jupiter is pleasing onlyfor its colour, as it has no scent; it is the same with the flower called inGreek phlox. Both the stalks however and the leaves of the plants just mentionedare fragrant, except those of wild thyme. Helenium is said to have sprung upfrom the tears of Helen, and therefore is very popular in the island of Helene.It is a shrub spreading over the ground with its nine-inch sprigs, the leafbeing like wild thyme.

XXXIV. Southernwood, which blossoms in summer has a flower of a pleasantbut heavy scent and of a golden colour. Left alone it grows of its ownaccord, reproducing itself by layers from the head. It is however grown fromseed better than from the root or from slips; from seed too not without trouble.The seedlings are transplantedas is the adoniumboth in summer. For they arevery chilly plants, yet liable to be injured by too much sun. But when they havegrown strong, they sprout after the manner of rue. Like southernwood in scent is leucanthemum, with a white flower and abundant leaves.

XXXV.Diocles the physician andthe people of Sicily have called sweet marjoram the plant known in Egypt assampsucum. It is reproduced by the two methods, from seed and frombranch-cuttings, being longer-lived than the plants mentioned above and of amilder scent. Sweet marjoram produces as copious a quantity of seed as doessouthernwood, but the latter has one root penetrating deep into the earth, whilethe roots of the others cling lightly to the surface of the ground. The plantingof the rest takes place generally in the beginning of autumn, and also, in someplaces, in spring, and they delight in shade, water and dung.

XXXVI. Nyctegreton was one of a few plants chosen forspecial admiration byDemocritus; it isof a dark-red colour, with a leaf like a thorn, and not rising high from theground; a special kind grows in Gedrosia. He reports that it is pulled up by theroots after the spring equinox and dried in the moonlight for thirty days; thatafter this it glows at night, and that the Magi and the kings of Parthia use theplant to make their vows. It is also called, he says,chenamyche, because geeseare panic-stricken at the first sight of it, and by othersnyctalops, becauseit gleams a long distance by night.

XXXVII. Melilot grows everywhere, the most popular kind, however, inAttica; everywhere moreover the freshly gathered is preferred, and not thewhite variety but that most resembling saffron, and that though in Italy thewhite is the more fragrant.

XXXVIII. The first flower to herald the approach of spring is the whiteviolet, which moreover in the warmer spots peeps out even in winter. Afterwardscomes the violet which is called ion, and the mauve one, followed closely by theflame-coloured flower called phlox, but only the wild variety. Thecyclamen blossoms twice in the year, in spring and in autumn; itshuns summer and Winter. A little later than those mentioned above come,overseas, the narcissus and the lily, which in Italy, as we have said, is afterthe rose. But in Greece comes later still the anemone. This however is a flowerof the wild bulbs, and different from the plant to be spoken of among themedicinal herbs. It is followed by the oenanthe the melanium and the wildheliochrysus, then the other kind of anemone, which is called the meadowanemone, after which comes the gladiolus, together with the hyacinth. The lastto bloom is the rose, which is also the first to fade, except the cultivatedkind. Of the others, the hyacinth lasts longest in flower with the white violetand the oenanthe, but the last only if by repeated plucking it is prevented fromrunning to seed. It grows in warm districts, and has the same scent as forminggrapes: hence the name. The hyacinth is associated with two forms of a legend;one that it displays the mourning for that youth whom Apollo had loved, and theother that it sprang from the shed blood of Ajax, the veins of the flower beingso arranged that on it is to be read Al inscribed in the form of Greek letters. Heliochrysus has a flower like gold, a slight leaf and also a slender but hardstem. The Magi think that to wear a chaplet of this plant, if unguents too betaken from a box of the gold calledapyron, leads also to popularity and gloryin life. These then are the flowers of spring.

XXXIX. After them come the summer flowers, lychnis, Jupiter's flower, asecond kind of lily, the iphyon also and the amaracus surnamed Phrygian. Butthe most beautiful to the eye is the pothos. There are two kinds ofit: one having the flower of the hyacinth, the other being white and commonlygrown for graves, because it lasts well without fading. The iris also blooms insummer. But these too wither and pass away, to be followed again by others inautumna third kind of lily, the saffron crocus and the two kinds of orsinus,one without and one with perfume, all of them peeping out at the first showers.Garland-makers actually use the blossom even of the thorn, while the youngstalks of the white thorn are preserved to be a delicacy of the table. This isthe succession of flowers overseas. In Italy violets are followed by the rose,which is still in blossom when the lily appears. The rose is succeeded by thecyanus, the cyanus by the amaranth. But the vicapervica is an evergreen,surrounded by leaves at the joints after the manner of the scarecrow cord, aplant for the fancy garden, but at times filling the gap when other flowersfail. This plant is calledchamaedaphne by the Greeks.

XL. At the most the life of the white violet is three years. After thattime it degenerates. The rose lasts even for five years if it is neither pruneddown nor burned; for by these means it renews its youth. We have also said that the soil makes a great difference. For in Egypt all these flowers arewithout perfume, and the myrtle only has a remarkable one. In some places thebuds of all form as much as two months before they do so elsewhere. Rose bedsought to be dug over immediately after the west wind begins and againat the solstice, and great care should be taken that in the interval the groundbe kept clean and sweet.

XLI. But gardens and chaplet flowers are closely associated withapiaries and bees, bee-culture being a source of very great profit at slightexpense, when circumstances are favourable. Therefore, for the sake of the beesyou ought to plant thyme, apiastrum, roses, violets, lilies,tree-medick, beans, bitter vetches, cunila, poppies, conyza, casia, melilot,melissophyllum, cerintha. The last has a white leaf curving inwards, and is acubit high, with a hollow head containing the honey juice. Of the blossom ofthese plants bees are very fond, as they are also of mustard, a strange thing tothose familiar with the well-known fact that the blossom of the olive is nottouched by them. For this reason it is better to keep olive trees away fromthem, while some trees it would be wise to plant as near the hives as possible,both to attract the swarms as they fly out, and to prevent their straying to toogreat a distance.

XLII. You must beware also of the cornel tree. If bees taste its blossomthey die of diarrhoea. A remedy is to administer crushed sorb apples in honey tothose affected, or human urine or that of oxen, or pomegranate seeds sprinkledwith Aminean wine. But what they like most is to have greenweed planted roundtheir hives.

XLIII. Wonderful and worthy of record is what I have discoveredabout their food. Hostilia is a village on the bank of the Padus. Whenbee-fodder fails in the neighbourhood the natives place the hives on boats andcarry them five miles upstream by night. At dawn the bees come out and feed,returning every day to the boats, which change their position until, when theyhave sunk low in the water under the mere weight, it is understood that thehives are full, and then they are taken back and the honey is extracted. InSpain too for a like reason they carry the hives about on mules.

XLIV. The food of bees is of so much importance that even their honey maybecome poisonous. At Heraclia in Pontus the honey turns out in certain yearsvery deadly, and that from the same bees. As the authorities have not said fromwhat flowers this honey is extracted, I will myself put on record what I haveascertained. There is a plant which, from its deadly effect even on cattle, moreparticularly upon goats, is calledaegolethron. From the blossom of this, whenit withers in a rainy spring, bees take in a noxious poison. Thus it happensthat it is not in all years that the danger is encountered. The signs ofpoisonous honey are that it does not thicken at all, its colour inclines to red,its smell is strange and at once causes sneezing, and it is heavier thanharmless honey. Cattle which have eaten it throw themselves on the ground,seeking to cool themselves, for they actually drip with sweat.

Remedies are many, and I will give them in their proper place. But some shouldbe given at once, as the danger is so insidious: there is old honey wine, madefrom the finest honey, with rue, and also salted fish, these to be repeatedseveral times should the stomach reject them. It is an established fact thatthis poison, through the excreta, affects even dogs, which suffer similartorture. It is a fact, however, that honey wine made with poisonous honey is,after maturing, quite harmless, and that there is nothing better than thishoney, mixed with costum, for improving the skin of women, or, mixed with aloes,for the treatment of bruises.

XLV. There is another kind of honey, found in the same district of Pontusamong the people called Sanni, which from the madness it produces is calledmaenomenon. This poison is supposed to be extracted from the flowers of theoleanders which abound in the woods. Though these people supply the Romans withwax by way of tribute, the honey, because of its deadly nature, they do notsell. In Persis, too, and in Gaetulia of Mauretania Caesariensis, bordering onthe Massaesyli, are found poisoned honeycombs, sometimes only in part such, amore deceptive limitation than anything else could be, were it not that thelivid colour makes detection easy. What are we to think that Nature meant bythese traps; that they should not occur every year, and not in the whole of thecomb, and yet be due to the same bees? Was it not enough to have produced asubstance in which it was very easy to administer poison? Did Nature alsoadminister it herself in the honey to so many living creatures? What did shemean, except to make man more careful and less greedy? For had she not alreadybestowed upon the bees themselves a spear, and that a poisoned one, so that acure for this poison must be given most assuredly without delay? Accordingly, itis healing to apply to the sting the juice of the mallow or of ivy leaves, orfor the stung persons to take these in drink. Yet it is wonderful that the bees,carrying poison in their mouths and working it, do not themselves die, unlessit be that the great Mistress of all things has given bees this immunity, as shehas given immunity against snakebite to the Psylli and to the Marsi among men.

XLVI. In Crete is found another wonderful honey. There Mount Carina has acircumference of nine miles, within which no flies are found, and nowhere doflies touch the honey coming from that place. By this test is selected a honeyspecially suited for medicines.

XLVII. It is well for the apiaries to look due east, and to avoidthe north wind as well as the west wind. The best hive is made of bark; the nextbest material is fennel-giant, and the third is osier. Many too have made hivesof transparent stone, so that they might look on the bees working inside. It isvery useful for the hives to be daubed all over with cow dung, and for a movablecover to be made at the back, that it may be brought forward if the hive belarge or the working unproductive, lest the bees lose hope and cease to care;this cover should be gradually slid back so that they do not see how their workhas grown. In winter cover the hives with straw, and fumigate them repeatedly,especially with cow dung. This being akin to the bees kills theinsects that breed in the hivespiders, moths and wood worms, besidesstimulating the bees themselves. To exterminate the spiders indeed is fairlyeasy. The moths, a greater plague, are destroyed in the spring by lamps, whichare lighted before the hives when the mallow begins to ripen, on a night of thenew moon when the sky is clear. Into the flame of these the moths flingthemselves.

XLVIII. If it is felt that the bees are in need of food, it would be wellto place at the door raisins or crushed dried figs, as well as carded woolsoaked in raisin wine, boiled-down must or hydromel, as well as the hare fleshof poultry. In some summers also, when continued drought has deprived the beesof their food from flowers, the same kinds of food must be supplied to them.When the honey is taken out, the exit of the hive should be smeared with crushed melissophyllum or greenweed, or the middle should be lined with white vine, toprevent the bees from flying away. Honey pots and combs are recommended to bewashed with water; this when boiled down is said to make a very wholesomevinegar.

XLIX. Wax is made after the honey has been extracted from thecombs, but these must be first cleaned with water and dried for three days inthe dark; then on the fourth day they are melted in a new earthen vessel on thefire, with just enough water to cover them, and then strained in a wickerbasket. The wax is boiled again with the same this to be cold, contained invessels smeared all water in the same pot, and poured into other water, roundinside with honey. The best is that called Punic wax; the next best is veryyellow indeed, with the smell of honey, pure, but produced in Pontus, the regionof the poisonous honies, which makes me surprised at its established reputation;next is Cretan wax, consisting in very great part of bee-glue, about which wehave spoken in treating of the nature of bees. After these comes Corsicanwax, which as it is made from honey got by bees from box, is supposed to have acertain medicinal quality. Punic wax is prepared in the following way. Yellowwax is exposed to the wind several times in the open, then it is heated in watertaken from the open sea, to which soda has been added. Then theycollect with spoons the 'flower,' that is, all the whitest parts, and pour intoa vessel containing a little cold water. Then it is boiled again by itself a inseawater, after which they cool the vessel itself with water. When they havedone this three times, they dry the wax in the open, by sunlight and bymoonlight, on a mat of rushes. For the moon makes it white while the sun driesit; to prevent the sun from melting it, they cover it with a piece of thin linencloth. The greatest whiteness, however, is obtained if after the exposure to thesun the wax is once more boiled again. Punic wax is the most useful formedicines. Wax becomes dark with the addition of paper ash, and red with anadmixture of alkanet; by paints it is made to assume various colours for forminglikenesses, for the innumerable uses of men, and even for the protection ofwalls and of weapons. The other details about honey and about bees have beendescribed in my treatment of the nature of the bee. Of gardens indeedpractically the whole account has been given.

L. There follow the plants that grow wild. Most peoples use these forfood, especially the people of Egypt, a land very fruitful in crops, yet aboutthe only one that could manage without them, so great an abundance of food doesit get from plants. In Italy however we know few such, strawberries, wild vine,butcher's broom, samphire, and garden fennel, which some call Gallic asparagus;besides these there are meadow parsnip and willow wolf, though these aredelicacies rather than foods.

LI. In Egypt the most famous plant of this kind is the colocasia,called by somecyamos; they gather it out of the Nile. The stalk of the stemwhen boiled and chewed breaks up into spidery threads, but the stem itselfis handsome, jutting out from leaves which, even when compared with those oftrees, are very broad, similar to the leaves calledpersonata whichare found in Italian rivers. So much do the people of the Nile appreciate thebounty of their river that they plait colocasia leaves into vessels of variousshapes, which they consider make attractive goblets. The colocasia is now grownin Italy.

LII. In Egypt next in esteem after colocasia comes chicory, which I havespoken of as wild endive. It appears after the Pleiades and its parts bloom insuccession. It has a tough root, so that it is even used to make binding ropes.Farther from the river grows anthalium, of the size and roundness use ofa medlar, without kernel or peel, and with the leaf of the cyperus.They roast it at a fire and eat it. They eat too oetum, which has few andvery small leaves, but a large root. Arachidne indeed and aracos, though they have manifold, branchy roots, have neither leaf nor any green, nor anything else at all above ground. The rest of the plants commonly included by the Egyptians among their foods are thus named:chondrylla, hypochoeris, caucalis, enthryscum,scandix, called by some tragopogon, which has leaves very like those of saffron,parthenium, trychnum, corchorus, aphace and achynops, the last two appearingjust after the equinox. There is a plant called epipetron which never blossoms.But on the other hand aphace, as its flowers fade, puts forth continually othersall the winter and all the spring, right on into summer.

LIII. The Egyptians have besides many plants of no repute, but they holdin the highest esteem one calledcnecos; it is unknown in Italy and theEgyptians value it, not as a food, but for its oil, which they extract from theseed. The chief varieties are the wild and the cultivated. Of the wild there aretwo species. One is similar to the cultivated, but has a stiff a stem. This iswhy the women of old used the stem of this species as a distaff, for whichreason it is called by someatractylis. Its seed is white, large and bitter. Theother is rather prickly, with a more fleshy stem, which almost trails on theground, the seed being very small. This belongs to the class of spinousplants, for I must classify also the various kinds of them.

LIV. Some plants then are prickly, while others are without prickles. Ofprickly plants the species are many. Of nothing but prickle are asparagus andscorpio, for they have no leaves at all. Some prickly plants, however, haveleaves, for instance thistle, erynge, glycyrrhiza and nettle. For all these havea sharp sting in their leaves. Some have foliage also along the prickly spine,as caltrop and rest-harrow. Some again have prickles not on the leaves but onthe stem, as pheos, that some have called stoebe. Hippopheos has prickly joints.A peculiar characteristic of the caltrop is that it has also a prickly fruit.

LV. Of all these kinds the best known is the nettle, often tallerthan two cubits, the cups of which in blossom pour out a purple down. There areseveral different kinds. There is the wild, also called female, and thecultivated. One of the wild varieties, called dog nettle, has a sharper sting,even the stem pricking, and fringed leaves. Another, which also gives out asmell, is called the Herculanean nettle. All nettles have a copious, black seed.It is a strange thing that, without any prickly points, the mere down ispoisonous, and that only a light touch at once causes to arise itching andblisters like those from burns. The well-known remedy for nettle sting is oliveoil. The stinging quality however does not come at once with the plant itself,but only when this has grown strong through the sun. When young indeed in thespring nettles make a not unpleasant food, which many eat in the further devoutbelief that it will keep diseases away throughout the whole year. The root tooof the wild varieties makes more tender all meat with which it is boiled. Theharmless nettle, which does not sting, is calledlamium. About scorpio I shallspeak when I come to deal with medicinal plants.

LVI. The thistle has both leaf and stem covered by a prickly down, and sohave acorna, leucacanthos, chalceos, cnecos, polyacanthos, onopyxos, helxine,scolymos. The chamaeleon has no prickles on its leaves. There is however thisdifference also, that some of these plants have many stems and branches, thethistle for instance, while the cnecos has one stem and no branches. Some areprickly only at the head, the erynge for instance; some, like tetralix andhelxine, blossom in summer. Scolymos too blossoms late and long. The acorna isdistinguished (from cnecos) only by its reddish colour and richer juice.Atractylis too would be just the same, were it not whiter and did it not shed ablood-like juice that has caused some to call itphonos; it also has a badsmell, and its seed ripens latein fact not before autumn, though this can besaid of all prickly plants. All of these however can be reproduced either fromseed or from the root. Scolymus, one of the thistle group, differs from these inthat its root is edible when boiled. It is a strange thing that in this group,without intermission throughout the whole summer, part blossoms, part buds,and part produces seed. As the leaves dry the prickles cease to sting. Helxineis not often seen, and not in all countries; it shoots out leaves from its root,out of the middle of which swells up as it were an apple, covered with foliageof its own. The top of its head contains a gum of pleasant flavour, called thornmastich.

LVII. And cactos also grows only in Sicily; it too has peculiarproperties of its own. Its stems, shooting out from the root,trail on the ground; the leaves are broad and prickly. The stems are calledcacti, which make, even when preserved, a palatable food. One kind, however, hasan upright stem calledpternix, of the same pleasant flavour, but it will notkeep. The seed is downy, the down being calledpappus. When the seeds have beentaken away and the rind, there remains something as tender as the brain of thepalm. It is calledascalia.

LVIII. Tribulus is found only in marshy places. A hard substanceelsewhere, near the rivers Nile and Strymon it is used as food. It bends towardsthe water, has a leaf like that of the elm, and the stalk is long. But in otherparts of the world there are two kinds; the one with leaves like those of thechickling-pea, the other with prickly leaves. The latter blossoms later, andtends to be common in the enclosures round country houses. Its seed is rounder,black, and in a pod; that of the other is like sand. Of prickly plants there isyet another kindrest-harrow. For it has prickles on the branches, to which areattached leaves like those of rue, the whole stem being covered with leaves sothat it looks like a chaplet. It springs up on newly ploughed lands, is harmfulto the crops and extremely long-lived.

LIX. The stems of some prickly plants trail along the ground, those forexample of the plant calledcoronopus. On the other hand anchusa (alkanet), theroot of which is used for dyeing wood and wax, stands upright, as do, of thecultivated kinds, anthemis, phyllanthes, anemone and aphace. Crepis and lotushave a foliated stem.

LX. The leaves of these plants differ as do the leaves of trees: inshortness or length of stalk, in the narrowness of the leaf itself, in its size,and further in the corners, and indentations; smell and blossom differ also. Theblossom lasts longer on some of them, which flower one part at a time, on ocimumfor example, and on heliotropium, aphace and onochilis. Many of these plants,like certain trees, have leaves that never die, the chief being heliotropium,adiantum, hulwort.

LXI. Eared plants are yet another kind, to which belong achynops,alopecuros, stelephurosby some called ortyx, by others plantago, about which Ishall speak more fully in the section on medicinal plantsand thryallis. Ofthese alopeeurus has a soft ear and thick down, not unlike the tail of a fox;hence too its name. Stelephuros is very like it, except that it blossoms bit bybit. Chicory and the plants like it have leaves near the ground, budding fromthe root after the Pleiades.

LXII. Perdicium is eaten by other peoples besides the Egyptians. The nameis derived from the partridge, a bird very fond of pecking it out of the ground.It has very many thick roots. There is likewise ornithogala, with a tender whitestem half a foot long, soft and with three or four offshoots and a bulbous root.It is boiled in pottage.

LXIII. It is strange that the plant lotos and the aegilops do notgermiuate from their own seed until a year has passed. Strange too is the natureof anthemis, because it begins to blossom from the top, while all other plantsthat blossom bit by bit begin to do so from their bottom part.

LXIV. A remarkable thing about the burdock, which sticks to one'sclothes, is that within it there grows a flower that does not show, but isinside and hidden; it produces seed within itself, as do the animals that bringto birth inside their own bodies. Around Opus is to be found a plant which isalso pleasant for a man to eat, and remarkable in that from its leaf there growsa root whereby it reproduces itself.

LXV. Bindweed has only one petal, but folded in such a way that itseems more than one. Chondrylla is bitter, and in the root is an acrid juice.Aphace too is bitter, and so is the plant calledpicris, which also blossomsthroughout the year. It is this bitterness which has given the plant its name.

LXVI. It is a remarkable characteristic too of and the squill and of thecrocus that, whereas all other plants put forth leaves first and onlyafterwards round into a stem, in these plants the stem is seen first, and afterthe stem the leaves. In the crocus however the blossom is pushed up by the stem;in the squill on the other hand the stem makes its appearance first, and thenthe blossom sprouts out of it. The plant blossoms, as I have said, three times ayear, pointing to the three seasons for ploughing.

LXVII. Some include among the class of bulbs the root of the cypiros,that is, of the gladiolus. It and makes a pleasant food, one which, when boiled,also renders bread more palatable, and also when kneaded with it more weighty.Not unlike it is the plant which is called thesium, and is acrid to the taste.

LXVIII. The other plants of the same kind differ in the leaf: asphodelhas an oblong, narrow leaf; the squill one broad and flexible; the gladiolus onethat its name suggests. Asphodel is used as food. Both the seed and the bulb areroasted, but the second in hot ashes; salt and oil are added. It is also poundedwith figs, whichHesiod I thinks is aspecial delicacy. There is a tradition that if asphodel be planted beforethe gate of a country house it keeps away the evil influences of sorcery. Homer also mentioned asphodel. Its root is like a navew of moderatesize, and no plant has more bulbs, eighty being often grouped together.Theophrastus and the Greeks generally,beginning withPythagoras, have giventhe name ofanthericus to its stem, a cubit and often two cubits long, withleaves like those of wild leek; it is the root, that is to say the bulbs, thatthey call asphodel. We of Italy call this plantalbucus, andanthericus 'royalspear', the stem of which bears berries, and we distinguish two kinds. Albueushas a stalk a cubit long, large, without leaves and smooth, whichMago recommends should be cut at the endof March or the beginning of April, when the blossoming has ceased but beforeits seed has begun to swell; he adds that the stalks should be split, andbrought out into the sun on the fourth day, and that of the material so driedbundles should be made. The same authority adds that the Greeks call oistos, theplant which we include among sedge and call arrow. lie recommends that from thefifteenth of May to the end of October it should be stripped of its skin anddried in mild sunshine, and also that the second kind of gladiolus, calledcypiros, which too is a marsh plant, should be cut down to the root through outJuly, and on the third day dried in the sun until it turns white. Every dayhowever before sunset it should be put back under cover, since night dews areharmful to marsh plants after they have been cut down.

LXIX.Mago gives likeinstructions about the rush also that they call mariscus; for weavingmats he recommends that it too be gathered in June and up to the middle of July,giving the same instructions for drying it which I have mentioned in theirproper place when dealing with sedge. He distinguishes another kind of rush,which I find is called the marine rush and by the Greeksoxyschoenos.There are three kinds of it: the pointed, barren rush, which the Greeks call themale, or oxys, while the other two are female, and bear a black seed. One ofthese, called by the Greeks melancranis, is thicker and more bushy than thefirst; the third, calledholoschoenus, being even more so. Of these melancranisis found apart from other kinds of rush, but oxys and holoschoenus grow on thesame turf. The most useful for wickerwork is holoschoenus, because it is pliantand fleshy; it bears a fruit like eggs sticking to one another. The rush we havecalled male is self-reproduced, the head being bent down into the earth, butmelancranis is reproduced from its seed. Except for this, the roots of everykind of rush die every year. Rushes are used for fish-baskets, for the finersort of wickerwork, and for the wicks of lamps, the pith being especiallyuseful; and they grow to such a size near the maritime Alps that when the hollowis cut open they measure almost an inch across, while in Egypt some are asnarrow as the holes in a sieve, and of a length not more useful than others.Some botanists also distinguish as a separate class a triangular rush, whichthey call cyperos, though many do not recognize a distinction because of theresemblance of the name to cypiros. I however shall keep each distinct. Cypirosis, as I have said, the same as gladiolus, and has a bulbous root. The mostesteemed grows in the island of Crete, the next in Naxos and then comesthat of Phoenicia. The Cretan is white, with a smell like that of nard; theNaxian has a more pungent smell, the Phoenician a faint one, and the Egyptian(for it grows there also) none at all. Cypiros dispels hard formations of thebody, for we must now speak of remedies, as there is a wide use inmedicine of flowers and perfumes generally. As for cypiros, I shall followApollodorus who said that it shouldnever be taken in drink; yet he maintained its great efficacy for stones in thebladder, which by this means he tries to remove. He has no doubt that it causesmiscarriage in women, and records the following strange account of it. Someforeign people, he says, take into the mouth smoke from this plant and therebyreduce the spleen, asserting that they do not leave their homes without inhalingthis smoke, as the habit produces, even from day to day, increased briskness andgreater strength. He adds that to apply cypiros as a liniment with oil is acertain cure for chafings, offensive armpits and abrasions.

LXX. Cyperos is a rush such as I have already described, withthree corners, white next the ground, dark and fleshy at the head. The bottomleaves are more slender than those of leeks, the top ones being very small, withthe seed between them. The root resembles that of the dark olive, which when itis oblong is calledcyperis, being widely used in medicine. The mostvalued cyperos comes from the region round the temple of Hammon, the second inesteem from Rhodes, the third from Thera, the last from Egypt; as the cypirosalso grows there, some confusion of thought results. But cypiros has a very hardroot and scarcely any smell; the species of true cyperos have a smellthat closely resembles that of nard. There is also a separate Indian plantcalled cypira, in shape resembling ginger, which when chewed tastes likesaffron. The use of eyperos in medicine is to act as a depilatory. It makes anointment for hang-nails, sores of the genitals and all sores that are inmoisture, such as those in the mouth. Its root affords an effective remedy forthe bites of snakes and stings of scorpions. The root taken in drink opens thepassage of the uterus, but if taken in too strong doses its potency is greatenough to cause prolapsus. It promotes urine and the passing of stone, andtherefore is most useful to sufferers from dropsy. It is applied to spreadingsores, but especially to those of the gullet, either in wine or in vinegar.

LXXI. The root of the rush in three heminae of water, boiled down to onethird, is a cure for coughs. The seed roasted and taken in water checksdiarrhoea and excessive menstruation. The rush, however, calledholoschoenusbrings on headaches. The nearest parts to the root are chewed as a remedy forthe bites of spiders. I find that there is also one other kind of rush, calledeuripice. Its seed is said to induce sleep, but the dose must be kept small, orcoma will result.

LXXII. Incidentally I will also mention medicines obtained from thescented rush, for one place where such a rush grows is in Coelesyria, as I haverelated in the appropriate place. The most esteemed, however, comes fromNabataea, known also asteuchitis; the next best is the Babylonian, and theworst comes from Africa, being without any scent. It is round, affecting thetongue with the stinging taste of sour wine. The genuine kind, on being rubbed,gives out a smell of roses, and the broken bits are red. Dispersing flatulence,it is good for the stomach, and for those who vomit bile. It allays hiccoughs,promotes belching, is diuretic, and a remedy for bladder troubles. For femalecomplaints a decoction is made. With dry resin it is applied to sufferers from opisthotonic tetanus because of its warming properties.

LXXIII. The rose is both astringent and cooling. There are separate usesfor its petals, flowers and heads. The parts of the petals which arewhite are called nails. In the flower, seed and filament are distinct, as areshell and calyx in the head. The petals are dried, or the juice is extractedfrom them by one of three methods. They may be treated by themselves, when thenails, in which there is most moisture, are not removed; or when what is leftafter removing the nails is steeped with oil or wine in glass vessels in thesunshine. Some add salt also, and a few alkanet or aspalathus or fragrant rush,because so prepared the essence is very beneficial for complaints of the uterusand for dysentery. With the nails removed the petals may also have their juiceextracted by being pounded, and then strained through a thick linen cloth into abronze vessel; the juice is then heated on a slow fire until it becomes as thickas honey. For this process only the most fragrant petals must be selected. Howwine is made from roses I have described in my treatment of the various kinds ofwine. Rose juice is used for the ears, sores in the month, the gums, as a garglefor the tonsils, for the stomach, uterus, rectal trouble, headachewhen due tofever either by itself or with vinegarto induce sleep or to dispel nausea. Thepetals are burned to make an ingredient of cosmetics for theeyebrows, and dried rose leaves are sprinkled on (chafed) thighs. Fluxes of theeyes also are soothed by the dried leaves. The flower induces sleep, checksmenstrual, particularly white, discharges if taken in vinegar and water, as wellas the spitting of blood; a cyathus of it in three cyathi of wine relievesstomach-ache. As to the seed, the finest is of a saffron colour, not more than ayear old, and should be dried in the shade; the dark seed is harmful. It is usedas a liniment for toothache, is diuretic, and may be applied to the stomach orin eases of erysipelas that is not of long standing. Inhaled by the nostrils itclears the head. Rose heads taken in drink cheek diarrhoea and haemorrhage. Thenails of rose petals are healing for fluxes of the eyes, for eyesores dischargeif the whole rose is applied, unless it is at the beginning of the flux, andthen the rose must be dry and mixed with bread. The petals indeed takeninternally are very good for gnawings of the stomach and for complaints of thebelly or of the intestines, good also for the hypochondria, and they may beapplied externally. They are also preserved for food, in the same way as sorrel.Care must be taken with rose petals, as mould quickly settles on them. Some usecan be made of dried petals, or those from which the juice has been extracted.Powders, for example, are made from Them to cheek perspiration. These aresprinkled on the body after a bath and left to dry, being afterwards washed offwith cold water. The little balls on the wild rose mixed with bears' grease area remedy for mange.

LXXIV. Its roots bring great fame to thelily in many ways, being taken in wine for the bites of snakes and for poisoningby fungi. For corns on the foot they are boiled down in wine, and the plaster isnot removed for three days. Boiled down with grease or oil they also make hairto grow again on bums. Taken in honey wine they carry off by stool extravasatedblood; they are good for the spleen, for ruptures, spasms and the menstrualdischarge; while if boiled down in wine and applied with honey they heal cuts ofthe sinews. They are healing for lichens and leprous sores, cure scurf on theface, and remove wrinkles from the skin. The petals, pickled in vinegar, areapplied to wounds; if these are in the testes, it is better to add henbane andwheat flour. The seed is used as an application for erysipelas, flowers andleaves for chronic sores, and the juice extracted from the flower, called honeyby some andsyrium by others, as an emollient of the uterus, for inducingperspiration and for bringing boils to a head.

LXXV. Of the narcissus there are two kinds used by physicians: one with abright flower and the other with grass-green leaves. The latter isinjurious to the stomach, so that it acts as an emetic and as a purge; it isbad for the sinews and causes a dull headache, its name being derived from thewordnaree, torpor, and not from the youth in the myth. The root of each varietyhas the taste of honey wine. In a little honey it is good for burns, and thesame is beneficial for wounds and sprains. while for superficial abscesses honeyshould be added to darnel meal. This preparation also extracts bodiesthat have pierced the flesh. Beaten up in pearl barley and oil it heals bruises,and wounds caused by stones. Mixed with meal it cleans wounds and removes blackpsoriasis. From its flower is made narcissus oil, which is very useful forsoftening callosities, for warming parts of the body that have been chilled, andfor the ears, but it also produces headache.

LXXVI. There are both wild and cultivated violets. The mauve ones arecooling and are applied to the stomach for inflammations, to the foreheadalso when the head bums, to the eyes especially for fluxes, for prolapsus of theanus and of the womb, and to abscesses. Placed on the head in chaplets, or evensmelt, they disperse the after-effects of drinking and its headaches, as well as quinsies when taken in water. The mauve variety, taken in water, is a cure forepilepsy, especially in children. The seed of the violet neutralizes the stingsof scorpions. On the other hand the flower of the white violet opens abscesses,and even disperses them. Both the white violet, however, and the yellow reducethe menstrual discharge and are diuretic. Freshly gathered they have lesspotency, for which reason they should be dried and not used until they are atleast a year old. Half a cyathus of the yellow violet taken in three of waterpromotes menstruation. Its roots used with vinegar as a liniment soothe thespleen, and likewise gout, but for inflammations of the eyes myrrh and saffronshould be added to them. The leaves with honey cleanse sores on the head. Withwax ointment they heal cracks in the anus and such as are in moist parts of thebody. Used with vinegar, however, they heal abscesses.

LXXVII. The Celtic valerian used in medicine is called 'perpressa' by some Roman authorities. It relieves serpentbites, aching and feverish heads, and likewise fluxes from the eyes. It isapplied to breasts swollen after childbirth, to incipient fistulas of the eyeand to erysipelas. The smell induces sleep. It is beneficial for a decoction ofthe root to be taken by sufferers from cramp, Violent falls, convulsions, asthmaand also chronic cough. Three or four sprays of it are boiled down to one third.A draught of this is cleansing for women after miscarriage, and removes stitchin the side or stone in the bladder. It is pounded with lily petals to makedusting powders, and for the sake of the perfume is laid among clothes. Combretum, which I have said is similar to Celtic valerian, beaten up withaxle-grease is a wonderful cure for wounds.

LXXVIII. Hazelwort is said to be beneficial for liver complaints, anounce being taken in a hemina of diluted honey wine. It purges the bowels afterthe manner of hellebore, and is good for dropsy, the hypochondria, the uterusand for jaundice. When added to must it makes a diuretic wine. It is dug up whenthe leaves are forming; it is dried and then stored up. In the shade itvery quickly goes mouldy.

LXXIX. Since certain authorities, as I have said, have given to the rootof Celtic valerian the name of rustic nard, I will now add the medicinal uses ofGallic nard also, which I mentioned when dealing with foreign trees, postponingfuller treatment to the present occasion. So for serpent bites it is useful indoses of two drachmae taken in wine, for flatulence of the colon in either wateror wine, for troubles of the liver and kidneys, excessive bile, and dropsy,either by itself or with wormwood. It checks excessive attacks of menstruation.

LXXX. The root of the plant that in the same place I have calledphu isgiven, either in drink pounded, or else boiled, for suffocation of the womb, andfor pains also of the chest or side. It is an emmenogogue and is taken withwine.

LXXXI. Saffron does not blend well with honey or with anything sweet, butit does so very easily with wine or water. It is very useful in medicine, and iskept in a horn box. It disperses all inflammations, but especially those of theeyes, taken internally a with egg; suffocation of the womb as well, andulcerations of the throat, chest, kidneys, liver, lungs and bladder, being veryuseful indeed for inflammation in particular of these organs, as also for coughand for pleurisy. It removes itching also, and promotes urination. Those whotake saffron first will not feel after-effects of wine and will becomeintoxicated with difficulty. Chaplets too made of it alleviate intoxication. Itinduces sleep, has a gentle action on the head, and is anaphrodisiac. Its blossom, with Cimolian chalk, is used as an application forerysipelas. The plant itself is used as an ingredient in numerous medicines, andthere is one eye-salve to which it has actually given its name.

LXXXII. The lees too of the saffron extracted from saffron juice, whichis calledcrocomagma, have their own uses for cataract and strangury. It is morewarming than saffron itself. The best kind is that which, when put in the mouth,stains with the truest saffron colour the saliva and the teeth.

LXXXIII. The red iris is better than the white one. It conduces to thehealth of babies to have this tied on them, especially when they are teething orsuffering from cough, and to inject it into those troubled with tapeworms. Itsother properties are not much different from those of honey. It cleanses soreson the head, especially abscesses of long standing. Taken in doses of twodrachmae with honey it relaxes the bowels; taken in drink it relieves cough,griping and flatulence, in vinegar, complaints of the spleen. In vinegar andwater it is an antidote against the bites of snakes and of spiders; againststings of scorpions two drachmae by weight are taken in bread or water; fordog-bites and abrasions it is applied in oil. So prepared it is also applied toaching sinews, but for lumbago and sciatica resin is added. Its nature iswarming. Snuffed up through the nostrils it promotes sneezing and clears thehead. For headache it is applied with quinces or with sparrow-apples. It dispelsalso the after-effects of wine and orthopnoea. Taken in doses of two oboli itacts as an emetic. Applied with honey it draws out splinters of broken bone. Forwhitlows its meal is used, wine being added for corns and warts, the plaster notbeing removed for three days. Chewed it sweetens foul breath and offensivearmpits. Its juice softens all indurations. It induces sleep, but dries up thesemen. It heals cracks in the anus and condylomata, and all excrescences on thebody. Some authorities call the wild varietyxyris. This disperses scrofuloussores, superficial abscesses and swellings in the groin. It is recommended thatfor these purposes it should be pulled up with the left hand, and the gatherersshould utter the name of the patient and of the complaint for whose sake theyare pulling it. While speaking of this plant also I will make known thedishonesty of herbalists. They keep back a part of it and of certain otherplants, such as the plantain. If they think their pay insufficient and look forfurther employment, they bury in the same place the part they kept back, Isuppose to make the complaints they have cured break out again. The root ofCeltic valerian boiled down in wine checks vomiting and strengthens the stomach.

LXXXIV.Musaeus andHesiod bid those who are ambitious forhonour and glory to rub themselves over with hulwort, and for hulwort tobe handled, cultivated, carded on the person to neutralize poisons, to be placedunder bedclothes to keep away snakes, to be burnt, to be boiled down, fresh ordry, in wine, and to be used as liniment or taken by the mouth. Physiciansprescribe hulwort for splenic complaints in vinegar, for jaundice in wine, forincipient dropsy boiled down in wine, and so prepared also as a liniment forwounds. It brings away the afterbirth and the dead foetus; it relieves pains ofthe body and empties the bladder; it is applied as ointment for fluxes from theeyes. No other herb makes a more suitable ingredient for the antidote called alexipharmaeon. It is, however, injurious in my opinion to thestomach, and makes the head stuffy, besides causing miscarriage. Some deny this,and go on to add the superstition that, when found, it should for cataract atonce be tied round the neck, care being taken not to let it touch the ground.The same state that its leaves resemble those of thyme, except that they aresofter and of a more downy whiteness. If too it be pounded with wild ruein rain water it is said to lessen the danger of asp bites; and as well as theblue cornflower it binds and closes wounds, preventing them from spreading.

LXXXV. Holochrysos taken in wine cures strangury, and applied as linimentfluxes from the eyes; with burnt lees of wine and pearl barley it removeslichens. The root of chrysocome is warming and astringent. It is given in drinkfor complaints of liver and lungs, while a decoction in hydromel is prescribedfor pains in the womb. It promotes menstruation, and if given raw reduces thewater of dropsy.

LXXXVI. If the hives are rubbed over with melissophyllum (balm),sometimes calledmelittaena, the bees will not fly away, for no flowergives them greater pleasure. With besoms made of this plant swarms arecontrolled with the greatest ease. It is also a most effective remedy for thestings of bees, wasps and similar insects, such as spiders and also scorpions;also with the addition of soda for suffocation of the womb, and in wine forgriping of the bowels. Its leaves are applied to scrofulous sores, and with saltfor affections of the anus. The juice of the boiled plant promotes menstruation,removes inflammations and heals sores. It alleviates diseases of the joints andthe bites of dogs. It is beneficial to sufferers from chronic dysentery and to coeliac patients, asthmatics, and patients with splenic troubles or ulcers onthe chest. It is thought excellent treatment to anoint weak eyes with its juicemixed with honey.

LXXXVII. Melilot too is healing to the eyes when mixed with egg-yolk orlinseed. With rose oil it also relieves pain in the jaws or head, and withraisin wine earache and swellings or eruptions on the hands; boiled down inwine or pounded and raw it is good for pains in the stomach. It has the sameaction on the womb; for the testes, however, prolapsus of the anus and othercomplaints of those parts it should be freshly gathered and boiled down in wateror in raisin wine. With the addition of rose oil it makes an ointment forcarcinoma. It is thoroughly boiled down in sweet wine, and is particularlyeffective in the treatment of the tumours calledmelicerides.

LXXXVIII. I know it is believed that trefoil is an antidote forthe bite of snakes and scorpions, twenty grains of the seed being taken in adrink of wine or of vinegar and water, or leaves with the whole plant are boileddown to make a decoction; that snakes too arc never seen in trefoil; I know toothat it is reported by famous authorities that twenty-five grains of the kind oftrefoil I have calledminyanthes serve as an antidote for all poisons, and thatmany other virtues besides are attributed to it as a remedy. But I am led tooppose their views by the authority of a very reliable man; for the poetSophocles asserts that it is apoisonous, as doesSimos also among thephysicians, saying that the juice of the decocted or pounded plant, when pouredupon the body, produces the same sensations of burning as those felt by personsbitten by a serpent, when this plant is applied to the wound. Wherefore I shouldbe of opinion that it should not be used otherwise than as a counter-poison. Forperhaps this is one of the many cases where one poison is poisonous to otherpoisons. I have likewise noted that the seed of that trefoil the leaves of whichare very small is useful, when applied as face-ointment, for preserving theloveliness of women's skin.

LXXXIX. Thyme ought to be gathered while it is in blossom, and tobe dried in the shade. There are two kinds of thyme:one white, with a wood-likeroot, growing on hills and also the more highly valued; the other kind is darkerand with a dark flower. Both kinds are supposed to be very beneficial forbrightening the vision, whether taken as food or used in medicines, also for achronic cough, to ease expectoration when used as an electuary with vinegar andsalt, to prevent the blood from congealing when taken with honey, to relieve,applied externally with mustard, chronic catarrh of the throat, and alsocomplaints of the stomach and bowels. They should be used, however, inmoderation, since they are heating, and because of this property they areastringent to the bowels; should these become ulcerated, a denarius of thymeshould be added to a sextarius of vinegar and honey, and the same for pain inthe side, or between the shoulder-blades, or in the chest. They cure troubles ofthe hypochondria, taken in vinegar and honey, which draught is also given incases of aberration of mind or of melancholy. Thyme is also administered toepileptics, who when attacked by a fit are revived by its smell. It is said toothat epileptics should sleep on soft thyme. It is good also for asthma,difficult breathing, and delayed menstruation; or if the embryo in the womb bedead, thyme boiled down in water to one third proves useful, as thyme moreoverdoes to men also, if taken with honey and vinegar, for flatulence, for swellingsof the belly or testes, or for maddening pain in the bladder. An application inwine removes tumours and inflammations, and in vinegar callosities andwarts. It is applied with wine for sciatica; pounded and sprinkled in oil onwool it is used for affections of the joints and for sprains, with lard it isapplied to burns. It is also administered as a draught in the early stages ofaffections of the joints, three oboli of thyme in three cyathi of vinegar andhoney; pounded, with the addition of salt, it is used for loss of appetite.

XC. Hemerocalles has a soft leaf of a pale green, and a scentedbulbous root, which applied with honey to the belly drives out watery humoursand also harmful to blood. The leaves are applied for fluxes of the eyes andfor pains in the breasts after childbirth.

XCI. Helenium, which had its origin, as I have said, in the tears ofHelen, is believed to preserve physical charm, and to keep unimpaired the freshcomplexion of our women, whether of the face or of the rest of the body.Moreover, it is supposed that by its use they gain a kind of attractiveness andsex-appeal. To this plant when taken in wine is attributed the power ofstimulating gaiety, the power possessed by the famous nepenthes extolled byHomer of banishing all sorrow. Italso has a very sweet juice. The root of it, taken in water fasting, is good forasthma; inside it is white and sweet. It is also taken in wine for snake bites.Pounded it is said further to kill mice.

XCII. Of southernwood authorities mention two kinds: the field and themountain. The latter, they would have us understand, is female, the former male;both are as bitter as wormwood. The Sicilian is the most highly praised, nextcomes that of Galatia. While some use is made of the leaves, the seed is moreuseful for warming, for which reason it is good for sinews, cough, asthma,convulsions, ruptures, lumbago and strangury. Some handfuls are boiled down toone third, and given to drink in doses of four cyathi. The pounded seed also isgiven in water, a drachma at a time. It is also beneficial to the uterus. Withbarley meal it brings to a head superficial abscesses, and it is applied as aliniment for inflammation of the eyes, a quince being boiled with it. It keepssnakes away, and for their bites is either taken or applied with wine, beingvery effective against those creatures whose venom causes shivering and chills,scorpions for instance and poisonous spiders; taken in drink it is good forother poisons, taken in any way it is good for chill fits, and for withdrawingsubstances embedded in the flesh. It also forces out noxious things from theintestines. They say that a spray of it, laid under the pillow, acts as anaphrodisiac, and that the plant is a most effective countercheck of all magicpotions given to produce sexual impotence.

XCIII. Leucanthemum mixed with twice the quantity of vinegar isbeneficial to asthmatics. Sampsuchum (otherwiseamaraeum, sweet marjoram) ofwhich the most valued, and the most fragrant, comes from Cyprus, counteracts thestings of scorpions, if applied in vinegar and salt. An application is also verybeneficial for irregular menstruation. This plant has less efficacy when takenin drink. With pearl barley it also checks fluxes from the eyes. The juice ofthe boiled plant relieves gripings. The plant is useful for strangury anddropsy, and in a dry state excites sneezing. There is also made from it an oil,calledsampsuchinum oramaraeinum, used for warming and softening the sinews,which also warms the uterus. The leaves too are good with honey for bruises andwith wax for sprains.

XCIV. Up to the present I have spoken only of the anemone used forchaplets; I shall now describe the kinds used in medicine. There are somewho use the namephrenion. There are two kinds of it: one is wild, and the othergrows on cultivated ground, though both prefer a sandy soil. Of the cultivatedanemone there are several species; for it has either a scarlet flowerthis isalso the most plentifulor a purple one, or one the colour of milk. The leavesof all these are like the leaves of parsley, and rarely does the plant exceedhalf a foot in height, the head resembling that of asparagus. The flower neveropens except when the wind is blowing, a fact to which it owes its name. Thewild anemone is the larger, and its leaves are broader, the flower beingscarlet. Many have been misled into identifying the wild anemone with the argemone, others again with the poppy that I have calledrhoeas. But there is agreat difference between them, because these two blossom after the anemone,which does not yield a juice like theirs, has not their calyx, and there is nolikeness except the head like asparagus. Anemones are good for headache andinflammations, for uterine complaints and for lacteal troubles. They alsopromote menstruation when taken with barley water or used on a wool pessary. Theroot chewed brings away phlegm, is healing to the teeth and when boiled down tofluxes of the I eyes and to scars. The Magi have attributed to the anemones akind of mystic potency, recommending that the plant which is first seen shouldbe taken up in that year with the utterance that it is being gathered as aremedy for tertian and quartan agues; after this the blossoms must be wrapped upin a red rag and kept in the shade, and so be used, should occasion arise, as anamulet. If the crushed root of the anemone bearing a scarlet flower be appliedto the skin of any living creature, it produces a sore by reason of itsastringent qualities, and for this reason it is employed for cleansingulcerous sores.

XCV. The plant oenanthe grows on rocks, and has a leaf like that ofparsnip and a large root, with several heads. Its stem and leaves taken withhoney and dark wine make childbirth easy and bring away the afterbirth; takenin honey they are a cure for coughs, and also diuretic. The root also curescomplaints of the bladder.

XCVI. Heliochrysus is called by somechrysanthemon. It has sprigsof a shining white, and leaves of a dull whitish colour, like those ofsouthernwood, with as it were clusters hanging down all round it, which glistenlike gold when reflecting the light of the sun, and never fade. For this reasonthey make chaplets of it for the gods, a custom whichPtolemy king of Egypt very faithfullyobserved. It grows in shrubberies. Taken in wine it is diuretic and promotesmenstruation. It disperses indurations and inflammations; for burns it isapplied with honey. For snake bites and lumbago it is taken in drink. With honeywine it removes congealed blood in the belly or bladder. Three oboli by weightof its leaves, pounded and taken in white wine, check excessive menstruation. Itprotects clothes by its smell, which however is not unpleasant.

XCVII. The hyacinth grows chiefly in Gaul. There they use it toimpart a shade to the dye hysginum. The root is bulbous, and well knownto slave-dealers, for applied in sweet wine it checks the signs ofpuberty, and does not let them develop. It relieves colic and counteracts thebites of spiders. It is diuretic. For snake bites, scorpion stings and jaundiceits seed is given mixed with southernwood.

XCVIIL The seed of lychnis too, that flame-coloured flower, is crushedand taken in wine for snake bites and for the stings of scorpions, hornets andthe like. The wild variety of this plant is injurious to the stomach. Itloosens the bowels, in doses of two drachmae, bringing away bile mosteffectively, and is so hurtful to scorpions that the mere sight of it sends theminto complete stupor. Its root is calledbolites by the people of Asia; tiedover the eye it is said to remove white film on the pupil.

XCIX. The vicapervica, otherwisechamaedaphne, dried and crushed is givenin water for dropsy in doses of a small spoonful, under which treatmentthe patient very quickly loses the water. A decoction of it in ash and sprinkledwith wine dries tumours. Its juice cures complaints of the ears. Anapplication to the belly is said to be very beneficial indeed for diarrhoea.

C. A decoction of the root of butcher's broom is given every other dayfor stone in the bladder, for painful urination, or for blood in theurine. The root ought to be dug up on one day and the decoction made on themorning of the next, a sextarius of it being mixed with two cyathi of wine.There are some also who take in water the pounded root raw, and it isconsidered that nothing is more wholly beneficial to the male genitals than itssmall stalks pound and used in vinegar.

CI. Batis (sea-fennel) too relaxes the bowels. Crushed up it isused raw as a liniment for gout. The Egyptians sow acinos both forchaplets and for food; it would be just the same as ocimum were it not for itsrougher branches and leaves, and for its very strong smell. It is both anemmenagogue and diuretic.

CII. Colocasia, according to Glaucias, mellows the acrid humoursof the body, and is beneficial to the stomach.

CIII. Anthalium is a food of the Egyptians, but I have beenable to find no other use of it. There is however a plant calledanthyllium bysome and by othersanthyllum, of which there are two kinds. One in leaves andbranches is like the lentil, a palm in height, growing on sandy soils withplenty of sun, and slightly salt to the taste. The other kind is like thechamaepitys, but smaller and rougher, with a purple flower and a strong smell,and growing in rocky places. The former kind is very useful for uterineaffections and for wounds, being applied with rose oil and milk. It is taken indrink for strangury and gravel of the kidneys in doses of three drachmae. Theother kind is taken by the month with honey and vinegar in doses of fourdrachmae for indurations of the womb, gripings of the bowels, and epilepsy.

CIV. Parthenium is calledleucanthes by some, andamaracum byothers.Celsus, among the Latin writerscalls itperdicium andmuralis. It grows in the hedges of gardens, and has awhite flower, the smell of an apple and a bitter taste. A decoction of thisplant is used to make a sitsbath for induration and inflammation of the womb,and the dried plant is applied with honey and vinegar to bring away black bile.For this reason it is good for dizziness and stone in the bladder. It is usedas an application for erysipelas, and also with old axle-grease forscrofulous sores. For tertian agues the Magi recommend us to gather itwith the left hand without looking back, while saying for whose sake it is beinggathered; then a leaf of it should be placed under the tongue of the patient tobe swallowed presently in a cyathus of water.

CV. Trychnos, spelt by some strychnos, I wish the Egyptian florists didnot use for their chaplets; they are tempted to do so by theresemblance of the leaves of both kinds to those of ivy. One of thesekinds, bearing in a seed-bag scarlet berries with a stone in them, is calledhalieacabos, by otherseallion, and by our countrymen bladder-wort, because ofits usefulness in cases of stone and other complaints of the bladder. It is awoody shrub rather than a plant, with large, broad, conical seed-bags, with alarge stone inside, which ripens in November. A third kind has the leaves ofbasil, and should receive the briefest of descriptions from one who is dealingwith remedies, not poisons, for a very small amount of the juice causes madness.Yet the Greek writers have actually made a jest of this property. For they havesaid that a dose of one drachma plays tricks with the sense of shame, speakingof hallucinations and realistic visions; that a double dose causes downrightinsanity; any addition moreover to the dose bringing instant death. This is thepoison which in their innocence very unsophisticated writers have calleddorycnion because spears before battle had their points dipped in it, as itgrows everywhere. Those who censured it less severely gave it the namemanicon;those who from evil motives tried to keep its nature secret called iterythron,orneuras, or (as a few did)perisson, but there is no need to go intomore details even for the sake of giving a warning. There is besides anotherkind, with the name ofhalicacabos, which is soporific, and kills quicker eventhan opium, by some calledmorion and by othersmoly, yet praised byDiocles andEvenor, byTimaristus indeed even in verse, with astrange forgetfulness of harmless remedies, actually because it is, they say, aquick remedy for strengthening loose teeth to rinse them in wine andhalicacabos. They added a proviso, that the rinsing must not go on too long, fordelirium is caused thereby. Remedies should not be described the use of whichinvolves the danger of a yet more serious evil. Accordingly, although a thirdkind of this plant is in favour as a food, and although its flavour is preferredto that of other garden produce, and althoughXenocrates prescribes trychnos as being beneficial for every bodily ill,yet the genus is not so helpful that I consider it right on this account to giveany more details, especially when the supply is so abundant of harmlessremedies. The root of halicacabos is taken in drink by those who, to confirmsuperstitious notions, wish to play the inspired prophet, and to be publiclyseen raving in unpretended madness. The remedy for it, which I am happier tomention, is a copious draught of hot hydromel. Nor will I pass over this: thatbalicacabos is so antipathetic to the nature of asps that if its root bebrought near it stupefies that very power of theirs to kill by stupefaction.Therefore pounded and in oil it is a help to those who have been bitten.

CVI. Corchorum is a plant eaten at Alexandria. It has rolled up leaves,like those of the mulberry, and is beneficial, they say, to the hypochondria,for mange and for freckles. I find also that scab in cattle is very quicklyhealed by it, and that according toNicanderthe bites of snakes also, if gathered before it blossoms.

CVII. Nor would it be right to describe fully the cnecos,otherwise atractylis, an Egyptian plant, were it not for the great help itaffords against venomous creatures as well as against poisonous fungi. It is awell-known fact that so long as they hold this plant, those stung by scorpionsfeel no sharp pain.

CVIII. The Egyptians plant pesoluta too in their gardens, using itfor chaplets. There are two kinds, female and male; both, it is said, placedunder the genitals, are antaphrodisiac, especially for men.

CIX. Since I have frequently to use Greek names when giving weights and measures, I will add at this place their equivalents, once and for all. The Attic drachma, for it is generally the Attic standard that physicians adopt, has the weight of a silver denarius, and the same makes six oboli, the obolus being ten chalci. The cyathus as a measure weighs ten drachmae; when the measure of an acetabulum is spoken of, it means the quarter of a hemina, that is fifteen drachmae. Themna, that our countrymen call themina, weighs one hundred Attic drachmae.

I. NATURE and our earth might have filled the measure of ourwonder at them in anyone who reviews even the preceding volume only, with allNature's gifts in it, and all the kinds of plants created for the needs orpleasures of mankind. But how many more kinds remain, and how much morewonderful they are in their discovery! For of the plants mentioned already thegreater number, owing to their excellence as food, perfume or ornament, haveled to repeated experiments; of the rest it is their efficacy that proves thatnothing is created by Nature without some more hidden reason than those justmentioned.

II. Now I notice that some foreign peoples use certain plants on theirpersons both to make themselves more handsome and also to keep up traditionalcustom. At any rate among barbarian tribes the women stain the face, using, someone plant and some another; and the men too among the Daci and the Sarmataetattoo their own bodies. In Gaul there is a plant like the plantain, calledglastum; with it the wives of the Britons, and their daughters-in-law,stain all the body, and at certain religious ceremonies march along naked, witha colour resembling that of Ethiopians.

III. Moreover we know that clothes are dyed with a wonderful dye from aplant, and, to say nothing of the fact that, of the berries of Galatia, Africa,and Lusitania, the 'coccum' is specially served to colour the militarycloaks of our generals, Transalpine Gaul can produce with vegetable dyes Tyrianpurple, oyster purple and all other colours. To get these nobody seeks the murexoyster in the depths, offering his person as bait to sea monsters while hehastens to snatch his booty, and exploring a bottom that no anchor yet hastouched, merely to discover the means for a matron to charm her paramour moreeasily and for a seducer to ensnare another's wife. There one stands onland to harvest dyes as we harvest crops; and though there is a complaint thatthe dye washes out with use, except for this defect luxury could have bedeckeditself in brighter colours, and certainly with less risk to life. It is not myintention now to treat this subject fully, but I shall not pass it overentirely, so that I may, by suggesting cheaper materials, curb luxury byexpediency, and on another occasion I shall tell how walls are dyed instead ofbeing painted in mosaics. Yet I should not have left out the craft of dyeingaltogether, had it ever been included among the liberal arts. In the meantime Ishall take a bolder line, and there shall be assigned even to dull, that is tosay, lowly plants all the dignity that is their due, since it is a fact that thefounders and enlargers of the Roman Empire derived from this source also animmense advantage, because it was from them that came the tufts used when theState needed cures, and also the vervains required in holy ceremonies and inembassies. At any rate both names mean the same thing, that is, a turf from thecitadel pulled up with its own earth; and on every occasion when envoys weresent to the enemy to perform clarigatio, that is to demand in loud tonesthe restitution of plundered property, one in particular was calledvervainbearer.

IV. No crown indeed has been a higher honour than the crown ofgrass among the rewards for glorious deeds given by the sovereign people, lordsof the earth. Jewelled crowns, golden crowns, crowns for scaling enemyramparts or walls, or for boarding men-of-war, the civic crown for saving thelife of a citizen, the triumph crownthese were instituted later than this grasscrown, and all differ from it greatly, in distinction as in character. All theothers have been given by individuals and personally by generals and commandersto their soldiers, or occasionally to their colleagues, or have been decreed intriumphs by a Senate freed from the anxiety of war and by a people enjoyingpeace; the grass crown has never been conferred except upon the leader of aforlorn hope, being voted only by the whole army and only to him who rescued it.The other crowns have been conferred by commanders, this alone on a commanderby his soldiers. The same crown is called the siege crown when a whole camp hasbeen relieved and saved from awful destruction.

But if the civic crown is deemed a glorious and hallowed distinction becausethe life has been saved of only one and even maybe the lowliest citizen, what,pray, ought to be thought of the preservation of a whole army by the courage ofone man? This crown used to be made from green grass pulled up from the sitewhere the besieged men had been relieved by some one. For in old times it wasthe most solemn token of defeat for the conquered to present grass to theirconquerors, for to do so meant that they withdrew from their land, from the verysoil that nurtured them and even from means of burial. This custom, I know,exists even today among the Germans.

V. L. Siccius Dentatus waspresented with this crown but once, although he earned fourteen civic crowns andfought out one hundred and twenty battles, victorious in all. So much rarer athing is it for a decoration to be conferred by rescued men upon the one man whorescued them. Certain commanders have even been decorated more than once,P. Decius Mus, for instance, whenmilitary tribune, once by his own army, and again by those who formed therelieved garrison. He showed by a devout act how great a dignity thisdistinction brought with it, seeing that after the presentation he sacrificed toMars a white bull, as well as the hundred tawny ones which at the same time hadbeen given to him by the relieved garrison in recognition of his courage. ThisDecius afterwards when consul withEmperiosus as his colleague sacrificed himself as a victim in order to securevictory. It was also given by the Senate and People of Romethe highestdistinction in my opinion that a human being can attain toto that Fabius who 'restored the whole RomanState' by refusing to fight, not however on the occasion when he rescued theMaster of the Horse and his army; it was then thought preferable for a crown anda new title, 'Father,' to be given him by those whom he had rescued. Theunanimous vote I spoke of gave him the honour whenHannibal was driven from Italy, and thecrown was the only one placed on the recipient's head by the hand of the Stateitself, anda special feature in the case of Fabiusit was the only one given by the whole of Italy.

VI. Besides these the distinction of the grass crown has been won forservice in Sicily by M. Calpurnius Flamma,tribune of the soldiers, and in the war with the Cimbri by Cn.Petreius of Atina, the only centurion toreceive it up to the present time. Serving as Head Centurion underCatulus, he harangued his legion when itwas cut off by the enemy, killed his own tribune when he hesitated to breakthrough the enemy camp, and brought the legion out. I find in my authoritiesthat in addition to this honour the same man, with the consulsMarius andCatulus at his side, offered sacrifice,wearing the magisterial gown, on a brazier placed for the purpose, and to themusic of the piper.Sulla the Dictatoralso has written that he too was presented by his army with this crown beforeNola, when he was lieutenant-general inthe Marsian war, and moreover had the scene painted in his Tusculan villa,afterwards the property ofCicero. IfSulla tells the truth, it would make medescribe him as all the more detestable, because by his proscription he with hisown hand tore the crown from his own head, so much fewer were the citizens hesaved than those whom he afterwards slew. Let him also add to this distinctionthe proud surname ofFelix, neverthelesshe himself resigned toSertorius thiscrown when he besieged the proscribed in every part of the world.Scipio Aemilianus also was, according toVarro, presented with the siege crown inAfrica whenManilius was consul, havingrescued three cohorts with three others led out to rescue them. Such is thestory carved under Scipio's statue byAugustus,now in Heaven, in the Forum Augusti.Augustushimself, in the consulship ofMarcus Cicerojunior, was on the 13th September presented with the siege crown by the Senate;so inadequate was the civic crown thought to be. Nobody else at all, I find, hasreceived this distinction.

VII. There were therefore no special plants used in making this crown,but whatever plants had been found on the site of the peril, however lowly andmean, these gave the honour its nobility. That such ignorance about thecomposition of this crown is rife amongst us I consider less strange when I seethe further indifference to the means of preserving health, of banishingphysical pain and of warding off death. But who could not with justice censuremodern ways? The cost of living has been increased by luxuries and extravagance;never has there been more zest for life or less care taken of it. We believethat care of our life is the duty of others, that others make it their businesson instructions from us, and that physicians have already providedfor our needs. The enjoyment of pleasures is our personal affair, but our liveswe entrust to the charge of somebody else, thereby incurring what I personallyhold to be the worst possible disgrace. Moreover, most people actually laugh atme for carrying on research in these matters, and I am accused of busying myselfwith trifles. It is, however, a great comfort to me in my vast toil to know thatNature too, not I alone, incurs this contempt, for I shall show that she atleast has not failed us, having put remedies even into plants that we dislike,seeing that she has given healing properties even to those armed with pricklesand thorns. For these remain to be discussed next after those plants I mentionedin the preceding book, as even in them we cannot sufficiently apprehend andadmire the forethought of Nature. She had given already the soft plants I spokeof that make pleasant foods; she had coloured the remedies in flowers, and bythe mere sight had attracted our attention, combining the helpful with what isactually delightful. Then she devised some so repellent to look at, so cruel tothe touch, that we seem almost to hear the voice of Nature justifying herself asshe fashions them, and saying that she so creates them lest any greedy animalbrowse on her own self, any wanton hands steal, any careless steps crush, or anyperching bird break; by defending them with these thorns, by arming them withweapons, she is making a protection and safety for her remedies. This very thingthen that we hate in them has been devised for the sake of mankind.

VIII. Especially famous among spinous plants is the erynge, oreryngion, that grows to counteract snake bites and all poisons. For stings andbites its root in doses of one drachma is taken in wine, or in water if (asusually happens) such injuries are also accompanied by fever. It is applied tothe wounds, being a specific for those caused by amphibious snakes and frogs.Heraclides the physician is of opinionthat boiled in goose broth it is more efficacious than any other remedy foraconite and other poisoning.Apollodoruswould boil it with a frog a for poisoning, the other authorities say inwater only. The plant itself is hardy, bushy, with prickly leaves and jointedstem, a cubit high or occasionally taller, partly palish in colour, partly dark,and with a fragrant root. While it is a cultivated plant it also grows wild onrough, stony ground and on the sea shore, when it is more hardy and darker, witha leaf like that of celery.

IX. Of these the pale variety is called 'hundred heads' by ourcountrymen. All kinds have the same properties, and the Greeks make a food ofthe stem and the root, served in either way you like, boiled or eaten raw.Marvellous is the chnracteristic reported of it, that its root grows into thelikeness of the organs of one sex or the other; it is rarely so found, butshould the male form come into the possession of men, they become lovable in theeyes of women. This, it is said, is howPhaonof Lesbos too won the love ofSappho,there being much idle trifling on this subject not only among the Magi but alsoamong the Pythagoreans. When used in medicine, however, besides the advantagesmentioned above, it relieves flatulence, colic, affections of the heart,stomach, liver and hypochondria, if taken in hydromel, and the spleen if takenin vinegar and water. With hydromel again it helps the kidneys, strangury,opisthotonic tetanus, cramp, lumbago, dropsy, epilepsy, deficiency or excess inmenstruation, and all affections of the uterus. With honey it draws outsubstances embedded in the flesh. Applied with salted axle-grease and waxointment it heals scrofulous sores, parotid tumours, superficial abscesses, andthe falling away of flesh from the bones; fractures also. Taken beforehand itkeeps off the after-effects of wine, and checks looseness of the bowels. Some ofour countrymen have recommended it to be gathered near the summer solstice andto be applied with rain water for all affections of the neck. Some have recordedthat albugo also of the eyes is cured by using it as an amulet.

X. Some with eryngium class acanus also, a thorny, short and broad plant,with rather broad thorns. An application of it is said to be wonderfully goodfor checking haemorrhage.

XI. Some have incorrectly thought that erynge is the same as liquorice,which therefore should come immediately after erynge in my discussion. The plantitself is undoubtedly among the spinous ones, with prickly, fleshy, gummyleaves, bushy, two cubits high, with a flower like the hyacinth, and fruit thesize of the little balls of the plane tree. The finest grows in Cilicia, thenext best in Pontus; it has a sweet root, the only part to be used. It is dug upat the setting of the Pleiades, and is as long as lycium root, theboxwood-coloured being superior to the dark and the pliant to the brittle. To beused as a suppository it is boiled down to one-third, for other purposes to theconsistency of honey, though occasionally it is pounded, in which form it isapplied to wounds and for all affections of the throat. Merely thickened andthen placed under the tongue the juice is good for the voice; it is also goodfor the chest and liver. I have already stated that this root allays hunger andthirst, for which reason some have named itadipsos (thirst-quencher), andprescribed it for dropsy, in order to prevent thirst. Because of this propertyit is chewed as a mouth medicine, and it is often sprinkled on sores in themouth and inflammatory swellings of the eyelids. It also cures irritation ofthe bladder, pains in the kidneys, tumours of the anus, and sores on thegenitals. Some have prescribed it in a draught for quartan ague, in doses oftwo drachmae by weight, with pepper, to be taken in a hemina ofwater. Chewed, it checks the flow of blood from a wound. Some authorities haveasserted that it also expels stone from the bladder.

XII. One kind of caltrop grows in gardens, the other only inrivers. From both the juice is collected to make eye medicines, for it is of acooling nature and therefore useful for inflammations and abscesses. Mixed withhoney it heals sores that break out of themselves, especially those in themouth, and also sore tonsils. Taken in drink it breaks up stone in the bladder.The Thracians on the banks of the Strymon feed their horses on the leaves of thecaltrop, themselves living on the kernel, out of which they make a very pleasantbread, and one to bind the bowels. The root, if gathered in chastity and purity,disperses scrofulous sores; the seed used as an amulet soothes painful varicoseveins; pounded, moreover, and sprinkled in water it kills fleas.

XIII. Stoebe, which some callpheos, boiled in wine is specificfor suppurating ears, as well as for black eyes. It is injected into the bowelsfor haemorrhage and dysentery.

XIV. Hippophaes grows on sandy soils and by the sea. It has palethorns, and clusters, like those of ivy, with berries partly white and partlyred. Its root is rich in a juice which is either dispensed by itself or made upinto lozenges with vetch meal. An obolus by weight carries off bile, mosthealthfully if taken with honey wine. There is another hippophaes, consistingonly of very small leaves without stem or flower. The juice of this also iswonderfully good for dropsy. They must be well suited to the constitution ofhorses too, and must also have received their name for this and no other reason.The fact is that certain plants are created to be remedies for the diseases ofanimals, the Deity being bounteous in producing protections for them, so that itis impossible to admire enough his wisdom, which arranges the aids according tothe type of disease, the cause of it, and its season. Each period of the yearhas its own appropriate remedy, and scarcely can any be found that is withoutits safeguards.

XV. What can be more hateful than the nettle? Yet this plant, to saynothing of the oil which I have said is made from it in Egypt, simply abounds inremedies. Nicander assures us that itsseed counteracts hemlock, and also the poison of fungi and of mercury.Apollodorus says that with the broth ofboiled tortoise it is good for salamander bites, and as an antidote for henbane,snake bites and scorpion stings. Moreover, its pungent bitterness itself, by themere touch, forces to subside swollen uvulas, restoring prolapsus of the uterus,and of the anus of babies, besides waking up lethargus patients if it touchestheir legs or better still their forehead. The same plant with the addition ofsalt heals dog bites; pounded and inserted it arrests nose bleeding, the rootproving even better. Mixed with salt it heals carcinoma and foul ulcers,likewise sprains, superficial abscesses, parotid abscesses and falling away offlesh from the bones. The seed taken with boiled must relieves suffocation ofthe uterus, and an application checks bleeding at the nose. Taken in hydromelafter dinner in a dose of two oboli it makes vomiting easy, while one obolus inwine refreshes after fatigue. Uterine affections are relieved by an acetabulumof the roasted seed, and flatulence by taking it in boiled must. With honey itrelieves asthma, clears the chest by the same made into an electuary, and withlinseed cures pain in the side. Hyssop may be added and a little pepper. It isused as an application for the spleen; roasted and taken as food it loosensconstipated bowels.Hippocratesdeclares that taken in drink it purges the uterus, that an acetabulum of itroasted and taken in sweet wine and applied with mallow juice relieves uterinepains, that intestinal worms are expelled if it be taken with hydromel and salt,and that a liniment made from its seed replaces disfiguring loss of hair. Foraffections of the joints and for gout most prescribe application of it with oldoil or of the pounded leaves with bears' grease. The crushed root with vinegaris no less useful for the same purposes, and also for the spleen, and boiled inwine and mixed with old and salted axle-grease it disperses superficialabscesses. The same root dried is a depilatory.Phanias the naturalist has sung its praises, maintaining that eitherboiled or preserved it is a most useful food for the trachea, cough, bowelcatarrh, the stomach, superficial abscesses, parotid swellings and chilblains,that with oil it is sudorific, boiled with shell-fish a laxative, that withbarley-water it clears the chest and promotes menstruation, and that mixed withsalt it arrests creeping sores. For the juice too a use is found. An extractapplied to the forehead checks bleeding at the nose; a draught is diuretic,breaks up stone in the bladder, and used as a gargle reduces the uvula. The seedshould be gathered at harvest time, that of Alexandria being most prized. Forall these purposes, though the milder and tender nettles are efficacious, thewell known wild variety is particularly so, and it has this further merit, whentaken in wine, of removing leprous sores from the face. We are told that shouldan animal resist conception, its parts should be rubbed with a nettle.

XVI. That species of nettle which I have calledlamium(dead-nettle), a very mild kind with leaves that do not sting, cures with asprinkling of salt contusions, bruises, burns, scrofulous sores, tumours, goutypains and wounds. The middle of the leaf is white, and cures erysipelas. Certainof our countrymen have distinguished nettles by their season, stating that thedisease is cured if the root of the autumn nettle is used as an amulet fortertian ague, provided that when this root is dug up the names of the patientsbe uttered and it be said for what man it is taken up and who his parentsare, the same method is effective in quartan agues The same authorities add thatthe root of the nettle with salt added, extracts bodies embedded in the flesh,that the leaves with axle-grease disperse scrofulous swellings, or, ifthey have suppurated, cause them to clear up and new flesh to be formed.

XVII. Association has given its name to the scorpion plant. For it hasseed that resembles the tail of the scorpion, but only a few leaves. It hasmoreover power over the creature of the same name. There is also another kind,with the same name and properties, that is leafless, with the stem of asparagus,having on its head the sharp point which has given the plant its name.

XVIII. Leucacantha, also calledphyllos,ischas, orpolygonatum, has aroot like that of cypirus, which when chewed relieves toothache; pains also inthe sides and loins, as Hicesiusteaches, the seed or juice being taken in drink, and the dose being eightdrachmae. The same plant is used for the cure of ruptures and convulsions.

XIX. Helxine, called by someperdicium (partridge plant) becausepartridges are particularly fond of eating it, by otherssideritis, and by a fewpeopleparthenium, has leaves that resemble partly those of the plantain andpartly those of horehound, stalks small, close together and reddish in colour,and, in bur-shaped heads, seeds that cling to the clothes. Hence is derived,some hold, the name helxine. The characteristics, however, of thegenuine helxine I have described in the preceding book, but this helxine dyeswool, cures erysipelas, every kind of tumour or boil, burns and superficialabscesses. Its juice with white-lead cures also incipient swelling of thethroat, and a draught of a cyathus cures chronic cough and all complaints inmoist parts, like the tonsils; with rose oil it is good for the ears. It is alsoapplied, with goat suet and Cyprian wax, to gouty limbs.

XX. Perdieium or parthenium or, to give it yet another name,sideritis,is another plant, called by some of our countrymenurceolaris, by othersastercoin. It has a leaf similar to that of basil, only darker, and it grows ontiles and among ruins. Pounded and sprinkled with a pinch of salt it cures thesame diseases as dead-nettle, all of them, and is administered in the same way.The juice too taken hot is good for abscesses, and is remarkably good forconvulsions, ruptures, bruises caused by slipping or by falling from a height,for instance, when vehicles overturn. A household slave, a favourite of Pericles, first citizen of Athens, whenengaged in building the temple on the Acropolis, crawled on the top of the highroof and fell. He is said to have been cured by this plant, which in a dream wasprescribed toPericles by Minerva;therefore it began to be calledparthenium, and was consecrated tothat goddess. This is the slave whose portrait was cast in bronze, the famousEntrail Roaster.

XXI. The chamaeleon is called by someixia. There are two kinds of it.The whiter has rougher leaves, and creeps along the ground raising its pricklesas the hedgehog does his quills; it has a sweet root and a strong smell. In somedistricts it exudes a white viscous substance just where the leaves join thestem, especially about the time the Dog-star rises, in the way frankincense issaid to form, and this is why it is also called ixia. Women use it aschewing-gum. The other name chamaeleon comes from the varied colour of itsleaves; for it changes its colour with the soildark here, green there, in someplaces blue, in others saffron yellow, and of other colours elsewhere. Adecoction of the root of the white variety cures dropsy, the dose being adrachma taken in raisin wine. Intestinal parasites also are expelled by a doseof an acetabulum of the same juice taken in a harsh wine with sprigs of wildmarjoram. It is diuretic. Dogs too and pigs are killed by this juice in pearlbarley with water and oil added. It attracts mice to itself, and kills them,unless they swallow water at once. Some people recommend that its root be cut upand kept suspended by cords, and be boiled in food against those fluxes whichthe Greeks call ρευματισμοί. Of the dark variety that with a purpleflower is said by some to be the male plant, that with a violet flower thefemale. They grow together, with a stem a cubit high and of the thickness of afinger. Their roots, boiled with sulphur together with bitumen, cure lichen;chewed, moreover, or boiled down in vinegar, they tighten loose teeth, and thejuice cures the scab in animals. It kills ticks on dogs, as well as bullocks,choking them as a quinsy does, for which reason some call itulophonon, and itis also called, because of its offensive smell, cynozolon. These plants tooproduce a viscous substance, which is very good for sores. The roots too of alltheir kinds are an antidote to the sting of the scorpion.

XXII. Hartshorn is a longish plant with fissures. Sometimes it iscultivated, because its root, roasted in hot ashes, is a splendid remedy forcoeliac complaints.

XXIII. Alkanet too has a useful root, which is of the thickness ofa finger. It is split into small divisions like the papyrus, and stains thehands the colour of blood; it prepares wool for costly colours. Applied in waxointment it heals ulcerous sores, especially those of the aged, and also burns.Insoluble in water, it dissolves in oil, and this is the test of genuineness. Adrachma of it is given to be taken in wine for pains in the kidneys, or if therebe fever, in a decoction of behen nut; also for affections of the liver andspleen and for violent biliousness. It is applied in vinegar to leprous soresand freckles. The pounded leaves, with honey and meal, are applied to sprains,and doses of two drachmae in honey wine check looseness of the bowels. Fleasare said to be killed by a decoction of the root in water.

XXIV. There is also another plant, whichbeing like ilkanet is calledbastard alkanet, though some call itechis ordoris or by many other names; it is more downy than the other and less fleshy,the leaves are thinner and more flabby. The root in oil does not give out a redjuice, by which test it is distinguished from true alkanet. The leaves or seedtaken in drink are a very sure antidote to snake bite. The leaves are applied tostings and bites, and their strong smell keeps snakes away. A draught too ismade from the plant for affections of the spine. The Magi recommend that a leafof it should be gathered with the left hand, with a declaration for whom it isbeing taken, and used as an amulet for tertian fevers.

XXV. There is another plant also, the proper name of which is onochilon,called by some people anchusa, or archebion, or onochelis, or rhexia, and bymany enchrysa. It has a short base, a purple flower, rough leaves andbranches, a root blood-red at harvest time, though dark at other times, growingon sandy soils, an antidote to the bites of serpents, especially of vipers, bothroot and leaves being equally efficacious in food and in drink. Its propertiesare strongest at harvest time. Its leaves when pounded give out the smell ofcucumber. It is given in doses of three cyathi for prolapsus of the uterus. Withhyssop it also drives out tapeworms, and for pain of the kidneys or liver it istaken in hydromel, should there be fever, otherwise in wine. The root is appliedlocally for freckles and leprous sores. It is said that while having it on theirperson people are never bitten by serpents. There is also another plant similarto this, but smaller, with a red flower, which is also used for the samepurposes. It is said that if this plant be chewed, and then spat out on aserpent, the serpent dies.

XXVI. Chamomile is most highly praised by Asclepiades. Some call it whitechamomile, othersleucanthemum, otherseranthemis, because it blossoms inspring, others ground-apple (chamemelon), because it has the smell of an apple.A few call itmelanthion. Its three varieties differ only in their blossom; theyare no taller than a span, with small leaves like those of rue, and with blossomthat is white or apple-yellow or purple. It is gathered in spring on thin soilsor near footpaths, and put by for making chaplets. At the same seasonphysicians also make up into lozenges the pounded leaves, as well as the blossomand the root. All three are mixed and given in doses of one drachma for thebites of every kind of snake. Taken in drink they bring away the dead foetus,are emmenagogues and diuretic, as well as good for stone, flatulence,affections of the liver, for excessive secretion of bile and for fistula of theeye; chewed it heals running sores. Of all these kinds the most efficacious forstone in the bladder is that which has a purple flower, the leaves and stem ofwhich arc of a rather larger size. Some people give the name eranthemisexclusively to this variety.

XXVII. Those who think that the lotus isonly a tree can be refuted even by the authority ofHomer, who among the plants that grow upto serve the pleasure of the gods mentions the lotus first. Its leaves withhoney cause to disappear scars on the eyes, films on the eyes and argema.

XXVIII. We have also the lotometra, a plant derived from the lotus. Fromits rotted seed, which is like millet, are made by the shepherds in Egypt loavesthat they knead mostly with water or milk. It is said that no bread is morehealthful or lighter than this, so long as it is warm, but when cold it becomesheavy and difficult of digestion. It is an established fact that those who liveon it are never attacked by dysentery, tenesmus, or any other disease of thebowels. Accordingly it is considered to be one of the remedies for suchailments.

XXIX. I have spoken more than once of the marvel of heliotropium, which turns round with the sun even on a cloudy day, so great a love it has for that, luminary. At night it closes its blue flower as though it mourned. There are two varietiestricoccum and helioscopium. The latter is the taller, althoughneither is more than half a foot in height, and sends out branches from a singleroot. Its seed, enclosed in a pod, is gathered at harvest time. It grows nowherebut in a rich, well cultivated soil, but tricoccum grows everywhere. I find itsaid that, boiled, it is an agreeable sauce, that in milk it is a gentlelaxative, and that a draught of the decoction is a most drastic purge. Thejuice of the taller plant is collected in summer at the sixth hour; it is mixedwith wine, which makes it keep longer. Mixed with rose oil it relieves headache.The juice from the leaf, with salt added, takes away warts; or which reason ourcountrymen have called it wart plant, although it is more worthy to have a namederived from its other properties. For taken in wine or hydromel it counteractsthe poison of snakes and scorpions, according to the statements ofApollophanes andApollodorus. An application of theleaves cures the infantile catarrhs that are calledsiriasis, andalso convulsions, even though caused by epilepsy. It is very healthful, too, towash out the mouth with a decoction. A draught of the same expels tape-worms andgravel; if cummin be added, it breaks up stone. A decoction should include theroot, which with leaves and he-goat suet is applied to gouty limbs. The otherkind, called by ustucoccum and having the further name ofscorpiuron, hasleaves which not only are smaller but also turn towards the ground. Its seed isshaped like a scorpion's tail, which accounts for its name. An application is ofgreat efficacy against the poison of all venomous animals and spiders, butespecially against that of scorpions. Those carrying it are never stung, and ifwith a sprig of heliotropium a circle be drawn on the ground round a scorpion,it is said that it never moves out, and moreover, that if the plant is put on ascorpion, or if a scorpion merely be sprinkled with the wet plant, it dies atonce. Four grains of the seed taken in drink are said to be good for quartanague, three grains however for tertian, or the plant itself may be carriedthree times round the patient and then placed under his head. The seed is alsoaphrodisiac, mixed with honey it disperses superficial abscesses. This heliotropium at any rate draws warts out by the root, as well as growths in theseat. Corrupt blood also about the spine or in the loins is withdrawn by anapplication of the seed, and by a draught or decoction of it in chicken broth,or with beet and lentils. The husk of the seed restores the natural colour tolivid patches. The Magi recommend that the patient himself should tie on himselfheliotropium, four pieces if the ague be quartan and three if it be tertian, andto say in prayer that he will untie the knots only when the fever has left him,and to lie in bed without taking the plant off.

XXX. Maidenhair too is remarkable, but in other ways. It isgreen in summer without fading in winter; it rejects water; sprinkled or dippedit is just like a dry plantso great is the antipathy manifestedwhence toocomes the name given by the Greeks to what in other respects is a shrub forornamental gardens. Some call it lovely hair or thick hair, both names beingderived from its properties. For it dyes the hair, for which purpose a decoctionis made in wine with celery seed added and plenty of oil, in order to make itgrow curly and thick; moreover it prevents hair from falling out. There are twokinds: one is whiter than the other, which is dark and shorter. The larger kind,thick hair, is called by some trichomanes. Both have sprigs of a shiny black,with leaves like those of fern, of which the lower are rough and tawny, but allgrow from opposite footstalks, close set and facing each other; there is noroot. It is mostly found on shaded rocks, walls wet with spray, especially thegrottoes of fountains, and on boulders streaming with waterstrange places fora plant that is unaffected by water! It is remarkably good for expellingstones from the bladder, breaking them up, the dark kind does so at any rate.This, I am inclined to believe, is the reason why it is called saxifrage(stone-breaker) rather than because it grows on stones. It is taken in wine, thedose being what can be plucked with three fingers. Diuretic, the maidenhairscounteract the venom of snakes and spiders; a decoction in wine checks loosenessof the bowels; a chaplet made out of them relieves headache. An application ofthem is good for scolopendra stings, though it must be taken off repeatedly forfear of burns. The same treatment applies to fox-mange also. They dispersescrofulous sores, scurf on the face and running sores on the head. A decoctionof them is beneficial for asthma, liver, spleen, violent biliousness and dropsy.With wormwood an application of them is used in strangury and to help thekidneys. They promote the afterbirth and menstruation. Taken in vinegar orblackberry juice they check haemorrhage. Sore places too on babies are treatedby an ointment of maidenhair with rose oil, wine being applied first. Theleaves steeped in the urine of a boy [or girl] not yet adolescent, if they bepounded with saltpetre and applied to the abdomen of women, prevent theformation of wrinkles. It is thought that partridges and cockerels become betterfighters if maidenhair be added to their food, and it is very good for cattle.

XXXI. Picris is so called because of its remarkable bitterness, asI have already stated, and has a round leaf. It is excellent for theremoval of warts. Thesium too is of a like bitterness, but is a strongpurgative, for which use it is pounded in water.

XXXII. Asphodel is one of the most famous plants, so that somehave styled it the plant of the heroes;Hesiodsaid that it also grows in woods,Dionysiusthat it may be male or female. It is agreed that its bulbs boiled down withbarley water are very suitable for wasting bodies and consumptives, and thatkneaded with meal they make a very wholesome bread. Nicander too prescribed for the poisonof snakes and scorpions either the stalk which I have called anthericum, or theseed, or the bulbs, the dose being three drachmae taken in wine, and he wouldhave them spread under the sleeping place, should there be any fear of venomouscreatures. It is also prescribed for poisoning by sea creatures and by landscolopendras. It is strange how in Campania the snails seek its stalk and bysucking shrivel it up. The leaves too in wine are applied to the wounds ofvenomous creatures. The bulbs are pounded and applied with pearl barley to thesinews and joints. It is a good plan to chop them up and to rub in with them invinegar; also to put them in water on putrescent sores, and on inflammationstoo of the breasts and testicles. Boiled down in lees of wine and dabbed on frombelow with a piece of lint, they cure fluxes of the eyes. In nearly everydisease the bulbs are usually boiled before use, but for foul sores on theshins, and for cracks in any part of the body they are dried and reduced topowder. Autumn is the time they are gathered, when their power is at its best.The juice also extracted from crushed or boiled bulbs is, mixed with honey, goodfor an aching body; and the same, with dried iris and a little salt, helps thosewho are nicely particular about the odour of their persons. The leaves, boileddown in wine, cure both the complaints mentioned above and also scrofulousswellings, superficial abscesses and sores on the face. The ashes of the rootare a remedy for fox-mange and for cracks on the feet or seat, and the juice ofthe root boiled in oil for chilblains and bums. This is poured into the ears fordeafness, and for toothache into the ear opposite to the pain. A moderate dose,one drachma, of the root, taken in wine, is diuretic and an emmenagogue,besides being good for pain in the side, ruptures, convulsions and coughs.Chewing the root acts as an emetic; the seed if taken internally disturbs thebowels.Chrysermus treated parotidabscesses also by a decoction of the root in wine, and scrofulous swellings bythe decoction added to cachry in wine. Some say that if, after applying theroot, a part of it be hung in the smoke and not taken down before the fourthday, as the root dries up the scrofulous swelling subsides. Diocles used the root for goutyconditions in either way, boiled or raw, and for chilblains a decoction in oil.He prescribed it in wine for violent biliousness and for dropsy. It has alsobeen held that it is aphrodisiac if, with wine and honey, it is used as anointment or taken as a medicine.Xenocratesalso says that a decoction of the root in vinegar removes lichen, itchscab andleprous sores, further that dried and mixed with henbane and melted pitch itdoes the same for unpleasant odour from armpits and thighs, and that the hairgrows again more curly if the scalp be first shaved and then rubbed with thisroot;Simos says that a draught of thedecoction in wine removes stone of the kidneys.Hippocrates holds that for attacks of the spleen it should be given inthe form of seed. When beasts of burden too have sores or itch-scab, anapplication of the root or of a decoction of it restores the hair that has beenlost. The root keeps away mice, which also die if their holes be closed up withit.

XXXIII. Some have thought thatHesiodmeanshalimon when he speaks of asphodel, but this view I think is wrong.For halimon is a separate plant with a name of its own, which itself has beenthe cause of no small confusion among our authorities. For some describe it as athick shrub, pale, free from thorns, with the leaves of an olive, only softer,saying that these are boiled to be used as food, and that the root, taken inhydromel, the dose being a drachma by weight, is good for colic, and also forruptures and convulsions. Others have said that it is a salty vegetable of theseashore (hence its name), with long, rounded leaves, and highlyesteemed as a food. They add that of the two kinds, wild and cultivated, bothare good, taken with bread, for dysentery, even with ulceration, and also, invinegar, for the stomach; that it is applied raw to chronic ulcers, soothes thesmart of recent wounds and of sprained ankles, as well as pains of the bladder;that the wild kind has thinner leaves, but greater effects when used for thesame purposes as the other, and in healing itch in both man and beast; moreoverthat the skin becomes clearer and the teeth whiter, its root be used to rub themwith, and thirst is not felt by those who put the seed under their tongue; thatthis kind too is chewed, and both kinds preserved as well. Crateuas has mentioned a third kindalso, with longer and more hairy leaves and the smell of cypress, as growingchiefly under ivy and being good for opisthotonic tetanus and cramp, the dosebeing three oboli to a sextarius of water.

XXXIV. There are two kinds of acanthus, a plant of the ornamentalgarden and of the city, which has a broad, long leaf, and covers the banks ofborders and the flat tops of the raised portions of gardens. One is thorny andcurled, which is the shorter; the other is smooth, and is called by somepaederos, by othersmelamphyllum. Its roots are wonderfully good for burns,sprains, ruptures, convulsions, and those threatened with consumption; for whichreason they are boiled for food, mostly in barley water. For goutylimbs too they are applied, pounded and hot.

XXXV. Bupleuron is considered by the Greeks to be among the vegetablesgrowing wild. It has a stem a cubit high, many and long leaves, and the head ofdill.Hippocrates recommends it as afood,Glauco andNicander as a medicine. Its seedcounteracts the poison of serpents. The leaves or the juice they apply in winefor the removal of the afterbirth, and the leaves with salt and wine forscrofulous swellings. Its root is given in wine for snake bites and as adiuretic.

XXXVI. Buprestis the Greeks with great inconsistency went to the lengthof including among their praised foods, and yet they prescribed correctives ofit as though it were poison, and the mere name implies that it is poison to oxenat any rate, which it is allowed burst when they taste it. Wherefore it is oneof the plants about which I shall not speak at length. Is there indeed a reasonwhy I should describe poisons when dealing with grass crowns, unless there besomeone who thinks that for the sake of lust buprestis is desirable, which takenin drink is the most potent aphrodisiac known?

XXXVII. Elaphoboscon (wild parsnip) is a plant like fennel-giant, with ajointed stem of the thickness of a finger, the seed in clusters hanging downlike hartwort, but not bitter, and with the leaves of olusatrum. This too hasbeen praised as a foodin fact it is even preserved for future usebeing good asa diuretic, for soothing pains in the side, for curing ruptures and spasms, fordispersing flatulence and colic, and for the wounds of snakes and of allstinging creaturesin fact report has it that deer by eating it fortifythemselves against snakes. Fistulas too are cured by the application of the rootwith saltpetre added, but when used in this way it must first be dried, so thatit may not be soaking with its own juice, although the latter does not impairits efficacy as a remedy for snake bites.

XXXVIII. Scandix (chervil) too is classed by the Greeks as a wildvegetable, asOphion andErasistratus report. A decoction of ittoo tones up loose bowels, its seed in vinegar immediately checks hiccough. It isapplied to burns and is diuretic. The juice of the decoction is good forstomach, liver, kidneys, and bladder. This is the plant thatAristophanes uses to poke fun at thepoetEuripides, implying that his motherhad not been a seller of even proper vegetables, but only of scandix. It wouldbe the same sort of plant as enthryscurn, were its leaves thinner and morefragrant. Its special merit is that it gives strength to a body exhausted bysexual indulgence, and revives sexual virility when flagging through old age. Itchecks leucorrhoea in women.

XXXIX. Iasine (bindweed?) too is considered to be a wildvegetable. It creeps on the ground, is full of milky juice, and bears a whiteflower calledconchylium. This plant too has the same merit of exciting tosexual intercourse. Eaten raw in vinegar with food it brings also a rich supplyof milk to nursing mothers. It is health-giving to those suffering fromconsumption. Applied to the head of babies it makes the hair grow, and the scalpmore retentive of it.

XL. Caucalis too is edible, a plant like fennel, with a short stemand a white flower. It is good for the heart; its juice too is taken as adraught, being especially good for the stomach and urine, for expelling stoneand gravel, and for irritation of the bladder. It alleviates also catarrhs ofthe spleen, liver and kidneys. The seed promotes menstruation, and dries upbilious secretions after childbirth. It is also prescribed for seminal fluxes inmen. Chrysippus is also of opinion thatit greatly helps conception. It is taken in wine fasting. It is also applied tothe wounds caused by poisonous sea creatures, asPetrichus points out in his poem.

XLI. With these is also classed sium, broader than celery,growing in water, rather thick and dark, with an abundance of seed andthe taste of cress. It is good for the urine, kidneys, spleen, and formenstruation, whether it is taken as food, just as it is, or in the form of adecoction, or the seed may be given with wine, the dose being two drachmae. Itbreaks up stone, and neutralizes the water that causes them. An infusion is goodfor dysentery, and a liniment of it for freckles. An application at nightremoves spots from women's faces, while made into ointment it clears the skin,soothes hernia, and is a good dressing for scab in horses.

XLII. Syllibus, a plant like white chamaeleon, and equallyprickly, is not thought to be worth boiling even in Cilicia or Syria orPhoenicia, the places where it grows, so troublesome is the cooking of it saidto be. As a medicine it is of no use at all.

XLIII. Scolymus too has been adopted as a food in the East, whereit has the further name of limonia. It is a shrub never more than a cubit high,with tufts of leaves and a dark but sweet root;Eratosthenes too praises it as a valuable food for those of moderatemeans. It is said to be highly diuretic, to cure lichen and leprons sores whenapplied in vinegar, and according toHesiodandAlcaens, to be an aphrodisiac whentaken in wine. They have written that when it is in blossom the song of thecricket is shrillest, women are most amorous and men most backward in sexualunions, as though it were through Nature's providence that this stimulant is atits best when badly needed. Offensive odour from the armpits is corrected by anounce of the root, without the pith, in three heminae of Falernian wine boileddown to one third, to be taken fasting after the bath and again after food, thedose being a cyathus at a time.Xenocratesassures us of a remarkable thing, that he has proved by experiment, that theoffensive smell passes off from the armpits by way of the urine.

XLIV. Sow-thistle too is edibleat any rate.Callimachus makes Hecale set it beforeTheseusboth the pale kind and the dark. Both are like lettuce, except that theyare prickly, with a stem a cubit high, angular and hollow inside, which on beingbroken streams with a milky juice. The pale kind, which shines because of themilk in it, is good for asthma if taken with salad-dressing as is lettuce.Erasistratus informs us that it carriesaway stone in the urine, and that to chew it purifies foul breath. Three cyathiof the juice warmed in white wine and oil aid delivery, but the expectant mothermust take a walk immediately after drinking it; it is also given in broth. Adecoction of the stem itself makes the milk abundant in nurses and improves thecomplexion of the babies, being very useful to those women who are subject tocurdling their milk. The juice is injected into the ears, and a cyathus of it isdrunk warm for strangury, for gnawing pains of the stomach with cucumber seedand pine nuts. It is used also externally for abscesses at the anus. It is takenin drink for the poison of snakes and scorpions, but the root is used as anexternal application. Boiled in oil and in the skin of a pomegranate the root isalso a remedy for complaints of the ears. All these preparations must be madefrom the white kind. Cleemporus saysthat the dark kind must not be eaten, because it causes diseases, but he agreesto the use of the white.Agathoclesasserts that its juice counteracts even the poison of bull's blood, yet since itis agreed that the dark kind has cooling properties, pearl barley must thereforebe added to the application.Zenorecommends the root of the white kind for strangury.

XLV. Condrion or condrille has leaves like those of endive, eatenaway as it were round the edges, a stem less than a foot and moist with a bitterjuice, and a root like a bean, occasionally manifold. Next to the ground itgrows a gum, an excrescence the size of a bean, a pessary of which is said topromote menstruation. The whole with the roots is pounded and dividedinto lozenges as an antidote for snakebites, for which treatment good reasoncan be adduced, for field mice wounded by snakes are said to eat it. A decoctionof the plant in wine checks looseness of the bowels. The same makes an excellentsubstitute for gum to keep the eyelashes tidy, however disordered these may be. Dorotheus declares in his verses that itis good for the stomach and the digestion. For the rest, it has been supposed tobe bad for women, for the eyes, and for the virility of men.

XLVI. Among the things which it is rash to eat I would include mushrooms,as although they make choice eating they have been brought into disrepute by aglaring instance of murder, being the means used to poison the EmperorTiberius Claudius by his wife Agrippina, in doing which she bestowedupon the world, and upon herself in particular, yet another poisonher own sonNero. Some of the poisonous mushroomsare easily recognized by their being of a pale-red colour, of a putridappearance and of a leaden hue inside; the furrows of the striated parts aremere chinks, with a pale rim all round the edge. Not all the poisonous kinds arelike this, and there is a dry sort, similar to the genuine mushroom, which showsas it were white drops on the top, standing out of its outer coat. The earth infact produces first a matrix for this purpose, and afterwards the mushroomitself in the matrix, like the yoke inside the egg; and the baby mushroom isjust as fond of eating its coat as is the chick. The coat cracks when themushroom first forms; presently, as the mushroom gets bigger, the coat isabsorbed into the body of the foot-stalk, two heads rarely ever springing fromone foot. The first origin and cause of mushrooms is the slime and the souringjuice of the damp ground, or often of the root of acorn-bearing trees,and at first is flimsier than froth, then it grows substantial likeparchment, and then the mushroom, as I have said, is born. How chancy a matterit is to test these deadly plants! If a boot nail, a piece of rusty iron, or arotten rag was near when the mushroom started to grow, it at once absorbs andturns into poison all the moisture and flavour from this foreign substance. Whocan be trusted to have detected the affected specimens except country-folk andthose who actually gather them? Other infections even these cannot detect; forinstance, if the hole of a serpent has been near the mushroom, or should aserpent have breathed on it as it first opened, its kinship to poisons makes itcapable of absorbing the venom. So it would be well not to eat mushrooms untilthe serpent has begun to hibernate. Indications of this will be given by themany plants, trees, and shrubs, that are always green from the time that theserpent comes out from his hole to the time that he buries himself in it; oreven the ash tree will serve, whose leaves do not grow after, nor fall before,the hibernating period. And of mushrooms indeed the whole life from beginningto end is not more than seven days.

XLVII. The texture of fungi is rather flabby, and there areseveral kinds of them, all derived only from the gum that exudes from trees. Thesafest have firm red flesh less pale than that of the mushroom; next comes thewhite kind, the stalk of which is distinguished by its enduing in a kind of flamen's cap; a third kind, hog fungi, are very well adapted for poisoning.Recently they have carried off whole households and all the guests at banquets;Annaeus Serenus, for instance, CaptainofNero's Guards, with the tribunes andcenturions. What great pleasure can there be in such a risky food? Some haveclassified fungi according to the kind of tree on which they grow, one classincluding those growing on the fig, fennel-giant, and the gum-exuding trees;inedible, as I have said, are those on the yew, the robur and thecypress. But who guarantees such things in the market? They all have a leadencolour. This will give an indication of poison, the closer it approximates tothat of the bark of the tree. I have pointed out remedies for these poisonousfungi and shall do so again later on; in the meantime let me say that even thisplant produces some remedies. Glauciasconsiders that mushrooms are good for the stomach. Hog fungi are hung up to dry,skewered on a rush as we see them come from Bithynia. These they use as aremedy for the fluxes of the belly that are called bowel catarrh, and forfleshy growths on the anus, which they reduce and in time cause to disappear;they do the like to freckles and spots on women's faces. They are also steepedin water, as lead is, to make an application for diseases of the eyes. They areapplied to septic sores and to rashes on the head, and in water to dog bites. Ishould like also to give some pieces of advice about cooking all kinds ofmushrooms, since they are the only kind of food that exquisites prepare withtheir own hands, feeding on them in anticipation, and handling amber knives andequipment of silver. Those I fungi will be poisonous which become harder incooking; comparatively harmless will be those that are cooked with some sodaaddedat any rate if they are thoroughly cooked. They become safer when cookedwith meat, or with pear stalks. Pears too are good to take immediately afterthem. The nature of vinegar too is opposed to them and neutralizes any poisonousaction.

XLVIII. All these fungus growths spring up with showers, and silphium too, as has been mentioned, first grew with a shower. At the presentday it is imported chiefly from Syria, this Syrian silphium being not so good asthe Parthian, though better than the Median; the silphinm of Cyrene, as I havesaid, is now wholly extinct. The leaves of silphium are used in medicineto purge the uterus and to bring away the dead unborn baby; a decoction of themis made in white, aromatic wine, to be drunk after the bath in doses of one acetabulum. The root is good for soreness of the windpipe, and is applied tocollections of extravasated blood; but it is hard to digest when taken as food,causing flatulence and belchings. It is injurious to the passing of urine, butwith wine and oil most beneficial for bruises, and with wax for scrofulousswellings. Warts in the seat fall off if fumigated with it several times.

XLIX. Laser, which is distilled from silphium in the way I havesaid, being reckoned one of the most precious gifts of Nature, is used as aningredient in very many medical prescriptions; but by itself it warms afterchills, and taken in drink it alleviates affections of the sinews. In wine it isgiven to women, and on soft wool is used as a pessary to promote menstruation.Mixed with wax it extracts corns from the feet after they have been cut roundwith the knife. A piece the size of a chick-pea, diluted, isdiuretic. Andreas assures us that, though taken in copious doses, it causes noflatulence, and is a great aid to digestion for the aged and for women; alsothat it is more beneficial in winter than in summer, and even then more so b toteetotalers. Care, however, must be taken that there be no internal ulceration.Taken in the food it is a great help in convalescence; for given at the righttime it possesses all the qualities of a caustic medicine, being even morebeneficial to those accustomed to it than to those unfamiliar with it. Itsemployment externally provides sure proofs of its healing power. Taken in drinkit neutralizes the poisons of weapons and of serpents; it is applied in wateraround such wounds, only for the stings of scorpions is oil added. For sores notyet coming to a head it is applied with barley meal or dried fig, for carbuncleswith rue, or with honey, or by itself, smeared over with some sticky substanceto make it adhere, and, similarly prepared, for dog bites; a decoction invinegar with the rind of the pomegranate for growths around the anus; for cornscommonly known as mortified corns some soda must be mixed with the laser. Mangeshould be first thoroughly treated with soda, and then the hair is restored byan application with wine, saffron or pepper, mouse dung, and vinegar. Chilblainsare treated by fomentations of it with wine and by applications of the decoctionin oil. It is used in like manner for callosities, and for corns on the feet,which must first be pared down. It is of especial value against bad waters,unhealthy districts or unhealthy weather, and is used for cough, affections ofthe uvula, chronic biliousness, dropsy, and hoarseness; for immediatelyclearing the throat it restores the voice. Diluted with vinegar and water andapplied with a sponge it soothes gouty limbs. It is given in gruel to patientswith pleurisy who are going to drink wine, and in pills the size of a chick pea,coated with wax, to sufferers from cramp and tetanus. For quinsy it is used as agargle; for wheezing and chronic cough it is given with leek in vinegar, andwith vinegar to those who have swallowed curdled milk. With wine it is given fortubercular affections of the hypochondria and for epilepsy, in hydromel forparalysis of the tongue. Boiled down with honey it is used as liniment forsciatica and lumbago. I should not approve of the advice of the authorities, whosay that an aching hollow tooth should be plugged with a stopping of laser andwax, because of the startling proof provided by the man who, as a result of this,threw himself down from a height. The truth is that it enrages bulls to havetheir muzzles rubbed with it, and mixed with wine it makes serpents burst, sovery greedy are they for the wine. For this reason I should not advise the teethto be cleaned with it, although it is recommended to do so with laser and Attichoney. The uses of laser mixed with other ingredients it would be an endlesstask to record, and I am dealing with remedies each of one substance for inthese their essential nature is manifest. In compounds, however, there isusually risk of misleading guessing, for nobody is sufficiently careful, inmaking mixtures, to observe the sympathies and antipathies of the essentialnatures of the ingredients. I shall go more into detail later.

L. The value of honey in popular esteem would be no lessthan that of laser, were not honey produced everywhere. Granted that Natureherself created the one, she yet created an insect, as I have said, to make theother for countless uses, if we try to reckon the compounds of which it is aningredient. First there is bee-glue in the hives, about which I have spoken; itextracts stings and all substances embedded in the flesh, reduces swellings,softens indurations, soothes pains of the sinews, and heals sores when it seemshopeless for them to mend. Honey itself has a nature that prevents a body fromdecaying, with a pleasant and not harsh taste, essentially different from salt,very good for the throat, tonsils, quinsy, all complaints of the mouth, and fortongues parched by fever; moreover, the decoction is excellent for pneumonia andpleurisy, while for wounds, snake bites, poisons, fungi and paralysis, it isprescribed in honey wine, although that has peculiar virtues of itsown. Honey and rose oil are injected into the ears, and kill nits and offensiveparasites on the head. Honey is improved by being skimmed, but it causesflatulence, biliousness and nausea; some think it of itself injurious to theeyes, though there are others on the other hand who recommend that ulcers in thecorners be touched with honey. How honey is produced, the different kinds of it,the countries famous for it and the signs of its value, I discussed whentreating of the nature of bees and again when I came to flowers,since the plan of my work necessitated the division of things that have tobe afterwards combined again by those who wish to learn thoroughly the works ofNature.

LI. In dealing with the benefits of honey I must include those ofhydromel. There are two kinds of it: one is made for the occasion and usedfresh, and the other is the matured. Occasional hydromel, made from skimmedhoney, is extremely useful as an ingredient of the light diet of invalids (thatis strained wheat) for restoring the strength, for soothing the mouth andstomach, and for cooling feverish heat. For it is cold hydromel that is betterto be given for loosening the bowels. My authorities state that it should begiven to drink to persons subject to chill, and also to those of a poor, weakspirit, whom the same authorities called μικρόψυχοι in harmony with thevery ingenious theory that had its origin in Plato. This says that theatoms of things, being smooth or rough, angular or round, are accordingly moreor less adapted to the nature of different individuals, and that therefore thesame things are not bitter or sweet to everybody; and so, when we are tired orthirsty we are more prone to anger. Therefore also this roughness of the mind,or rather I should say of the soul, is made smoother by a sweeter flavour, whichsoothes the windpipe and makes more gentle the passage of the breath, so thatneither inhalation nor exhalation is violently broken. Each of us may make trialfor himself. There is no one who does not find that by food can be softened hisanger, grief, sadness, and every violent emotion of the mind. Accordingly I musttake notice not only of things which give healing to our bodies, but also ofthose which heal our character.

LII. Hydromel is also said to be useful for coughs, but when warmed itprovokes vomiting. With oil it is beneficial in eases of white-lead poisoning,also with milk, especially asses' milk, for henbane, and, as I have said, forpoisoning by halicacabum. It is poured into the ears, and into fistulas of thegenitals. It is applied with soft bread to the uterus, to sudden swellings, tosprains and to all complaints needing soothing treatment. The use of maturedhydromel has been condemned by recent authorities as being less harmless thanwater and keeping less well than wine. When however it has been kept for a longtime, it turns into a wine which, as all are agreed, is most injurious to thestomach and bad for the sinews.

LIII. The best honey wine is always madewith old wine, it and honey combining very easily, which never happens when thewine is sweet. Made out of dry wine it causes no flatulence in the stomach, nordoes it do so when the honey is boiled, and the usual inconvenience with honeywine, a sense of fullness, is not experienced. It also revives a failingappetite. Drunk cold it relaxes the bowels; taken warm it binds them in mostcases, and puts on flesh. Many have lived to a very great age on no other foodbut a mash made with honey wine, as in the well-known case ofPollio Itomilius. He was more than acentury old whenAugustus, now inHeaven, who was his host, asked him what was the chief means whereby he had keptsuch vigour of mind and body. His reply was: 'By honey wine within and by oilwithout.'Varro relates that the rainbowdisease (jaundice) has been styled the royal disease because it is treated withthe royal drink of honey wine.

LIV. How melitites used to be made out of must and honey I haveset out in my account of wine. I believe that this kind of honey hasnot been made now for generations, so liable was it to cause flatulence. Whenwell matured, however, it used to be given in fever because of its action on thebowels, and also to sufferers from gout and from feebleness of the sinews, andto women who are teetotallers.

LV. Honey is by nature closely related to wax, the source of which, itsvirtues, and the districts that produce it, I have discussed in the properplaces. All wax however is emollient, warming, and restorative of flesh; thefresher it is the better. It is given to sufferers from dysentery in theirgruel, and the whole comb in a porridge of groats that has been previouslyroasted. Wax and milk are of opposite natures, and ten pills of wax, of the sizeof a grain of millet will, if swallowed, prevent milk curdling in the stomach.Should the groin swell, the application of white wax to the pubes is a remedy.

LVI. The uses that wax can be put to in combination with othersubstances would more than fill a pharmacopoeia, and the same is true of othermaterials that combine usefully with others. These, as I have said, are due toman's ingenuity. Wax salves, poultices, plasters, eye-salves, antidotes, werenot made by the divine Mother who created the Universe: they are the inventionsof the laboratory, or more correctly of human greed. Nature indeed brings forthher works absolutely perfect; a few ingredients arc chosen a with a purpose, notby guesswork, so that dry substances may be modified by some fluid tofacilitate their passage, or moist things by a more substantial body to give therequired consistency. But for a man to weigh out, scruple by scruple, the activeingredients that he gathers together and blends, is not human guesswork buthuman impudence. I myself shall not touch upon drugs imported from India andArabia or from the outer world. Ingredients that grow so far away areunsatisfactory for remedies; they are not produced for us, nay, not even for thenatives who in that case would not sell them. Let them be bought if you like tomake perfumes, unguents and luxuries, or even in the name of religion, for weworship the gods with frankincense and costmary. But health I shall prove to beindependent of such drugs, if only to make luxury all the more ashamed ofitself.

LVII. But having discussed medicines fromflowers, garland and garden, as well as herbs which are chewed, how can Ipossibly omit medicines from cereals? Indeed it would be fitting to mentionthese as well. In the first place it is a well known fact that those animalsthat feed on grain are the most intelligent. Grains of common wheat wellroasted and then crushed, applied in Aminean wine to the eyes soothe fluxes;moreover, well roasted on an iron plate grains of naked wheat are a quick remedyfor frostbite. The flour of naked wheat boiled in vinegar is good for cramp;the bran moreover and rose oil, dried figs and sebesten plums, all boiled down,make a good gargle for tonsils and throat. Sextus Pomponius, father of a manwho was praetor, himself the most distinguished man in Nearer Spain, wassuperintending the winnowing in his barns when he was seized with the pains ofgout. Burying himself above his knees into the wheat he was relieved of thepain, and the water in his feet dried up in a wonderful way, so that afterwardshe adopted this procedure as a remedy. The absorbent power of wheat is so greatthat it dries up casks full of liquid. Experienced authorities alsoprescribe the chaff of wheat or barley to be applied warm for hernia, and thewater in which it has been boiled to be used for fomentations. There is to befound in emmer-wheat a little worm like the woodworm. If this be plugged withwax into the hollow of a decayed tooth, it is said that the tooth comes out, oreven if the affected part be rubbed with it. Olyra (two-grained wheat) is, as Ihave said, also calledarinca. With a decoction of it a medicine is made whichthe Egyptians callathera, very beneficial for babies, though adults too use itas a liniment.

LVIII. Barley meal, both raw and boiled, disperses abscesses and inflamedgatherings; it softens them and brings them to a head. At other times adecoction of it is made in hydromel or with dried figs, but for pains in theliver, when pus needs to be matured, it should be decocted in wine; when thereis difficulty in deciding whether maturing or dispersal is necessary, then it isbetter for the decoction to be in vinegar, in lees of vinegar, or in boiled downquinces or pears. It is used with honey for multipede stings, in vinegar forsnake bites and to stop suppuration, but for bringing away suppurating matterwith diluted vinegar to which Gallic resin has been added. For maturing ofabscesses, however, and for chronic sores it must be used with resin, forindurations with pigeons' dung or dried fig or ashes, for inflammations of thesinews or of the intestines or pains in the sides with poppies or melilot, andalso when the flesh falls away from the bones, for scrofulous swellings withpitch and the urine of a boy below the age of puberty added to oil. Withfenugreek it is prescribed for swellings of the hypochondria, and for feverswith honey or stale fat. For suppurations wheat flour is much more soothing. Tosinews it is applied with juice of henbane, for freckles, in vinegar and honey.Meal of emmer-wheat, out of which as I have said alica is made, seems to be more efficacious even than barley meal, the three-month variety being the more soothing. It is used warm, in red wine, for the stings of scorpions, spitting of blood, and for tracheal affections. For a cough, goat-suet or butter is added. Fenugreek meal, the most soothing of all, boiled with wine and soda, cures running sores and scurf on the body, stomach ache, and affections of the feetand of the breasts. Darnel meal clears up chronic ulcers and gangrenes more thando the other kinds; for lichens radishes, salt and vinegar must be added, forleprous sores native sulphur, and for headache it should be applied withgoose-grease to the forehead. Boiled in wine, with pigeons' dung and linseed, itmatures scrofulous swellings and superficial abscesses.

LIX. About the various kinds of pearl barley I have said enough in thediscussion of cereals. Physicians are of opinion that its difference frombarley meal is due to its being roasted, which makes it wholesome for thestomach, it cheeks looseness of the bowels and inflamed swellings. Combined withmint or other cooling herb it is applied to sore eyes and aching heads, as wellas to chilblains and to snake wounds, while for burns it is applied in wine,and it also checks pustules.

LX. Flour reduced to fine powder has the power of drawing out moisture tosuch an extent that it extracts blood from bloodshot areas, even to soaking thebandages; if boiled must be added the application is still more efficacious. Itis put on callosities and corns on the feet. But when boiled with old oil andpitch, and applied as hot as possible, fine flour is wonderful treatment for eondyloma and all other affections of the anus. Made into pottage it puts onflesh. The flour with which papyrus sheets are stuck together is effectivelygiven in lukewarm drink to those who suffer from spitting of blood.

LXI. Alica is peculiarly Roman, and a discovery of recent date, or theGreeks would not have sung the praises of barley water in preference. It was inmy opinion not yet used in the age ofPompeythe Great, and for that reason scarcely anything about it has beenwritten by the school ofAsclepiades.Its extreme usefulness nobody doubts, whether it is given in hydromel afterstraining or boiled down to gruel or to thick pottage. For arresting loosenessof the bowels alica is roasted, and then honeycomb wax is cooked with it, as Ihave said above. It is however specially useful for those who by long illnesshave been reduced to a consumptive condition; the dose is three cyathi put intoa sextarius of water and gradually boiled down until all the water hasevaporated, when a sextarius of sheep's or goats' milk is added, and the mixturetaken daily; after a while honey also is added. By a course of this grueldecline is arrested.

LXII. Common millet checks looseness of the common bowels and removesgripings, for which purposes it is first roasted. For pains of the sinews, andfor other pains it is applied hot in a bag. No other application is moreuseful, for it is very light, very soothing and very retentive of heat.Accordingly it is much used in all cases where the application of heat is likelyto prove beneficial. Millet meal and liquid pitch are applied to the woundsinflicted by snakes and multipedes.

LXIII. Italian millet was called by the physicianDiocles the honey of cereals. Itproduces the same results as common millet. Taken in wine it is good fordysentery. In like form it is applied hot where warm fomentations are calledfor. Looseness of the bowels is checked if a decoction in goats' milk is takentwice a day. In this form it is also good for gripings.

LXIV. Sesame ground and taken in wine checks vomiting. It is applied toinflammation of the ears and to bums. It has the same effect even while it is inthe blade. For this reason it is more copiously applied, decocted in wine, tothe eyes. As a food it is injurious to the stomach and causes the breath tosmell offensive. It neutralizes the bites of the gecko, and isbeneficial to the sores known as malignant the oil made from it, as I havesaid, is good for the ears. Sesamoides has received its name from its likenessto sesame; it has a smaller leaf, and the grain is bitter. It grows on gravellysoils. Taken in water, it carries away bile. The seed is used as an applicationfor erysipelas, and it disperses superficial abscesses.

There is also another sesamoides, which grows at Antieyra, and is thereforecalled by some Anticyricon. It has the seed of sesame, but in other respects islike the plant erigeron, about which I shall speak in the proper place. Athree-finger pinch is given in sweet wine as a purge. There they mix with italso one and a half oboli of white hellebore, administering it principally as apurgative for melancholic madness, epilepsy and gouty pains. Taken by itself tooin doses of one drachma it empties the bowels.

LXV. The best barley is the whitest. The juice from a rainwaterdecoction is worked up into lozenges to be used as suppositories for ulcerationsof the intestines and of the uterus. Barley ash is applied to bums, to fleshthat comes away from the bones, for eruptions of phlegm and for bites of theshrewmouse. The same added to honey and a sprinkling of salt makes the teethwhite and the breath smell sweet. It is said that those who use barley breadnever suffer from gout in the feet. They also say that, if a man, taking ninegrains of barley, trace three times with each of them a circle round a boil,using the left hand, and then throw all the grains into the fire, the boil healsat once. There is also a plant, calledphoenicea by the Greeks and mouse barleyby our countrymen. This pounded and taken in wine is an excellent emmenagogue.

LXVI. To ptisan, which is prepared from barley,Hippocrates devoted a whole volume,lavishing on it praises which today are all given instead to alica, a far morewholesome preparation.Hippocrateshowever praises ptisan for its merits as a broth, because (as he says) beinglubricant it is easily swallowed, quenches thirst, does not swell in the belly,is easily evacuated, and is the only food that can be given twice a day to thosefever patients who are in the habit of taking two meals, so different isHippocrates from those, who treat theirpatients with a starvation diet. However he forbids the broth to be swallowedwhole, or any part of it other than the juice; he says also that it must neverbe given so long as the feet are cold; indeed that then no drink of any kindshould be given. Ptisan can also be made from wheat, when it is more viscous andmore beneficial to an ulcerated trachea.

LXVII. Starch dulls the eyes, and is injurious to the throat,though that is not the general belief. It also checks loose bowels, arrestsfluxes from the eyes, healing ulcerations of them as well as pustules and flowsof blood. It softens hard eyelids. With egg it is given to those who have spitblood; in pain of the bladder moreover half an ounce of starch with egg andthree egg-shells of raisin wine are given lukewarm after the bath. Moreover,oatmeal boiled in vinegar removes moles.

LXVIII. The very bread which forms our staple diet has almost innumerablemedicinal properties. Applied in water and oil or in rose oil it softensabscesses; in hydromel it is very soothing to indurations. In wine it is givento disperse or to compress as need may be, and, if greater strength be calledfor, in vinegar for those violent fluxes of phlegm which the Greeks callrheumatism, as well as for bruises and sprains. For all purposes, however,leavened bread, of the kind calledautopyrus, is the more beneficial. In vinegarit is also applied to whitlows and to callosities on the feet. Stale bread orsailors' bread, pounded and then baked again, checks looseness of the bowels.For those anxious to improve the voice and for catarrhs it is very beneficial toeat dry bread at breakfast. Sitanins, that is bread made of three-month wheat,applied with honey is a very good cure for bruises on the face or scalyeruptions. White bread soaked in warm or cold water affords a very light foodfor invalids. In wine it is applied to swollen eyes, and in this form or withthe addition of dried myrtle to pustules on the head. Persons with palsy arerecommended to eat bread soaked in water, fasting, and immediately after thebath. Moreover, bread burnt in bedrooms removes the close smell, and put in thestrainers any unpleasant odour in wine.

LXIX. The bean too supplies helpful remedies. Forroasted whole and thrown hot into strong vinegar it heals colic. Crushed in asieve and boiled with garlic it is taken with the daily food for incurablecoughs and suppurations of the chest; chewed in the mouth of one fasting it isalso applied to ripen or disperse boils, and boiled down in wine for swellingsof the testicles and for troubles of the genitals. In the form of meal too,boiled down in vinegar it ripens tumours and breaks them, besides healingcontusions and burns. That it is good for the voice we are assured by M.Varro. The ashes too of beanstalks andof the pods are good for sciatica, and with old pigs' lard for chronic pains ofthe sinews. The husks by themselves boiled down to one third check looseness ofthe bowels.

LXX. Those lentils are best which are most easily boiled, and inparticular those which absorb most water. Although they dull the sight and causeflatulence, yet taken with the food they check looseness of the bowels,especially when thoroughly boiled in rain water; lightly boiled however theyrelax the bowels. They break the pustules of sores; sores in the month theycleanse and dry up. An application of lentils soothes all abscesses, andespecially those that are ulcerated and cracked, but for fluxes of the eyesmelilot or quinces must be added. For suppurations lentils are applied withpearl barley. The juice of boiled-down lentils is applied to ulcerations of themouth or of the genitals; for complaints of the anus rose oil or quinces must beadded, and when a stronger remedy is called for pomegranate peel with a littlehoney as well. At this point, to prevent this mixture from drying quickly beetleaves also are added. Thoroughly boiled in vinegar they are applied also toscrofulous swellings, and to superficial abscesses whether mature or maturing;in hydromel to chaps and with pomegranate peel to gaagrenes; with pearl barleyalso to gouty feet, the uterus, kidneys, chilblains, and to sores that are slowin forming scars. For looseness of the stomach thirty grains of lentils areswallowed. In cholera too and dysentery lentils are more efficacious when boilediu three waters; when so used it is always better to roast them first and poundthem, that they may be administered in as fine a state as possible, whether bythemselves or with quinces, or else with pears, or myrtle, or wild endive, ordark beet, or plantain. Lentils are injurious to the lungs, in headache, in allpains of the sinews and in biliousness, nor are they good for sleep; boiled inseawater however they are beneficial for pustules, erysipelas, and affectionsof the breasts, while boiled in vinegar they disperse indurations and scrofulousswellings. As a stomachic they are sprinkled in drinks as is pearl barley. Theyare good for burns if half-cooked in water and then pounded and passed through asieve to remove the bran, honey being added presently as the burn heals. Theyare boiled in vinegar and water for sore throats. There is also a marsh lentilthat grows wild in stagnant water. These lentils are of a cooling nature, and soare applied to abscesses and in particular to gouty feet, both by themselves andwith pearl barley. They also close up prolapse of the intestines.

LXXI. There is a wild lentil calledelelisphacos by the Greeks [sphacosby others], smoother than the cultivated lentil, with a smaller, drier and morescented leaf. There is also another kind of it wilder still, and with a heavysmell. The other, the more cultivated variety, has leaves like those of aquince, but smaller and pale, which are boiled with the branches. It promotesmenstruation and urine, and heals the wounds of the stingray, numbing theregion affected. It is also taken in drink with wormwood for dysentery. Withwine it also brings on delayed menstruation, while a draught of itsdecoction checks any excess. The plant applied by itself stanches the blood ofwounds. It also cures snake bite, and if boiled down in wine allays pruritus ofthe testicles. Our modern herbalists call this plant elelisphacus in Greek andsalvia in Latin, a plant like mint, hoary and aromatic. An application bringsaway the dead unborn baby, as well as worms in sores and ears.

LXXII. There is also a wild chickpea, with leaves like the cultivatedkind and a heavy smell. Too copious a dose relaxes the bowels, and causesflatulence and colic. Roasted it is supposed to be more healthy. The smallchickpea is even more beneficial to the bowels. The meal of each kind healsrunning sores on the head, though the wild is more efficacious, as well asepilepsy, swollen liver and snake bites. It promotes, the grain in particular,menstruation and urine; it is good for lichen, inflammation of the testicles,jaundice and dropsy. All kinds of chickpea are injurious to ulcerated bladderand to the kidneys. They are more beneficial with honey for gangrenous sores,especially for those called malignant. Warts of every kind some treat bytouching each wart with a single chickpea at the new moon; the chickpeas theytie in a linen cloth and throw behind them, believing that so the warts go away.Roman authorities recommend that ram's-head chickpeas be thoroughly boiled inwater with salt, two cyathi of it to be taken at a time for strangury; they holdtoo that this treatment brings away stone from the bladder and cures jaundice.The water in which the leaves and stalks of the chickpea have been boiled, ifused as hot as possible to foment the feet, soothe gouty pains, as does anapplication of the plant itself, pounded up and warmed. The water from boiledcolumbine chickpea is believed to lessen the rigors of tertian and quartanagues. The dark kind, however, pounded up with half a gall-nut and applied inraisin wine, cures ulcers of the eyes.

LXXIII. About the bitter vetch I have said a few things in my noteconcerning it, a pulse to which, applied in vinegar, old authoritiesattributed a power no less than that they did to cabbage for snake bites and forthose of crocodiles and of men. If anybody eats it fasting every day, thespleen, according to very reliable authorities, is reduced in size. Its mealremoves not only pimples from the face but also spots from the skin on all partsof the body. It does not allow sores to spread, being very efficacious when theyare on the breasts. Applied in wine it makes carbuncles burst. Strangury,flatulence, affections of the liver, tenesmus, and atrophy, when food cannot beassimilated, are relieved by swallowing the roasted grain, held together byhoney of the size of a filbert, and so are skin eruptions by a decoction invinegar, allowed to remain on the affected part till the fourth day. Anapplication in honey prevents superficial abscesses from suppurating.Fomentation with the water of a decoction cures chilblains and pruritus.Moreover it is thought that the whole body assumes a more healthy complexion ifthis decoction be taken daily on an empty stomach. At the same time this vetchmakes unwholesome human food, causing vomiting, disturbing the bowels, andcausing heaviness in the head and stomach, besides enfeebling the knees. Soaked,however, for several days it mellows, and is very good for cattle and beasts ofburden. The pods of it, pounded green before they harden, with their own stalkand leaves, dye the hair black.

LXXIV. There are also wild lupins, with weaker properties than the cultivated in every respect except their bitterness. Of all the things that are eaten, none is less heavy or more useful than lupins when dried. They mellowwhen cooked in hot ash or in hot water. Taken frequently as food they freshenthe human complexion; bitter lupins are an antidote for the wound of the asp.Dried lnpins, peeled and pounded, make new flesh on black ulcers if applied in alinen cloth. Boiled in vinegar they disperse scrofulous swellings and parotidabscesses. A decoction with rue and pepper is given to persons under thirty,even when feverish, to drive out intestinal worms, while in the case of childrenthey are also applied to the bowels, the patient fasting; another method is toroast them, and to give them either in boiled must as a draught or else inhoney. Lupins increase the appetite, and remove squeamishness. Their mealkneaded with vinegar and applied in the bath removes pimples and pruritus, andby itself dries up ulcers. It heals bruises, and, with pearl barley, soothesinflammations. Wild lupins are more efficacious than cultivated for weakness ofthe hips and loins. A decoction of the same removes freckles and improves thecomplexion of those who use it as a fomentation. If however they are boiled downto the consistency of honey, they cure even black eruptions and leprous sores.An application of cultivated lupins also causes carbuncles to break; boiled invinegar they reduce or mature superficial abscesses and scrofulous swellings,and restore to scars the original white of the skin; if however they arethoroughly boiled in rain water, the decoction makes a detergent with which itis good to foment gangrenes, eruptions of rheum, and running ulcers; and it isalso good to drink it for splenic affections and, with the addition of honey,for retarded menstruation. Pounded raw with dried fig they are applied invinegar to the spleen. The root too boiled in water is diuretic. Lupins boiledwith the herb chamaeleon cure sick cattle, the water being strained off intotheir drink. The itch on all quadrupeds is cured by lupins boiled in lees ofolive oil, or by a mixture of the lees with a decoction of lupins. The smoke ofburnt lupins kills gnats.

LXXV. Irio I have said when dealing withcereals to be like sesame, and to be called by the Greekserysimon. The Gaulscall it vela. It is a bushy plant with leaves like those of rocket, but a littlenarrower, and with a seed like that of cress, being with honey very good forcoughs and for expectoration of pus. It is also given for jaundice and foraffections of the loins, for pleurisy, colic and coeliac troubles. It is appliedmoreover to parotid abscesses and to cancerous sores, in water or sometimes withhoney to inflamed testicles, and is also very good for babies. With honey andfigs it is used for cornplaints of the anus and for diseases of the joints,besides being when taken in drink efficacious against poisons. It also curesasthma, and fistulas also if mixed with old axle-grease, but care must be takennot to let the application touch the interior.

LXXVI. Horminum (clary) has a seed like cummin, as I have already said,but in other respects it is like the leek. Nine inches high it is of two kinds:one has a darker seed which is oblong, being used as an aphrodisiac and forwhite spots and films on the eyes.; the other has a paler and a rounder seed.Both when pounded draw thorns from the flesh, if applied by themselves in water;the leaves applied by themselves or with honey disperse superficial abscesses,as also boils before they come to a head, and all acrid humours.

LXXVII. Moreover, the very pests of the crops are of use.Virgil called darnel unfruitful,and yet when ground and boiled in vinegar it cures impetigo, the quicker themore often the application is changed. It is also used with oxymel for gouty andother pains. The following is the prescription: in one sextarius of vinegar aremelted two ounces of honey; the right proportion is to take three sextarii ofthis mixture and boil down with it two sextarii of darnel meal until it reachesa certain consistency, and then it should be applied warm to the painful limbs.Darnel meal is also used to draw out splinters of bone.

LXXVIII. Miliaria is a plant so called because it kills millet.Pounded and poured with wine into a horn it is said to cure gouty pains inbeasts of burden.

LXXIX. Bromos is the seed of an ear-bearing plant, growing among theweeds of the corn crop, in fact a species of oat, with leaves and stalk likethose of wheat, and having as it were little locusts hanging down at the head.The seed is as useful for plasters as is that of barley and similar grain. Adecoction is good for coughs.

LXXX. Dodder I have mentioned as a plant that kills vetches andleguminous plants; some call itcynomorion from its likeness to a dog'sgenitals. Its stem is leafless, fleshy and red. It is eaten by itself or, whenyoung, boiled in a saucepan.

LXXXI. There are poisonous insects, a species of venomous ant,that breed in leguminous plants, stinging the hand and endangering life. Forthese stings the same remedies are good as have been mentioned for spiders andthe phalangium. These then are the cereals that are used in medicine.

LXXXII. From the cereals are also made beverages zythum in Egypt, caelia and cerea in Spain, cervesia and several other kinds in Gaul and in other provinces; the froth of all these is used by women as a cosmetic for the face. But to come to beverages themselves, it will be best to pass on to a discussion of wine, beginning with the vine our discussion of medicines from trees.

I. THE medicinal properties also of cereals have and now been described,as well as those of all plants that spring up from the face of the earth to giveus food, flowers or perfume. Their rival in bounty is Pomona, who even tohanging fruits has given healing qualities, not being content to protect, and tonourish with the shade of her trees, the plants I have noted. Nay, it is asthough she was vexed at the thought of there being more help in things furtheraway from heaven and coming into use later. For the earliest food of man, shecalled to mind, had come from trees; in this way he had been led to gaze at theheavens, and he could still obtain his food from herself without recourse to thecrops of the field.

II. And so, God be praised, she bestowed healing powers on the vine inparticular, not being satisfied with having richly supplied it with deliciousflavours, perfumes, and unguents, in its omphacium, its oenanthe, and itsmassaris, which I have described in the proper places. Man, she says, enjoysthrough me a very great amount of pleasure. It is I who create the juice of thegrape and the oil of the olive, I who create dates and fruits in great variety.I am unlike Mother Earth, all of whose gifts must be earned by toilploughing bybulls, beating on threshing-floors, and then grinding between millstones, andall to produce food at some indefinite time and with immense labour. But mygifts are perfect before they leave me, and need no laboriouspreparation. They proffer themselves unasked, and if it be too much trouble toreach them, they actually fall of themselves. She has striven to outdo herself,in that she has created more for our benefit even than for our pleasure.

III. Headache and inflammations on the body are relieved by vineleaves and vine shoots combined with pearl barley, heartburn by the leaves alonein cold water, diseases of the joints, moreover, by the leaves mixed with barleymeal. Vine shoots pounded and applied to any kind of tumour dry it up; aninjection of their juice cures dysentery. The drops of the vine, which are akind of gum, heal leprous sores, lichen, and itch, but these must first betreated with soda. They also act as a depilatory if the hair be repeatedlysmeared with them and oil, and particularly those drops that exude from greenvines when burnt, by which even warts are removed. An infusion of the shootstaken as a draught is good for the spitting of blood and for the fainting ofwomen after conception. The bark and dried leaves of vines check the bleeding ofwounds, and close up the wound itself. The juice of the white vine, extractedwhile the vine is still green, removes eruptions on the skin. The ash of thetwigs of vines and of grape skins, applied in vinegar, heals condylomata andcomplaints of the anus; with rose oil, rue and vinegar added, it heals sprains,burns, and swollen spleen. This ash too, in wine but without oil, is sprinkledon parts affected by erysipelas or chafed, besides acting as a depilatory. Theash of the twigs sprinkled with vinegar is also given in drink as a cure forsplenic complaints, the dose being two cyathi in lukewarm water, and the patientafter taking the draught should lie down on his spleen. The very tendrils bywhich the vine climbs, pounded and swallowed in water, check habitual vomiting.The ash of vines with old axle grease is good for tumours, cleanses fistulas andin time heals them completely, as it does cramps, and pains in thesinews arising from chill; for bruises however it may be applied thus or withoil, for excrescences of flesh on bones it should be with vinegar and soda, forscorpion stings and dog bites, with oil. The ash of the bark by itself restoresthe hair on burns.

IV. How omphacium is made, just before the grape begins to mature,I have already described in my section on unguents; will now notice itsmedicinal properties. It also cures sores in a moist part of the body, such asthe mouth, tonsils or genitals. It is very helpful for clearness of vision andis good for scabrous eyelids, sores in the corners of the eyes, films on theeyes, running sores in any part of the body, flabby scars, and bones with aslimy pus on them. Its strength can be modified by adding honey or raisin wine. Omphacium is also good for dysentery, spitting of blood, and quinsy.

V. Closely related to omphacium is oenanthe, a product of the wildvine; I have spoken about it in my account of unguents. The most popular is tobe found in Syria, in particular from the white vine around the mountains ofAntioch and Laodicea. It is cooling and astringent, is sprinkled on wounds andapplied to the stomach, being also useful as a diuretic, for pains in the liveror head, for dysentery, coeliac affections and cholera; for nausea a dose of oneobolus is taken in vinegar. It dries up running eruptions on the head, and beingvery efficacious for affections in moist parts of the body is used with honeyand saffron for sores in the mouth and for complaints of the genitals and anus.It checks looseness of the bowels, heals scabrous eyelids and running eyes;taken in wine it cures a disordered stomach, and in cold water the spitting ofblood. Its ash is valued for eye-salves, and for cleansing sores, also forwhitlows and pterygia. It is burned in an oven until a loaf would be thoroughlycooked. Massaris is produced only for use in perfumes, and all such preparationshave been made famous by the greed of the human spirit in its haste to seizethem before the proper season.

VI. Of the grapes left to ripen, the dark have the strongerproperties, and so the wine made from them is less agreeable; the white are themore pleasant, because air passes more readily through what is transparent.When fresh they disturb the stomach, and, by causing flatulence, the bowels.Accordingly for fever patients they are disapproved of, at any rate in largequantities; for they cause heaviness in the head and the disease called lethargus. Less injurious are those which after being gathered have been left tohang; this exposure to the air makes them actually beneficial to the stomach,and for sick persons, as they are slightly cooling and remove nausea.

VII. Next after those that have been hung come in value those kept inchaff; but those kept in grape skins are injurious to the head, bladder andstomach, although they check looseness of the bowels and are very beneficial tothose who spit blood. Those which have been preserved in wine or 'sweet wine' goto the head; when however they have been preserved in must they have an effectworse even than those preserved in grape skins. Concentrated must too makes theminjurious to the stomach. Physicians hold that the most wholesome grapes arethose kept in rain water, although they are the least pleasant to the taste; buttheir grateful character is felt by those suffering from heartburn, disorderedliver, vomiting of bile, cholera, dropsy, and fever accompanied by hightemperature. Those however kept in jars stimulate the palate, stomach andappetite, but they are thought to become rather heavy owing to the fumes fromthe skins. If chickens have eaten the flower of the vine among their food, theynever torch the bunches on the vine.

VIII. Vine cuttings that have borne grapes have an astringent property,but are more efficacious ifthey have been kept in jars.

IX. Grape stones have the same property. It is because of them that winecauses headache. Roasted and pounded they are beneficial to the stomach. Groundinto meal they are sprinkled like pearl barley into drink and taken fordysentery, coeliac affections and a disordered stomach. It is also beneficial tofoment with a decoction of them itch scab and pruritus.

X. Grape skins by themselves are less injurious to the head orbladder than are the stones. Pounded and applied with salt they are good forinflammation of the breasts. A decoction of them, whether taken as drink or usedas a fomentation, relieves chronic dysentery and coeliac affections.

XI. The theriac grape, about which I have spoken in its proper place, iseaten to counteract the poison from the bites of serpents. The young shoots,too, of this vine are recommended to be eaten and to be applied; wine andvinegar made from these grapes are useful for the same purpose.

XII. The raisin, or astaphis as it is called, would injurestomach, belly and intestines, were it not that the stones in the fruit itselfacts as a corrective. When these are removed raisins are held to be useful forthe bladder and for coughs, those from white grapes being the more so, usefulalso for the trachea and kidneys, just as the wine made from stoned raisins isspecific for the poison of the serpent calledhaemorrhois. For inflamedtesticles raisins are applied with the meal of cummin or of coriander, while forcarbuncles and diseases of the joints they are pounded without the stones withthe addition of rue. Sores should be fomented beforehand with wine. Used withtheir stones they heal epinyctis, honeycomb ulcers and dysentery. Boiled inoil they are applied to gangrenes with radish skins and honey; for gouty painsand loose nails with heal-all. They are chewed by themselves for cleansing themouth and with pepper for clearing the head.

XIII. Wild astaphis, otherwise staphis, wrongly called by someuvataminiafor that is a distinct plantwith dark, straight stalks andthe leaves of the wild vine, bears what may be called more correctly pods ratherthan grapes, green and like chickpeas, with a three-cornered stone in them. Itripens at harvest time and grows dark, whereas we are familiar with the redgrapes of the taminian vine, and also know that staphis grows on sunny sites,while the taminian vine is found only on shady spots. I should not recommend theuse of these stones as a purge owing to the danger of choking, nor yet to dryphlegm in the mouth, because it is injurious to the throat. Pounded they rid thehead of lice, as well as the rest of the body, and the more readily if sandarachbe mixed with them, and also cure prnritus and itch scab. A decoction in vinegaris made for toothache, for affections of the ears, for fluxes from scars and forrunning ulcers. The pounded flowers are taken in wine to counteract the poisonof serpents; the seed however I should reject because of its excessive heat.Some call the plantpituitaria. Serpent bites in particular are treated byapplications of it.

XIV. Labrusca too produces oenanthe, already sufficiently described byme; it is called by the Greeks the wild vine, with thick whitish leaves, jointedstem and a bark covered with fissures. It bears grapes red like the scarletberry, which clear the faces of women, removing blotches, while pounded and usedwith the leaves and juice they are good for sciatica and lumbago. A decoction ofthe root in water and drunk in two cyathi of Coan wine evacuates watery humourin the belly, and for this reason is prescribed for dropsy. I am inclined tobelieve that it is rather this plant that is popularly calleduva taminia.It is used as an amulet, and also for the spitting of blood; only however asa gargle, and, to prevent any of it from being swallowed, there are added salt,thyme and oxymel. For this reason it is thought unsafe to use it as a purge.

XV. There is a plant like this, but growing in willow-beds. It istherefore known by a distinct name, although it has the same uses; it is calledsalicastrum. This, pounded and applied with oxymel, is more efficacious inremoving itch scab and pruritus whether in man or beast.

XVI. There is a white vine, which the Greeks call variouslyampelos leuce, staphyle, melothron, psilotrum, archezostis, cedrosis, andmadon.Its twigs are jointed and climbing, with long, thin interstices between theknots. The leaves, thick and bushy, are of the size of ivy leaves, and withjagged edges like those of vine leaves. The root is white, large, and like aradish at first. From it grow out stalks like asparagus. These, boiled and takenin food, are laxative and diuretic. The leaves and the stalks free the fleshfrom sores, and in particular are applied with salt to phagedaeniculcers, to gangrenes, and to 'bad legs' The fruiting bunch hangs down in thinlyscattered grapes, having a red juice, which turns later on to a saffron yellow.This fruit is well known to the curriers, who use it in the preparation ofleather. It is applied to itch scab and leprous sores; if it is boiled withwheat, the decoction when drunk produces an abundance of milk in nurses. Theroot, famous for many uses, is pounded and taken in doses of two drachmae forsnake bite. It removes spots and blotches on the face, freckles, bruises andscars; a decoction in oil is equally efficacious. It is given also in drink forepilepsy, as well as for nervous disorders and giddiness, the daily dose being adrachma by weight for a whole year. In larger doses, however, even the rootitself sometimes disorders the senses. Its most remarkable property is thatapplied in water, as bryony is, it extracts splintered bones, for which reasonsome call it white bryony, the one they call black bryony being distinct. Theaddition of honey and frankincense makes it more effective for the same use.Incipient suppurations it disperses; those of long standing it matures anddrains. It is an emmenagogue and diuretic. Out of it an electuary is made forasthma and pains in the sides, and for spasms and ruptures. Doses of three obolitaken in drink for thirty days eat up the spleen. In the form of an ointment itis also used with figs as a cure for hangnails. A pessary with wine brings awaythe afterbirth, and phlegm is brought away by a drachma dose taken in hydromelof the juice of the rootit ought to be dug up before the seed ripensand thisjuice used as an ointment either by itself or with vetches shows off the bodywith what I may call a brighter complexion as well as with a softer skin. Itkeeps snakes away. The root itself pounded with a plump fig removes wrinklesfrom the body, but a walk of a quarter of a mile should be taken immediatelyafter the application; otherwise it will cause a burn unless immediately washedaway in cold water. The dark vine produces this same effect more pleasantly, forthe white vine causes itching.

XVII. There is then also a dark vine, which is the one properly namedbryony, called by someChironia, by othersgynaecanthe orapronia, similarto the preceding except for the colour; for that is, as I have said, dark.Diocles preferred its shoots to the realasparagus as a food for promoting urine and reducing the spleen. It is to befound growing mostly in shrubberies and reed beds. Its root is dark outside, butinside of the colour of box-wood. Splintered bones are extracted by it even moreeffectively than by the vine mentioned above; in other respects it has the sameproperties. It is a special feature of it that it is a specific for the soresthat come on the necks of beasts of burden. It is said that if one grows itround a country house hawks keep away, and the poultry are kept safe. It alsoheals, in beast or man, if tied round the ankles, congestion of blood that mayhave settled there. So much then for the various kinds of vines.

XVIII. The natural differences shown by musts are these. They arewhite, dark, or of a colour between the two: from some there can be made wine,from others raisin wine. Manufacture makes innumerable differences, so that thegeneral survey that follows will have to suffice. All must is injurious to thestomach but comforting to the veins. If drunk rapidly after a bath withouttaking breath, death ensues. It is an antidote to the poisonous nature of cantharicles and to the bites of serpents, especially of haemorrhois andof the salamander. It causes headache, and is injurious to the throat,but good for kidneys, liver, intestines and bladder, for it makes these organssmooth. It is particularly efficacious against the buprestis, opium, curdledmilk, hemlock, poisons and dorycninm; it should be taken in oil and brought upagain by vomitings. For all purposes white must is the weaker; raisin must ismore pleasant, besides causing less headache.

XIX. The varieties of wine, their very many differences, and most of theproperties of each I have already described. There is no topic more difficult tohandle, or more full of detail, seeing that it is hard to say whether wine doesgood to more people or harms them. Besides, a draught is fraught with greatrisk, it being uncertain whether it will immediately turn out to be a help or apoison. And indeed I shall confine my present remarks to the properties of wineas a medicine. Asclepiades composed onevolume on its administration, a circumstance which gave him a nickname but hiscommentators on it afterwards composed an endless number of them. I, with Romanseriousness and with my appetite for the liberal arts, will carefully discussthe separate details, not as a physician, but to point out their effect on humanhealth. But to treat of the various kinds of wine one by one is a vast andbaffling task, because medical opinion is very divided.

XX. In the past there was a strongpreference for the wine of Surrentum, followed by one for Alban or Falernian;after that various choices have been popular, each manso unreasonable are we inour judgmentsdictating to everybody else a preference for what he himself findsmost pleasant; and yet even with uniformity of opinion how small a part ofmankind could make use of these kinds of wine. Today indeed not even ournobility ever enjoys wines that are genuine. So low has our commercial honestysunk that only the names of the vintages are sold, the wines being adulteratedas soon they are poured into the vats. Accordingly, strange indeed as the remarkmay seem, the more common a wine is today, the freer it is from impurities.Nevertheless, the opinions of the wines we have mentioned seem on the whole thebest maintained. If anyone lays stress also on the test of age, that Falernianis wholesome which is neither new nor too old; its middle age begins when it isfifteen years old. Taken as a cold draught it is good for the stomach, but inhot water it is not. For chronic cough and likewise for quartan ague it isswallowed with benefit neat and on an empty stomach. No other wine quickens somuch the action of the veins. Astringent to the bowels it puts flesh on thebody. It is a firm belief that this wine injures the vision and is notbeneficial to nerves or to the bladder. Alban wines are better for the nerves,the sweet ones less so to the stomach, while the dry are even more beneficialthan the Falernian. They aid digestion less and tend to overload the stomach,but the wines of Surrentum have no such bad effects, nor do they go to the head,while they check catarrhs of the stomach and intestines. Caecuban wines are nolonger produced.

XXI. Of the wines still produced, those of Setia ensure digestion; theyhave more body than Surrentine wine, more dryness than Alban and less potencythan Falernian. Not much inferior to them will be found the Statan wines. It isa firm belief that the wines of Signia are very beneficial to disorderedbowels.

XXII. The other considerations will be combined in a general description.By wine are improved men's strength, blood and complexion. Wine it is thatdistinguishes the middle or temperate zone from the two that lie on either sideof it. All the strength produced by the cruel extremes we of the temperate climederive from the juice of the grape. Bone is nourished by drinking milk, sinewsby the beers, and flesh by water. Accordingly, the drinkers of such have a lessruddy complexion, less strength, and less power to endure toil. Wine inmoderation strengthens the sinews; excess is injurious to them, as it is also tothe eyes. Wine is a tonic to the stomach and a sharpener of the appetite; itdulls sorrow and anxiety, expels urine and chills, and induces sleep. Inaddition it checks vomiting, and pieces of wool, soaked in wine and appliedexternally, soften abscesses. Asclepiades asserted that the usefulness of wineis hardly exceeded by the power of the gods. Old wine is diluted with a largerproportion of water, and while being for this reason a more powerful diureticquenches thirst less effectively. Sweet wine is less inebriating but floats inthe stomach; but a dry wine is more easily digested. The lightest wine is thatwhich matures most quickly. That wine is less injurious to the sinews thatsweetens as it ages. Less beneficial to the stomach is the wine that is rich anddark; it is, however, more flesh-forming. A thin, dry wine is lessflesh-forming, but is more nourishing to the stomach, and passes more rapidly bymeans of urine, going, however, all the more to the head; this remark may betaken once and for all to apply to every other intoxicating liquor. Wine maturedby age and not by smoke is the most wholesome. Wine-dealers first discovered thedevice, adopted today also by householders as well, of adding age in thestoreroom to wines before they have acquired cariosity naturally. By using thewordcariosity the men of old gave sound enough advice, since smoke eats outcariosity even in timber, but we moderns on the contrary are convinced that thebitterness of smoke produces in wines the character of age. Wines that are of avery pale colour become unwholesome as they grow older. The more generous a wineis the thicker it becomes with age, contracting a bitter taste, which is veryinjurious to health, and to spice a less mature wine with it is alsounwholesome. Each wine has its peculiar flavour, the presence of which is a signof great purity each wine has an ageits middle agewhen it is most pleasant.

XXIII. Those who want to put on flesh or to relax the bowels arebenefited by drinking during meals; those on the other hand who are reducingweight and checking looseness of the bowels should not drink at all at meals andbut sparingly after. To drink while fasting is a recent innovation that is veryinjurious to those absorbed in business and trying to keep their mind activelyon the alert. In order to induce sleep, however, and to banish worries wine wasso taken long ago, as we see fromHomer'sHelena, who served wine before food. So too it passed into a proverb that 'winebefogs the wits.' It is to wine that we men should attribute the fact that ofanimals we alone drink when we are not thirsty. To drink water at intervalsduring bouts is very helpful, as it is also to drink it after a prolonged bout.Intoxication indeed is immediately banished by a draught of cold water.Hesiod recommends the use of strongdraughts of wine for twenty days before and twenty days after the rising of theDog-star. Neat wine indeed is a remedy for poison by hemlock, coriander,henbane, mistletoe, opium, mercury, for the wounds of bees, wasps, hornets,spiders, snakes and scorpions, and for all poisons that harm by chilling,especially for those of the haemorrhois, the prester, and of tree fungi; alsofor flatulence and gnawings of the hypochondria, for violent vomitings from thestomach, and if the belly or intestines suffer from catarrh; for dysentery, andfor sweats after prolonged coughing, while, for eye-fluxes the wine should beslightly diluted. For cardiac affections it is beneficial to apply tothe left breast neat wine on a sponge; but for all these purposes the best touse is white wine that is growing old. It is also useful to foment the testicleswith warm wine, and administered through a horn to beasts of burden it removesfatigue. Apes and quadrupeds with fingers are said to stop growing if theyacquire the habit of drinking neat wine.

XXIV. Now I shall discuss wines in relation to sickness. The mostwholesome for gentry are the thinnest wines the common sorthowever may drink what each most fancies, provided that he is in robust health.Wines are most beneficial when all their potency has been overcome by thestrainer. We must remember that wine is grape juice that has acquired strengthby fermentation. A mixture of several sorts of wine is injurious to anybody. Themost wholesome wine is that to which nothing has been added in the state ofmust, and it is better if not even the wine-vessels have been touched by pitch.As for wines treated with marble, gypsum or lime, who would not dread to touchthem, however robust his health? Wine therefore prepared with seawater isparticularly injurious to the stomach, to the sinews and to the bladder. Winesseasoned with resin are supposed to be beneficial to cold stomachs but unsuitedto those inclined to vomit, just as boiled-down must, and raisin wine, soseasoned, are also unsuitable. New wine seasoned with resin is good for nobody,causing headache and fits of giddiness. For this reason it has been namedcrapula. The wines already mentioned are good for coughs andcatarrhs, as also for coeliac troubles and dysentery, and for the menstruationof women. In this class the red or dark wine is more astringent and moreheating. Less harmful is wine seasoned with pitch and with nothing else, but weought to remember that pitch is nothing but the liquid from burnt resin. Thiskind of wine heats, digests, cleanses, is beneficial to chest and bowels, andalso for pain in the uterus if there be no fever, for chronic catarrh,ulceration, rupture, spasms, abscesses, weak sinews, flatulence, cough, asthma,and for sprains if it be applied on unwashed wool. For all these purposes thatwine is more beneficial which has naturally the flavour of pitch and is calledpitchy wine in the Helvian district, although taken in excess it flies, as isgenerally agreed, to the head. As far as fevers are concerned, wine shouldundoubtedly not be given when fever is present unless the patient be old, andthen only when the disease has passed the crisis; in acute diseases only whenthe patients experience undoubted remissions, and these by preference atnightthere is only half the danger for those who drink at night, that is, toinduce sleepnor should it be taken after delivery or a miscarriage, nor bythose ill through sexual excess, nor with headache, nor when exacerbations areattended with chill in the extremities, nor in feverish coughs, tremulousness,pains in the sinews or throat, or if the violence of the disease is felt in theregion of the groin; nor is it suitable when there is induration of thehypochondria, violent throbbing of the veins, nor in opisthotonus or tetanus,nor in hiccoughs, nor if there be difficulty of breathing accompanied byfever; least of all if the eyes be rigid and staring, or weak and heavy, norshould it be given when the eyes of those who have closed them are full of light, or when the lids do not cover them, or when the same thing happens insleep, or if the eyes be bloodshot or rheum should form in the corners;certainly not if the tongue be furred a and heavy, and speech is blurredfrom time to time; nor in dysuria, nor in sudden frights, nor to those who arein convulsions, or again comatose, nor if the seed be emitted in sleep.

XXV. In cardiac disease the one hope of relief lies undoubtedly in wine.Some however think that it should be given only during an attack, others onlywhen there is a remission; the object of the former is to control the sweating,the latter think that there is increased safety when the disease is on thedecline, most authorities, I notice, holding this view. It ought at any rate tobe given only with food, not after sleep nor after another kind of drinkthatis, there must at any rate be thirstonly in the last resort and to a man ratherthan a woman, to an old man rather than to a young one, to a young man ratherthan to a boy, in winter rather than in summer, to those used to wine ratherthan to teetotallers. The dose to be taken depends upon the potency of the wineand also on the amount of water added. The general opinion is that asatisfactory mixture is one cyathus of wine to two of water. If the stomach bedisordered, should the food not pass down, the wine must be given once more.

XXVI. The artificial kinds of wines, thepreparation of which I have mentioned, I think to be no longer made and theiruse superfluous, since I give instructions about the use of the ingredientsthemselves of which they are composed. In other respects the pretence ofphysicians about these had exceeded all bounds; for instance, they prescribed navew wine as beneficial for fatigue after military exercises or riding, and topass over the others, they recommended even juniper wine. And who would preferto use wormwood wine rather than wormwood itself? Among the rest let me omitalso palm wine, which is injurious to the head, and only useful as a laxativeand to relieve the spitting of blood. That wine cannot be considered artificialwhich I have calledbion, for there is nothing artificial about it except thegathering of unripe grapes. It is good for a disordered stomach or a weakdigestion, for pregnancy, faintness, paralysis, trembling, giddiness, colic,and sciatica. In time of plague too, and on travels, it is said to be a powerfulaid.

XXVII. Even when sour, wine still has uses as a remedy. Vinegar has verygreat cooling qualities, being equally efficacious, however, as a resolvent;earth in fact effervesces when vinegar is poured on it. I have often said, andshall often have to say, how often it is a beneficial ingredient with otherthings. Drunk by itself it removes nausea and checks hiccough, and to smell itstops sneezing. Kept in the mouth it moderates excessive heat in the bath.Further, drunk with water it is a useful digestive to many when they areconvalescing, and a gargle of vinegar and water is a good thing after sunstroke,the eyes too being greatly benefited by fomentation with the same mixture. It isa remedy after swallowing a leech, as well as for leprous sores, scurf, runningsores, dog bites, the wounds of scorpions, of the scolopendra and of theshrewmouse; it is also an antidote for the poison and irritation caused by allstinging animals and for the bite of the multipede. Applied warm on a sponge,with either two ounces of sulphur or a bunch of hyssop added to three sextariiof vinegar, it is also a remedy for troubles of the anus. For haemorrhage afterexcision of stone, or any other, it is applied externally on a sponge, and dosesof two cyathi of the strongest vinegar are taken internally. It certainlydisperses clotted blood. In the treatment of lichens it is used both internallyand externally. Injected it checks looseness of the bowels and catarrh of theintestines, and it is similarly employed for prolapse of the anus and of theuterus. It arrests chronic cough, catarrh of the throat, orthopnoea, andlooseness of the teeth. It is injurious to the bladder and to weak sinews. Itsgreat efficacy as an antidote for asp bite was unknown to physicians, butrecently a man who was bitten by an asp on which he trod while carrying a skinof vinegar felt the wound every time he put the skin down, but at other times itwas as though he had never been bitten. He inferred that vinegar was an antidoteand was relieved by taking a draught of it. And it is similarly with vinegarthat those rinse out their mouth who suck poison from wounds. Its all-embracingpotency is not confined to foods, but includes also very many things; poured onrocks it splits them when attempts to do so with fire have failed. No othersauce serves so well to season food or to heighten a flavour; when used forwhich purpose its effect is lessened by burnt bread or cummin, or heightened bypepper and laserwort, and without fail is kept in check by salt. On this point Imust not pass over a striking illustration of the power of vinegar. In the lastyears of his life M.Agrippa wasafflicted with grievous gout, and could not endure the pain. Guided by thewonderful skill of one of his physicians, and without informing the lateAugustusso strong the urge to be rid ofthat pain even at the price of losing all power to use his feet and allsensation in themhe plunged his legs into hot vinegar when a paroxysm of thedisease was at its worst.

XXVIII. Squill vinegar is supposed to improve with age. Besides the usesI have mentioned, it is good when foods turn sour on the stomach, a mere tastedispersing that inconvenience, and for those who vomit fasting, for it makeshard the skin of the throat and gullet; it removes offensive breath, braces thegums, strengthens the teeth and improves the complexion. By its use as a gargleit clears hardness of hearing, opening the ear passages. Incidentally itsharpens the eyesight, and is very beneficial for epilepsy, melancholia,giddiness, hysterical suffocations, blows or falls with clotted blood inconsequence, weakness of the sinews, and affections of the kidneysbut it mustbe avoided when there is ulceration.

XXIX. The ancients, as Dieuches tells us, prepared oxymel inthe following manner. Ten minae of honey, five heminae of old vinegar, a poundand a quarter by weight of sea salt and five sextarii of water, were boiledtogether in a cauldron, but taken off the boil ten times, when it was poured offand put away to keep. Asclepiades condemned it, and did away with its usealtogetherfor it used to be given even in feversyet he admits that it wasbeneficial for the bites of the serpent calledseps, and for poisoning by opiumor mistletoe. It made a warm gargle for quinsy, with benefit to the ears alsoand to the mouth and throat when affected. For all these purposes they nowspray, getting better results, with oxyalme, that is, with salt and freshvinegar.

XXX. Related to wine is sapa, which is must boiled down until onethird remains. That made from white must is the better. It is used as anantidote to cantharides, buprestis, pine caterpillars, which are calledpityocampae, salamanders, and to all poisonous bites. Taken in drink with onionsit brings away the afterbirth and also the dead foetus. Fabianus states that itis poisonous if a man drinks it fasting just after a bath.

XXXI. Next in order come the lees of these several liquids. The lees ofwine then are so potent that they are fatal to any who go down into the vats. Alamp let down makes a good test; so long as it goes out danger is indicated. Unrinsed lees are an ingredient of medicines; moreover, with au equal weight ofiris they make a liniment for phlegmatic eruptions; dry or moist they areapplied to the stings of venomous spiders, to inflammation of testicles orbreasts, or of any part of the body; or a decoction may be made in wine withbarley meal and dust of frankincense. They are dried as well before beingparched. The test of their being properly boiled is if, after cooling, a touch,seems to burn the tongue. If kept in an uncovered place wine lees very rapidlylose their power. Parching adds greatly to their potency. A decoction with figis very efficacious for checking lichen and scaly eruptions. In this form theyare applied also to leprous sores and running ulcers. Taken in drink they are anantidote to poisonous fungi, but a better one when crude. Boiled andrinsed they are used as an ingredient of eye salves. An application of them ishealing to the testicles and genitals, but in wine they are taken for strangury.When too they have lost their strength, they are still useful for washing theperson as well as clothes; for this purpose they take the place of gum arabic.

XXXII. Lees of vinegar, their substance being of what it is, must be moreacid and much more caustic. They check the spreading of suppuration, and arebeneficial if applied locally to the stomach, the intestines and the belly. Theycheck fluxes of those parts and also menstruation. They disperse superficialabscesses not yet come to a head, quinsies and, applied with wax, erysipelas.These lees also dry up breasts that do not restrain their milk, and removescabrous nails. With pearl barley they are a very powerful antidote to thepoison of the snake called horned, and with melanthium cure the bites ofcrocodiles and of dogs. These lees too increase their potency when parched. Anapplication of them, so prepared, with the addition of mastic oil turns the hairred in one night. Applied as a pessary with water on a linen cloth they act as adetergent to the uterus.

XXXIII. Lees of concentrated grape-juice cure burns, the better if thedown of reeds be added, and to drink a decoction of the same cureschronic coughs. A decoction made in a saucepan, with salt and fat, is used alsofor tumours of the jaws and of the neck.

XXXIV. Next in importance, as is generally recognized, comes theolive. The leaves are, to a very high degree, astringent, detergent and binding.Accordingly sores are healed if these leaves are chewed and applied, headache bya liniment of leaves and oil, by a decoction with honey parts which physicianshave cauterized, inflammation of the gums too, whitlows and foul, putrefyingsores; with honey, the decoction checks bleeding from sinewy parts of the body.The juice of the leaves is good for carbuncular sores and pustules around theeyes, and for prolapse of the pupil, being therefore a common ingredient ofsalves, as it heals chronic streaming from the eyes and sores that have eateninto the eyelids. Now the juice is extracted by crushing the leaves withwine and rain water, after which the whole is dried and worked into lozenges. Awoollen pessary made from it arrests excessive menstruation, and it is usefulfor sores running with sanies, as well as for condylomata, erysipelas, spreadingsores and epinyctis.

XXXV. The flowers of the olive have the same properties. Stems are burntthat have blossoms on them, for the ash to serve as a substitute for spodium;wine is poured over this and it is again burned. Suppurations and superficialabscesses are treated by an application of this ash or of the leaves poundedwith honey; for the eyes, however, pearl barley is added. The juice exuding fromthe wood, burnt while still green, heals lichen, eruptions of scurf, and runningsores. As for the drops exuding from the tree itself, especially fromthe Ethiopian olive, one cannot but be surprised that some have been found torecommend its use as an application for toothache, while yet declaring that itis a poison, who even bid us procure it from the wild olive. The bark of oliveroot, taken from a tree as young as may be, scraped into honey and taken infrequent small doses, cures spitting of blood and purulent expectoration. Theash of the tree itself mixed with axle-grease cures tumours, withdraws morbidmatter from fistulas and heals the fistulas themselves.

XXXVI. White olives are more useful to the stomach, less so tothe belly. Fresh and eaten by themselves as food before they are preserved, theyare of excellent use, curing gravel and improving teeth that have been worn orloosened by chewing meat. The dark olive is less useful to the stomach, betterfor the belly, but of no use to the head and eyes. Both sorts, applied afterpounding, are good for burns; the dark, however, is chewed up, and if applied atonce from the mouth to the affected part prevents the formation of pustules.Olives preserved in brine cleanse foul ulcers, but are bad for strangury.

XXXVII. About lees of oil I might seem to have said enough,as I have followedCato, but theirmedicinal value must be dealt with. They are excellent for the gums, for soresin the mouth, for strengthening loose teeth, and, poured over the part affected,for erysipelas and spreading sores. For chilblains lees from the dark olive arethe more useful, as well as for the fomentation of babies; but those from thewhite olive are used for a wool pessary. All lees of oil, however, are morebeneficial after being boiled down. This is done to the consistency of honey ina copper vessel. They are used, with vinegar, old wine, or honey wine, as theparticular case requires, for the treatment of the mouth, teeth, ears, runningsores, the genitals and chaps. To wound they are applied on linen cloth, tosprains on wool. Used thus they are of great value, particularly when old, as amedicament, curing fistula. They are injected for ulceration of the anus,genitals, and uterus, but applied as liniment for incipient gout and diseases ofthe joints. If moreover they are reboiled with omphacium to the consistency ofhoney, they extract diseased teeth, and with a decoction of lupins and the plantchamaeleon are a wonderful healer of itch scab in beasts of burden. The crudelees are very beneficial as a fomentation for gout.

XXXVIII. Wild-olive leaves have the same qualities. Spodium fromthe young branches act as a powerful check on catarrhs, reduce inflammations ofthe eyes, cleanse sores that have eaten into the flesh and restore it, whilethey gently cauterize those that swell outwards, dry them up and promotecicatrisation. In other respects the properties of wild and of cultivated oliveare the same, except that the wild variety has this virtue of its own: adecoction of the leaves in honey is given in doses of three spoonfuls forspitting of blood. Only, wild-olive oil is sharper and morepowerful, for which reason it is used to rinse the mouth in order to strengthenthe teeth. The leaves with wine are applied to whitlows, to carbuncles, and toreduce any kind of gathering; with honey, however, to those that requirecleansing. A decoction too of the leaves, with the juice of the wild olive, isused as an ingredient in remedies for the eyes. It is beneficial to inject itwith honey into the ears, even though there is a discharge of pus. Flowers ofthe wild olive are applied to condylomata and to epinyctis with barley meal tothe belly for catarrhs, and with oil to the head for headache. When the skin onthe head detaches itself from the bone, the young branches, boiled down andapplied with honey, bring them together again. These branches, when fully grown,taken in food check looseness of the bowels and when parched and beaten up withhoney, they cleanse corroding sores and make carbuncles burst.

XXXIX. Of the nature and usefulness of olive oil I have alreadyspoken at length. Here are the kinds that contribute to medicine: the mostuseful is omphacium, next comes green oil; moreover, it should be as freshas possible (unless there is special need for the oldest oil), thin, with apleasant odour and no pungent tastein fact the reverse of what we look for whenit is used in food. Omphacium is good for the gums. If it be retained in themouth it keeps the teeth white and strengthens loose ones. It checksperspirations.

XL. Oil of oenanthe has the same qualities as rose of oil, though all oilmakes the body supple, giving it vigour and strength. It is injurious to thestomach and makes worse the spreading of sores. It makes the throat sore, andtends to neutralize all poisons, especially white lead and gypsum, if taken inhydromel or a decoction of dried figs for opium poisoning, in water forthe poison of cantharides, buprestis, salamander and pine caterpillar, and byitself as an emetic to get rid of any of the poisons mentioned above. It is arestorative after fatigue and severe chills. Six cyathi drunk warm, especiallyif boiled with rue, cure gripings and drive out worms from the intestines. Ahemina-dose drunk with wine and warm water, or with barley water, loosens thebowels; useful to make plasters for wounds, it removes spots from theface. Injected into the nostrils of oxen until they belch, it relievesflatulence. It is more warming, however, to the body if it be old oil, dispersesbetter profuse sweats, reduces better indurations, being of help in cases oflethargus and also when the disease is on the decline. With an equal portion ofhoney taken from the hive without smoke, it is of some use for improving thevision. It is a remedy for headache and with water reduces high fever. If oldoil cannot be obtained, new is boiled down to hasten the properties of age.

XLI. Castor oil is taken with an equal quantity of warm water to open thebowels. It is said to act especially upon the hypochondria. It isgood also for diseases of the joints, for all indurations, for the uterus, theears and bums; with the ashes moreover of the murex shell for inflammation ofthe anus, and likewise for the itch. It improves the complexion, and throughits fertilizing power it promotes the growth of the hair. The seed from whichit is made no living creature will touch. The wicks made from the fibresgive a brilliantly dear flame, but the oil burns with a dull light becauseit is much too thick. The leaves in vinegar are applied locally for erysipelas,but fresh leaves by themselves for diseases of the breasts and for eye-fluxes; adecoction of them in wine, with pearl barley and saffron, is used forinflammations, and applied by themselves for three days they clear thecomplexion.

XLII. Almond oil cleanses, makes the body supple, smoothes theskin, improves the complexion, and with honey removes spots on the face. Adecoction also with rose oil or honey and pomegranate rind is good for the ears,kills the little worms in them, and dears away hardness of hearing, vague noisesand singing, incidentally relieving headache and pains in the eves. Combinedwith wax it cures boils and sunburn. With wine it cleans away running sores andscaly eruptions; with melilot, eondylomata. Applied to the head moreover byitself it induces sleep.

XLIII. Laurel oil is the more useful the fresher and greener itis. Its quality is heating, and therefore it is applied, warmed in pomegranaterind, for paralysis, convulsions, sciatica, bruises, headache, chronic catarrhand troubles of the ear.

XLIV. Similar also is the method of using myrtle oil. It is astringentand hardens. With copper scales and wax it cures sore gums, toothache,dysentery, ulcerations of the uterus, bladder troubles, chronic or runningsores, and also eruptions and burns. It heals abrasions, scaly eruptions, chaps, condylomata, and relaxed a joints, removing also offensive odours of the body.It is an antidote to cantharides, the buprestis, and noxious poisons too thatinjure by causing sores.

XLV. Oil of dwarf myrtle or prickly myrtle has at the same qualities. Oilof cypress has the same effects as oil of myrtle and as oil of citrus. On ofwalnuts, which we have called caryinum, is useful for mange, and is injectedinto the ears for hardness of hearing, and an application relieves headache; forthe rest, it is sluggish and of a disagreeable taste; indeed, if there should beany rottenness in a kernel a whole peck is spoilt. The oil made from mezeriumseed has the same property as castor oil. Oil of mastich is a very usefulingredient of acopum, and would be as profitable as rose oil were it notgenerally thought to be rather too hard. They use it also for profuse sweatingand for the pimples caused by sweats. It is a very efficient cure for the itchin beasts of burden. Oil of behen nut clears away spots, boils and freckles, andheals the gums.

XLVI. I have already described the nature of the cyprus and the methodof extracting oil from it. Its properties are heating, and it softens thesinews. The leaves make an application for the stomach and for an irritateduterus; their juice too is made into a pessary. The fresh leaves arechewed and used as a remedy for running sores on the head, also for sores in themouth, gatherings and condylomata. A decoction of the leaves is good for burnsand sprains. The leaves themselves, pounded and applied with the juice of thesparrow apple turn the hair red. The blossom applied with vinegar soothesheadache, and also, if burnt in a pot of unbaked clay and applied either aloneor with honey, heals corroding sores and putrefying ulcers. The smell of theblossom and of the oil induces sleep. Oil of must is astringent and cooling inthe same way as oil of oenanthe.

XLVII. Oil of balsam is by far the most valuable of all oils, as I havesaid in my account of unguents. It is efficacious for all snake bites,improves very much clearness of vision, disperses films over the eves, and alsoeases difficulty of breathing and all kinds of gatherings and indurations. Itprevents thickening of the blood and cleanses sores, being very beneficial forear troubles, headache, palsy, convulsions and ruptures. Taken in milk it is anantidote to aconite, and rubbing the body with it reduces fevers that areaccompanied by shivering. It must, however, be used in moderation, since itburns the flesh and aggravates complaints if there be any excess.

XLVIII. The nature of malobathrum also and the various kinds ofit, have been described. It is diuretic; boiled in wine it makes a very usefulapplication for fluxes of the eyes; applied to the forehead it induces sleep,more effectively if the nostrils also be smeared with it, or if it be taken inwater. A leaf placed under the tongue improves the sweetness of the mouthand breath, and similarly, if placed among clothes it imparts a pleasant smell.

XLIX. Oil of henbane is useful as an emollient but injurious to thesinews; indeed if drunk it causes derangement of the brain. Therminum, oroil of lupins, is emollient, being very similar in its effects to rose oil. Oilof narcissus was mentioned along with the flower. Oil of radishes removesphthiriasis caused by chronic illness and smoothes roughness of the skin on theface. Oil of sesame cures earache, spreading sores, and those called malignant.Oil of lilies, which I have also called Syrian oil, is very useful for thekidneys, for promoting perspiration, for softening the uterus, and for bringinginternal abscesses to a head. Oil of Selga, I have said to be beneficial to thesinews, as is also the grass-green oil that the people of Iguvium sell along theFlaminian way.

L. Olive honey, which I have said exudes in Syria from the olivetrees themselves, has a taste like honey, relaxes the bowels, though not withoutnausea, and brings away bile in particular if two cyathi be given in a hemina ofwater. Those who have drunk it become torpid and need to be roused at shortintervals. Those about to take part in drinking bouts take a cyathus of itbeforehand. Oil of pitch is used for cough, and for itch in cattle.

LI. Next in honour to the vine and the olive and comes the palm. Freshdates are intoxicating, though causing headache less when dried, and they arenot, so far as can be seen, beneficial to the stomach. They relieve a cough andare flesh-forming food. The juice of boiled dates used to be given by theancients to invalids instead of hydromel to restore their strength and toassuage thirst; for this purpose they used to prefer Thebaic dates, which arealso useful, especially in food, for the spitting of blood. The dates calledcaryotae are applied with quinces, wax, and saffron to the stomach, bladder,belly and intestines. They heal bruises. The kernels of dates, if they are burntin a new earthen vessel and the ashes washed, take the place of spodium, are aningredient of eye-salves, and with the addition of nard make lotions for theeyebrows.

LII. The palm which bears the myrobalanum, found in Egypt, is very highlyesteemed. It has no stone in its dates, as other date-palms have. Taken in a drywine it checks diarrhoea and excessive menstruation, and unites wounds!

LIII. The palm calleddate orspathe givesto medicine its buds, leaves, and bark. Its leaves are applied to thehypochondria, stomach, liver, and to sores that spread and refuse to form ascar. The tender bark of it, mixed with resin and wax, heals the itch in twentydays. A decoction of it also is used for diseases of the testicles. It darkensthe hair, and fumigation with it brings away the foetus. It is given in drinkfor diseases of the kidneys, bladder and hypochondria, though it is injurious tothe head and sinews. A decoction of it arrests fluxes of the uterus and of thebelly; the ashes also cure colic, and taken in white wine are very beneficialfor affections of the uterus.

LIV. Next comethe various kinds of medicines to be obtained from apples. Of these, springapples are sour and injurious to the stomach, derange the bowels and bladder,and do harm to the sinews; cooked, however, they are less harmful. Quinces aremore pleasant when cooked; though when raw, provided they are ripe, they aregood for spitting of blood, dysentery, cholera and coeliac disease. They are notof the same efficacy when cooked, for they lose the astringent power thatresides in their juice; nevertheless, a decoction in rain water is made for thepurposes I have mentioned above. For stomachache, moreover, they are applied,either raw or in a decoction, after the manner of a wax salve; also to the chestin attacks of high fever. The down on them heals carbuncles. Boiled in wine andapplied with wax they restore the hair lost through mange. Raw quinces preservedin honey move the bowels. They add much to the pleasant taste of honey, and makeit more beneficial to the stomach. Boiled quinces preserved in honey and beatenup with a decoction of roseleaves are given by some as food for the treatment ofaffections of the stomach. The juice of raw quinces is good for the spleen,difficulty of breathing, and dropsy, as well as for the breasts, condylomata andvaricose veins, and the flowers, both fresh and dried, for inflammationsof the eyes, spitting of blood, and to regulate menstruation. A soothing juiceis also derived from quinces by pounding them with sweet wine, which is good forcoeliac affections and the liver. A decoction of them is also used to fomentprolapsus of the uterus and of the intestines. An oil also is extracted fromthem, which I have called melinum, provided that the fruit is not grown on wetsoil. Hence the most useful are the quinces imported from Sicily; while thesparrow quince, although nearly related, is not so good. The root of the quincetree, after a ring has been drawn round it, is pulled up with the left hand, theperson doing so being careful to state why he is pulling it, and for whom. Anamulet from such a root cures scrofulous sores.

LV. Honey apples and the other sweet kinds relax the stomach and bowels,cause thirst and heat, but do no injury to the sinews. Round applesarrest looseness of the bowels and vomitings, and act as a diuretic. Wild applesare like sour spring apples and arrest looseness of the bowels; indeed for thispurpose they must be used while unripe.

LVI. Citrons, either the fruit or the pips, are taken in wine tocounteract poisons. They make the breath pleasant if the mouth be washed with adecoction of them, or with the juice extracted from them. Their pips areprescribed to be eaten by women for the nausea of pregnancy, the fruit itself,moreover, is eaten for weakness of the stomach, but not very easily withoutvinegar.

LVII. It would be waste of time to go over again the ninevarieties of pomegranates. The sweet ones, which I have also calledapyrena, areconsidered to be injurious to the stomach; they cause flatulence, and doharm to the teeth and gums. Those however which resemble these closely in taste,called by me vinous pomegranates, have small pips and are understood to be alittle more useful. They are astringent to the bowels and stomach, providedthat moderation is observed and surfeit avoided. In fever even these arestrictly forbidden, although no pomegranates at all ought really to be allowed,as neither pulp of the seeds nor the juice is anything but injurious. They areequally to be avoided when there is vomiting and bringing up of bile. In thesenature has shown us a grape and, not mere must, but actually wine ready made.Both are enclosed in a rather rough skin, which in the case of the bitterfruit is much used. It is popular knowledge that skins are thoroughly tanned byit; hence physicians call it the leather apple. They tell us that it isdiuretic, and that a decoction in vinegar with the addition of gall-nutstrengthens loose teeth. It is in request for easing the nausea of women withchild, since by a taste the foetus is quickened. The apple is divided and soakedin rain water for about three days. This infusion is drunk cold by sufferersfrom coeliac affections and spitting of blood.

LVIII. From the bitter pomegranate is made a medicine which is calledstomatice, and is very good for affections of the mouth, nostrils and ears, fordimness of vision, for sores on the eyelid, for the genitals, forso-called corroding sores and excrescences on ulcers, and to counteract thepoison of the sea-hares. This is the mode of preparation. After the rind hasbeen taken off the berries are crushed; the juice is boiled down to one-thirdwith saffron, split alum, myrrh and Attic honey, a half-pound of each. Othersprepare it also in the following way. Many acid pomegranates are pounded, andthe juice is boiled in a new pot to the consistency of honey, for the treatmentof lesions of the male genitals and anus, of all lesions treated by lycium, ofpurulent ears, of incipient fluxes from the eyes, and of red spots upon thehands. Branches of the pomegranate keep away snakes. The rind of the fruitboiled in wine and applied is a cure for chilblains. A pomegranate, pounded andboiled down to one heufina in three heminae of wine, cures griping and acts as avermifuge. A pomegranate in a new earthen jar with the lid sealed, burnt in afurnace, well pounded and taken in wine, checks looseness of the bowels andcures griping.

LIX. The first bud of this fruit when it is beginning to blossom iscalled cytinus by the Greeks; it has a wonderful feature, which has come underthe notice of many investigators. If a person, after freeing himself from everykind of bandgirdle, shoes, even his ringplucks one of these buds with twofingers, the thumb and the fourth finger, of his left hand, brushes his eyeswith it, lightly touching them, and then swallows it without its touching anytooth, he will suffer, it is said, no eye-trouble during the same year. Thesesame buds, dried and pounded, reduce fleshy excrescences, healing gums andteeth, even if they be loose, by the use of a decoction of the juice. The littlebuds, just as they are except for pounding, are applied to spreading, purulentsores, also to inflamed eyes and for inflammation of the intestines, and fornearly all the affections for which pomegranate rinds are used. They neutralizethe stings of scorpions.

LX. It is impossible sufficiently to admire the pains and care of the oldinquirers, who have explored everything and left nothing untried. In this very cytinus are little blossoms, unfolding of course before the pomegranate itselfforms, which I have said a is calledbalaustium. So these blossoms too theyinvestigated, and discovered them to neutralize the stings of scorpions. Takenin drink they arrest excessive menstruation, and heal sores of the mouth,tonsils and uvula, spitting of blood, looseness of the bowels and stomach,disorders of the genitals, and running sores in any part of the body. They driedtoo these blossoms, to test their efficacy also when thus prepared, and foundthat reduced to powder they cure sufferers from dysentery even when on the pointof death, checking the diarrhoea. Moreover, they have taken the trouble to tryout the very pips of the pomegranate berry. Roasted and pounded they are goodfor the stomach, if taken in food or drink. They are taken by themselves in rainwater to arrest looseness of the bowels. The root when boiled yields a juicewhich kills tapeworm, the dose being one victoriatus by weight. The same root,thoroughly boiled in water serves the same purposes as lycium.

LXI. There is also a wild pomegranate, so called because of its likenessto the cultivated tree. Its roots, which have a red skin, act as a soporific iftaken in wine, a denarius by weight being the dose. Its seed taken in drinkdries up water under the skin. If pomegranate rind be burned the smoke keeps offgnats.

LXII. All kinds of pears are indigestible food, even for men inhealth; and to the sick they are as strictly forbidden as wine. Cooked, however,they are remarkably wholesome and pleasant, especially those of Crustumium. Allkinds of pears, however, if boiled down with honey are wholesome to the stomach.Out of pears are made plasters for dispersing flesh lesions, and they use adecoction of them for iudurations. By themselves they neutralize the poison oftoadstools and tree-fungi, expelling it by their weight in addition to thecounteracting effect of their juice. The wild pear is very slow in ripening.Sliced the pears are hung up and dried for checking looseness of the bowels, forwhich purpose a decoction also of them is efficacious, taken as drink. Adecoction also of the leaves with the fruit is used for the same purposes. Theashes of pear wood are even more efficacious against the poison of tree-fungi.Apples and pears, even a small quantity, make a remarkably heavy load for beastsof burden. It is said that a remedy for this is to give them a few to eat, or atleast to show some, before beginning the journey.

LXIII. The milky juice of the fig has the nature of vinegar, and so likerennet it curdles milk. It is extracted before the fruit is ripe and dried inthe shade for clearing up sores and promoting menstruation, the applicationbeing a pessary made with yoke of egg, or a draught with starch. With fenugreekmeal and vinegar it makes a liniment for gout. It also serves as adepilatory, heals eruptions on the eyelids, as well as lichen and itch. Itloosens the bowels. Fig juice has the property of counteracting the poison ofhornets, wasps and similar creatures, especially scorpions. With axle-grease italso removes warts. The leaves and unripe figs make a liniment for scrofuloussores and for all sores requiring the use of emollients or resolvents; theleaves by themselves too have the same property. They are used as well forrubbing lichen, mange, and on all occasions where a caustic is called for. Theyoung shoots of the branches are applied to the skin to render dog-bitesharmless. The same shoots with honey are applied to the sores called honeycomb.With leaves of wild poppy they extract fragments of bone. Their leaves beaten upwith vinegar render harmless the bites of mad dogs. The tender white shoots ofthe dark fig are applied to boils, and with wax to the bites of the shrewmouse,and the ash from their leaves to gangrenes and to reduce excrescences. Ripe figsare diuretic, laxative, sudorific, and bring out pimples; for this reason theyare unwholesome in autumn, since a body perspiring because figs have been eatenbecomes very chilled. They upset the stomach, although. only for a while, andthey are understood to be bad for the voice. The last figs are more wholesomethan the first; doctored a figs, however, are never wholesome. Figs increase thestrength of youth; to age they give improved health and fewer wrinkles. Theyrelieve thirst and cool the heat of the body; for this reason they are not to berejected in the constrictive fevers calledstegnae. Dried figs are injurious tothe stomach, but wonderfully beneficial to the throat and pharynx. The nature ofthese is heating, and they cause thirst. They relax the bowels, but areinjurious to bowel catarrhs and to the stomach. On all occasions they arebeneficial for the bladder, for difficult breathing and for asthma. Likewise forcomplaints of the liver, kidneys and spleen. They are flesh-forming andstrengthening, and therefore the earlier athletes used them as a staple food. Itwas the trainerPythagoras who was thefirst to change their diet of figs for one of meat. A convalescent after a longillness finds them very beneficial, as do sufferers from epilepsy and dropsy.They are applied to all gatherings that need bringing to a head or dispersing,more effectively if combined with lime, soda or iris. Boiled with hyssop theyclear the chest of phlegm and chronic cough; boiled with wine they clear awaytrouble at the anus and swellings of the jaws. A decoction of them makes anointment for boils, superficial abscesses and parotid swellings. This decoctionmakes a useful fomentation for female complaints, and the same decoction,combined with fenugreek, is useful in pleurisy and pneumonia. Boiled with ruefigs are good for colic; with red copper oxide for sores on the shins andfor parotid swellings; with pomegranate for hangnails; with wax for burns andchilblains; for dropsy they are boiled in wine with wormwood and barley meal. Ifthey are chewed with soda added they relax the bowels; beaten up with salt theymake a liniment for scorpion stings. Boiled in wine and applied they bringcarbuncles to a head. In cases of carcinoma, if there be no ulceration, it isalmost specific to apply the richest fig possible, and the same is true ofcorroding ulcers. The ash from no other wood is more active as a cleanser,healer of wounds, former of new flesh, and as an astringent. It is also taken indrink to disperse blood that has coagulated, and likewise for bruises, violentfalls, ruptures, and cramps, the dose being a cyathus to a cyathus of oil andwater respectively. It is given to sufferers from tetanus and convulsions: indrink also or in an injection for coeliac trouble and for dysentery. With oil itmakes an ointment which has warming properties. Kneaded into a paste with waxand rose oil it forms over burns the slightest of scars. Made into a paste withoil it cures short sight., and ailments of the teeth if used frequently as adentifrice. It is said that, if anyone with upturned face draws a fig tree down,and a knot of it be bitten off without anybody seeing, to tie this round theneck by a string with a bag of fine leather and wear it as an amulet dispersesscrofulous sores and parotid swellings. The crushed bark with oil healsulcerations of the belly. Raw green figs with soda and meal added remove wartsand warty excrescences? The ash of the bushy shoots from the root is asubstitute for zinc oxide. After two washings, with white lead added it isworked into lozenges for the treatment of ulcers and scabs on the eyes.

LXIV. The wild fig is even much more efficacious than the fig; asprig of it also curdles milk into cheeses. It has less milk in it than thecultivated fig. This milk is collected and hardened by pressure, when it isrubbed on meat to keep it sweet. Diluted with vinegar it forms an ingredient ofblistering preparations. It relaxes the bowels; with starch it opens the uterus;with the yolk of egg it promotes menstruation. With fenugreek meal it is appliedto gouty limbs. It clears up leprous sores, itch, lichen and freckles, andsimilarly cures wounds made by venomous creatures and dog bites. Applied on woolthis juice is also good for toothache, or hollow teeth may be plugged. Thetender stalks and leaves mixed with vetches are a remedy for the poison ofmarine animals; wine also is added. Beef can be boiled soft with a great savingof fuel if the stalks be added to the water. An application of the unripe figssoften and disperse scrofulous sores and every kind of gathering; to a certaindegree the leaves too do the same. The softest leaves with vinegar heal runningsores, epinyctis and scurfy eruptions. With honey the leaves cure honeycombsores and fresh dog bites, with wine corroding sores, and with poppy leaves theyextract splinters of bone. Wild figs when green disperse flatulence byfumigationtaken in drink they are an antidote to bulls' blood that has beenswallowed, to white lead and to curdled milkand boiled down in water theydisperse when used as a liniment sores of the parotid glands. The young stalksor green fruit of the wild fig, plucked when as small as possible, are taken inwine to counteract scorpion stings. The milk, too, is poured into a wound andthe leaves are applied to it, and the same treatment is employed for the bite ofthe shrewmouse. The ash of the young shoots soothes a sore uvula; the ash ofthe tree itself applied in honey cures chaps, and the root boiled down in winecures toothache. The winter wild fig, boiled in vinegar and beaten up, clears upeczema. The branches with the bark removed are scraped to produce particles asfine as sawdust, which are used as an application. The wild fig too onemiraculous medicinal property attributed to it; if a boy not yet adolescentbreak off a branch and tears off with his teeth its bark swollen with sap, themere pith tied on as an amulet before sunrise keeps away, it is said, scrofuloussores. The wild fig, if a branch be put round the neck of a bull, howeverfierce, by its miraculous nature so subdues the animal as to make him incapableof movement.

LXV. A plant too, callederinos by the Greeks, must be described herebecause of the kinship of its name. It is a span high, and generally has fivesmall stalks; it resembles basil, with a white flower and small black seed.Pounded and added to Attic honey this seed cures fluxes of the eyes, theproportions being two cyathi to four drachmae of Attic honey. When broken thisplant distils much sweet milk, which with the addition of a little soda is verybeneficial for earaches. The leaves are an antidote to poisons.

LXVI. The leaves of the plum boiled in wine are good for tonsils,gums and uvula, the mouth being rinsed with this decoction occasionally. Thefruit by itself relaxes the bowels, but is not very good for the stomach, thoughits effects are transitory.

LXVII. Peaches are more wholesome, and so is their juice, which isalso squeezed out and taken in wine or vinegar. No other food is more harmlessthan this fruit; nowhere do we find less smell or more juice, though the lattertends to create thirst. Peach leaves pounded and applied arrest haemorrhage.Peach kernels mixed with oil and vinegar make an application good for headache.

LXVIII. As for wild plums, their fruit or the skin of their root,boiled down in dry wine from one hemina to one third, checks looseness of thebowels and colic. A cyathus of the decoction at a time makes a sufficient dose.

LXIX. Both on wild and on cultivated plum trees there forms a gummysubstance called lichen by the Greeks and wonderfully beneficial for chaps andcondylomata.

LXX. In Egypt and in Cyprus are mulberries of a unique sort, as I havealready said. If the outer rind be peeled off they stream with copiousjuice; a deeper cut (so wonderful is their nature) finds them dry. The juicecounteracts the poison of snakes, is good for dysentery, disperses superficialabscesses and all kinds of gatherings, heals wounds, and allays headache andearache. For diseases of the spleen it is taken by the mouth and used as aliniment, as also for violent chills. It very quickly breeds worms. We Romansuse the juice quite as much. Taken in wine it neutralizes aconitc and the poisonof spiders; it opens the bowels, expelling phlegm, tapeworm and similarintestinal parasites. The same effect also is produced by the pounded bark. Theleaves boiled in rain water together with the bark of the dark fig and of thevine dye the hair. The juice of the fruit itself moves the bowels immediately;the fruit itself is for the time being good for the stomach, being cooling,though thirst-producing, and if no other food is taken afterwards, it swells up.The juice of unripe mulberries is constipating; there are marvels to be noticedabout this tree, mentioned by me in my description of it, which suggest that ithas some sort of soul.

LXXI. There is made from the mulberry a mouthwash calledpanchrestos, orarteriace, in the following way. Three sextarii of the juicefrom the fruit are reduced by a gentle heat to the consistency of honey; thenare added two denarii of dried omphacium, or one of myrrh, and one denarius ofsaffron. These are beaten up together and mixed with the decoction. There is noother remedy more pleasant for the mouth, the trachea, the uvula or the gullet.It is also prepared in another wax. Two sextarii of the juice and one sextariusof Attic honey are boiled down in the mariner I have described above.

There are besides marvels related of the mulberry. When it begins to bud, butbefore the leaves unfold, the fruit-to-be is plucked with the left hand. TheGreeks call themricini. These, if they have not touched the ground, when wornas an amulet stay a flow of blood, whether it flows from a wound, the mouth, thenostrils, or from haemorrhoids. For this purpose they are stored away and kept.The same effect is said to be produced if there be broken off at a full moon abranch beginning to bear; it must not touch the ground, and is specially usefulwhen tied on the upper arm of a woman to prevent excessive menstruation. It. isthought that the same result is obtained if the woman herself breaks off abranch at any time, provided that it does not touch the ground before it is usedas an amulet. Mulberry leaves pounded, or a decoction of dried leaves, are usedas an application for snake bite, and it is of some benefit to take them indrink. The juice extracted from the skin of the root, and drunk in wine ordiluted vinegar, counteracts the poison of scorpions. There must also be given arecipe of the ancients. The juice of the ripe fruit was mixed with that of theunripe, and the two boiled in a copper vessel to the consistency of honey. Someused to add myrrh and cypress and then to bake the mixture very hard in the sun,stirring it three times a day with a spatula. This was their stomatice, whichthey also used to help the formation of a scar on wounds. Another method was tosqueeze the juice from dried fruit; this greatly improved the flavour of viands,and was moreover used in medicine for corroding sores, phlegm on the chest, andwhenever astringent treatment of the bowels was called for. It was also used torinse the teeth. A third kind of juice is to make a decoction of the leaves androot, to be applied in oil to burns. The leaves are also applied by themselves.An incision into the root at the time of harvest yields a juice admirably suitedto relieve toothache, gatherings and suppurations, besides acting as a purge.Mulberry leaves soaked in urine remove hair from hides.

LXXII. Cherries relax the bowels, but are injurious to thestomach; dried cherries arrest looseness of the bowels and are diuretic. I findit stated in my authorities that if anyone swallows cherries with their stonesin the morning, when the dew is on them, the bowels are so relieved that thefeet are freed from gout.

LXXIII. Medlars, except the setanian, whichis nearer to the apple in its properties, act astringently upon the stomach andcheck looseness of the bowels. Likewise sorb apples when dried; but when freshthey are beneficial to the stomach and to disordered bowels.

LXXIV. Pine nuts, containing resin, if lightly crushed andboiled down to one half with a sextarius of water to each nut, cure spitting ofblood when the decoction is taken in doses of two cyathi. A decoction of thebark of the pine in wine is prescribed for colic. The kernels of the pine nutallay thirst, heartburn, gnawings of the stomach and the peccant humours thatsettle there; they tone up the system, and are beneficial for the kidneys andbladder. They seem to relieve roughness of the throat or of acough, and drive out bile when taken in water, wine, raisin wine or a decoctionof dates. For severe gnawing pains of the stomach they are combined withcucumber seed and juice of purslane, and also for ulcerations of the bladder andaffections of the kidneys, since they are also diuretic.

LXXV. A decoction of roots of the bitter almond clears the complexion ofspots and makes it of a more cheerful colour. Almonds themselves induce sleepand increase the appetite; they are diuretic and act as an emmenagogue. They areapplied for headache, especially in fever; if the headache arises from wine, theapplication is with vinegar, rose oil and a sextarius of water. With starch andmint they arrest haemorrhage, and to anoint the head with the mixture is goodfor lethargus and epilepsy; mixed with old wine they heal epinyctis and purulentsores, with honey dog bites and, after preliminary fomentation, scaly eruptionson the face. Taken in water, too, they remove pains of the liver and kidneys,and they are often made also into an electuary for this purpose with resin fromthe turpentine tree. For stone and strangury they are beneficial taken in raisinwine, and for clearing the skin taken crushed in hydromel. In an electuary theyare good for the liver, for a cough and for colic, if a little elelisphacus beadded. The electuary is taken in honey, and is of the size if a filbert. It issaid that if about five of these almonds are taken before a carouse drinkers donot become intoxicated, and that foxes die if they eat them without having waterat hand to lap. Less efficacious as a remedy are sweet almonds, yet these twoare purging and diuretic. Eaten fresh they lie heavy on the stomach.

LXXVI. Greek nuts taken in vinegar with wormwood seed aresaid to cure jaundice, applied by themselves affections of the anus, condylomatain particular, as well as coughs and spitting of blood.

LXXVII. Walnuts have received their name in Greek from the heaviness ofthe head which they because; the trees themselves, in fact, and their leavesgive out a poison that penetrates to the brain. The kernels if they are eatenhave the same effect, though the pain is less severe. Freshly gathered, however,they are more agreeable. The dried nuts are more oily, and injurious to thestomach, difficult digestion, productive of headache and bad for a cough; theyare good, however, for those who intend to vomit fasting, for tenesmusand for colic, as they bring away phlegm? Taken in time these nuts deaden theeffects of poisons, neutralize onions and make their flavour milder. They areapplied to inflammation of the ears, with rue and a little honey to the breastsand to sprains, with rue and oil to quinsy, and with onion, salt and honey tothe bites of dogs and of humans. By a walnut shell a hollow tooth iscauterized? If the shell be burnt and beaten up with the addition of oil orwine, to anoint a baby's head with the mixture is to promote the growth of hair,and this preparation is also used for mange. The more walnuts eaten, the easierit is to expel tapeworms. Very old walnuts are a cure for gangrenes andcarbuncles, as also for bruises; the bark of walnuts cures lichen and dysentery,and the pounded leaves with vinegar cure earache. When the mighty king Mithridates had been overcome, Cn.Pompeiusfound in a private notebook in his cabinet a prescription for an antidotewritten in the king's own handwriting:two dried walnuts, two figs and twentyleaves of rue were to be pounded together with the addition of a pinch of salt;he who took this fasting would be immune to all poison for that day. The kernelsof walnuts chewed by a fasting person and applied to the bite of a mad dog aresaid to be a sovereign remedy.

LXXVIII. Filberts cause headache and flatulence of thestomach, and put more fat on the body than one would think at all likely.Parched they also cure catarrh, pounded too and taken in hydromel they curechronic cough; some add grains of pepper, others take them in raisin wine.Pistachio nuts have the same uses as pine nuts, and are besides, whether eatenor taken in drink, beneficial for snake bites. Chestnuts cheek effectuallyfluxes of the stomach and belly; they encourage peristaltic action of thebowels, arrest haemoptysis, and increase the growth of flesh.

LXXIX. Fresh carobs, injurious to the stomach, relax the bowels; driedcarobs are astringent and prove more beneficial to the stomach; they arediuretic. For pain in the stomach some persons boil down to one half threeSyrian carobs in a sextarius of water, and drink this decoction. The sap thatsweats from a branch of the cornel tree is caught on a red-hot iron platewithout the wood touching it; the resulting rust is applied as a cure forincipient lichen. The arbutus or strawberry tree bears a fruit that is difficultof digestion and injurious to the stomach.

LXXX. The bay-leaves, bark and berriesis of a heating nature; and so adecoction made from these, especially from the leaves, as is generally agreed,is good for the uterus and bladder. An application of the leaves, moreover,counteracts the poison of wasps, hornets and bees, as well as that of snakes, inparticular of the seps, the dipsas band the viper. Boiled with oil the leavesare also good for menstruation; tender leaves pounded and mixed with pearlbarley are good for inflammations of the eyes, with rue for those of thetesticles, and with rose oil or iris oil for headache. Moreover three leaves,chewed and swallowed for three days in succession, free from cough; the samepounded and with honey free from asthma. The skin of the root is to be avoidedby women with child. The root itself breaks up stone in the bladder, and threeoboli taken in a draught of fragrant wine are good for the liver. The leavestaken in drink act as an emetic. The berries pounded and applied in a pessary ortaken in drink act as an emmenagogue. Doses of two berries with the skin removedtaken in wine cure chronic cough and difficulty of breathing. If fever also bepresent, the berries are given in water, or in a raisin-wine electuary, orboiled down in hydromet. Prepared in the same way they are good for phthisis andfor all fluxes of the chest, for they both produce coctions of thephlegm and bring it up. For scorpion stings doses of four berries are taken inwine. Applied in oil the berries clear up epinyctis, freckles, running sores,sores in the mouth, and scaly eruptions; the juice of the berries clear scurffrom the skin and phthiriasis; for pain or dullness of the ears it is injectedwith old wine and rose oil. Those anointed with it are shunned by all venomousanimals; taken in drink also it is beneficial for wounds inflicted by them,especially the juice from the bay with very small leaves. The berries with wineare a prophylactic a against serpents, scorpions and spiders; with oil andvinegar they are applied also to the spleen and liver, with honey to gangrene.Further, when there is severe fatigue or chill, anointing with the juice of thisberry, to which soda has been added, is beneficial. Some think that delivery ismuch hastened by taking in water an acetabulum by measure of bay root, freshroot being more efficacious than dried. Several authorities prescribe that tenberries be given in drink for scorpion stings; to cure relaxed uvula that aquarter of a pound of berries or leaves be boiled down to one-third in three sextarii of water, the decoction to be used as a warm gargle; and that to takeaway headache an uneven number of berries be pounded with oil and warmed. Thepounded leaves of the Delphic bay, if smelt occasionally, keep off infection ofplague, and the effect is greater if they are also burnt. Oil from the Delphicbay is useful for making wax salves and anodynes, for shaking off chills, forrelaxing the sinews, and for the treatment of pain in the side and of theshivers of fever; warmed in the rind of a pomegranate it is also used forearache. The leaves boiled down in water to one-third, and used as a gargle,brace the uvula; taken by the mouth the decoction relieves pains in the bowelsand intestines; the most tender leaves, pounded and applied in wine at night,remove pimples and itching. The other varieties of bay have very nearly the sameproperties. That of Alexandria, or Mt. Ida, taken in doses of three denarii ofthe root to three cyathi of sweet wine, hastens delivery; it also brings awaythe afterbirth and acts as an emmenagogue. Taken in drink in the same way, thewild bay, calleddaphnoides, or by the names already given to it, isbeneficial; three drachmae of the leaves, fresh or dried, taken with salt inhydromel, relax the bowels. Chewed, this bay brings up phlegm and the leavesbring up vomit, being injurious to the stomach. In this way, too, the berries,fifteen at a time, are taken as a purge.

LXXXI. The white cultivated myrtle is less useful in medicine than thedark. Its berries cure haemoptysis, and are taken in wine to counteractpoisonous tree-fungi. Even when chewed the day previously they make the mouthsmell sweet, and so inMenander thewomen inSynaristosae [a comedy byMenander] eat them. A denarius of the same by weight is given in wine fordysentery. Made lukewarm they heal with wine obstinate sores on the extremitiesof the body. With pearl barley they are applied to the eyes for ophthalmia andto the left breast for cardiac disease. In neat wine they are applied to woundsinflicted by scorpions, and for affections of the bladder, headache, lacrimalfistulas before suppuration, and tumours; for pituitous eruptions the kernelsare first taken out and then the berries are crushed in old wine. The juice ofthe berries settles the bowels and is diuretic. For eruptions of pimples and forthose of phlegm an ointment is made of the juice and wax salve, and this is alsoused for the wounds of venomous spiders. The juice also darkens the hair. Theoil from the same myrtle is milder than the juice, and so also is myrtle wine,which never intoxicates. When fully matured the wine settles the bowels and thestomach, cures colic and dispels squeamishness. The dried leaves, powdered anddusted over the body, check perspiration even in fever; it is useful also forcoeliac trouble, prolapse of the uterus, affections of the anus, running sores,as a fomentation for erysipelas, for loss of hair, scaly eruptions, othereruptions also, and bums. The powder forms an ingredient in the plasters calledliparae (emollient), for the same reason as the oil also is which is made fromthe leaves, for it is a very efficient application to the moist parts of thebody, the mouth for instance and the uterus. The pounded leaves themselves aretaken in wine as an antidote to the poison of tree-fungi, and moreover mixedwith wax are used for diseases of the joints and for gatherings. A decoction ofthem in wine is prescribed to be taken by sufferers from dysentery and dropsy.They are dried to a powder which is dusted on sores and haemorrhages. They clearaway freckles also, hangnails, whitlows, sores on the eyelid, condylomata,affections of the testicles, offensive sores, and also, with wax salve, burns.For pus in the ears they use both the burnt leaves and the juice as well as thedecoction. The leaves are also burnt to afford material for antidotes; stalkstoo, plucked when in flower, are burnt in a furnace in a newly-made clay potwith the lid on and then pounded in wine. The ashes too of the leaves cure bums.If from a sore there be a swelling in the groin, it is a sufficient remedymerely to carry on the person a sprig of myrtle that has touched neither ironnor the ground.

LXXXII. I have described the preparation of myrtidanum. It isbeneficial to the uterus, whether used as a pessary, a fomentation, or aliniment, being much more efficacious than the bark of the tree or the leaves orthe berries. There is also extracted a juice from the leaves; the most tenderare crushed in a mortar, a dry wine or sometimes rain water poured on themlittle by little, and the liquid now drawn off. It is used for sores in themouth and of the anus, for those of the uterus, or of the intestines, fordarkening the hair, for moisture at the armpits, for clearing away freckles,and whenever an astringent remedy is indicated.

LXXXIII. The wild myrtle, oxymyrsine or chamaemyrsine, is distinguished from the cultivated by its red berries and small size. Its root is much esteemed. A decoction in wine is taken for pains in the kidneys and for strangnry, particularly when the urine is thick and of foul odour; for jaundice and purging the uterus it is pounded with wine. The young stalks also are cooked in ashes and taken as food in the same way as asparagus. The berries, taken with wine or with oil and vinegar, break up stone in the bladder; pounded also in vinegar and rose oil it relieves headache, and taken in drink the jaundice. Castor gave the name of ruscum [Butcher's broom] to the oxymyrsine, having leaves which are a myrtle's but prickly, from which in the country they make brooms; its medicinal properties are the same. So much for the medicines derived from cultivated trees of our cities; lei me pass on to the wild ones of the woods.

I. NOR even the woods and the wilder face of Nature are withoutmedicines, for there is no place where that holy Mother of all things did notdistribute remedies for the healing of mankind, so that even the very desertwas made a drug store, at every point occurring wonderful examples ofthat well-known antipathy and sympathy. The oak and the olive are parted by suchinveterate hatred that, if the one be planted in the hole from which the otherhas been dug out, they die, the oak indeed also dying if planted near thewalnut. Deadly too is the hatred between the cabbage and the vine; the veryvegetable that keeps the vine at a distance itself withers away when plantedopposite cyclamen or wild marjoram. Moreover, trees, it is said, that are nowold and being felled are more difficult to cut down, and decay more quickly, ifman's hand touch them before the axe. There is a belief that beasts of burdenknow at once when their load consists of fruit, and unless it is first shown tothem straightway begin to sweat, however small their load may be. Fennel-giantmakes very agreeable fodder for the ass; to other beasts of burden, however, itis a quick poison. For this reason the animal is sacred to Father Liber, as isalso fennel-giant. Lifeless things also, even the most insignificant, have eachtheir own special poisons. By means of linden bark and fine flour cooks extractexcessive salt from food; salt reduces the sickliness of over-sweet things;water that is nitrous or bitter is sweetened by the addition of pearl barley, sothat within two hours it is drinkable, and for this reason pearl barley is putinto linen wine-strainers. The chalk of Rhodes and the potter's earth ofour own country possess a similar property. Affinities show their power whenpitch is taken out by oil, both being of a greasy nature. Oil alone mixes withlime, both hating water. Gum is more easily removed by vinegar, ink by water,and countless other examples besides will be carefully given in their properplace.

Hence sprang the art of medicine. Such things alone had Nature decreed should beour remedies, provided everywhere, easy to discover and costing nothingthethings in fact that support our life. Later on the deceit of men and cunningprofiteering led to the invention of the quack laboratories, in which eachcustomer is promised a new lease of his own life at a price. At once compoundprescriptions and mysterious mixtures are glibly repeated, Arabia and India are judged to be storehouses of remedies, and a small sore is charged with thecost of a medicine from the Red Sea, although the genuine remedies form thedaily dinner of even the very poorest. But if remedies were to be sought in thekitchen-garden, or a plant or a shrub were to be procured thence, none of thearts would become cheaper than medicine. It is perfectly true that owing totheir greatness the Roman people have lost their usages, and through conqueringwe have been conquered. We are the subjects of foreigners, and in one of thearts they have mastered even their masters. But of this more elsewhere.

II. In their proper places I have already spoken of the plantcalled lotus, and also of the Egyptian plant called by the same name,sometimes known also as the tree of the Syrtes. The berries of this lotus, whichby our countrymen is called the Greek bean, cheek looseness of the bowels.Shavings of the wood, boiled down in wine, are good for dysentery, irregularmenstruation, giddiness and epilepsy. They also prevent the hair from fallingout. It is strange that nothing is more bitter than these shavings or sweeterthan Lotus fruit. From the sawdust also of the wood a medicine is prepared byboiling it down in myrtle water; it is then kneaded and cut into lozenges, whichmake a very useful medicine for dysentery, the dose being one vietoriatns tothree cyathi of water.

III. Pounded acorns with salted axle-greasecure the indurations that are called malignant. More potent are those of the holm-oak, and in all acorns the more potent parts are the peel itself and theskin just under it. A decoction of the latter is good for coeliac affections. Incases of dysentery also even the acorn itself is applied. The same decoction isa remedy for snake bites, fluxes and suppurations. The leaves and berries, orthe bark, or the liquid of a decoction, counteract poisons. A decoction of thebark in cows' milk is applied to snake bites, and the bark in wine is given fordysentery. The holmoak has the same properties.

IV. The scarlet berry of the holm-oak is applied to fresh wounds invinegar and to fluxes of the eyes in water; it is dropped into eyes that areblood-shot. There is also a kindred berry, found commonly in Africa and Asia,quickly turning into a little worm; for this reason it is calledseoleeium, andis in low esteem. The main varieties of it I have already! given.

V. We have classified just as many varieties ofgall-nutthe solid and the perforated, the white and the dark, the larger andthe less. The properties of all are alike, although the best kind comes from Commagene. They remove excrescences of flesh, and are good for the gums, theuvula, and an ulcerated mouth. Burnt and then extinguished with wine they are applied for coeliac affections and dysentery, in honey to whitlows, scabrousnails, hangnails, running sores, eondylomata, and the sores called 'phagedaenie.' A decoction moreover in wine is dropped into the ears and alsoused as an application the eyes; with vinegar it is used for eruptions andsuperficial abscesses. The inner part of the nut when chewed relieves toothache,and also chafing of the skin and burns. Taken unripe in vinegar gall-nuts reducea swollen spleen; then again, burnt and extinguished in salt and vinegar, theycheck excessive menstruation and prolapse of the uterus if used as afomentation. All kinds of gall-nut blacken the hair.

VI. I have already said that the choicest mistletoe is thought to comefrom the hard-wood oak, and I havegiven the way of preparing it. Some crush it and boil in water until none of itfloats on the surface; others chew the berries and spit out the skins. The bestbirdlime from mistletoe is without any skin, and very smooth, yellow on theoutside and leek-green within. Nothing is more sticky than this birdlime. It isemollient, disperses tumours, and dries up scrofulous sores; with resin and waxit softens superficial abscesses of every sort. Some add galbanum also, equalin weight to each of the other ingredients, and this mixture they use also forthe treatment of wounds. The lime smoothes scabrous nails, but the applicationmust be taken off every seven days and the nails washed with a solution of soda.Some superstitiously believe that the mistletoe proves more efficacious if it begathered from the hard-wood oak at the new moon without the use of iron, andwithout its touching the ground; that so it cures epilepsy, helps women toconceive if they merely a carry it on their persons; that chewed and applied tosores it heals them most effectively.

VII. The globules growing on the hardwood oak mixed with bear's greaserestore hair lost through manges The leaves, bark and acorns of the Turkeyoak dry up gatherings and suppurations, and check fluxes. Paralysed parts oflimbs are strengthened by fomenting with a decoction of it, which as a sits bathis useful for drying and bracing these parts. The root of this tree counteractsthe poison of scorpions.

VIII. The bark of the cork-tree, pounded and taken in hot water,arrests haemorrhage from either part of the body, and the ashes of the sametaken in heated wine are highly praised as a cure for spitting of blood.

IX. Beech leaves are chewed for affections of the leaves. gums and of thelips. The ashes of the beech nut make a liniment for stone in the bladder, andwith honey for mange.

X. The pounded leaves of the cypress are applied to fresh wounds,and with pearl barley to the head in cases of sunstroke; they make anapplication also for hernia, for which too they are taken in drink. With waxthey make an ointment also for swollen bread and kneaded in Amminean wine,soothe pains in the feet and sinews. The globules on this tree are taken indrink for snake bites or for the bringing up of blood, and used as anapplication for gatherings. Gathered while soft, and pounded with axle-greaseand bean meal, they are also good for hernia. For the same purpose they aretaken in drink. Mixed with meal they are applied to parotid tumours and toscrofulous sores. Pounded with the seed these globules yield a juice, whichmixed with oil takes away films on the eyes. Taken too in doses of onevictoriatus in wine and used as an ointment with a rich dried fig, from whichthe seeds have been removed, it cures affections of the testicles, dispersestumours, and with leaven heals scrofulous sores. Cypress root, pounded with theleaves and taken in drink, cures affections of the bladder and strangury, andcounteracts the poison of spiders. The shavings taken in drink act as anemmenagogue, and neutralize the stings of scorpions.

XI. The big cedrus, which they callcedrelate, yields a pitchwhich is calledcedria, very useful for toothache; for it breaks theteeth and brings them out, easing the pain. I have already described howcedrus juice is extracted from the wood, of great use for book-rolls were it notfor the headache it causes. It preserves dead bodies uncorrupted by time, butcauses living ones to decaya strange inconsistency, to rob the living of theirlife and to give a quasi-life to the dead! It also makes clothes decay and killsanimal life. For this reason I should not think it ought to be used as a remedyfor quinsy, or for indigestion, as some have recommended, taken by the mouth. Ishould also be afraid to rinse the teeth with it in vinegar, when they ache, orto drop it into the ears for hardness of hearing or worms. Gossip records amiracle: that to rub it all over the male part before coition preventsconception. I should not hesitate to use it as an ointment for phthiriasis orfor scurf. It is also recommended to take it in raisin wine to counteract thepoison of the sea hare, but more readily it might be used as liniment forleprosy. For foul sores and excrescences in them, and for spots and films on theeyes, certain authorities have prescribed it as an ointment, and have directedthat a cyathus of it be drunk for sores on the lung, as well as for tapeworm. There is prepared from it an oil also, which they call 'pisselaeoni' used forall the same purposes, but of greater potency. It is well ascertained thatsnakes are kept away by the sawdust of cedrus, and that to rub the body with thecrushed berries mixed with oil has the same result.

XII. Cedrides, that is the fruit of the cedrus, cure a cough, arediuretic, arrest looseness of the bowels, and are useful for ruptures, sprains,spasms, strangury and uterine affections, forming an ingredient ofantidotes for the poison of sea hares and those poisons mentioned above,and being used for gatherings and inflammations.

XIII. About galbanum I have already spoken. The best kind isconsidered to be that which is neither moist nor dry, and such as I haveindicated. It is taken in drink by itself for chronic cough, asthma, rupturesand sprains; it is used as an application for sciatica, pains in the sides,superficial abscesses, boils, separation of flesh from bones, scrofulous sores,knotty lumps at the joints, and tooth-ache. With honey too it makes an ointmentfor sores on the head. With rose oil or nard it is injected for pus in the ears.Its smell is beneficial for epilepsy, choking of the uterus, and for weakness ofthe stomach. A pessary or fumigation brings away the foetus when there is amiscarriage, and so will a branch of hellebore smeared with it and laid underthe woman. I have said that snakes are kept off by the fumes caused by burningit; they do not come either near persons rubbed with galbanum. It healsalso scorpion stings. A piece the size of a bean is taken in a cyathus of winefor difficult deliveries, and it reduces a displaced uterus; while with myrrhand wine it brings away a dead foetus. With myrrh and wine it also counteractspoisons, particularly those used on arrows. Mixed with oil and spondylium itkills snakes if it but touches them. It is supposed to make urination difficult.

XIV. Similar is the nature of ammoniacum and of its tear, which should betested in the way I mentioned. It softens, warms, disperses, and dissolves. Ineye salves it promotes clearness of vision. It removes itch, scars, and whitespots on the eyes, and relieves toothache, more effectively when it has beenset alight. It is good for difficulty of breathing, pleurisy, affections of thelungs and bladder, blood in the urine, diseases of the spleen, and sciatica, ifit be taken in drinkthus administered it also loosens the bowelsand, boiledwith an equal weight of pitch or wax and with rose oil, it makes a goodointment for diseases of the joints and for gouty pains. It brings superficialabscesses to a head, and extracts corns, when mixed with honeyso applied italso softens indurationsand combined with vinegar and Cyprian wax or rose oilit makes a very effective application for diseases of the spleen. A rubbing withointment made up of this gum, with vinegar, oil and a little soda, is a goodremedy for fatigue.

XV. The nature of storax also I have spoken of in my account offoreign trees. In addition to the qualities there mentioned, the most esteemedkind is very rich, unadulterated, and breaks up into white fragments. It curescoughs, affections of the throat, chest diseases, and obstructions orindurations of the uterus; by the mouth or as a pessary it acts as anemmenagogue; it loosens the bowels. I find in my authorities that a moderatedose dispels melancholy, but that a larger one causes it; that an injectioncures singing in the ears, a local application scrofulous sores and knotty lumpson the sinews. It counteracts poisons that harm by chilling, and therefore,among others, hemlock.

XVI. Spondylium, which I described at the same time, is with oldoil poured on the heads of sufferers from phrenitis, lethargus and headache oflong standing. It is also taken in drink for affections of the liver, forjaundice, epilepsy, asthma, and choking of the uterus; for these fumigationis also beneficial. It loosens the bowels. With rue it is used as a liniment forspreading sores. The blossom is injected with good results intopurulent ears, but the juice, when it is being extracted, must be covered over,since it has a wonderful attraction for flies and such-like insects. Theshavings of the root inserted into fistulas eat away their callosities. They arealso dropped with the juice into the ears. The root also itself is given forjaundice and for affections of the liver and of the uterus. If the head isrubbed with it; the hair becomes curly.

XVII. Sphagnos, or sphacos, or bryon, grows also, as I havepointed out, in Gaul. It is useful in the sits bath foruterine affections, and beaten up, and mixed with cress and salt water, it isalso good for the knees and for swellings on the thighs. Taken in drinkmoreover, with wine and dry resin, it very quickly acts as a diuretic. Beaten upand drunk with wine and juniper berries, it drains off the water in dropsy.

XVIII. The leaves and root of the turpentine-tree are appliedlocally to gatherings; a decoction of them strengthens the stomach. The seed istaken in wine for headache and strangury; it is a gentle aperient and anaphrodisiac.

XIX. The leaves of pitch-pine and of the larch pin crushedand boiled down in vinegar are good for toothache, and the ash oftheir bark for chafing and burns. Taken in drink it checks looseness of thebowels, is diuretic, and as a fumigation reduces a displaced uterus. The leavesof pitch-pine are specific for affections of the liver, the dose being a drachmaby weight taken in hydromel. It is well known that woods consisting only ofthose trees from which pitch and resin arc scraped off are very beneficial toconsumptives, or to those who cannot convalesce after a long illness, andthat the air in districts so planted is more health-giving than asea-voyage to Egypt, or than draughts of milk from cattle that have grazed alongsummer pastures in the mountains.

XX. The ground-pine, the Latin name of which isabiga, because itcauses abortion, and to some known as 'earth-incense,' has branches a cubit inlength, with the flowers and the smell of the pine. A second species is shorterand bent, with leaves like those of aizollm. A third variety has thesame smell, and therefore also the same name; it is rather small, with a stem asthick as a finger, and with rough, slender, pale leaves, growing onrocky soils. All three are plants, not trees, but should be considered herebecause their names are derived from that of the pine. They are good for thestings of scorpions, and also for the liver when applied with dates or quinces,as is a decoction of them with barley meal for the kidneys and bladder.Decoctions of them in water are taken also for jaundice and for strangury. Thelast mentioned kind mixed with honey counteracts the poison of serpents, and inthis form too purges the uterus when used as a pessary. Taken as drink it drawsaway extravasated blood. Rubbing with it promotes perspiration, and it isparticularly good for the kidneys. It is also made up into pills with figs fordropsy; these purge the bowels. In doses of one victoriatus by weight in wineit ends lumbago, and also coughs if taken in good time. A decoction in vinegartaken as a drink is said to expel at once the dead foetus.

XXI. For a like reason honourable mention shall be made of pityusaalso, which some include in the same class as tithymalus. It is a shrub like thepitch-pine, with a small, purple flower. Bile and phlegm are earned off in thestools by a decoction of the root, the dose being one hemina, and bysuppositories made of a spoonful of the seed. A decoction of the leaves invinegar removes scaly eruptions on the skin and, mixed with a decoction of rue,is good for affections of the breasts, for griping pains, for snake bites andfor gatherings in general in their early stages.

XXII. That resin is derived from the trees mentioned above, with itsvarious kinds and native regions, I have stated in my account of wine, andafterwards when dealing with trees. The most general classes are twothe dryresin and the liquid. Dry resin comes from the pine and the pitch-pine, theliquid from the terebinth, larch, lentisk and cypress. For in Asia and Syriathese last also produce it. They are mistaken who think that the same resincomes from the pitch-pine as comes from the larch. For the pitch-pine exudes aresin that is rich, and like frankincense in consistency, while the larchproduces a thin resin with the colour of honey and a very offensive odour.Medical men use liquid resin only occasionally, generally that from the larchand administered in egg, for coughs and ulcerated bowels, nor is that from thepine much used; the others are only employed after boiling. The various ways ofboiling I have fully explained. Of the various trees producing resin, thefavourite is the terebinth, which yields one highly scented and very light; ofthe regions, Cyprus and Syria are most favoured; both resins are of the colourof Attic honey, but the Cyprian is thicker, with more body in it. In the drykind the qualifies looked for are whiteness, purity and transparency; in everykind, however, that from a mountain soil is preferred to that from the plains,and a north-east aspect produces more highly esteemed resin than any other.Resin is dissolved in oil for the treatment of wounds and for poultices; bymeans of bitter almonds when used for draughts. Its medical propertiesare to close wounds, to act as a detergent, and to disperse gatherings; terebinth resin is also good for chest complaints. The last when warmed is usedas an ointment for pains in the limbs; it is removed after a walk has been takena in the sun. Slave-dealers especially are anxious to use this ointment forrubbing over the whole bodies of their slaves, with the object of correctingthinness; by walks afterwards they loosen the skin of every limb, and they havethe further object of making possible the assimilation of a greater quantity offood. Next in popularity after terebinth resin comes that from the lentisk,which has an astringent quality and is more diuretic than the others. The restof the resins loosen the bowels, cure indigestion, relieve chronic coughs, andalso, when used as a fumigation, remove obstructions in the uterus. These arespecific for the poison of mistletoe, and with beef suet and honey they healsuperficial abscesses and similar affections. Lentisk resin is a most excellentremedy for turning outwards ingrowing eyelashes, and is also very useful forfractures and for pus in the ears, and also for irritation of the genitals.Pine resin is a very good remedy for wounds in the head.

XXIII. Pitch too, its source and the methods of preparingit, I have already mentioned, as well as its two kinds, the thick and the thin.Of the thick pitches the most useful in medicine is the Bruttian, because beingboth very rich and very resinous it combines the useful properties of both, theyellow-red kind being of higher value than any other because of thiscombination. For the further opinion about pitch, that the male tree produces abetter kind, cannot I think be entertained. The nature of pitch is to warm, andto fill out the flesh. Mixed with pearl barley it is a specific antidote for thebite of the horned viper, and with honey a good remedy for quinsy, catarrhs andsneezing caused by phlegm. Mixed with rose oil it is poured into the ears, andwith wax it is compounded into an ointment. It heals lichen and relaxes thebowels; expectoration it eases if used as an electuary or applied to the tonsilsin combination with honey. So used it also cleanses sores and fills them out.With raisins and axle-grease it cleanses carbuncles and festering sores; forcreeping sores, however, it is combined with pine bark or sulphur. Someauthorities have prescribed it in doses of one cyathus for consumption andchronic cough. It cures chaps in the seat, and on the feet, superficialabscesses, scabrous nails, indurations and displacements of the uterus, andlethargus by inhalation. Scrofulous sores it causes to suppurate if boiled withbarley meal and the urine of a child not yet adolescent. Dry pitch is also usedfor mange; Bruttian pitch heated in wine, with wheat meal, is applied to thebreasts of women, the applications being as hot as can be borne.

XXIV. How liquid pitch and the oil calledpisselaeon are made hasbeen described already. Some boil it down twice and call itpalimpissa. Liquidpitch is employed for painting quinsy internally. It is good for earache, forpromoting clearness of vision, for use as a lip-salve, for asthmatics, theuterus, chronic cough, frequent expectoration, cramp, nervous tremors, opisthotonic tetanus, paralysis, pains in the sinews, and most effectively foritch-scab in dogs and beasts of burden.

XXV. There is also pissasphaltos, that is pitch combined withbitumen, found in a natural state in the territory of Apollonia; it issometimes made artificially. It is a specific for itch-scab in cattle and forthe sores caused by the young on the teats of their mothers. The best part of itis that which floats on the surface when it is boiled.

XXVI. Zopissa, as I have said, is scraped off ships, wax beingsoaked in sea brine. The best is taken from ships after their maiden voyage. Itis also added to poultices to disperse gatherings.

XXVII. A decoction in vinegar of pitch pine makes an efficacious wash foraching teeth.

XXVIII. Of the lentisk tree the seed, bark and gum-drops are diuretic,and astringent to the bowels. A decoction of them is a useful fomentationfor creeping sores. It makes a liniment for moist sores and also forerysipelas, and it rinses the gums. The leaves are rubbed on the teeth when they ache; loose teeth are rinsed with the decoction, which alsodyes the hair. The gum-drops are good for troubles of the seat, when there is acall for a drying and warming remedy. The decoction too of the gum is useful forthe stomach, being carminative and diuretic, and is also applied with pearlbarley for headache. The tender leaves are applied to inflamed eyes. The masticof the lentisk is applied for bending back the eyelashes, for filling out andsmoothing the skin of the face, being also useful for spitting of blood, chroniccough, and in all cases where the medical properties of gum acacia are calledfor. Abrasions are treated by applying the oil made from the seed of lentiskmixed with wax, or a decoction of the leaves in oil; or they may be fomentedwith these preparations and water. I know for a fact that when the illness of Considia, daughter ofMarcus Servilius, a consular, long aresisted all rigorous treatment, it was cured by the physicianDemocrites, who used the milk of goatswhich he fed on the lentisk.

XXIX. The plane tree neutralizes the poison of the bat; itsseed-globules taken in wine in a dose of four denarii act similarly on allpoisons of serpents and scorpions, besides healing burns. Pounded moreover withstrong vinegar, especially squill-seasoned vinegar, it checks all bleeding, andwith the addition of honey removes freckles, cancerous sores and chronicpustules on the neck. The leaves moreover and bark make ointment for gatheringsand suppurations, and so does a decoction of them; a decoction of the bark invinegar is a remedy for sore teeth, but for the eyes a decoction of the mosttender leaves in white wine must be made. The down of the flowers is harmfulboth to the ears and to the eyes. The ashes of the burnt globules heal burns andfrost-bites. The bark in wine allays the stings of scorpions.

XXX. The power of the ash-tree to neutralize the poison of snakesI have already mentioned. The seed lies between its leaves which in wine areused for pains in the liver and sides, and draw off the subcutaneous waterof dropsy. They lessen corpulence, gradually reducing the body to leanness.These leaves are also beaten up with wine in proportion to the strengthof the body; for a child five leaves are soaked in three cyathi of wine, forstronger patients seven leaves in five cyathi. I must not forget the warning ofsome authorities, who declare that the shavings and sawdust of the ash are tobe avoided.

XXXI. The root of the maple crushed in wine makes a very efficaciousapplication for pains of the liver.

XXXII. The clusters of the white poplar, as I have already described, areused in making unguents. A draught made from the bark is good forsciatica and strangury, and the juice of the leaves, warmed, for earache. Thosewho hold in their hand a twig of poplar need not fear chafing between the legs.The black poplar that grows in Crete is considered the most efficacious; theseed in vinegar is good for epilepsy. It also discharges a small quantity ofresin, which is used for poultices. A decoction of the leaves in vinegar isapplied locally for gout. The moisture exuding from the hollows of the blackpoplar, and giving out an odour when applied with rubbing, removes warts andpimples. Poplars also produce on their leaves drops from which bees makebee-glue. With water these drops also have the same healing properties asbee-glue.

XXXIII. The leaves, bark and branches of the elm are styptic, and havethe property of closing wounds. The inner bark in particular relieves leproussores, as also does a local application of the leaves soaked in vinegar. Onedenarius of the bark, taken in a hemina of cold water, purges the bowels, beingspecific for carrying off phlegms and watery humours. Its tear is also appliedlocally to gatherings, wounds and burns, which it is good to foment with adecoction. The moisture forming in the pods of this tree brings a brightness tothe skin and makes the looks more pleasing. The tips of the little stalks ofthe leaves boiled down in wine cure tumours and draw out the pus throughfistulas. The same property is shown by the inner barks. Many hold that the barkwhen chewed is very good for wounds, and that the leaves, pounded and sprinkledwith water, are so for swollen feet. An application of the moisture too, thatexudes, as I have said, from the pith of the tree when lopped, restores hair tothe scalp and prevents it from falling out.

XXXIV. The linden tree is good for practically the same purposesas the wild olive, but its action is milder. Only its leaves, however, are usedboth for babies' sores and for those in the mouth; they may be chewed or adecoction may be made of them; they are diuretic. Applied locally they checkmenstruation; taken in drink they draw off extravasated blood.

XXXV. The elder has a second, a much smaller species, growingwilder and called by the Greekschamaeacte, by othershelion. A decoction in oldwine of the leaves, seed, or root, of either species, taken as drink up to twocyathi for a dose, is bad for the stomach, though carrying off wateryhumours from the bowels. It also reduces inflammation, especially that of arecent burn, and a dog-bite is relieved by a poultice of its most tender leaveswith pearl barley. An application of the juice softens gatherings on the brain,being specific when these are on the membrane that surrounds it. Its berrieshave weaker properties than the other parts. They dye the hair. A dose of oneacetabulum taken in drink is diuretic. The softest of the leaves are eaten withoil and salt to bring away phlegm and bile. For all purposes the smaller kind isthe more efficacious. A decoction of the root in wine, taken in doses of twocyathi, draws off the water of dropsy; it also softens the uterus, as does alsositting in baths of a decoction of the leaves. The tender stalks of thecultivated elder boiled in a saucepan relax the bowels; the leaves taken in winealso counteract the bites of snakes.

Anapplication of young shoots with goat-suet is very good for gout; these are alsosteeped in water to kill fleas by sprinkling. If a place is sprinkled with adecoction of the leaves flies are killed. Boa is the name given to a diseasewhen the body is red with pimples; beating with a branch of elder isadministered as a remedy. The inner bark pounded and taken in white winerelaxes the bowels.

XXXVI. The juniper, even above all other remedies, is warming andalleviates symptoms; for the rest, it resembles the cedrus. Of it there are twospecies, one smaller than the other. Either kind when set on fire keeps offsnakes. The seed is beneficial for pains in the stomach, chest and side, dispelsflatulence and the feeling of chill, relieves coughs and matures indurations.Applied locally it checks tumours; the berries taken in dark wine bind thebowels, and a local application reduces tumours of the belly. The fruit is alsoan ingredient of antidotes and of digestive remedies, and isdiuretic. It is also applied locally to the eyes for fluxes, and it is used forsprains, ruptures, colic, uterine disorders and sciatica, either in doses offour berries with white wine, or a decoction of twenty in wine. There are alsosome who smear the body with an extract of the seed as a protection againstsnakebite.

XXXVII. The fruit of the willow before maturity develops a kind ofcobweb, but if it be gathered earlier it is good for the spitting of blood.Mixed with water, the ash from the burnt bark of the tips of the branches curescorns and callosities. It removes spots on the face, more thoroughly when mixedwith willow juice. This juice, however, is of three kinds: one exudes like gumfrom the tree itself; the second flows from an incision, three fingers wide,made in the bark while the tree is in blossom. This sort is useful for clearingaway humours that obstruct the eyes, also for thickening where that isnecessary, for promoting urine and for draining outwards all gatherings. Thethird kind of juice is obtained by lopping off the branches, when it drips underthe sickle. One, then, of these juices warmed in a pomegranate rind with roseoil is poured into the ears, or a local application is made of the boiled leavesbeaten up with wax. For gout too it is most useful to foment the sinews with adecoction of the bark and leaves in wine. The blossom beaten up with the leavesremoves scurf on the face. The leaves thoroughly pounded and taken in drinkcheck over-lustful desire; too many doses produce absolute impotence. The seedof the black willow of Ameria with an equal weight of litharge, applied afterthe bath, acts as a depilatory.

XXXVIII. Theagnus castus is not very different from the willow, eitherfor its use in wickerwork or in the appearance of its leaves, but it has a morepleasant smell. The Greeks call itlygos, sometimesagnos, because the Athenianmatrons, preserving their chastity at the Thesmophoria, strew their beds withits leaves. There are two kinds of it. The larger grows up to be a tree like thewillow; the smaller is branchy, with paler, downy leaves. The first bears paleblossom with some purple in it, and is called the white agnus; the other, whichbears only purple blossom, is called the dark agnns. They grow on marshy plains.The seed taken in drink has a taste somewhat like wine; it is said to reducefevers, to stimulate perspiration when applied as embrocation with oil, and alsoto dispel lassitude. The trees furnish medicines that promote urine andmenstruation. They go to the head like winefor the smell too is similardriveflatulence into the lower bowels, check diarrhoea, and greatly benefit dropsyand splenic diseases. They encourage abundant rich milk, and neutralize thepoisons of serpents, especially those that bring on chill. The smaller kind makesthe more effective remedies for the bite of serpents; one drachma of the seed,or two of the most tender leaves, is taken in wine, or in vinegar and water.Either kind makes a liniment for the bites of spiders; mere smearing drives awaypoisonous creatures, as does fumigation also, or placing some of the plant underthe bed. They check violent sexual desire, and for this reason in particularthey act as antidotes to the venomous spider, the bite of which excites thegenitals. The blossom and tender shoots mixed with rose oil clear away headachedue to intoxication. The seed takes away by fomentation with a decoction themore severe type of headache, purges the uterus also by fumigation or a pessary,and the bowels if drunk with pennyroyal and honey. Boils and superficialabscesses that refuse to come to a head are softened by an application of itwith barley meal. With saltpetre and vinegar the seed cures lichens andfreckles, with honey sores of the month and of eruptions, those of the testeswith butter and vine leaves, chaps in the seat when applied with water,dislocations when applied with salt, soda and wax. With the seed the leaves tooare added to plasters for the relief of painful sinews and of gout. Adecoction of the seed in oil is poured in drops on the head of sufferers from lethargus or phrenitis. It is said that those who keep a twig in their hand orin their girdle do not suffer from chafing between the thighs.

XXXIX. The Greeks callerice (heath) a shrub differing only alittle from the agnus castus; it has the same colour and very nearly the sameleaf as rosemary. Report says that it counteracts the poison of serpents.

XL. Genista also is used for cords, and has a flower of which beesare very fond. I wonder whether this is the plant that Greek writers have calledsparton, because, as I have mentioned, from it the Greeks are wont to make theirfishing lines, and whetherHomer had itin mind when he said that 'the ships' cords (sparta) were loosed.'It is certain that the Spanish or African esparto grass was not yet in use, andthough ships were made with sewed seams, yet it was with flax that they weresewed and never with esparto. The seed of this plant, which the Greeks call bythe same name, grows in pods like those of the cowpea, and purges instead ofhellebore if a drachma and a half with four cyathi of hydromel are drunk on anempty stomach. The branches, together with the leaves, soaked in vinegar forseveral days and then beaten up, yield a juice beneficial for sciatica in dosesof one cyathus. Some prefer to soak them in seawater and inject as an enema.The same juice with the addition of oil is used as an embrocation forsciatica. Some too use the seed for straugury. Pounded genista with axle-greasecures painful knees.

XLI. Lenaeus calls the myrice (tamarisk)erica (heath), comparingit to the brooms of Ameria. He says that boiled in wine, beaten up with honey,and applied to cancerous sores it heals them. Some authorities consider it to bethe same as tamarice. But it is specific for splenic trouble if its juice isextracted and drunk in wine; so wonderful do they make out its antipathy to beto this internal organ, and to this only, that they affirm that if pigs drinkout of troughs made of this wood they are found to be without a spleen. And forthat reason they give to a man also, if he has an enlarged spleen, food anddrink in vessels made of tamarisk. A respected medical authority, moreover, hasasserted that a twig, broken off from it without its touching the ground oriron, relieves bellyache, if it be so applied as to be pressed to the body bythe tunic and the girdle. The common people, as I have said, call this treeunlucky, because it bears no fruit and never is planted.

XLII. Corinth and the part of Greece around it callbrya a tree ofwhich they distinguish two kinds: the wild, which is absolutely barren, and thecultivated. The latter in Egypt and Syria bears, and that abundantly,large-stoned fruit bigger than a gall-nut and bitter to the taste, whichphysicians use instead of gall-nuts in the medical mixtures which they callantherae. The wood also, and the blossom, leaves and bark, are used for thesame purposes, although they are less potent. The pounded bark is given for thespitting of blood and for excessive menstruation, also to sufferers from coeliacdisease. An application of the same bark pounded checks all kinds of gatherings.From the leaves is extracted a juice employed for the same purposes. The leavesare also decocted in wine; but by themselves with honey added they are appliedto gangrenous sores. A decoction of them taken in wine or the leaves themselvesapplied locally with rose oil and wax are soothing. So used they also cureepinyctis; a decoction of them is healing to toothache and earache; the rootis similarly used for the same purposes. The leaves furthermore are applied withpearl barley to spreading ulcers. A drachma by weight of the seed is taken indrink for the poison of phalangia and other spiders; it is applied however withchicken fat to boils. It is an antidote also to the poison of serpents exceptthat of the asp. It is also good for jaundice, phthiriasis and nits, if adecoction is used as a liniment, and this too checks excessive menstruation. Theash from the tree is good for all the same purposes. They say that if it ismixed with the urine of a castrated ox and taken in either drink or food it isantaphrodisiac. A burning coal of this wood is quenched with the urine mentionedand kept in the shade. This, when you want to light it, crumbles to powder. TheMagi have recorded that the urine of a eunuch also has the same effect.

XLIII. Nor is the red-twigged tree considered more lucky. Itsinner bark opens scars which have healed too soon.

XLIV. The leaves of siler applied to the forehead relieve headache. Theseed of it too crushed in oil checks phthiriasis. Serpents keep away from thisshrub also, and for this reason rustics carry a walking stick made of it.

XLV. Privet, if it is the same tree as the cypros of the East, hasits own uses in Europe. Its juice benefits sinews, joints and chills; its leaveseverywhere are used to treat chronic ulcer and, with a sprinkling of salt,sores in the mouth; the berries are employed for phthiriasis, and the berries orthe leaves for chafing between the thighs. The berries also cure the pip inchickens.

XLVII. I have pointed out twenty kinds of ivy. Themedicinal properties of all are twofold in action. Ivy deranges the mind andalso clears the head when taken too copiously in drink; taken internallyit injures sinews, while an external application does them good. All kinds ofivy, being of the same character as vinegar, are of a cooling nature. They arediuretic when taken in drink; they relieve headache; especially beneficial tothe brain and to the membrane enclosing it is an application of soft leavespounded and boiled with vinegar and rose oil, more rose oil being addedafterwards. They are also applied to the forehead, and a decoction of them isused to foment the mouth and to rub the head. They are good for the spleenwhether taken in drink or used as liniment. They are also boiled or beaten up inwine for the shivers of ague and for outbursts of phlegm. Clusters also of ivyberries cure splenic trouble, either taken in drink or applied locally; forliver trouble, however, they must be applied. Pessaries of berries promotemenstruation. Ivy juice, especially that of the white cultivated ivy, curescomplaints and offensive smell of the nostrils. The same poured into thenostrils clears the head, more thoroughly if soda is added. It is also pouredwith oil into purulent or painful ears. It furthermore removes the ugly marks ofscars. For troubles of the spleen the juice of the white kind warmed with hotiron is more efficacious. A sufficient dose is six berries taken in two cyathiof wine. Berries of white ivy taken three at a time in oxymel expel tapeworms,and in this treatment it is also beneficial to apply the berries to the belly.The ivy that I have called golden-berried a draws off in the urine thesubcutaneous water of dropsy, if twenty of the golden berries are beaten up ina sextarius of wine and the mixture is drunk in doses of three cyathi.Erasistratus prescribed five berries of the same ivy, pounded in rose oil andwarmed in the rind of a pomegranate, for toothache, the injection to be madedrop by drop into the ear opposite to the pain. If the berries that have asaffron juice are taken in drink beforehand, they keep off the headache thatfollows drinking; they are likewise good for the spitting of blood and forcolic. The whiter clusters of the dark ivy taken in drink make even men sterile.A decoction in wine of any kind of ivy is applied locally to every kind ofulcer, even if it is malignant. The tears of the ivy act as a depilatory andremove phthiriasis. The blossom of any sort of ivy, taken in dry wine twice aday, a three-finger pinch at a time, corrects dysentery and looseness of thebowels. With wax it is useful as an ointment for bums. The clusters turn thehair black. The juice of the root, taken in vinegar, is good for the bite ofpoisonous spiders. I find also that patients with diseases of the spleen arecured if they drink from a vessel made of this wood. They crush too the berries,then burn them, and in this way apply them to burns that have previously beenbathed with warm water. There are also some who make incisions in ivy for thesake of the juice, which they use for decayed teeth; they say that the teethbreak off, those nearest being protected by wax lest they should be injured.They obtain also a gum from ivy, which in vinegar is recommended as very usefulfor the teeth.

XLVIII. The Greeks give the namecisthos, which is very likecissos (ivy), to a shrub larger than thyme and with leaves like those of ocimum.There are two kinds of it; the flower of the male is rose-coloured, of thefemale, white. Both are good for dysentery and looseness of the bowels, the dosebeing as much of the blossom as can be taken in three fingers, this quantity tobe swallowed in a dry wine twice a day; for chronic ulcers and for burns theblossom is applied with wax, and by itself for ulcers in the mouth. It isespecially under these shrubs that there growsthe hypocisthis, which I shall describe when I treat of herbs.

XLIX. The plant calledcissos erythranos by the Greeks is like ivy. Takenin wine it is good for sciatica and lumbago; so strong is the property of theberry that it brings away blood in the urine.Chamaecissos again is the namethey give to an ivy that never rises from the ground. This too crushed in wineand taken in doses of an acetabulum cures splenic trouble; the leaves withaxle-grease are applied to bums. The milax also, which has the further name ofanthophoros (flower-bearer), has a likeness to the ivy, though the leaves aremore slender. A chaplet of it made with an odd number of leaves is said to be acure for headache. Some authorities have declared that there are two kinds ofmilax. One is very nearly everlasting, grows in shaded valleys, is a climber oftrees, bears berries in luxuriant clusters, and is most efficacious against allpoisonous things to such a degree that, if the juice of the berries isrepeatedly administered in drops to babies, no poison will hereafter dothem any harm. The other kind is said to be fond of cultivated ground and togrow there, having no medicinal value. The former milax they state to be the onethe wood of which, we said, gives out a sound when placed close to the ear. Likeit is the plant that some have calledelematis, which climbs along trees and isitself jointed. Its leaves cleanse leprous sores; its seed loosens the bowels ifan acetabulum of it is taken in a hemina of water or in hydromel. A decoction ofit is administered for the same purpose.

L. I have pointed out twenty-eight kinds of reed, and nowhere is moreobvious that force of Nature which I describe in these books one after another,if indeed the root of the reed, crushed and applied, draws a fern stem out ofthe flesh, while the root of the fern does the same to a splinter of reed. Toincrease the number of the various reeds there is that which grows in Judea andSyria and is used for scents and unguents; boiled down with grass or celeryseed this is diuretic, and when made into a pessary acts as an emmenagogue. Acure for sprains, for troubles of the liver and of the kidneys, and for dropsy,is two oboli taken in drink; for a cough also inhalation is used, the additionof resin being an improvement; for scurf and running sores is used a decoctionwith myrrh. Its juice also is collected and made into a drug like elaterium. Ofall reeds the parts nearest the root are the most efficacious, and the jointsare more efficacious than other pads. The Cyprian reed, calleddonax, has a barkwhich, reduced to ash, is a remedy for mange and also for festering sores. Itsleaves are used for extracting splinters, and are also good for erysipelas andfor all gatherings. The common reed has the power to extract if freshly pounded,and not the root only, for many hold that the reed itself too has this property.The root applied in vinegar cures dislocations and pains of the spine; the sameground fresh and taken in wine is aphrodisiac. The down on reeds placed in theears deadens the hearing.

LI. Akin to the reed is a plant growing in Egypt, the papyrus, which,when it has been dried, is especially useful for expanding and drying fistulas,and, by swelling, for opening them to admit medicaments. The paper made from itis, when burnt, one of the caustic remedies. Its ash taken in wine inducessleep. The plant itself applied with water cures callosities.

LII. Not even in Egypt does the ebony-tree grow, as I have stated,and in my medical research I omit foreign regions; yet I must not pass it by, asit is a great marvel. Its sawdust is said to be a sovereign remedy for the eyes;its wood, ground on the whetstone and mixed with raisin wine, to dispel dimnessof vision; its root, applied however in water, to disperse white specks on theeyes; cough too to be cleared away if an equal measure of draeunculus root isadded along with honey. Physicians include ebony among erosive remedies.

LIII. The rhododendros has not even found a Latin name among theRomans, names for it beingrhododaphne ornerium. It is a strange fact that,while its leaves are poisonous to quadrupeds, to man on the other hand, if rueis added and the mixture taken in wine, they are a protection against the poisonof snakes. Sheep too and goats, if they drink water in which these leaves havebeen steeped, are said to be killed by it.

LIV. Neither has rhus received a Latin name, although many uses are madeof it. For it is both a wild plant with myrtle-like leaves and short stems,which expels tapeworms, and also the shrub called 'the tanner's', of a reddishcolour, a cubit high, and of the thickness of a finger, the leaves of which whendried are used as is pomegranate rind in the tanning of leather. Physiciansmoreover use the leaves of rhus for bruises, likewise for coeliac trouble, soresin the seat and for what they call eating (phagedaenic) ulcers. Pounded withhoney and applied with vinegar ... a decoction of them is dropped intosuppurating ears. A decoction of the branches makes a mouthwash, which is usedfor the same purposes as that made from mulberries, but it is more efficaciouswhen mixed with alum. This is also applied to dropsical swellings.

LV. What is calledrhus erythros (red sumach) iseryta, the seed of thisshrub. It has astringent and cooling properties. It is sprinkled on viandsinstead of salt when the bowels have been relaxed, and with silphium added makesall meat sweeter. With honey it cures running sores, roughness of the tongue,and livid or excoriated bruises; applied in the same way it very quickly causeswounds on the head to cicatrize. Taken as food it checks excessivemenstruation.

LVI. A different plant is erythrodanum, called by someereuthodanum, andrubia by the Romans, which is used to dye wool and to tan leather. As a medicineit is diuretic, and taken in hydromel cures jaundice (lichen too if applied withvinegar), sciatica and paralysis if the patient bathes daily while taking thedraught. The root and the seed are emmenagogues, check diarrhoea and dispersegatherings. The branches with the leaves are applied for snakebites. The leavesalso dye the hair. I find in some authorities that jaundice is cured if thisshrub is merely looked at while worn as an amulet.

LVII. The plant calledalysson differs from the last only inhaving smaller leaves and branches. It has received its name because it preventspersons bitten by a dog from going mad if they take it in vinegar and wear it asan amulet. The authorities add the wonderful marvel that the mere sight of thisshrub dries up sanies.

LVIII. Radicula too prepares wools for the dyers; I have said that it iscalled struthion by the Greeks. It cures jaundice both when taken by itself indrink and in the form of a decoction, and likewise chest troubles; it promotesurine, loosens the bowels and purges the uterus, for which reason physicianscall it `golden goblet'. With honey too it is a splendid remedy for a cough, andin doses of a spoonful for orthopnoea; but with pearl barley and vinegar itremoves leprous sores. Again, with panaces and caper root it breaks up andexpels stone in the bladder, and a decoction with barley meal and wine dispersessuperficial abscesses. It is used as an ingredient of poultices, and ofeye-salves to improve the vision; it is especially useful for making the patientsneeze, and also for troubles of the spleen and liver. The same plant taken inhydromel in doses of one denarius by weight cures asthma and pleurisy and allpains in the side.

Dog's-bane is a shrub having a leaf like that ofivy but softer; the tendrils are shorter, and the seed is pointed, grooved,downy, and strong smelling. If given in their food this seed in water kills dogsand all other quadrupeds.

LIX. Rosemary has been mentioned already. There are twokinds of it; one is barren, and the other has a stalk and a resinous seed calledcachrys. The leaves have the smell of frankincense. A local application of thefresh root heals wounds, prolapsus of the anus, condylomata, andhaemorrhoids. The juice both of the shrub and of the root cures jaundice andsuch conditions as call for cleansing. It sharpens the eyesight. The seed isgiven in drink for chronic complaints of the chest and with wine and pepper foruterine trouble; it is an emmenagogue, and with darnel meal is applied locallyfor gout; an application also clears away freckles, and is used when a calorificor sudorific is called for, also for sprains; milk is increased when it, andwhen the root, is taken in wine. The herb itself is applied with vinegar toscrofulous sores, and with honey is good for a cough.

LX. There are, as I have said, many kinds of eachrys. But the onegrowing on rosemary, the plant just described, is resinous if rubbed. Itneutralizes poisons, and the venom of all creatures except snakes. It promotesperspiration, dispels colic, and produces a rich supply of milk.

LXI. Sabine herb, calledbrathy by the Greeks, is of two kinds.One has a leaf like that of the tamarisk, the other like that of the cypress,for which reason some have called it the Cretan cypress. Many use it instead offrankincense for fumigations; in medicines moreover a double dose is said to beequivalent in strength to a single dose of cinnamon. It reduces gatherings andchecks corroding sores; an application cleanses ulcers, and used as a pessary orfor fumigation it brings away the dead foetus. With honey it is used as anointment for erysipelas and carbuncles; taken in wine it cures jaundice. Byfumigation sabine herb is said to cure the pip in chickens.

LXII. Like this sabine herb is the plant calledselago. It isgathered without iron with the right hand, thrust under the tunic through theleft arm-hole, as though the gatherer were thieving. He should be clad in white,and have bare feet washed clean; before gathering he should make a sacrificialoffering of bread and wine. The plant is carried in a new napkin. The Druids ofGaul have recorded that it should be kept on the person to ward off allfatalities, and that the smoke of it is good for all diseases of the eyes.

LXIII. The same authorities have calledsamoius (brook-weed) aplant growing in moist regions, which (they say) is to be gatheredwith the left hand by fasting persons to keep off the diseases of swine andoxen. As one gathers it one must not look at it, nor place the plant anywhereexcept in the trough, where it should be crushed for the animals to drink.

LXIV. I have mentioned a the different kinds of gums. The better the sortof each kind the more potent its effect. Gums are injurious to the teeth,coagulate blood and therefore benefit those who spit blood; they are also goodfor burns though bad for affections of the trachea; they promote urine andlessen the bitter taste in things. Gums generally are acrid,but the gum that comes from bitter almonds, and is more efficacious for givingastringency to the internal organs, possesses heating properties. The gums fromplums, cherries and vines are less esteemed. An application of gum has dryingand astringent properties, in vinegar moreover it cures lichens on babies, andfour oboli taken in must are good for a chronic cough. Gums are believed toimprove the complexion and also the appetite; they are good for stone when takenwith raisin wine. They are especially useful for the eyes and for wounds.

LXV. The Arabian thornI have mentioned the merits of the Egyptian thornin my section on scentseven by itself by its thickening nature checks allfluxes, spitting of blood and excessive menstruation, and there is even morepotency in its root.

LXVI. The seed of the white thorn is a help against the stings ofscorpions, and a crown of it when worn lessens headache. Like it is the plantcalledacanthion by the Greeks, but this has much smaller leaves, which haveprickly points and are covered with down like cobweb. In the East this is evengathered to make a silk-like cloth. The leaves by themselves, or the roots, aretaken in drink as a cure for opisthotonic tetanus.

LXVII. A gum also is produced in Egypt from the acacia-thorn, from a paletree and a dark, and likewise from a green tree, which is far better than theformer two. Gum is also produced in Galatia; it is very inferior, andcomes from a more thorny tree than the others. The seed of all the trees is likethe lentil, only both grain and pod are smaller. It is gathered in autumn; ifgathered earlier, its tonic properties are too powerful. The pods are steepedin rainwater and then pounded in a mortar. The juice is then extracted fromthem by presses, and finally thickened into lozenges by exposure to the sun inbasins. A juice is also extracted from the leaves, but it is lessefficacious. For tanning leather they use the seed instead of gall-nuts. Thejuice of the leaves and of the Galatian acacia is very dark, and considered oflittle value, as is also the juice of the deep-red kind. The purple gum, thedun-coloured, and that which dissolves most easilythese have the highest tonicand cooling qualities these are particularly useful for eye-salves. Forpurposes the lozenges are washed by some, roasted by others and by othersthoroughly burnt. They dye the hair, and cure erysipelas, creeping ulcers, moistcomplaints of the body, gatherings, bruised joints, chilblains and hangnails.They check excessive menstruation in women and are good for prolapsus of theuterus and anus, also for the eyes and for sores of the mouth and of thegenitals.

LXVIII. Our common thorn also, from which the fullers' coppers arefilled, has a root with uses. Throughout the Spains, many use it as a scent andas an ingredient of ointments, calling itaspalathus of this name in the East,white, and as big as an ordinary tree,

LXIX. but it is also the name of a shrub, lower in height but equallythorny, that grows in the islands Nisyrus and Rhodes, called by someervsisceptrum, by otherssphagnos, and by the Syriansdiaxylon. The best is thatleast like fennelgiant, of a red colour or inclining to purple when the barkhas been removed. It grows in several regions, but not everywhere has it aperfume. I have described its powerful scent when the rainbow rests extendedover the shrub. It cures foul ulcers in the mouth, polypus, ulcerated genitalsand those with carbuncles, and also chaps; taken in drink it clears awayflatulence and strangury. The bark is good for those who bring up blood, and adecoction of it checks looseness of the bowels. The wild shrub also is thoughtto have similar properties.

LXX. There is also a thorn with the name of appendix, because the brightred berries hanging from it are called appendixes. These, either raw bythemselves or dried and boiled down in wine, check looseness of the bowels andcolic. The berries of pyracantha are taken in drink for the bites of serpents.

LXXI. Paliurus too is a species of thorn.Its seed the Africans callzura; it is very efficacious for scorpion sting, andlikewise for stone and cough. The leaves have an astringent quality. The rootdisperses superficial abscesses, gatherings and boils; taken in drink it isdiuretic. A decoction of it in wine checks looseness of the bowels andneutralizes the poison of serpents. The root especially is given in wine.

LXXII. The leaves of the holly, crushed and with the addition ofsalt, are good for diseases of the joints, while the berries are good formenstruation, coeliac trouble, dysentery and cholera. Taken in wine they checklooseness of the bowels. An application of the decocted root extracts objectsembedded in the flesh, and is very useful for dislocations and swellings. Aholly tree planted in a town house or country house keeps off magic influences.Pythagoras has recorded that by itsblossom water is solidified, and that a holly stick, cast at any animal, even ifthrough want of strength in the thrower it falls short of the quarry, of its ownaccord rolls nearer the mark, so powerful is the nature of this tree. The smokeof the yew tree kills rats and mice.

LXXIII. Not even brambles did Nature create for harmful purposes only,and so she has given them their blackberries, that are food even for men. Theyhave a drying and astringent property, being very good for gums, tonsils andgenitals. They counteract the venom of the most vicious serpents, such as the haemorrhois and prester; the bloom or the berry counteracts that of scorpions.They close wounds without any danger of gatherings. Their stalks are diuretic,being pounded when young and the juice extracted, which is then condensed in thesun to the thickness of honey, and is considered to be, whether taken bythe month or used as ointment, a specific for affections of the mouth or eyes,for spitting of blood, quinsy, troubles of the uterus or anus, and for coeliaeaffections. For affections of the mouth, indeed, even the chewed leaves areefficacious, and they are used as ointment for running sores, or for any kind ofsore on the head. Even prepared thus without other ingredient they are appliednear a the left breast for heart-burn, also to the stomach forstomach-ache, and to the eyes for procidence. The juice of them is also droppedinto the ears. Added to rose wax-salve it heals condylomata. A decoction inwine of its tender shoots is a quick remedy for affections of the uvula. Thesame shoots, eaten by themselves like cabbage sprouts, or a decoction of them ina dry wine, strengthen loose teeth. They check looseness of the bowels anddischarges of blood, and are good for dysentery. They are dried in the shade andthen burnt so that the ash may reduce a relaxed uvula. The leaves also dried andcrushed are said to be useful for sores on draught animals. The blackberrieswhich grow on them can furnish a better mouth-medicine than even the cultivatedmulberry. Made up on the same prescription or with hypocisthis and honey only,they are taken in drink for cholera, for heart-burn, and for the stings ofspiders. Among the medicines that are called styptics, there is none moreeffective than the root of a bramble bearing blackberries boiled down in wine toone third, so that sores in the mouth and the anus may be rinsed with thedecoction and fomented; so powerful is it that the very sponges used become hardas stone.

LXXIV. A second kind of bramble, on which a rose grows, produces a littleround growth like a chestnut, an excellent remedy for the stone. It is differentfrom the dog-rose, about which I shall speak a in the next book.

The cynosbatos is called by somecynapanxis, by othersneurospastos. It has aleaf like a man's foot-print. It also bears a black cluster, in the berry ofwhich it has a string, whence the whole shrub is calledneurospastos. It isdifferent from the caper that the physicians have calledcynosbatos. The stalkof this, pickled in vinegar, is chewed as a remedy for affections of the spleenand for flatulence. The string of it chewed up with Chian mastic cleanses themouth. The rose-blossom of brambles with axle-grease clears away mange; theberries mixed with oil of unripe grapes dye the hair. The blossom of theblackberry is gathered at harvest-time. The white blossom taken in wine isexcellent for pleurisy and also for coeliac affections. The root, boiled down toone-third, checks looseness of the bowels and haemorrhage; the decoction alsomakes a wash that strengthens the teeth. With the same juice are fomented soresof the anus and of the genitals. The ash from the root replaces a relaxed uvula.

LXXV. The Idaean bramble was so called because no other grows on MountIda. It is, however, more delicate than other brambles and smaller, with thecanes farther apart and less prickly; it grows under the shade of trees. Theblossom of it with honey is applied to fluxes of the eyes and to erysipelas, andin water it is given as a drink to patients with disordered stomachs;its other properties are the same as those mentioned above.

LXXVI. Among the different kinds of brambles is one called rhamnos by theGreeks, paler, more bushy, throwing out branches with straight thorns, not hookedlike those of other brambles, and with larger leaves. The other kind of it iswild, darker and inclining to red, bearing a sort of pod. A decoction of theroot of this in water makes a drug calledlycium. The seed of it bringsaway the afterbirth. The other, the paler kind, is more astringent, cooling,and more suitable for the treatment of gatherings and wounds. The leaves ofeither kind, raw or boiled, are made up into an ointment with oil.

LXXVII. A superior lycium is said to be made from the thorn which is alsocalledchironian, a boxthorn, the characteristics of which I have described amongIndian trees, for Indian lycium is considered by far the best. The poundedbranches and roots, which are of extreme bitterness, are boiled in water in acopper vessel for three days; the woody pieces are then taken away and the restboiled again until it is of the consistency of honey. It is adulterated withbitter juices, even with lees of olive oil and with ox gall. The froth, whichmay be called the flower of the decoction, is an ingredient of remedies for theeyes. The rest of the juice is used for clearing spots from the face and for thecure of itch, chronic fluxes of the eyes and corroding sores in their corners,pus in the ears, sore tonsils and gains, cough and spitting of blood. For thesea piece the size of a bean is swallowed, or if there is discharge from wounds itis applied locally, as it is to chaps, ulcers of the genitals, excoriations,fresh, spreading and also festering ulcers, excrescences in the nostrils andsuppurations. It is also taken in milk by women for excessive menstruation. TheIndian variety is distinguished by the lumps being black outside and red inside,quickly turning black when they have been broken. This kind is very astringent,and bitter. It is useful for all the same purposes as are the other kinds, butespecially for treating the genitals.

LXXVIII. Some think that sarcocolla is the tear-like drop of athorn. It is like powdered frankincense, sweet with a touch of harshness, andgummy. It checks fluxes, and is used especially as an ointment for babies. Ittoo grows black with age, and the whiter it is the better its quality.

LXXIX. There is still one famous remedy, calledoporice, to beincluded among the medicines that are obtained from trees. Used for dysenteryand stomach troubles, it is made in the following way. In a congius of whitegrape-juice are boiled down over a slow heat five quinces, seeds and all, fivepomegranates, one sextarius of sorb-apples, an equal quantity of what is calledSyrian sumach, and half an ounce of saffron. The boiling continues until theconsistency is that of honey.

LXXX. To these remedies I will add those which, because the Greekshave given the same name to different objects, we might be led to suppose camefrom trees.

The chamaedrys ('ground oak') is a plant whose Latin name istrixago. Some have called itchamaerops, and others the Trojan plant. It hasleaves of the same size as mint leaves, coloured and indented as are those ofthe oak. Some have called it 'saw-shaped,' saying that it gave rise to theinvention of the saw; its blossom is almost purple. It is cropped in rockylocalities and is full of juice, being a very efficacious remedy, either by themouth or as an ointment, for the poison of serpents, and also for disorderedstomach, chronic cough, phlegm collected in the throat, ruptures, sprains andpain in the side. It reduces the spleen, promotes menstruation, and is diuretic,being for this reason efficacious in incipient dropsy, a handful of its spraysbeing boiled down to one-third in a sextarius and a half of water. It is groundin water to make lozenges for the purposes mentioned above. With honey it alsoheals abscesses and chronic sores, even when foul. There is also made from it awine, which is useful for troubles of the chest. The juice of the leaves withoil clears away dimness of vision; for the spleen it is taken in vinegar. Usedalso as embrocation it is warming.

LXXXI. The chamaedaphne ('ground bay') consists of a single smallstem, about a cubit high; the leaves are more slender than those of the bay; theseed, of a red colour, is attached to the leaves. It is applied fresh to thehead for headache, it cools feverishness, and for colic it is taken with wine.Its juice when taken by the mouth promotes menstruation and urine, and appliedas a pessary in wool it makes easier difficult childbirth.

LXXXII. The chamelaea ('ground olive') has leaves which resemblethose of the olivethey are bitter, however, and scentedgrowing in rocky placesand not exceeding a span in height. It purges the bowels, and draws away phlegmand bile; a decoction is made of the leaves with twice the quantity ofwormwood, this juice being drunk with honey.

An application of the leaves also cleanses ulcers. It is said that if anyonebefore sunrise says while plucking it that he does so 'to cure white spots inthe eyes,' it disperses this affection if worn as an amulet; but that, inwhatever way it is gathered, it is beneficial for the eyes of beasts of burdenand of cattle.

LXXXIII. The chamaesyce ('ground fig') has leaves like those ofthe lentil, and not rising above the ground. It is found in dry and rockylocalities. Very useful for clearness of vision and for arresting cataract, anointment prepared from it is also used most beneficially for scars, dimness ofsight and films over the eyes. Applied as a pessary on a bit of linen it soothespains of the uterus. Warts too of every kind are removed by an ointment madefrom it. It is also beneficial for orthopnoea.

LXXXIV. The chamaecissos ('ground ivy') is a plant with ears like thoseof wheat, with about five little branches and many leaves. When in blossom itmight be taken for the white violet. The root is slender. For sciatica three oboli of the leaves are taken in two cyathi of wine for seven days, but it is avery bitter draught.

LXXXV. The chamaeleuce ('ground poplar') is called by usRomansfarfarum orfarfugium. It grows by the side of rivers, and has leaveslike those of the poplar, but larger. Its root is placed on live coals ofcypress wood, and the fumes of it inhaled through a funnel for chronic cough.

LXXXVI. The chamaepeuce ('ground larch') has leaf resembling thatof the larch and is specific for lumbago and pains in the spine. The chamaecyparis ('wound cypress') taken in wine is a powerful antidote to thepoisons of all serpents and scorpions. The ampeloprason ('vine leek') grows invineyards, has the leaves of a leek, causes violent belching, but is an antidotefor the bites of serpents. It promotes urine and menstruation. Taken in drinkand applied externally it checks discharges of blood from the genital organ. Itis also administered to women after child-birth and for the bites of dogs. Thatplant also which is calledstachys bears a resemblance to the leek, but haslonger and more numerous leaves, a pleasant smell and a colour verging onsaffron yellow. It is a powerful emmenagogue.

LXXXVII. Clinopodium also calledcleopiceton,zopyrontion oroeimoides,is like wild thyme, ligneous, a span high, and found on rocky soils; the flowersare arranged in a round circuit, giving the appearance of the feet of a couch.It is taken in drink for sprains, ruptures, strangury and the bites of serpents;the juice of a decoction is likewise employed.

LXXXVIII. I shall now append some plants, wonderful indeed but not sowell known, postponing morefamous ones for succeeding books.

Roman authorities give the namecentuneulus to a plant with leaves resemblingthe hood of a mantle, found lying on the ground in cultivated fields, andcalled by the Greekselematis. Taken in a dry wine it is very good for arrestinglooseness of the bowels. Bleeding too is arrested by this plant pounded andtaken in doses of one denarius by weight to five cyathi of oxymel or warm water;this prescription also helps the afterbirth.

LXXXIX. But the Greeks have also other kinds of clematis, one of whichsome callaetites, otherslagioe, and others the 'slender scammony.' It hasbranches two feet long, leafy, and not unlike those of scammony, exceptthat the leaves are darker and smaller. It is found in vineyards and cultivatedfields, is eaten as salad with oil and salt, and relaxes the bowels. Withlinseed it is also drunk in a dry wine by sufferers from dysentery. The leaveswith pearl barley are applied to fluxes from the eyes, a damp rag being firstplaced underneath. An application draws scrofulous sores to suppuration, andthen a further application with axle-grease completes the cure. With green oilalso they are beneficial for haemorrhoids, and with honey for consumptives.Taken as a food they also promote an abundant supply of human milk, applied tothe heads of babies they stimulate the growth of hair, and eaten with vinegar.They act as an aphrodisiac.

XC. There is another clematis, called also the Egyptian, by somedaphnoides and by otherspolygonoides, with a leaf like that of the bay; it islong and slender, and taken in vinegar is efficacious against the bite ofserpents, being specific for that of asps.

XCI. It is Egypt especially that produces this clematis, and alsothe aron, which I have mentioned in my section on bulbs; about it and dracontiumthere has been sharp controversy, for some have asserted that the two are thesame. Glaucias distinguished them by their mode of reproduction, declaring thatdracontium is wild aron. Some have called the root aron, but the stemdracontium, though the latter is a totally different plant, if at least it isthe same as that called by the Romans dracunculus. For the aron has a blackroot, broad and round, and much larger, large enough to fill the hand, butdracunculus a reddish one like a coiled snake, from which its name isderived.

XCII. The Greeks themselves moreover have put a wide difference betweenthe two plants. They describe the seed of dracunculus as hot, with so foul astench that the smell causes pregnant women to miscarry; aron they have laudedto the skies as an excellent food, preferring however the female plant, on theground that the male is harder, and slower to cook, adding that it clears thechest of disorders, and that dried and sprinkled in drink or made into anelectuary it is diuretic and an emmenagogue, as it is also when drunk inoxymel. They prescribed it to be drunk in sheep's milk for ulcerated stomach andbowels; cooked on hot ash and taken in oil they gave it for a cough. Othersboiled it in milk for the decoction to be drunk. Thoroughly boiled it wasapplied by them to fluxes from the eyes, and likewise to bruises and to affectedtonsils.Glaucias injected it in oil fortroublesome piles, using it with honey as an ointment for freckles. Herecommended it also as an antidote against poisons, and, prepared as for coughs,for pleurisy and pneumonia. The seed pounded up with olive oil or rose oil isinjected for earache. Dieuchesadministered it, thoroughly mixed with the powder from a loaf, forcoughs, asthma, orthopnoea, and the spitting of pus.Diodotus gave it in the form of an honeyelectuary for consumption and complaints of the lungs, and even used it as anapplication for broken bones. Applied round the sexual parts it helps deliveryof all animals. Dimness of vision and disorders of the stomach are removed bythe juice of the root with Attic honey, and cough by the broth of a decoctionwith the addition of honey. The juice is a wonderful remedy for ulcers of allkinds, whether corroding, cancerous, spreading, or polypus in the nostrils. Theleaves, boiled in wine and oil, are good for bums. Taken in salt and vinegar they are a strong purge, boiled with honey they are good for dislocations, andalso fresh or dried, with salt added, for gouty joints.Hippocrates applied them, fresh ordried, with honey locally to boils. As an emmenagogue two drachmae of the seedor root in two cyathi of wine are sufficient, and the same draught, ifcleansing after delivery is not effected, also brings away the afterbirth.Hippocrates also used the root by itselfas a pessary. It is said too that in times of plague it is healthful to take itin one's food. It dissipates the effects of drunkenness. The fumes arising fromit when it bums keep away serpents, especially asps, or make them so tipsy thatthey are found in a state of torpor. Serpents are also kept off if the body isthoroughly rubbed with aron in oil of bay. For this reason it is also consideredbeneficial for snakebites if one takes aron in a draught of dark wine. It issaid that cheese keeps very well if wrapped in leaves of aron.

XCIII. The dracunculus I have referred to is dug up when the barley isripening and the moon is crescent. Merely to have it on the person keeps awayserpents. So beneficial a draught is it said to be to those who have beenbitten; and its potency to be greater if iron does not touch the plant.Earache too is relieved by its juice.

That plant, however, which the Greeks call dracontium has been pointed out to mein three illustrations; the first has leaves like those of beet, a thyrsus anda purple flower; this is like the aron. Others have pointed out a kind with along root, which is as it were stamped and knotted, and with three stemsin all, prescribing a decoction of its leaves in vinegar for the bite ofserpents. The third plant pointed out had a leaf larger than that of the corneland a root like that of a reed, the knots on it being, they said, as many as theplant is years old, the leaves too being also equal in number. They prescribedthis plant in wine or water for snakebite.

XCIV. There is also a plant called theails, which too is a native of Egypt. It is similar to the aron, only itself andits leaves are smaller, as is also the root in particular, though it is as bigas a full-sized olive. The white kind puts out twin stems, the other kind oneonly. Either is good for running sores as well as for burns, and for fistulaalso if a suppository made of it be inserted. Corroding ulcers are arrested byan application of their leaves boiled in water and then beaten up with theaddition of rose oil. But there is one great marvel connected with this plant:if it touches the sexual organs of any female animal she is driven todestruction.

XCV. The myriophyllon, which our people call millefolium, has a tenderstem like that of fennel, with abundance of leaves, which have also giventhe plant its name. It is found in marshy districts, and with vinegar makes asplendid treatment for wounds. Iu drink it is taken for strangury, affections ofthe bladder, asthma, and falls from a height. It is also very efficacious fortoothache. In Etruria the name is given to a slim meadow-plant, with manyleaves at the sides like hair, and extremely beneficial for wounds; the peopledeclare that applied with axle-grease it unites the tendons of oxen when cut bythe ploughshare and closes the wound.

XCVI. The pseudobunion has the leaves of the navew; it grows into a bushabout a span in height, the most esteemed being found in Crete. For colic,strangury and pains in the sides or hypochondria doses of five or six sprays aretaken in drink.

XCVII. The myrris, also calledmyrriza ormyrra, is very likehemlock in stem, leaves and flower, but smaller and more slender, and notunpleasant as a food. With wine it promotes menstruation and facilitatesdelivery. It is said that it is also healthful to take it in drink in time ofplague. Given in broth it helps consumptives. It sharpens the appetite andallays the bite of poisonous spiders. Sores too on the face or head are cured byits juice obtained by steeping the plant in water for three days.

XCVIII. The oenobreches has leaves like those of the lentil, but a littlelonger, a red flower and a small, slender root. It grows round springs. Driedtill it is like flour, and sprinkled in white wine, it stops strangury andchecks looseness of the bowels. Rubbing with its juice mixed with oil causesperspiration.

XCIX. My proposed task of discussing wonderful plants suggests that Ialso say a few words about those that are magical. For what plants are morewonderful than they? These were first brought to the notice of our part of theworld byPythagoras andDemocritus, who followed as theirauthority the Magi.Pythagoras declaresthat water is congealed by the plants coracesia and calicia; but I find nomention of them in other authorities, nor doesPythagoras tell us anything else about them.

C. The same authority gives the name of minyas, or corinthia, to a plantof which, he says, the decocted juice, used as a fomentation, immediately healsthe bites of serpents. He adds that if it is poured on the grass and a personhappens to tread on it, or if by chance it is sprinkled on the body, inevitabledeath ensues; so absolutely devilish is the poison of this plant, except that itcounteracts other poisons.

CI. The samePythagoras callsaproxis a plant whose root catches fire at a distance like naphtha; Ihave spoken about it in my section on the marvels of the earth. He also informsus that the symptoms of diseases which have attacked the human body when thecabbage a is in blossom, even though the patient has been cured, are felt torecur every time this plant blossoms; he speaks of a similar peculiarityfollowing diseases which have attacked when wheat, hemlock or the violet is inflower. I am aware that this book of his is ascribed by some to the physician Cleemporus, but an ancient and unbrokentradition assigns it toPythagoras. Werethe author anyone else, the mere fact that he has considered the result of hislabour worthy of that great thinker enhances the authority of a book; but whowould believe thatCleemporus acted so,since he published other works, and that under his own name?

CII. ThatDemocritus was theauthor of the book called is a well-attested tradition; yet in it this famousscientist, the keenest student next toPythagoras of the Magi, has told us of far more marvellous phenomena. Forexample, the plant aglaophotis, which received its name from men's wonderat its magnificent colour, being native, he says, to the marble quarries ofArabia on the Persian side, is therefore also calledmarmaritis. The Magi useit, he tells us, when they wish to call up gods.

The achaemenis, he reports, is of an amber colour, leafless and found among theTaradastili of India; criminals, according to him, if they drink it in wine,confess all their misdeeds because they suffer tortures from diversphantoms of spirits that haunt them; he also called ithippophobas, becausemares have an intense aversion to it.

The theombrotion grows, saysDemocritus,thirty from the Choaspes, being like a peacock in its colourings and of a veryfine scent. He goes on to state that the kings of Persia take it in drink forall bodily disorders and for instability of intellect and of the sense ofjustice, and that it is also calledsemnion from the majesty of its power.

Democritus goes on to mention anotherplant, the adamantis, a native of Armenia and Cappadocia; if it be placed, hesays, near lions they lie on their backs and wearily yawn. The reason for thename is because the plant cannot be crushed, Ariana is given as the home of thearianis, a plant of the colour of fire. It is gathered, he says, when the sun isin Leo, and pieces of wood soaked in oil catch fire at its touch.

Democritus says that the therionarca,growing in Cappadocia and Mysia, makes all wild beasts become torpid, and thatthey cannot be revived unless sprinkled with the urine of a hyena.

He tells us that the aethiopis grows in Meroh, that therefore its other name isthe merois, that it has the leaf of the lettuce and that it is very beneficialfor dropsy if taken in honey wine.

The ophiusa he speaks of as growing in Elephantine, which also belongs toEthiopia, a plant livid in colour and revolting to look at, to take which indrink causes such terrible visions of threatening serpents that fear of themcauses suicide; wherefore those guilty of sacrilege are forced to drink it. Anantidote is palm wine.

The thalassaegle we are told is found along the river Indus, and istherefore also calledpotamaugis to drink which causes men to rave, while weirdvisions beset their minds.

The theangehsDemocritus says, grows onMount Lebanon in Syria, on Mount Dicte in Crete, and in Babylon and Susain Persia; the Magi take it in drink to gain power to divine.

The gelotophyllis grows in Bactria and along the Borysthenes. If this betaken in myrrh and wine all kinds of phantoms beset the mind, causing laughterwhich persists until the kernels of pine-nuts are taken with pepper and honey inpalm wine.

According to the same authority the hestiateris is a Persian plant, so namedfrom its promotion of good fellowship, because it makes the company gay; it isalso calledprotomediap from its use to gain the highest position at Court;casignete, because it grows only in company with its own species, andnot with any other plants; alsodionysonymphas, because it goeswonderfully well with wine.

Helianthes is the name given to a plant with leaves like those of the myrtle,growing in the district of Themiscyra and on the mountains along the coasts ofCilicia. A decoction of it in lion's fat, with saffron and palm wine added, isused, he says, as an ointment by the Magi and the Persian kings to give to thebody a pleasing appearance, and therefore it is also calledheliocallis.

The same authority gives the namehermesias to a means of procreating childrenwho shall be handsome and good. It is not a plant, but a compound of groundkernels of pine nuts with honey, myrrh, saffron and palm wine, with the lateraddition of theombrotion and milk. He prescribes a draught of it to those whoare about to become parents, after conception, and to nursing mothers. This, hesays, results in children exceeding fair in mind and body, as well as good. Ofall these plants he adds also the magical names.

Apollodorus, a follower ofDemocritus, added to these plants onethat he calledaeschynomene, because on the approach of a hand it contracts itsleaves, and another calledcrocis, whose touch, he declares, kills poisonousspiders;Crateuas added the onothuris,by the sprinkling of which in wine he asserted that the fierceness of allanimals is calmed; and a little while ago a well-known grammarian addedanacampseros, by the mere touch of which, he said, love was restored, eventhough the lovers parted in hatred. These few remarks are quite enough to havebeen said for the present about the wonderful powers ascribed to plants by theMagi, as I shall speak of them again on a more fitting occasion.

CIII. Many have described the eriphia. It has a me beetle runningup and down inside its stem, making a noise like that of a kid; hencealso comes its name. It is said that nothing is better than this plant forimproving the voice.

CIV. The wool-plant given to fasting sheep produces an abundanceof milk. Equally well known generally is the lactoris, plant full of milk tasteof which produces vomitings. Some say that this is the same plant (others sayone like it) as that called the military plant, because there is no wound madeby iron which is not cured within five days by an application of it in oil.

CV. Another plant highly popular among the Greeks is the stratiotes, butit grows only in Egypt when the Nile is in flood; it is like the aizoum,only its leaves are larger. It is wonderfully cooling, and applied in vinegarheals wounds, as well as erysipelas and suppurations. It also arrestshaemorrhage of the kidneys in a marvellous way if taken in drink withmale frankincense.

CVI. A plant that grows on the head of a statue, gathered into piecetaken from some garment and tied on with red thread, is said to relieveheadache immediately on being applied.

CVII. Any plant whatsoever, gathered before sunrise out of streams orrivers, provided that nobody sees the gatherer, if it is tied as an amulet tothe left arm, is said to keep away tertian agues, provided that the patient doesnot know what is going on.

CVIII. The plant called 'tongue' growsaround springs. Its root, burnt and pounded with pig's fatthey add that the pigshould be black and barrencures mange if the patients use it as embrocation inthe sunshine.

CIX. If the plants that sprout up inside a sieve thrown away on across-path are plucked and used as an amulet, they hasten the delivery oflying-in women.

CX. A plant growing on the top of country dung-heaps is, if taken inwater, a very efficacious remedy for quinsies.

CXI. A plant near which dogs make water, if uprooted without the touch ofiron, is a very quick remedy for dislocations.

CXII. In my account of vine-supporting trees the tree calledrumpotinusreceived a notice. When it does not support a vine there grows near it a plantcalled by the Gaulsrodarum. It has a stem with knots, like a twig of afig-tree; the leaves are those of a nettle, whitish in the centre, but in courseof time becoming red all over; the blossom is silvery. If the leaves are beatenup with old axle-grease, without being touched by iron, they are a sovereignremedy for tumours, inflammations and gatherings. After being rubbed with it thepatient spits to his right three times. They say that the remedy is moreefficacious if three persons of different nationalities do the rubbing from leftto right.

CXIII. What is called theunfilial plant is of a hoary white, inappearance like rosemary, clothed with leaves like a thyrsus and terminating ina head, from which sprout up little branches that also terminate each in alittle head of its own. This is why the plant has been called unfilial, becausethe children out-top their parent. Others have thought that it has been so namedrather because no animal touches it. Crushed between two stones thisplant gives out an effervescing juice, which added to milk and wine is asovereign remedy for pansies. Attributed to it is this wonderful property; thatthey who have tasted it are never attacked by quinsy. Accordingly, they say, itis also given to pigs, and those refusing to swallow the medicine are cut off bythat complaint. There are some who think that a little of it is woven intobirds' nests, and that this is why chicks are not choked by gulping their foodtoo greedily.

CXIV. Venus' comb is so named from its resemblance to combs; its rootpounded with mallows extracts all foreign bodies lodged in the flesh.

CXV. The plant calledexedum dispels lethargy. The plant notia iswell known under various names in the curriers' work-shops; I find that taken inwine or vinegar and water it is most efficacious for the sting ofscorpions.

CXVI.Philanthropos is a name which the Greeks in witty sarcasmgive to a plant because it sticks to the clothes. A chaplet made out of it andplaced on the head relieves headaches. But what is called dog-bur, if beaten upin wine with plantain and millefolium, heals cancerous sores, the plaster beingtaken off every third day. It also cures pigs, if dug up without iron; it isadded to their swill before they go to feed, or else given them in milk andwine. Some add that as he is getting it up the digger should say: 'This is theplant argemon, which Minerva discovered to be a remedy for the pigs that shalltaste of it.'

CXVII. Some have said that tordylon is the seed of sili, others that itis itself a plant, which they have also called syreon. I find nothing recordedof it except that it grows on mountains, that burnt and taken in drink itpromotes menstruation and expectoration, the root being even more efficacious,that its juice, swallowed in doses of three oboli, cures ill-orders of thekidneys, and that its root is also an ingredient of emollient plasters.

CXVIII. Grass, itself the very commonest of plants, trails its knottedblades along the ground, and from them and out of the head sprout many newroots. Its leaves in the rest of the world grow to a fine point, and only onMount Parnassus sprout leaves thicker together than anywhere else, of theappearance of ivy, and with a white, scented flower. To draught-cattle no otherplant is more attractive, whether fresh, or dried into hay and sprinkled withwater when it is given them to eat. Its juice too, which is sweet, is said to becollected on Parnassus because of its richness. Over the rest of the world adecoction is used in its place to close cuts; the crushed plant by itself hasthe same effect and also prevents wounds from becoming inflamed. To thedecoction are added wine and honey, by some, equal parts also of frankincense,pepper and myrrh, and the whole is again boiled in a bronze vessel to make aremedy for toothache and eye-fluxes. A decoction of the root in winecures colic, strangury and sores of the bladder, breaking up stone. The seed causes a stronger flow of urine, and checks looseness of the bowels andvomiting. It is also specific for the bites of the draco. Some prescribe nineknots either from one plant or from two or three to make up that number ofjoints, rolled up in black wool with the grease still in it, as a remedy forscrofulous sores and superficial abscesses. The person gathering it, they add,ought to be fasting, and in this state he should proceed to the house of thepatient while he is away, and on his appearance say three times: Fasting I givea cure to a fasting patient, and so fasten the nine joints as an amulet. This isto be done on three days running. The kind of grass that has seven spacesbetween knots makes a very effective amulet for headache. For severe pains inthe bladder some authorities prescribe a decoction of grass in wine, boiled downto one half, to be drunk after the bath.

CXIX. There are some who speak of three kinds of pointed grass. When on each head there are at most five points they call it fixiger grass.;These points plaited together they insert into the nostrils and draw them outagain to cause bleeding. The second kind, which is like the aizotim, they usewith axle-grease for whitlows, hangnails, and when flesh has grown over thenails, calling it finger grass, because it heals the fingers. There is a thirdkind of finger grass, but it is slender, growing on ruins or tiles. Itsproperties are caustic, and it checks creeping ulcers. Grass put round the headchecks copious bleeding at the nose. It is said that in the district of Babyloncamels are killed by the grass that grows by the side of the roads.

CXX. Held in no less honour is fenugreek, which is also calledtelis, carphos, bucerasp andaegoceras because its seed is shaped like small horns; the Roman name for it issilicia. The method of sowing it we have described in its proper place. Its properties are to dry, to soften and to dissolve. The juice of the decoction is of help in several ailments of women: whether it is hardness, swelling or contraction of the uterus, the treatment is fomentation and the sitz bath. Injections are also of value. It checks scaly eruptions on the face. Splenic troubles are cured by a local application of a decoction to which soda has been added; the decoction may also be made with vinegar. Such a decoction is also good for the liver. In cases of difficult childbirth Diocles prescribed an acetabulum of its crushed seed in nine cyathi of concentrated must; three-quarters were to be drunk, then the patients were to bathe in hot water, next, as they were sweating in the bath, he gave further half of what remained, and then the rest after the bath. In this way the maximum benefit was obtained. A decoction in hydromel of fenugreek meal with barley or linseed was used by the same physician to make a pessary for violent pains in the uterus; he combined this treatment with a plaster at the base of the abdomen. He treated leprous sores and freckles with equal parts of sulphur and fenugreek meal, the skin having been prepared beforehand with soda, applying the mixture several times a day and not allowing the patient to be rubbed with it. Theodorus treated leprous sores with fenugreek and one-fourth part of cleaned cress steeped in the strongest vinegar. Timon prescribed as an emmenagogue a draught of half an acetabulum of fenugreek seed with nine cyathi of concentrated must and water, and there is no doubt that a decoction of it is very good for ulcerated uterus and intestines, as the seed is for the joints and hypochondria. If, however, it is boiled down with mallows, and honey wine be afterwards added, a draught is praised as a pre-eminent remedy for troubles of the uterus and intestines, seeing that the steam also from the decoction is of the highest value; a decoction of fenugreek, too, removes offensive smells of the armpits. The meal with wine and soda quickly removes scurf and dandruff on the head. A decoction too of the meal in hydromel, mixed with axle-grease, cures complaints of the genitals, likewise superficial abscesses, parotid tumours, gouty affections of feet or hands, affections of the joints and the receding of flesh from the bones; but the meal is kneaded in vinegar for dislocations. A decoction of the meal in vinegar and honey only is used as a liniment for splenic trouble. Kneaded in wine it cleanses cancerous sores; if honey is afterwards added a complete cure is effected. A gruel also of this meal is taken for ulceration of the chest and for chronic cough. It is boiled down for a long time until the bitterness disappears; afterwards honey is added. I shall now proceed to the peculiar glory of plants.

I. THIS peculiar glory of plants which I am now going to speak of, MotherEarth producing them sometimes for medicinal purposes only, rouses in one's mindadmiration for the care and industry of the men of old; there was nothing leftuntried or unattempted by them, and furthermore nothing kept secret, nothingwhich they wished to be of no benefit to posterity. But we moderns desire tohide and suppress the discoveries worked out by these investigators, and tocheat human life even of the good things that have been won by others. Yesindeed, those who have gained a little knowledge keep it in a grudging spiritsecret to themselves, and to teach nobody else increases the prestige of theirlearning. So far has custom departed from fresh research and assistance tolife; the supreme task of our great minds has long been to keep withinindividual memory the successes of the ancients, so allowing them to beforgotten. But, heaven knows, there are some whom a single discovery has addedto the number of the gods, whose life on earth at any rate has been made moreglorious by their names being given to plants, so kind the thanks of a mindfulposterity. This careful research of theirs is less wonderful when rewarded byplants of fascinating growth or attractive as food; but they have scoured alsotrackless mountain heights, unexplored deserts and all the bowels of the earth,finding out the power of every root and the uses to which can be put mere slimthreads of vegetation, and turning to healthful purposes that which the verybeasts refuse to touch as food.

II. This subject was less popular with our countrymen than it should havebeen considering their vast appetite for all things useful and good; the firststudent of it, and for a long time the only one, being that sameMarcus Cato, the master of all excellentcrafts, who merely touched briefly the subject, without neglecting evenveterinary medicine. After him one only of our distinguished men has tried hishand at the subject, Gaius Valgius, anauthor of approved scholarship, who left unfinished a work dedicated to the lateemperor Augustus, beginning also his preface with a devout prayer that hisImperial Highness should always, and above all others, be the healer of everyhuman ill.

III. Before Valgius the onlyRoman who had written on this subject, as far as I can discover, wasPompeius Lenaeus, a freedman ofPompeius Magnus, in whose day, I find,scientific treatment of it first found a home among Roman students. For it wasMithridates, the greatest king of histime, whomPompeius vanquished,that was, we know by evidence as well as by report, a more attentiveinvestigator of life's problems than any of those born before him. By hisunaided efforts he thought out the plan of drinking poison daily, after firsttaking remedies, in order that sheer custom might render it harmless; he was thefirst to discover the various antidotes, one of which is even known by his name;he also discovered the mixing with antidotes of the blood of Pontic ducks,because they lived on poison; addressed to him were treatises, still extant,written by the famous physicianAsclepiades,who when urgently invited to come from Rome sent instructions instead;Mithridates alone of men is definitelyknown to have spoken twenty-two languages, and no man of his subject peopleswas ever addressed by him through an interpreter during all the fifty-six yearsof his reign. He then, with his brilliant intellect and wide interests, was anespecially diligent student of medicine, and collected detailed knowledge fromall his subjects, who comprised a great part of the world, leaving among hisprivate possessions a bookcase of these treatises with specimens and theproperties of each. Pompeius however ongetting possession of all the royal booty ordered his freedmanLenaeus, a man of letters, to translatethese into Latin. This great victory therefore was as beneficent to life as itwas to the State.

IV. Besides these the subject has been treated by Greek writers, whom wehave mentioned in their proper places; of these, Crateuas,Dionysius andMetrodorus adopted a most attractivemethod, though one which makes clear little else except the difficulty ofemploying it. For they painted likenesses of the plants and then wrote underthem their properties. But not only is a picture misleading when the coloursare so many, particularly as the aim is to copy Nature, but besides this, muchimperfection arises from the manifold hazards in the accuracy of copyists. Inaddition, it is not enough for each plant to be painted at one period only ofits life, since it alters its appearance with the fourfold changes of the year.

V. For this reason the other writers have given verbal accounts only;some have not even given the shape of the plants, and for the most part havebeen content with bare names, since they thought it sufficient to point out theproperties and nature of a plant to those willing to look for it. To gain thisknowledge is no difficult matter; 11 at least have enjoyed the good fortune toexamine all but a few plants through the devotion to science of Antonius Castor, the highest botanicalauthority of our time; I used to visit his special garden, in which he wouldrear a great number of specimens even when he passed his hundredth year, havingsuffered no bodily ailment and, in spite of his age, no loss of memory orphysical vigour. Nothing else will be found that aroused greater wonder amongthe ancients than botany. Long ago was discovered a method of predictingeclipses of the sun and moonnot the day or night merely but the very hour. Yetthere still exists among a great number of the common people an establishedconviction that these phenomena are due to the compelling power of charms andmagic herbs, and that the science of them is the one outstanding province ofwomen. At any rate tales everywhere are widely current about Medea of Colchisand other sorceresses, especially Circe of Italy, who has even been enrolled asa divinity. This is the reason, I think, whyAeschylus, one of the earliest poets, declared that Italy abounds inpotent herbs, and many have said the same of Circeii, where she lived. Strongconfirmatory evidence exists even today in the fact that the Marsi, a tribedescended from Circe's son, are well-known snake-charmers.Homer indeed, the first ancestor ofancient learning, while expressing in several passages great admiration forCirce, gives the prize for herbs to Egypt, even though at that time theirrigated Egypt of today did not yet exist, for it was formed afterwards by thealluvial mud of the river. At any rate he says that Egyptian herbs in greatnumber were given by the wife of the king to the Helen of his tale, includingthat celebrated nepenthes, which brought forgetfulness and remission of sorrow,to be administered especially by Helen to all mortals. But the first ofall those known to tradition to publish anything about botany carefully wasOrpheus; after him Musaeus andHesiod, as we have said, expressed greatadmiration for the plant calledpolium;OrpheusandHesiod recommended fumigations.Homer mentions by name other plantsalso, which I shall speak of in their appropriate places. After him thecelebrated philosopherPythagoras wasthe first to compose a book on the properties of plants, assigning theiroriginal discovery to Apollo, Aesculapiusand the immortal gods generally:Democritusalso composed a similar work. Both of them visited the Magi of Persia, Arabia,Ethiopia and Egypt, and so amazed were the ancients at these books that theypositively asserted even unbelievable statements.Xanthus, who wrote books on history,relates in the first of them that a young snake, which had been killed, wasrestored to life by his father, who used a plant called by Xanthusbalis, andthat the same plant brought back to life one Tylo, whom the snake had killed.Juba too records that a man in Arabiawas restored to life by means of a plant.Democritus said, andTheophrastusbelieved him, that there was a plant which, carried by the bird I havementioned, forced out by its touch a wedge driven into a tree by shepherds.Although these tales are incredible, yet they fill us with wonder, and force usto admit that there is still much truth in them. Hence too I find that mostauthorities hold that there is nothing which cannot be achieved by the power ofplants, but that the properties of most are still unknown. Among these thinkerswasHerophilus, famous in medicine, whois reported to have said that certain plants are perhaps beneficial even whenmerely trodden on. It has been observed at any rate that wounds and diseases getworse on the arrival of people who have made a journey on foot.

VI. Such was the condition of medicine in the old days, all of it findingits way into the dialects of Greece. But the reason why more herbs are notfamiliar is because experience of them is confined to illiterate country-folk,who form the only class living among them; moreover nobody cares to look forthem when crowds of medical men are to be met everywhere. Many simples also,though their properties have been discovered, still lack names, for instance,the plant I mentioned when dealing with the cultivation of crops, which weknow keeps all birds away if buried at the corners of the cornfield. The mostdisgraceful reason for this scanty knowledge is that even those who possess itrefuse to teach it, just as though they would themselves lose what they haveimparted to others. To this must be added that there is no sure method ofdiscovery; for even of those we already know chance has sometimes been thefinder; at other times, to speak the truth, the discoverer was a god. Down torecent years there has been no cure for the bite of a mad dog, a symptom ofwhich is dread of water and aversion to drink of any kind. Recently the motherof a man serving in the praetorian guard saw in a dream how she sent to her sonto be taken in drink the root of the wild rose, calledcynorrhodon, which by itsappearance had attracted her the before in a shrubbery. Operations were going onin Lacetania, the part of Spain nearest to Italy, and by chance it happened thatthe soldier, after being bitten by a dog, was beginning to show a horror ofwater, when a letter arrived from the mother, who begged him to obey theheavenly warning. So his life was unexpectedly saved, as was that of all whoafterwards tried a similar remedy. Elsewhere among our authorities the onlymedicinal use of cynorrhodon to be found is that the ash of the spongy substancethat forms in the middle of its thorns was mixed with honey to make hair grow onthe head where mange had left it bare. In the same province, on the land of myhost, I learned of a recent discovery there, a stalk calleddracunculus, of thethickness of a thumb, with spots of many colours like those of a viper, whichpeople said was a remedy for the bites of all creatures, a different plant fromthose I have calleddracunculus in the preceding book. This one has adifferent shape, and is an amazing plant in other ways; for when snakes begin tocast their slough it springs up to the height of about two feet, and then buriesitself in the ground when snakes do so, and while it is concealed no snake atall is anywhere to be seen. This by itself would be a kindly service of Nature,if it only warned us and pointed out the time of danger.

Nor is it beasts alone that are guilty of causing injury; at times waters alsoand regions do the same. WhenGermanicus Caesarhad moved forward his camp across the Rhine, in a maritime district of Germanythere was only one source of fresh water. To drink it caused within two yearsthe teeth to fall out and the use of the knee-joints to fail. Physiciansused to call these maladies stomacace and scelotyrbe. A remedy wasfound in the plant called britannica, which is good not only for the sinews andfor diseases of the mouth, but also for the relief of quinsy and snakebite. Ithas dark, rather long leaves, and a dark root. Its juice is extracted even fromthe root. The blossom is calledvibones; gathered before thunder is heard, andswallowed, it keeps away the fear of quinsy for a whole year. It was pointed outto our men by the Frisians, at that time a loyal tribe, in whose territory ourcamp lay. Why the plant was so called I greatly wonder, unless perhaps, livingon the shore of the British ocean, they have so named thebritannica because itis, as it were, a near neighbour of Britain. It is certain that the plant wasnot so named because it grew abundantly in that island: Britain was at that timean independent state.

VII. It was one of the ambitions of the past to give one's name a to aplant, as we shall point out was done by kings. It was thought a great honour todiscover a plant and be of assistance to human life, although now perhaps somewill think that these researches of mine are just idle trifling. So paltry inthe eyes of Luxury are even the things that conduce to our health. It is butright, however, to mention in the first place the plants whose discoverers canbe found, with their properties classified according to the kinds of disease forwhich they are a remedy. To reflect indeed on this makes one pity the lot ofman; besides chances and changes and the strange happenings that every hourbrings, there are thousands of diseases that every mortal has to dread. Todistinguish which are the most grievous of them might be considered almost anact of folly, since every man considers that the particular disease from whichhe is suffering at the moment is the most awful. On this point, however, theexperience of time has concluded that the disease causing the sharpest agony is strangury from stone in the bladder; next comes disease of the stomach, andafter that pains produced by diseases of the head; these being about the onlydiseases that are responsible for suicides.

I myself am amazed that the Greeks have described even harmful plants, and notthe poisonous ones only, since the state of human life is such that deathis frequently a harbour of refuge even for the most excellent of men,Marcus Varro relating that the RomanknightServius Clodius, owing to thesevere pain of gout, was forced to rub his legs all over with a poison, afterwhich that part of his body was as free from sensation as it was from pain. Butwhat excuse was there to point out the means of deranging the mind, of causingabortion, and of many similar crimes. I personally do not mention abortives, noreven love-philtres, remembering as I do that the famous general Lucullus waskilled by a love-philtre, nor yet any other unholy magic, unless it be by way ofwarning or denunciation, especially as I have utterly condemned all faith insuch practices. Enough pains, and more than enough, will have been taken if Ipoint out plants healthful to life and discovered in order to preserve it.

VIII. The most renowned of plants is, according toHomer, the one that he thinks is calledby the godsmoly, assigning to Mercury its discovery and the teaching ofits power over the most potent sorceries. Report says it grows today in Arcadiaround Pheneus and on Cyllene; it is said to be like the description inHomer, with a round, dark root, of thesize of an onion and with the leaves of a squill, and not difficultto dig up. Greek authorities have painted its blossom yellow, thoughHomer describes it as white. I have meta herbalist physician who said that the plant was also to be found in Italy, andthat one could be brought for me from Campania within a few days, as it had beendug out there in spite of the difficulties of rocky ground, with a root thirtyfeet long, and even that not entire, but broken off short.

IX. After moly the plant with the highest reputation they callthedodecatheon, as a compliment to the grandeur of all the twelve gods. It issaid that taken in water it cures all diseases. Its leaves are seven, very likethose of lettuce and sprouting from a yellow root.

X. The first plant to be discovered was the peony, which still retainsthe name of the discoverer; it is called by some pentorobon, by othersglycyside, for an added difficulty in botany is the variety of names given tothe same plant in different districts. It grows on shaded mountains, having astem among the leaves about four fingers high, which bears on its top four orfive growths like almonds, in them being a large amount of seed, red and black.This plant also prevents the mocking delusions that the Fauns bring on us in oursleep. They recommend us to uproot it at night-time, because the woodpecker ofMars, should he see the act, will attack the eyes in its defence.

XI. The plantpanaces by its very name promises to be a cure for everydisease; it has many varieties, and to the gods have been ascribed the discoveryof its properties. One variety in fact has the additional name of asclepion,after which Asclepius called his daughter Panacia. The juice of this plant whencurdled is like that, already described, of fennelgiant, coming from a rootwith a thick and salty skin. When it has been pulled up it is a pious duty tofill in the hole with various cereals as an atonement to the earth. Where thejuice is prepared, and how, and the most esteemed kind, I have already describedin my account of exotic plants. The kind imported out of Macedonia theycall bucolicon, because herdsmen collect the sap as it exudes of its ownaccord; this evaporates very rapidly. As to the other kinds, the least popularis the dark and soft, for these qualities are signs of adulteration with wax.

XII. A second kind they callheracleon, and say that it wasdiscovered by Hercules; others call itheracleotic orwild origanum, because itis like the origanum I have already described; the root is of no value.

XIII. A third kind of panaces has the surname chironium fromChiron the centaur who discovered it. Its leaf is like that of lapathum, butlarger and more hairy. The blossom is golden and the root small. It grows inrich soils. The blossom of this kind is very efficacious, and therefore has awider range of usefulness than that of the kinds mentioned above.

XIV. The fourth kind is the panaces discovered by the sameChiron and surnamedcentaurion, but alsophamaceon, a name derived from kingPharnaces,as there is a controversy whether he was, or was not, the discoverer. This kindis grown from seed, having longer leaves than the other kinds, and with serratededges. Its scented root is dried in the shade, and adds a pleasing taste towine. Some hold that there are two other kinds of panaces, one with a broad, theother with a slender, leaf.

XV. Heracleon siderion ('ironwort') is yet another discovery ofHercules. It has a slender stem about four fingers high, a flower of adeep red and leaves like those of coriander. It is found near ponds and flyers,and heals very thoroughly all wounds inflicted by iron.

XVI. A discovery ofChiron's wasthe vine calledchironia, which I have mentioned in my section on the vines Ihave also mentioned a plant, the discovery of which is attributed to Minerva.

XVII. To Hercules too they ascribe the plant which is calledapollinarisby some,altercum by us Romans, but by the Greekshyoscyamos ('pig'sbean'). There are several kinds of it: one has black seed, with flowers that arealmost purple, and a thorny calyx, growing in Galatia. The common kind, however,is whiter and more bushy; it is taller than the poppy. The seed of the thirdkind is like the seed of irio; but all kinds cause insanity and giddiness. Afourth kind is soft, downy, richer in juice than the others, with a white seed,and growing in places near the sea. This is a kind that medical men haveadopted, as they have that with a red seed. Sometimes, however, the white seedturns red if gathered before getting ripe, and then it is rejected; andgenerally no kind is ever gathered before it has become dry. It has thecharacter of wine, and therefore injures the head and brain. Use is made of theseed as it is or when the juice has been extracted from it. The juice isextracted separately also from the stems and leaves. They also use the root, butthe drug is, in my opinion, a dangerous medicine in any form. In fact, it iswell known that even the leaves affect the brain if more than four are taken indrink; yet the ancients used to take them in wine under the impression thatfever was so brought down. An oil is made from the seed, as I have said, whichby itself if poured into the ears deranges the brain. It is a wonderful thingthat they have prescribed remedies for those who have taken the drink, whichimplies that it is a poison, and yet have included it among remedies; sounwearied have been researches in making every possible experiment, even tocompelling poisons to be helpful remedies.

XVIII. Linozostis or parthenion was discovered by Mercury, and so manyamong the Greeks call it 'Hermes' grass', but all we Romans agreein calling itmercurialis. There are two kinds of it, the male and the female,the latter having the more powerful properties. It has a stem which is acubit high and sometimes branchy at the top, leaves narrower than those ofocimum, joints close together and many hollow axils. The seed of the femalehangs down in great quantity at the joints; while that of the male standsup near the joints, less plentiful, short and twisted; the female seed is looseand white? The leaves of the male plant are darker, those of the female lighter;the root is quite useless and very slender. It grows in flat, cultivatedcountry. A remarkable thing is recorded of both kinds: that the male plantcauses the generation of males and the female plant the generation of females.This is effected if immediately after conceiving the woman drinks the juice inraisin wine, or eats the leaves decocted in oil and salt, or raw in vinegar.Some again decoct it in a new earthen vessel with heliotropium and two or threeears of corn until the contents become thick. They recommend the decoction tobe given to women in food, with the plant itself on the second day ofmenstruation for three successive days; on the fourth day after a bathintercourse is to take place.Hippocrates has bestowed very high praise on these plants for the diseases of women;no medical man recognises its virtues after this fashion. He usedthem as pessaries for uterine troubles, adding thereto honey, or oil of roses orof iris or of lilies, also as an emmenagogue and to bring away the afterbirth.The same effects, he said, resulted from taking them in drink and from usingthem for fomentations. He dropped the juice into foul-smelling ears, and withthe juice and old wine made an embrocation for the abdomen. The leaves heapplied to fluxes from the eyes. A decoction of it with myrrh and frankincensehe prescribed for strangury and bladder troubles. For loosening the bowels,however, or for fever, a handful of the plant should be boiled down to one halfin two sextarii of water. This is drunk with the addition of salt and honey, andif the decoction has been made with a pig's foot or a chicken added, the draughtis all the more beneficial. Some have thought that as a purge both kinds shouldbe administered, either by themselves or with mallows added to the decoction.They purge the abdomen and bring away bile, but they are injurious to thestomach. Their other uses we shall give in the appropriate places.

XIX.Achilles too, the pupil ofChiron, discovered a plant to healwounds, which is therefore calledachilleos, and by it he is said to have curedTelephus. Some have it that he was thefirst to find out that copper-rust is a most useful ingredient of plasters, forwhich reason he is represented in paintings as scraping it with his sword fromhis spear on to the wound ofTelephus,while others hold that he used both remedies. This plant is also called by someHeraclean panaces, by others siderites, and by usmillefolia; the stalk is acubit high, and the plant branchy, covered from the bottom with leaves smallerthan those of fennel. Others admit that this plant is good for wounds, but saythat the real achilleos has a blue stalk a foot long and without branches,gracefully covered all over with separate, rounded leaves. Others describe achilleos as having a square stem, heads like those of horehound, and leaveslike those of the oak; they claim that it even unites severed sinews. Some givethe namesideritis to another plant, which grows on boundary walls and has afoul smell when crushed, and also to yet another, like this but with paler andmore fleshy leaves, and with more tender stalks, growing in vineyards; finallyto a third, two cubits high, with thin, triangular twigs, leaves like those ofthe fern, a long foot-stalk and seed like that of beet. All are said to beexcellent for wounds. Roman authorities call the one with the broadest leafroyal broom; it cures quinsy in pigs.

XX.Teucer too in the same agediscovered teucrion, called by somehemionion; it spreads out thin,rush-like twigs with small leaves, grows on rough localities, has a harsh taste,never flowers and never produces seed. It is a cure for splenic troubles, aproperty discovered, as is well known, in the following way; they say that whensacrificial entrails had been thrown on the plant, this stuck to the spleen andconsumed it. On account of this the plant is called by some splenion. It is saidthat pigs which eat its root are found to be without a spleen. There are somewho call by the same name a ligneous plant with branches like those of hyssopand leaves like those of the bean, and recommend it to be gathered when it is inflowerso these certainly hold that the plant has a flowerand they praise mosthighly the sort that comes from the mountains of Cilicia and Pisidia.

XXI.Melampus is well known forhis skill in the arts of divination. From him one kind of hellebore iscalledmelampodion. Some hold that the discovery is due to a shepherd called Melampus, who noticed that his she-goatswere purged after browsing upon the plant, and by administering the milk ofthese goats cured the daughters of Proetus of their madness. Wherefore it iswell to give here together an account of every kind of hellebore.

The chief kinds are two, the white and the black. This difference, mostauthorities say, applies only to the roots, others say that the leaves ofblack hellebore are like those of the plane but smaller, darker and with moreindentations; that the leaves of white hellebore are like those of sproutingbeet, but also darker and turning to red on the under side of its grooves, andthat both have a stem a span high, resembling that of fennel-giant, wrapped upin skins like those of bulbs, and with a root fringed like that of onions. Theblack hellebore kills horses, oxen and pigs; so they avoid it, although they eatthe white kind. The latter is said to be ripe at harvest, and it growsabundantly on Mount Oeta, and the best on one part of it, around the placecalled Pyra. The black kind is to be found everywhere, but the better sort growson Helicon, a mountain celebrated also for other plants. Next after the whitehellebore of Oeta that of Pontus is most approved; the third place is taken bythat of Elea, which is said to grow among vines, and the fourth by hellebore ofParnassus, which is adulterated by hellebore from the neighbouring country of Aetolia. Of these the black kind they call melampodium; with it they fumigateand cleanse houses, sprinkling it on sheep, and adding a formal prayer.This kind is gathered with even greater formalities. First a circle isdrawn round it with a sword; then the man who is going to cut it looks at theEast with a prayer that the gods will grant him permission to do so. He alsokeeps on the lookout for a flying eaglefor generally one is present when mencutand if an eagle flies near, it is a sign that the gatherer will die in thatyear. The white too is not easy to gather: it is very oppressive to the headunless garlic is eaten beforehand, wine swallowed every now and then and theplant dug up quickly. Some call the black kindectomon, otherspolyrrhizon. This purges by stool, but the white kind does so by vomiting, andcarries away what might cause diseases; once regarded with horror it afterwardsbecame so popular that most scholars took it regularly to sharpen their brainsfor their studies. It is well known thatCarneades, when preparing to reply to the works ofZeno, purged himself with hellebore,and that Drusus among us, mostillustrious of our tribunes of the people, who was cheered by all the commonsstanding before him but charged by the aristocrats with causing the Marsic War,was on the island of Anticyra cured of epilepsy by means of this medicine. Forthere it is very safe to take the drug because they add to it sesamoides, as Ihave already said. In Italy it is calledveratrum.

Both hellebores when ground to powder, either by themselves or combined withthat of radicula, with which I said wool is washed, cause sneezing, and bothcause sleep. But the roots selected are the thinnest, short, and as it were cutoff; only the bottom is used, for the top, which is very thick and like anonion, is given as a purge only to dogs. The old physicians used to choose theroot with the most fleshy skin, thinking that the pithy part they obtained fromsuch was more delicate. This they used to cover with moist sponges, and when itswelled they would split it lengthwise with a needle; then they would dry thethin strips in the shade, and so use them. Today they administer the shootsthemselves, just as they are, that grow from roots with the heaviest skin. Thebest hellebore as a sharp, hot taste, and gives out dust when broken. It keeps,it is said, its efficacy for thirty years.

XXII. Black hellebore is a cure for paralysis, madness, dropsy withoutfever, chronic gout and diseases of the joints; it draws from the bellybile, phlegms and morbid fluids. For gently moving the bowels the maximum doseis one drachma; a moderate one is four oboli. Some have mixed scammony also withit, but to add salt is safer. A larger dose given in sweet substances isdangerous; used as a fomentation it disperses films over the eyes. Thereforesome have also pounded it and made an eye salve. It matures and clears upscrofulous sores, suppurations and indurations; fistulas also if it be taken offon the third day. With copper scales and sandarach it removes warts. Withbarley meal and wine it is applied to the abdomen for dropsy. It cures phlegmsin cattle and draught animals if a spray be passed across the ear and taken outat the same hour on the next day; with frankincense, wax and pitch, or withpisselaeon it cures itch in quadrupeds.

XXIII. The best white hellebore is that which most quickly causessneezing. It is, however, far more terrifying than the black sort,especially if one reads in our old authorities of the elaborate precautions,taken by those about to drink it, against shivering, choking, overpowering andunseasonable sleep, prolonged hiccough or sneezing, fluxes of the stomach,vomiting, too slow or too long, scanty or too excessive. In fact they usuallygave other things to promote vomiting, and drove out the hellebore itself bymedicine or enema, or more often d they used even bleeding. Furthermore, evenwhen the hellebore proves successful, the various colours of the vomits areterrifying to see, and after the vomits comes the worry of watching thestools, of superintending the bath, of attention to the whole body, all thesetroubles being preceded by the great terror caused by its reputation, for it issaid that meat, if boiled with it. is consumed. It was a fault of the ancientphysicians that because of these fears they used to administer this hellebore insmallish doses, since the larger the dose the quicker it is eliminated. Themison gave doses of not more thantwo drachmae; his successors actually increased the amount to four, because ofthe fine testimonial given to hellebore byHerophilus, who compared it to a truly courageous general; having arousedall within, it itself marches out in the van. Moreover, a wonderful discoveryhas been made; hellebore cut with scissors, as we have described, is passedthrough a sieve; the skinwith which they empty the stomachremains behind,while the soft part passes through, and is given to stop the vomiting when thepurging is too violent.

XXIV. Care must be taken, even with happy treatment, not to administerhellebore on a cloudy day; for to do so is followed by unbearable torture.

Indeed, there is no doubt that summer is a better season to give it than winter.For seven days previously the body must be prepared by acid foods and byabstinence from wine; on the fourth and third days before, an emetic must betaken, and on the preceding day there should be abstinence from dinner.White hellebore is given even a in a sweet medium, although most suitably inlentils or pottage. Recently the method has been discovered of splittingradishes, inserting hellebore, and then pressing the radishes together again, sothat the property of the purge penetrates them; the hellebore is thusadministered in a modified form. Vomiting begins after about four hours,and the whole business is over in seven. Thus given hellebore is curative ofepilepsy, as has been said, giddiness, melancholia, insanity, wild distraction,white leprosy, leprous sores, tetanus, palsy, gouty affections, dropsy andincipient tympanitis stomachic affections, spasmodic grins, sciatica, quartanfever that yields to no other treatment, chronic cough, flatulence and recurrentgripings.

XXV. Hellebore is never prescribed for oldpeople or children, or for those who are soft and effeminate in body or mind, orfor the thin or delicate; for women it is less suited than for men, unsuitabletoo for the nervous or when the hypochondria are ulcerated or swollen, very badwhen there is spitting of blood, pain in the side, or sore throat. Appliedexternally with salted axle-grease it cures pituitous eruptionse on the body andalso suppurations of long standing. Mixed with pearl barley it kills rats andmice. The Gauls when hunting dip their arrows in hellebore, and say that themeat when the flesh round the wound has been cut away tastes more tender. Fliestoo die if pounded white hellebore and milk are sprinkled about. Phthiriasis toois cured by the same preparation.

XXVI. To Mithridates himselfCrateuas ascribed one plant,calledmithridatia. It has two leaves, like those of the acanthus, springingfrom the root, with a stem between them which supports a rose-pink flower.

XXVII. A second plant was attributed to him by Lenaeus, scordotis or scordion, adescription of it being in the hand of the King himself; it is one cubithigh; its stem is quadrangular, its form is branchy, and the leaves, which aredowny, are like oak leaves. It is found in Pontus on rich, moist plains, and isof a bitter taste. There is also another kind of it, with broader leaves andlike wild mint, both kinds being useful for very many purposes, both bythemselves and also with other ingredients to make antidotes.

XXVIII. Two kings have claimed to be the discoverer of polemonia;accordingly some call it by that name and some philetaeria, while theCappadocians call itchiliodynamia. It has a thick root, thin branches withclusters hanging from the ends, and black seed. In other respects it is likerue, and it grows in mountainous districts.

XXIX. Eupatoria too enjoys the prestige of a royal discoverer. It has aligneous stem, dark, hairy, and a cubit or sometimes more in height; the leaves,arranged at intervals, are like those of cinquefoil or hemp, and have fiveindentations along the edge; they too are dark and feathery. The root isuseless, but the seed taken in wine is a sovereign remedy in cases of dysentery.

XXX. Centaury is said to have been the treatment given toChiron when an arrow fell on his foot ashe was handling the arms of Hercules, who was his guest; for which reason somecall itchironion. Its leaves are broad and longish, serrated all round theedge; thickly from the root grow jointed stems three cubits high. On these areheads like those of poppies. The root is enormous and reddish, soft and easilybroken, up to two cubits in size, streaming with juice and bitter with somethingof sweetness in it. It grows on hills with a rich soil, the most esteemed inArcadia, Elis, Messenia, Pholoe and on mount Lycaeus; on the Alps too and invery many other places. In Lycia indeed they also make a lycium from it. Itspower to cure wounds is so strong that even pieces of meat, they say, coalesceif they are boiled with it. The part used is the root, the dose being for thepatients for whom it will be prescribed two drachmae only. It should be poundedand taken in water if fever be present; those without fever should take itpounded but in wine. The juice of the decoction cures also the diseases ofsheep.

XXXI. There is a second centaury, surnamed lepton, a plant with smallleaves; some call itlibadion, because it grows along the side of springs. It islike origanum but with narrower and longer leaves; it has an angular, bushystem a span high, a flower like that of lychnis, a slight root of no use inmedicine, but with healing qualities in its juice. The plant itself is gatheredin autumn, and the juice is extracted from the leaves. Some cut up and soak thestems, extracting the juice at the end of eighteen days. This centaury theRomans call the 'gall of earth' on account of its extreme bitterness, while the Gauls call itexacum, because a draught of it evacuates from the body by stoolall harmful drugs.

XXXII. There is a third, centauris surnamed triorchis. Those whocut it nearly always wound themselves. The juice it gives out is of the colourof blood.Theophrastus relates that itis defended by a species of hawk calledtriorchis, which attacks those whogather it. From this too it has received its name. The uninformed confuse thesecharacteristics and assign them all to the first kind of centaury.

XXXIII. Clymenus is a plant called after the king of that name. Ithas leaves like those of ivy, many branches, a hollow stem girded with joints, astrong smell, and seed like that of ivy; it grows in wooded, hilly districts. Ishall say later what diseases it cures if taken in drink; but at the moment Imust point out that, while it cures, even men are made sterile by the draught.The Greeks have said that it is like the plantain, with a square stem andseed-bags intertwined like the tentacles of the polypus. The juice too is usedin medicine, as it has very great powers of cooling.

XXXIV. It was a king of the Illyrians named Gentius who discoveredgentian, which, though it grows everywhere, is most excellent when it grows inIllyria. The leaf is like that of the ash but of the size of a lettuce leaf; thestem is tender and of the thickness of a thumb, hollow and empty, with leavesat intervals, sometimes three cubits in height, and growing from a pliant root,which is darkish and without smell. It grows abundantly a on watery slopes nearthe foot of the Alps. The parts used are the root and the juice. The nature ofthe root is warming, but it should not be taken in drink by women with child.

XXXV.Lysimachus too discovered aplant, still named after him, the praises of which have been sung byErasistratus. It has green leaves likethose of the willow, a purple flower, being bushy, with small upright branchesand a pungent smell. It grows in watery districts. Its power is so great that,if placed on the yoke when the beasts of burden are quarrelsome it checks theirbad temper.

XXXVI. Women too have been ambitious to gain this distinction, among themArtemisia, the wife of Mausolus, who gave her name to a plantwhich before was calledparthenis. There are some who think that the surname isderived from Artemis Ilithyia, because the plant is specific for the troublesof women. It is also bushy, resembling wormwood, but with larger and fleshyleaves. Of the plant itself there are two kinds: one higher and with broaderleaves, the other soft and with more slender leaves, growing onlynear the seaside. There are some who in inland districts call by the same namea plant with a single stem, very small leaves, abundant blossom bursting outwhen the grapes are ripening, and with a not unpleasant smell. The sort thatsome callbotrys, and others ambrosia, grows in Cappadocia.

XXXVII. According to tradition nymphaea was born of a nymph who diedof jealousy about Herculesfor this reason some call itheracleon, othersrhopalon because its root is like a cluband therefore those who have taken itin drink for twelve days are incapable of intercourse and procreation. The mostvalued kind grows in the district of Orchomenos and at Marathon. The Boeotianscall itmallon and eat the seed. It grows in watery places, with large leaves onthe top of the water and others growing out of the root; the flowers are likethe lily, and when the blossom is finished a head forms like that of the poppy;the stem is smooth. In autumn is cut the root, which is dark, and is dried inthe sun. It reduces the spleen. There is another kind of nymphaea growing in theRiver Penius in Thessaly. It has a white root, and a yellow headof the size of a rose.

XXXVIII. In the age too of our fathersKing Juba discovered a plant to which he gave the nameeuphorbea, calling it after his own physicianEuphorbus. This man was the brother of theMusa we have as the saviour of the lifeof the late EmperorAugustus. It wasthese brothers who first adopted the plan of bracing the body by copious douchesof cold water after the bath. Before this the custom was to bathe in hot wateronly, as we find that it is also inHomer.But the treatise also ofJuba on thisplant is still extant, and it makes a splendid testimonial. He discovered it onMount Atlas; it has the appearance of a thyrsus and the leaves of the acanthus.Its potency is so great that the juice, obtained by incision with a pole, isgathered from a distance; it is caught in receivers made of kids' stomachsplaced underneath. Fluid and like milk as it drops down, when it has dried andcongealed it has all the features of frankincense. The collectors find theirvision improved. It is employed as treatment for snakebite. In whatever partof the body the bite may be, an incision is made in the top of the skull and themedicament inserted there. The Gaetulians who gather the juice adulterate itout of weary disgust by adding milk, but fire is a test of genuineness, for thatwhich is adulterated emits a nauseating smell. Far inferior to the Atlas juiceis that which in Gaul comes from the ground-olive, which bears a red berry likekermes. Broken it resembles hammoniacum, and even a slight taste leaves for along time a burning sensation in the mouth; after a while this increasesuntil it dries up even the throat.

XXXIX. The physician Themiso toohas spread the fame of a common plant, the plantain, having published atreatise about it as though he were the discoverer. There are two kinds of it:the smaller, with narrower and darker leaves, resembles the tongue of a sheep;the stem is angular and bends downward. It grows in meadows. The other kind islarger and enclosed with leaves as it were with sides. Since these leaves areseven in number the plant is sometimes called heptapleuron. The stem too of thisis a cubit high; when it grows on wet soils it is much more efficacious. It hasa wonderful power to dry and brace the body, having a cauterizing property.There is nothing that checks so well the fluxes called by the Greeksrheumatismoi, that is, catarrhs.

XL. Akin to the plantain is buglossos, which is like the tongue ofan ox. The most conspicuous quality of this is that thrown into wine itincreases the exhilarating effect, and so it is also calledeuphrosynum, theplant that cheers.

XLI. Akin too is cynoglossos, which is like a dog's tongue, and amost attractive addition to ornamental gardens. It is said that the root of thekind with three seed-bearing stems, if taken in water, is good for tertians, andthat with four for quartans. There is also another plant like this which bearstiny bars. Its root taken in water neutralizes the poison of and snakes.

XLII. Another plant is buphthalmus, which is like the eyes ofoxen, having leaves like those of fennel, a bushy plant growing aroundtowns, with .... [tender?] stems that are boiled and eaten. Some call itcalchas. This plant with wax added disperses fatty tumours.

XLIII. Whole tribes too have discovered plants. Scythia firstfound out about the one calledscythice, which grows round Lake Maeotis. One ofits qualities is great sweetness, and it is very beneficial for the complaintcalled asthma. Another great merit of it is the freedom from hunger and thirstenjoyed by those who keep it in their mouths.

XLIV. The same people find the same property in theirhippace, which hasthe unique quality of affecting horses in the same way. It is said that on thesetwo plants the Scythians can fast from food and drink even for as long as twelvedays at a time.

XLV. Thrace found out about ischaemon, which is said to stanch bleedingwhen a vein has not merely been cut but even severed. It creeps along the groundas does millet the leaves are rough and downy. The kind that grows in Italy,stuffed into the nostrils, and also when used as an amulet, stanches bleeding.

XLVI. The Vettones in Spain discovered theplant calledvettonica in Gaul,serratula in Italy, andcestros orpsychrotrophon by the Greeks, a plant more highly valued than any other. Itsprings up with an angular stem of two cubits, spreading out from the rootleaves rather like those of lapathum, serrated, and with a purplefruiting-head. Its leaves are dried into a powder and used for very manypurposes. From it are made a wine and a vinegar, good for the stomach and theeyesight. So great is its fame that the home in which it has been planted isconsidered to be safe from all dangers.

XLVII. In Spain too was discoveredcantabrica, found by the Cantabri inthe period of the late Emperor Augustus. It grows everywhere, having a rush-likestem a foot in length, on which are small, longish flowers, shaped like awork-basket, in which are very tiny seeds. Nor have the Spains been backward in other search after plants; for example, even now today it is the custom at the more festive gatherings, to mix a drink, the 'hundredplant potion', byadding to honey wine a hundred plants, in the belief that such is both veryhealthful and very pleasant. Nobody, however, now knows the kinds of plants usedand their exact number, although a definite number is given in the name.

XLVIII. Our own generation remembers the discovery of a plantamong the Marsi. It grows also among the Aequicoli around the village ofNervesia, and is calledconsiligo. It is beneficial, as we shall point out inits own place, in desperate cases of consumption.

XLIX.Servilius Democrates also,one of our foremost physicians, recently discovered the value of what he calledhiberis, although in the verses he wrote on its discovery he assigned this to animaginary person. It grows chiefly near old monuments, ruins, and the waste landbeside highways. It is an evergreen, with leaves like cress, a stem a cubithigh, and with seed that can scarcely be seen. The root has the smell of cress.It is used more efficaciously in summer, and only when freshly gathered will itserve. There is difficulty in pounding it. For sciatica and all complaints ofthe joints it is, with a little axle-grease added, very beneficial. The longestapplication is four hours for men and half as long for women; then the patientmust go down to the hot water of the baths, and afterwards must be rubbed allover the body with wine and oil. The treatment should be repeated at intervalsof twenty days, if any hint of pain persists. This treatment cures all hiddenfluxes. The application is not made when inflammation is acute, but only when ithas gone down.

L. Animals too have discovered plants, and among the chief is thechelidonia. For by means of it swallows cure the eyes of the chicks in the nest,and restore the sight, as some hold, even when the eyes have been torn out.There are two kinds of it. The larger kind is bushy, and its leaf is like thatof the wild carrot, but bigger, the plant itself being two cubits high, thecolour light and the blossom yellow. The smaller has leaves like those of ivy,rounder and less pale. The juice is like saffron juice and pungent; the seedresembles that of the poppy. Both plants blossom when the swallow arrives andwither when he departs. The juice is extracted while the plants are flowering,and is gently boiled down with Attic honey in a copper vessel over hot ashes,being a sovereign remedy for dimness of vision. The juice is used both by itselfand in the eye-salves calledchelidonia after the plant.

LI. Dogs too have found a plant by whichthey cure loss of appetite, and eat it in our sight, but in such a way that itcan never be identified, for it is seen only when chewed up. This animal showsyet greater spitefulness in its secrecy about another plant; for there is one bywhich it is said to cure itself when bitten by a snake, but it does not crop itwhen a human being is looking on.

LII. With greater frankness deer have shown us elaphoboscon, about whichwe have written, and after yeaning have made known seselis and theblack bryony, as we have pointed out;

LIII. dittany also by feeding on it when wounded, the weapons at oncefalling out. The latter grows nowhere except in Crete, with branchesvery slender; it resembles pennyroyal and is burning and harsh to the taste.Only the leaves are employed; it has no flower, no seed and no stem; its root isslender and without medicinal value. Even in Crete it does not grow widely, andthe goats are wonderfully eager to hunt it out. A substitute for it is falsedittany, which grows in many lands, like true dittany in leaf but with smallerbranches, and called by somechondris.

It is recognised at once, as its properties are less potent, for the smallestquantity of true dittany, taken in drink, bums the mouth. Those who gather themstore them in a piece of fennel-giant or reed, which they tie up at the ends, toprevent their losing efficacy. There are some who say that both plants grow inmany places, but that while the inferior kinds are found on rich soils, truedittany is only seen on rough ground. There is also a third plant calleddittany, unlike the others in appearance and properties; the leaves are those ofsisymbrium and the branches are larger, but there is the established convictionthat whatever simple grows in Crete is infinitely superior to any of the samekind to be found elsewhere, and that the next best herbs are those to be foundon Mount Pamassus. Report says that simples grow besides on Mount Pelion inThessaly, on Mount Telethrius in Euboea, and throughout Arcadia and Laconia, andthat the Arcadians indeed use, not medicines, but milk in the spring season,because it is at this time chiefly that herbs are swollen with juices which,when the beasts graze, medicate their udders. But the milk they drink is cow'smilk, since kine will feed on almost any kind of plant. The potency of plantsbecomes clear from two striking examples of their action even on quadrupeds:horses that have grazed around Abdera and what is called `the bounds ofDiomedes' go raving mad, as do also the asses that graze around Potniae.

LIV. Among the most celebrated plantsaristolochia received its name, as isclear, from women with child, because they considered it to be αρίστη λεχούσαις,that is, 'excellent for women in childbed.' Latin writers call it 'earthapple,' distinguishing four kinds of it: one with round tubers on the root, andwith leaves partly like those of the mallow and partly like those of ivy, butdarker and softer: the second is the male plant, with a long root of fourfingers' length, thick as a walking-stick; the third is very long and as slenderas a young vine, with especially strong properties, and is called by someclematitis and by otherscretica. All kinds of this plant are of the colour ofboxwood, and have small stems and purple blossom. They bear small berries likecaper berries. Only the root has medicinal value. There is also a fourth kind,calledplistolochia, more slender than the one last mentioned, with dense,hair-like masses for a root, and of the thickness of a. stoutish rush, whichsome surnamepolyrrhizos. All kinds have a drug-like smell, but that of therather long and slender root is more agreeable; its fleshy outer skin in fact iseven suitable for nard ointments. These plants grow on plains with a rich soil.The time to dig them up is at harvest; the earth is scraped off them before theyare stored away. The most valued root, however, comes from Pontus, and in everycase the heaviest specimens are preferred; for medicines the round is moresuitable, for snake bites the longer kind, but its greatest fame isthat, if only it is applied to the uterus in beef after conception, it formsaccording to report male offspring. The fishermen of Campania call the root thatis round 'poison of the earth', and I have seen them scatter it over the sea,crushed and mixed with lime. The fish rush to it with wonderful greed, forthwithdie, and float on the surface. The kind calledpolyrrhizos is reported to bevery beneficial for sprains, bruises, and falls from a height, if the root istaken in water, for pleurisy and the sinews if the seed is used, and to be tonicand warming; it is reported to be the same plant as satyrion.

LV. But we must mention also the properties and uses of these plants, andbegin with snake bite, the worst ill of all. Cures then are: the plantbritannica; the root of all kinds of panaces taken in wine; both flower and seedof chironium taken in drink or applied in wine and oil; what is calledox cunila, which is specific; polemonia or philetaeris, the dose being fourdrachmae of the root in neat wine; teucria, sideritis, and scordotis in wine,specific remedies for snake wounds, the juice or leaves or a decoction beingtaken in drink applied; the root of the greater centaury in doses of onedrachma in three cyathi of white wine; gentian, particularly good, whether freshor dried, for snake bites in doses of two drachmae taken with pepper and rue insix cyathi of wine. The smell too of lysimachia keeps snakes away. Those whohave been bitten are given chelidonia in wine, and to the bites is applied inparticular betony, the power of which is said to be so great that snakesenclosed in a circle of it lash themselves to death. For the bites is given itsseed, the dose being a denarius with three cyathi of wine, or else it is groundand three drachmae of the powder are given in a sextarius of water; the powderis also applied locally. Cantabrica too is used, and dittany, and aristolochia,a drachma of the root in a hemina of wine, but the dose must be repeated severaltimes. Aristolochia in vinegar also makes a useful application, and so does plistolochia, in fact the mere hanging of this above the hearth makes all snakeshurry from the house.

LVI. Argemonia too is good, a denarius of its root being taken in threecyathi of wine. It is proper for more details to be given about this plant, andabout the others, when the first mention is made of them, and the first mentionof each should be when I deal with that medical treatment where its use willprove most effective. It has leaves like those of the anemone, divided likethose of celery, a head like that of the wild poppy upon a small stalk, the rootalso being like that of this poppy, and saffron-coloured juice that ispungent and sharp. It grows in cultivated fields. We Romans distinguishthree kinds of it, and the one esteemed is that the root of which smells likefrankincense.

LVII. An agaric grows as a white fungus on trees around theBosporus. A dose is four oboli crushed and two cyathi of oxymel. The kind thatgrows in Gaul is considered of inferior strength; further, the male is firmerand more bitterthis kind causes headachesbut the female is softer, and atfirst its taste is sweet, but afterwards turns bitter.

LVIII. Echios of either kind is like pennyroyal its foliage isused for chaplets. The dose is two drachmae in four cyathi of wine; likewisewith the second kind, which is marked by a prickly down, and also has littleheads like a viper's; this is taken in wine and vinegar. Some give the nameechios topersonata ('masked plant') whose leaf is broader than that of anykind, and which bears large burs. A decoction of the root of this is given withvinegar as a draught. Henbane crushed with the leaves on is given in wine,especially for the poison of asps.

LIX. No plant however is so renowned among the Romans ashiera botane('sacred plant'). Some call itasistereon, and Latin writersverbenaca. This is the plant which I mentioned as carried to the enemy byenvoys. With this the table of Jupiter is swept, and homes arecleansed and purified. There are two kinds of it; one has many leaves and isthought to be female, the other, the male, has fewer leaves. Each kind hasseveral sprigs that are slender, a cubit long and angular; the leaves aresmaller and narrower than those of the oak; the indentations too are deeper, theblossom is grey, and the root long and slender. It grows everywhere in flat,moist localities. Some authorities do not distinguish these two kinds but makeof them one only, since both have the same properties. Both kinds are used bythe people of Gaul in fortune-telling and in uttering prophecies, but the Magiespecially make the maddest statements about the plant: that people who havebeen rubbed with it obtain their wishes, banish fevers, win friends and cure alldiseases without exception. They add that it must be gathered about the risingof the Dog-star without the action being seen by moon or sun; that beforehandatonement must be made to Earth by an offering of honeycomb and honey; that acircle must be drawn with iron round the plant and then it should be pulled upwith the left hand and raised aloft; that leaves, stem and root must be driedseparately in the shade. They say too that if a dining-couch is sprinkled withwater in which this plant has been soaked the entertainment becomes merrier. Asa remedy for snake bites it is crushed in wine.

LX. There is a plant like verbascum which is often taken for it inerror, but the leaves are less pale, the stems are more numerous, and theblossom is yellow. When thrown away it attracts moths to itself, and for thisreason at Rome it is called blattaria, or mothverbascum.

LXI. Molemonium exudes a milky juice which thickens like gum. It grows inmoist localities, the dose being one denarius given in wine.

LXII. Cinquefoil is known to everyone, being popular for itsactually producing strawberries. The Greeks call itpentapetes,pentaphyllon, orchamaezelon. When it is dug up it has a red root, which as it dries becomesblack and angular. The name is derived from the number of the leaves. The plantitself buds and sheds its leaves with the vine. It is also used in purifyinghouses.

LXIII. For snake bite is also given in white wine the root of the plantthat is calledsparganion.

LXIV. Four kinds of daucus were distinguished byPetronius Diodotus. There is no point ingiving the details of these, as there are but two species. The most highlyvalued grows in Crete, the next in Achaia and everywhere in dry districts; itresembles fennel, but has paler, smaller and hairy leaves, a straight stem afoot high, and a root with a very pleasant taste and smell. This kind grows onrocky soils that face the south. The other kinds grow everywhere on earthy hillsand cross-paths, but only if the soil is rich; they have leaves like those ofcoriander, a stem a cubit high, round heads, often more than three, and awood-like root, which when dry is worthless. Its seed is like that of cummin,while that of the first kind is like millet, white, sharp, and scented and hotin all kinds. The seed of the second kind is more powerful than that of thefirst, and for this reason should be used sparingly. If one really desires toadd a third kind, there is one like staphylinus, called wild carrot,with longish seed and a sweet root. A quadruped, summer and winter, refuses totouch any of these plants except after miscarriage. Of the Cretan kind the rootis used, chiefly for snake bites, of the other kinds the seed. The dose is onedrachma taken in wine; it is given also to quadrupeds that have been bitten.

LXV. There is a therionarca, different from the magical plant,that grows in our part of the world, a bushy plant with greenish leaves, arose-coloured flower, and fatal to serpents. This plant too benumbs any kind ofwild creature it touches.

LXVI. Persolata, a plant everybody knows, is called by the Greeksarcion;it has leaves larger, more hairy, darker and thicker even than those of a gourd,and a white, large root. This is taken in wine, the dose being two denarii byweight.

LXVII. The root of cyclamen also is beneficial for the bites ofany kind of snake. The plant has smaller, darker and thinner leaves than thoseof ivy, with no corners but with white spots; the stem is short and hollow, theblossom purple, the root so broad that it might be taken for that of the turnip,and having a dark skin. It grows in shaded spots, is called by our countrymentuber terrae, and ought to be grown in every home if it is true that wherever itgrows no evil spells do any harm. They call it 'amulet', and say that if itis added to wine intoxication comes at once. The root is also dried, cut up fineas is done with the squill, and then stored away. This is boiled down to theconsistency of honey. It has however a poisonous quality of its own, and it issaid that if a woman with child steps over this root she miscarries.

LXVIII. There is also another cyclamen with the surname ofcissanthemos,differing from the preceding one in that it has jointed stems of no value,winds itself round trees, and bears berries like those of ivy, only soft, and ahandsome, white flower; the root is of no value. The berries only are used theseare sharp to the taste and sticky. They are dried in the shade, crushed, and cutup into lozenges.

LXIX. A third kind of cyclamen has been pointed out to me with thesurname ofchamaecissos, which has only one leaf, and a branchy root fatal tofishes.

LXX. Among the most popular of plants is peucedanum, the mostesteemed kind of which grows in Arcadia; next to this comes the one growing inSamothrace. Its stem is slender, long, like fennel, and leafy near the ground;the root is dark, thick, juicy, and with a strong smell. It grows on shadedmountains and is dug up at the close of autumn. The tenderest and deepest rootsare the favourites. These are cut up with bone knives into strips four fingerslong and pour out their juice in the shade, the cutters first rubbing their headand nostrils with rose oil lest they should feel vertigo. Another juice also isfound sticking to the stems and dripping from incisions in it. It is consideredgood when it is of the consistency of honey, of a red colour, with a strong butpleasant smell, and hot to the taste. This is used for snake bite, as well asthe root and a decoction of it, to make many remedies, the juice however beingthe most efficacious; it is made thinner by bitter almonds or rue and is takenin drink, while rubbing over the body with it and oil protects people fromsnakes.

LXXI. The smoke of ebulum also, a plant known to everybody, drives snakesaway.

LXXII. The root of polemonia, even when merely attached as anamulet, is specific against scorpions, and also against poisonous spiders andthe other smaller venomous creatures; aristolochia against scorpions, orfour-oboli doses of agaric in four cyathi of wine stirred up with it, vervaintoo with wine, or vinegar and water, against poisonous spiders, so alsocinquefoil or daucum.

LXXIII. Verbascum is calledphlomos by the Greeks. There are two primarykinds of it: the pale, which is thought to be male; the other is dark andis regarded as female. There is a third kind, that is found only in woods. Theleaves of verbascum are broader than those of cabbage, and hairy; the stem isupright, and more than a cubit high. The seed is black and of no use. The rootis single, and of the thickness of a finger. The plants also grow in flatcountry. Wild verbascum has leaves like those of elelisphacus and tall, whilethe branches are of a woody texture.

LXXIV. There are also two sorts of phlomis, both shaggy andwith round leaves, growing near the ground. A third is calledlychnitis, by somethryallis; it has three or at most four leaves, which are thickand fleshy, and suitable for lamp wicks. It is said that, placed in the leavesof the kind we have called female, a fig does not even begin to go bad. It isalmost superfluous to distinguish these various kinds, because they all have thesame properties. A draught for the sting of scorpions is made from the root andrue in water, which is as efficacious as it is bitter.

LXXV. Thelyphonon is a plant called scorpion some because its root hasthe shape of one. A mere touch of it kills scorpions, and so it is taken indrink for their stings. It is said that a dead scorpion, if smeared with whitehellebore, comes to life again. Thelyphonon kills every kind of quadruped if itsroot be applied to the genitals, the leaf indeed, which is like that ofcyclamen, does so before the end of the same day. The plant itself is jointed,and grows in shaded places. Good for scorpion bite is the juice of betony oreplantain.

LXXVI. Frogs too have their poisons, brambletoads a virulent one, and Ihave seen Psylli putting them to a contest loosed from heated pans, and thatthough their bite brings speedier death than the bite of asps. A helpful remedyis phrynion taken in wine, a plant that some callneuras, and otherspoterion,having small flowers and many fibrous roots with a pleasant scent.

LXXVII. Likewise alisma, which some calldamasonion, otherslyron. Theleaves would be like those of the plantaisi were they not narrower, more jagged,and bent downwards; in other respects the two are alike, even in their manyveins. It has a single, slender stem, a cubit high and like a thyrsus at thetop, with many close-set roots, slender like those of black hellebore, acrid,scented and juicy. It grows in watery places. The other kind of tile same plantis found in woods; it is darker, and has larger leaves. The roots of both kindsare used for the poison of frogs and of the sea-hare, the dose being a drachmaby weight taken in wine. Cyclamen is another remedy for the poison of sea-hares.The bites of a mad dog also have a highly venomous character, a remedy for whichwill be found in cvnorrhodum, of which I have spoken already, in the plantain,and for all bites of wild beasts in betony with old neat wine, taken as drink orapplied locally.

LXXVIII.Peristereos is the name of a plant with a tall stemcovered with leaves and sprouting out other stems at the top. It is a greatfavourite with doves, whence too conies its name. It is said that dogs neverbark at those who have this plant about them.

LXXIX. Next after these plagues come the poisons that men devise forthemselves. Remedies for all these and for sorceries will be found in the famousmoly ofHomer, which is the best, nextthe antidotes ofMithridates, and also scordotis. Centaury too taken in drink evacuates by stool allpoisonous drugs, as does the seed of betony taken in honey wine or in raisinwine, or drachma doses of the powder may be taken in four cyathi of old wine;but the patients must be made to vomit and take a second draught. It is saidthat those who take this powder every day will not be hurt by any noxious drugs.When poison has been drunk help is given by aristolochia, the dose being thesame as for snake bites, by the juice of cinquefoil, and by agaric taken afterprevious vomiting, the dose being a denarius by weight in three cyathi ofhydxomel.

LXXX.Antirrinum orpararinon is the name given to wild lychnis, a plantlike flax, having no root, a flower like that of the hyacinthus, and seed likethe muzzle of a calf. The Magi hold that those rubbed with it improve in beautyand can be hurt by no noxious drug; likewise if anyone wear it on the arm as anamulet.

LXXXI. They say the same of the plant they calleuplia, and maintain thatthose rubbed with it win a finer reputation. They also say that those carryingartemisia about them are not hurt by noxious drugs, or by any wild beast, andnot even by the sun. This plant is also taken in wine to counteract the effectsof opium. Seaweed is said to be a specific, and it is also taken in drink forthe poison of frogs.

LXXXII. Pericarpum is a kind of bulb. There are two species of it; onehas a red outer skin, the other is like the dark poppy, but its properties arestronger than those of the former; both howeverare warming. For this reason the plant is administered to counteract hemlock,as is also frankincense and panaces, and chironium in particular. The last isalso used for poisoning by fungi.

LXXXIII. But we will go on to add also the various kinds of remedies foreach disease attacking the various parts of the body, beginning with the head.Mange is cured by the root of the Heraclian water-lily, ground up and applied,either with pitch or by itself. Polythrix differs from callithrix in havingpale, rush-like shoots and more numerous and larger leaves. The main stem too islarger. It strengthens and makes to grow more thickly hair that tends to fallout.

LXXXIV. Lingulaca too may be used, that grows around springs, the root ofwhich, reduced to ashes, is beaten up mixed with the lard of a black sow, carebeing taken that it is one which has never farrowed; and then it is a greatadvantage if the application is made in the sunshine. The root of cyclamen isused in a similar way. Dandruff is removed by the root of hellebore boiled downin oil or in water. Headache is cured by the root of any kind of panacescrushed in oil, by aristolochia, by hiberis attached for an hour, or longer ifthe patient can stand it, a bath being taken at the same time. Daucum also is acure. Cyclamen too with honey, if pushed into the nostrils, clears the head,sores on which are healed by the same used as ointment. Peristereos also iseffective treatment.

LXXXV. Cacalia or leontice is the name of a plant with seeds like tinypearls hanging down among large leaves, and mostly found on mountains. Fifteengrains of it are steeped in oil, and with this the head is rubbed in thecontrary way to the hair.

LXXXVI. From callithrix also is made a snuff. This plant has the leavesof the lentil; the stems are very slender rushes and the root is very small. Itgrows in shady, moist places, and has a hot taste.

LXXXVII. Hyssop crushed in oil is good for phthiriasis and itch on thescalp. The best comes from Mount Taurus in Cilicia, the next best from Pamphyliaand Smyrna. Upsetting the stomach, it purges by stool if taken with figs, byvomitings if taken with honey. Pounded with honey, salt, and cummin it is alsosupposed to counteract the poison of snake bites.

LXXXVIII. Lonchitis is not, as most people have thought, the same plantas xiphion or phasganion, although the seed is like a spear point; for it hasleaves like those of the leek, reddish near the root and more numerous than onthe stem, little heads like the masks of comedy, which put out a small tongue,and very long roots. It grows in thirsty soils.

LXXXIX. Xiphion or phasganion on the otherhand grows in moist soils. When it first leaves the ground it presents theappearance of a sword, has a stem two cubits high, and a fringed root like afilbert, which must be dug up before harvest and dried in the shade. The upperpart of it, beaten up with frankincense and mixed with an equal quantity byweight of wine, extracts bone splinters from the head and all suppurating matterin the body, or any snake bones that have been trodden on; the plant alsocounteracts poisons. Headache is relieved by rubbing with hellebore beaten upand boiled down in oil or rose oil, or by peucedanum in oil or rose oil andvinegar. The latter made lukewarm is good for the pains generally felt on oneside of the head, and also for giddiness. The body is rubbed over with the rootto promote perspiration, for it has heating properties.

XC. Psyllion is called by somecynoides, by otherschrystallion, byotherssicelicon, and by otherscynomyia; it has a slender root of no use inmedicine, numerous twigs with grains like beans at the point, leaves not unlikea dog's head and seed not unlike a flea: hence too its name. The seed is inberries, and the plant itself is to be found in vineyards. Its cooling anddispersing properties are very strong. The part used is the seed. For headacheit is applied to the forehead and temples in vinegar and rose oil or in vinegarand water. For other purposes it is used as liniment. An acetabulum thickens andcoagulates a sextarius of water; then it should be beaten up and the pasteapplied as liniment to any pain, gathering or inflammation. Wounds in the headare healed by aristolochia, which also brings away fragments of bone in otherparts of the body, but especially in the head; the same with plistolochia.Thryselinum is not unlike celery. The root of it chewed clears away catarrhs ofthe head.

XCI. It is supposed that the sight is improved by the greater centaury ifthe eyes are fomented by an infusion of it in water; while by the juice of thelesser centaury with the addition of honey gnats are removed, cloudiness andfilms are dispersed, and scars smoothed out; also that albugo even of draughtanimals is made better by sideritis. But chelidonia is a wonderful cure for allthe above-mentioned eye troubles. The root of panaces with pearl barley isapplied to the eyes for fluxes. For checking such fluxes the seed of henbane istaken in wine in doses of an obolus with the same amount of poppy juice. Juiceof gentian too is used as ointment, and it is also used instead of poppy juiceas an ingredient of the more pungent eye salves. Euphorbeum too improves thevision of those whose eyes are anointed with it. The juice of the plantain isdropped into the eyes for ophthalmia. Films are dispersed by aristolochia, byhiberis attached to the head, and by cinquefoil. Fluxes and eye-diseasesgenerally are made better by verbascum. To fluxes is applied peristereos in roseoil or vinegar. For cataract and film lozenges of cyclamen are dissolved andapplied; the juice of peucedanum, as we have said, poppy juice and rose oilbeing added, is good for improving the vision and for films. Psyllion rubbed onthe forehead arrests fluxes.

XCII. Some call the anagallis,acoron. There are two kinds of it: themale with a scarlet flower, and the female with a blue one; neither is more thana span in height, the stem being tender, and the leaves tiny, round and lying onthe ground. They grow in gardens and on moist ground. The blue-flowered kindblossoms first. The juice of either kind, applied with honey, disperses film onthe eyes, suffusions of blood from a blow, and reddish argema; the results arebetter if the ointment is made with Attic honey. It dilates the pupils, and sothese are smeared with it before perforation for cataract. These plants alsocure eye diseases in draught animals. The juice also clears the head if pouredthrough the nostrils, but it must be rinsed out afterwards with wine. A drachmadose of the juice is also taken in wine for snake bites. It is a wonderful thingthat cattle avoid the female plant, or if deceived by the resemblancefor theonly difference is in the flowerthey have partaken of it, they at once seek asa remedy the plant calledasyla. We Romans call it 'cat's-eye'. Some instructthe diggers to say nothing until they have saluted it before sunrise, and thento gather it and extract the juice, for so they say its efficacy is at itsgreatest. About the juice of euphorbea enough has been said. Ophthalmia, ifthere is swelling, will be benefited by wormwood beaten up with honey, and alsoby powdered betony.

XCIII. Aegilops is cured by the plant of the same name, which grows amongbarley and has a leaf like that of wheat; either the seed may be reduced topowder, mixed with flour and applied, or the juice may be used. This isextracted from the stem and juicy leaves after taking away the ears, and then itis worked into lozenges with the flour of three-month wheat.

XCIV. Some physicians used to employ the mandrake also; afterwards it wasdiscarded as a medicine for the eyes. What is certain is that the poundedroot, with rose oil and wine, cures fluxes and pain in the eyes. But the juiceis used as an ingredient in many eye remedies. Some give the nameeircaeon tothe mandrake. There are two kinds of it: the white, which is also consideredmale, and the black, considered female. The leaves are narrower thanthose of lettuce, the stems hairy, and the roots, two or three in number,reddish, white inside, fleshy and tender, and almost a cubit in length. Theybear fruit of the size of filberts, and in these are seeds like the pips ofpears. When the seed is white the plant is called by somearsen, by othersmorion, and by othershippophlomos. The leaves of this mandrake are whitish,broader than those of the other, and like those of cultivated lapathum. Thediggers avoid facing the wind, first trace round the plant three circles with asword, and then do their digging while facing the west. The juice can also beobtained from the fruit, from the stem, after cutting off the top, and from theroot, which is opened by pricks or boiled down to a decoction. Even the shoot ofits root can be used, and the root is also cut into round slices and kept inwine. The juice is not found everywhere, but where it can be found it is lookeda for about vintage time. It has a strong smell, but stronger when the juicecomes from the root or fruit of the white mandrake. The ripe fruit is dried inthe shade. The fruit juice is thickened in the sun, and so is that of the root,which is crushed or boiled down to one third in dark wine. The leaves are keptin brine, more effectively those of the white kind. The juice of leaves thathave been touched by dew are deadly. Even when kept in brine they retain harmfulproperties. The mere smell brings heaviness of the head andalthough in certaincountries the fruit is eatenthose who in ignorance smell too much are struckdumb, while too copious a draught even brings death. When the mandrake is usedas a sleeping draught the quantity administered should be proportioned to thestrength of the patient, a moderate dose being one cyathus. It is also taken indrink for snake bite, and before surgical operations and punctures to produceanaesthesia. For this purpose some find it enough to put themselves to sleep bythe smell. A dose of two oboli of mandrake is also taken in honey wine insteadof helleborebut hellebore is more efficaciousas an emetic and to purge awayblack bile.

XCV. Hemlock too is poisonous, a plant with a bad name because theAthenians made it their instrument of capital punishment, but its uses for manypurposes must not be passed by. It has a poisonous seed, but the stem is eatenby many both as a salad and when cooked in a saucepan. This stem is smooth, andjointed like a reed, of a dark colour, often more than two cubits high, andbranchy at the top; the leaves resemble those of coriander, but are more tender,and of a strong smell; the seed is coarser than that of anise, the root hollowand of no use. The seed and leaves have a chilling quality, and it is this thatcauses death; the body begins to grow cold at the extremities. The remedy liesin using the warming nature of wine before the vital parts are reached; buttaken in wine hemlock is invariably fatal. A juice is extracted from the leavesand blossom, for the best time to do so is when the hemlock is in flower. Abetter juice is extracted from the crushed seed and thickened in the sun formaking into lozenges. It causes death by thickening the bloodthis is its otheroutstanding propertyand for this reason spots are to be seen on the bodies ofthose who have been killed in this way. This juice is used instead of water as asolvent for drugs. There is also made from it a poultice to cool the stomach.Its chief use however is as a local application round the eyes to check summerfluxes and to allay pains in them. It forms an ingredient of eye salves, and itchecks all catarrhs generally. The leaves also relieve every kind of swelling,pain or flux. Anaxilaus is responsible for the statement that if thebreasts are rubbed with hemlock from adult maidenhood onwards they will alwaysremain firm. What is certain is that an application of hemlock to the breasts ofwomen in childbed dries up their milk, and to rub it on the testicles at thetime of puberty acts as an antaphrodisiac. I should not like to give directionsabout remedies in which hemlock is recommended to be taken by the mouth. Themost powerful hemlock grows at Susa in Parthia; the next in Laconia, Crete andAsia; in Greece however the strongest is found around Megara, after which comesthat of Attica.

XCVI. An application of wild cremnos to the removes rheum, and with the addition of pearl barley reduces swellings.

XCVII. Molybdaena, that is plumbago, grows everywhere, even on cultivatedland; it has a leaf like that of lapathum and is thick and hairy. If the eye islicked occasionally with this plant when chewed, there is removed the species ofeye trouble called lead.

XCVIII. Capnos trunca, the popular name of which is chicken's feet,growing among ruins and on wall-banks, has very slender branches which are farapart, a purple flower and green leaves; its juice disperses films, and so it isan ingredient of eye salves.

XCIX. Similar both in name and in its properties, though a differentplant, is the bushy capnos, which is very delicate, and has the leaves ofcoriander, the colour of ashes, and a purple blossom. It grows in gardens andcrops of barley. Used as ointment for the eyes it improves the vision and, likesmoke, produces tears, and to this fact it owes its name. It alsoprevents eyelashes that have been pulled out from growing again.

C. Acoron has the leaves of the iris, only narrower and with a longerfoot-stalk; it has dark roots and less veined, though in other respectsthese too are like those of the iris, pungent to the taste, with a notunpleasant smell, and carminative. The best come from Daspetost [place unknown,possibly misread by Pliny] in Galatia., then come Cretan roots, but they arefound most abundantly in Colchis near the river Phasis and wherever there arewatery districts. Fresh roots have a stronger smell than stale, and the Cretanare paler than those of Pontus. They, like the iris, are dried in the shade inslices a finger in length. There are to be found those who give the name ofacoron to the root of oxymyrsine, and for this reason some prefer to call thisplant acorion. It has powerful properties as a calorific and discutient, isgood for cataract and dimness of the eyes, and its juice is taken internally forsnake bites.

CI. The cotyledon is a tiny plant on a tender little stem, with a verysmall fleshy leaf, which is concave like the hip joint. It grows inmaritime and rocky places, fresh green in colour, and with a root that is ovallike an olive. The juice is medicine for the eyes. There is another kind ofcotyledon with dirty-green leaves, which are broader and closer together thanthose of the other, spread round the root as though it were an eye; thetaste is very harsh, the stem longer than that of the other kind but veryslender. It is used for the same purposes as the iris.

CII. Of the aizoum there are two kinds, the larger of which is planted inearthen pots, and is sometimes calledbuphthalmos,zoophthalmos,tergethron(because it is useful for love-philtres),hypogeson (for it generally growsunder eaves), although some prefer to call it ambrosia oramerimon; Italianscall it great sedum, or eye, or little finger. The other kind is rather small,and is callederithales,trithales (because it flowers three times),erysithales,isoetes,sedum by Italians, and both are called aizoulm, becausethey are always green, or sempervivum. The greater aizoüm grows toeven more than a cubit in height and is thicker than a thumb. At the point theleaves are like a tongue, fleshy, rich with copious juice, as broad as a thumb,some bent to the ground and others upright, so that the circle of them is likean eye in shape. The smaller aizoum grows on walls, ruins, and roof-tiles; it isbushy from the root and leafy to the top, with narrow, pointed and juicy leaves,and a stem a span high. The root is not used.

CIII. Resembling this is a plant that the Greeks callwild andraehle, theItaliansinlecebra. It has very small leaves, but broader than those ofaizoum, and the head is shorter It grows in rocky districts and is gathered forfood. All these have the same properties; they are cooling and astringent.Fluxes of the eyes are cured by an application of the leaves or of the juiceused as ointment. For it cleanses sores of the eyes, replaces lost tissue andmakes them cicatrize; it unglues the eyelids when sticky. These plants also cureheadaches if the temples are smeared with the juice or leaves; they neutralizethe bite of venomous spiders; for aconite, however, an especially good antidoteis the greater aizotim. It is also said that those who have this plant on theirpersons are not stung by scorpions. They also cure earache, as does theapplication of a moderate amount of juice of henbane, or of achillea, of thesmaller centaury, of plantain, of peucedanum mixed with rose oil and poppyjuice, and of acoron juice with rose leaves. But all these juices are warmed andinjected with a strigil, cotyledon being good even for pus in the ears if warmeddeer's marrow is added, or the juice of crushed root of ebulum strained througha cloth, then thickened in the sun and, when needed, diluted with rose oil andwarmed. Vervain cures swollen parotid glands, as does the plantain, andsideritis with old axle-grease.

CIV. Polypus inthe nose is treated successfully by aristolochia with cyperus.

CV. For the teeth remedies are: chewed root of panaces, chewed root ofchironia especially, the juice too if the teeth be rinsed with it, the root ofhenbane chewed with vinegar, and that of polemonia. The plantain is chewed, orthe teeth are rinsed with the juice of the decoction in vinegar. To eat theleaves also is useful, even if the gums are purulent; or the seed of the sameplant heals abscesses and gatherings in the gums. Mistolochia too strengthensgums and teeth, as does vervain chewed with its root, or the juice of adecoction in wine or vinegar used as a mouth-wash, and also that of the root ofcinquefoil boiled down to one-third in wine or vinegar. Before it is boiled downit is washed in sea water or salt water, and the decoction should be kept in themouth for a long time. Some prefer to use the ash of cinquefoil as adentrifrice. The root of verbascum too is boiled down in wine to make amouth-wash for the teeth, for which purpose also hyssop is employed and thejuice of peucedanum with poppy juice; or the juice of auagallis roots, bypreference of the female plant, is poured into the nostril opposite to wherepain is felt.

CVI. Erigeron is called by us Romanssenecio. If a line is tracedround it with an iron tool before it is dug up, and if one touches a painfultooth with the plant three times, spitting after each touch, and replaces itinto its original ground so as to keep it alive, it is said that the tooth willnever cause pain thereafter. This plant has the appearance and softness of trixago, with small, reddish stems. It grows on tiled roofs and on walls. Itsname was given to it by the Greeks, because it is of a hoary colour in spring.Its head is divided by many pieces of down, like those of a thorn, that grow outfrom between the divisions, which is whyCallimachus gave it the name of acanthis, and others pappus. Apart fromthis, however, the Greeks are not in agreement about this plant. Some have saidthat it has the leaves of rocket, others of the oak but much smaller; some thatthe root is useless, others that it is good for the sinews, others that itchokes if taken in drink. On the other hand some have given it with wine forjaundice, and as a cure for all complaints of the bladder, heart, and liver.They have said that it brings away gravel from the kidneys. They prescribed forsciatica a drachma with oxynael after a walk, this dose being also veryuseful in raisin wine for colic; they recommended it also as a salad withvinegar for the internal organs a generally, and they planted it ingardens. There have been some who distinguished a second variety, but withoutpointing out its qualities, prescribing it to be taken in water for snake bite,and to be eaten by epileptics. I myself shall treat of it only in so far as theRomans have found out by experiment how to use it. Its down, with saffron and alittle cold water, is applied crushed to eye fluxes and, roasted with a grain ofsalt, to scrofulous sores.

CVII. Ephemeron has the leaves of a lily, but smaller, a stem of the samelength, a blue flower, a seed of no value, and a single root of the thickness ofa thumb, a sovereign remedy for the teeth if it is cut up into pieces invinegar, boiled down, and used warm as a month wash. And the root also by itselfarrests decay if forced into the hollow of a decayed tooth. Root of chelidoniais crushed in vinegar and kept in the mouth, dark hellebore is plugged intodecayed teeth, and loose teeth are strengthened by either of these boiled downin vinegar.

CVIII. A plant that grows in rivers they call the bath of Venus. In it isa worm which is rubbed round the teeth or plugged with wax into thehollow of a tooth. Care must be taken that the plant does not touch the groundafter being pulled up.

CIX. We callranunculus a plant which the Greeks callbatrachion. Thereare four kinds of it: one with fatter leaves than those of coriander andnearly as broad as those of mallows, of a leaden colour, with a tall, gracefulstem and a whitish root. It grows on moist and shaded cross-paths. The second ismore leafy, with more indentations in the leaves, and with taller stems. Thethird is the smallest, with a strong smell and a golden flower. The fourth islike it, but the flower is of the colour of milk. All have a caustic property;if leaves are applied raw, they raise blisters as does fire. Accordingly theyare used for leprous sores and itch, and to remove scars on the skin; they areingredients of all caustic preparations. They are applied to mange, but areremoved quickly. The root if chewed up for toothache too long breaks off theteeth, and the dried root chopped flue makes a snuff. Roman herbalists call itstrumus, because it cures scrofula and superficial abscesses, if a piece of itis hung up in the smoke. They believe that if it is replanted the maladies theyhave cured break out again, a similar criminal use being made of theplantain. Sores inside the mouth are cured by juice of plantain, and also by thechewed-up leaves and roots, even if the mouth is suffering from a flux; soresand bad breath are removed by cinquefoil, sores by psyllium.

CX. I shall also give some prescriptions for offensive breath, which is a very embarrassing complaint. For this purpose myrtle leaves are taken and an equal weight of leaves of lentisk with half the quantity of Syrian gall-nuts. This compound, when beaten up and sprinkled with old wine, may with benefit be chewed in the morning, or one may be made of ivy berries, cassia and myrrh, in equal quantities, added to wine. If the nostrils are the seat of the trouble, even though a cancer-like growth is present, dracontium seed beaten up with honey is very useful. Bruises disappear under applications of hyssop, and scars on the face are removed by rubbing with mandrake.

I. THE face of man has also been afflicted with new diseases, unknown inpast years not only to Italy but also to almost the whole of Europe, andeven then they did not spread all over Italy, or through Illyricum, the Gauls,and the Spains to any great extent, or in fact anywhere except in and aroundRome. Though they are painless and without danger to life, yet they are sodisfiguring that any kind of death would be preferable.

II. The most severe of these they called by a Greek name lichens;in Latin, because it generally began on the chin, it was calledmentagra,at first by way of a jokeso prone are many men to make a jest ofthe misfortunes of othersthe name passing presently into common use. Thedisease seized in many cases at least the whole of the face, with the eyes onlyunaffected, but passed down however also to the neck, chest and hands, coveringthe skin with a disfiguring, scaly eruption.

III. This plague was unknown to our fathers and forefathers. It firstmade its way into Italy in the middle of the principate of TiberiusClaudius Caesar, when a Roman knight ofPerusia, a quaestor's secretary, introduced the infection from Asia Minor, wherehe had taken up his duties. Women were not liable to the disease, or slaves andthe lower and middle classes, but the nobles were very much infected through themomentary contact of a kiss. The scar left on many who had been hardy enough toendure the treatment was more unsightly than the disease, for caustics were themethod employed, and the loathsome complaint broke out afresh unless the fleshwas burnt through right to the bones. There arrived from Egypt, the parent ofsuch diseases, physicians who devoted all their attention to this complaintonly, to their very great profit, since it is a fact thatManilius Cornutus, of praetorian rankand legate of the province of Aquitania, laid out two hundred thousand sestercesin getting himself treated for that disease. On the other hand, it has moreusually happened that new kinds of disease on their first appearance have beenepidemic. What can be found more marvellous than this, that some diseases shouldarise suddenly in a special part of the world, should attack special limbs ofhuman beings or special ages, or even people of a special position in life,(just as if a plague chose its victims), one children, another adults, onemaking the nobility especially liable, another the poor.

IV. It is noted in theAnnals that it was in the censorship of Lucius Paullus andQuintus Marcius that there appeared forthe first time in Italy the carbuncle, a disease peculiar to the province ofGallia Narbonensis. There died of it in the same year as I compose my worktwo men of consular rank,Julius RufusandLaecanius Bassus, the formerthrough the ignorance of his physicians, who tried lancing; the latter, however,through his own tearing out with a needle from his left thumb a splinter (boil)so small that it could scarcely be seen. The carbuncle forms in themost hidden parts of the body, and usually as a red hardness under the tongue,like a pimple but blackish at the top, occasionally of a leaden colour,spreading into the flesh but without swelling, pain, irritation, or any othersymptom than sleep, overcome by which the patient is carded off in three days.Sometimes also the disease, bringing shivering, small pustules around the sore,and more rarely fever, has reached the oesophagus and pharynx, causing deathvery quickly.

V. I have said that leprosy did not occur in Italy before the timeof Pompeius Magnus, and that though theplague usually begins on the face, a kind of freckle on the tip of the nose, yetpresently the skin dries up over all the body, covered with spotsof various colours, and uneven, in places thick, in others thin, in others hardas with rough itch-scab, finally however going black, and pressing the flesh onto the bones, while the toes and fingers swell up. This plague is native toEgypt. When kings were attacked, it was a deadly thing for the inhabitants,because the tubs in the baths used to be prepared with warm human blood for itstreatment. This disease indeed quickly died out in Italy, as also did thatcalled by the ancientsgemursa, which appeared between the toes, thevery name being now obsolete.

VI. This itself is a wonderful fact, that some diseases shoulddisappear from among us while others remain endemic, as for example colum. Itwas in the principate ofTiberius Caesarthat this malady made its way into Italy. Nobody suffered from it before theEmperor himself, and the citizens were greatly puzzled when they read in hisedict, in which he begged to be excused because of illness, a name they hadnever heard before. What are we to say that this means, what wrath of the gods?Were the recognised kinds of human disease, more than three hundred, too few,that they must be increased by new ones also to add to man's fears? No fewereither are the troubles which man brings upon himself by his own agency. Theseremedies that I record were those used by the ancients, Nature in a waymaking medicine herself, and their vogue was a long one. Certainly the works ofHippocrates, who was the first to puttogether, and that with great distinction, rules for medical practice, we findfull of references to herbs, equally so the works of Diocles of Carystus, who comes nextafterHippocrates in time andreputation, likewise those ofPraxagorasand Chrysippus, and then comesErasistratusof Ceos; whileHerophilus indeed,although the founder of an over-subtle sect, we know recommended before allothers this method of treatment. But little by little experience, themost efficient teacher of all things, and in particular of medicine,degenerated into words and mere talk. For it was more pleasant to sit in alecture-room engaged in listening, than to go out into the wilds and search forthe various plants at their proper season of the year.

VII. However, the ancient system of medicine remained unshaken, andclaimed as its own considerable remains of its once acknowledged sphere, until,in the time of Pompeius Magnus, oneAsclepiades, a professor of rhetoric,who found his gains in that profession too small, but had a brainbrilliant enough for success in other professions, suddenly abandoned rhetoricfor medicine. A man who neither had practised it nor knew anything ofremedies that call for sharp eyes and personal experience, but could attract byhis eloquent and daily-practised oratory, was forced to reject all simples, andreducing the whole of medicine to the discovery of causes, made it a matter ofguesswork. He recognised especially five principles of general application:fasting from food, in other cases abstinence from wine, massage, walking, andthe various kinds of carnage-rides. Since every man realised that he couldprovide these things for himself, and since all applauded him as if the easiestthings were also true, Asclepiadesbrought round to his view almost all the human race, just as if he had been sentas an apostle from heaven.

VIII. He used, moreover, to attract men's minds by the empty artifice ofpromising the sick, now wine, which he administered as opportunity occurred,while now he would prescribe cold water; and since Herophilus had anticipated him ininquiring into the causes of diseases, andCleophantus among the ancient physicians had brought to prominent noticethe treatment by wine, he preferred, according toMarcus Varro, to win for himself thesurname of 'cold-water giver.' He devised also other attractive methods oftreatment, such as suspended beds, so that by rocking them he could eitherrelieve diseases or induce sleep; again, he organized a system of hydropathy,which appeals to man's greedy love of baths, and many other things pleasant anddelightful to speak of, which won him a great professional reputation. His famewas no less great when, on meeting the funeral cortege of a man unknown to him,he had him removed from the pyre and saved his life. This incident I give lestany should think that it was on slight grounds that so violent a changes tookplace. One thing alone moves me to anger: that one man, of a very superficialrace, beginning with no resources, in order to increase his income suddenly gaveto the human race rules for health, which however have subsequently beengenerally discarded. The success of Asclepiades owed much to the manydistressing and crude features of ancient medical treatment; for instance, itwas the custom to bury patients under coverings, and to promote perspiration byevery possible means, now to roast the body before a fire, or continually tomake them seek sunshine in our rainy city, nay throughout rainy imperial Italy:then for the first time were used hot-air baths, heated from below, treatment ofinfinite attractiveness. Besides this he did away with the agonizing treatmentemployed in certain diseases; for example in quinsy, which physicians used totreat by thrusting an instrument into the throat. He rightly condemned emeticsalso, which were at that time employed unduly often. He disapproved also ofadministering draughts that are injurious to the stomach, a criticism which isto a great extent a sound one. That is why I always point out in the first placethose remedies that are beneficial to the stomach.

IX. Above all Asclepiades washelped by Magian deceits, which prevailed to such a degree that they were strongenough to destroy confidence in all herbal remedies. It was believed that by theplant aethiopis rivers and pools are dried up; that by the touch of onothurisall things shut are opened; that if achaemenis is thrown on the ranks of anenemy the lines turn their backs in panic; that latace was wont to be given bythe Persian king to his envoys, so that wherever they went they might enjoy anabundant supply of everything, with much similar nonsense. Where then were theseplants when the Cimbri and the Teutones raised their awful war yells, or whenLucullus with a few legions laid low somany kings of the Magi? Or why have Roman generals always made victualling afirst care in their wars? Why didCaesar'ssoldiers at Pharsalia feel hunger, if abundant plenty could have been given themby the happy property of a single plant? Would it not have been better forScipio Aemilianus to open the gates ofCarthage by a plant than to shake the defences for so many years withbattering-rams? Let the Pomptine marshes be drained today by the plant merois,and much land be recovered for Italy near Rome. But as for the medicalprescription found in the sameDemocritus,to ensure the begetting of beautiful, good and lucky children, did it ever givesuch offspring to any Persian king? It would certainly be wonderful that thecredulity of our forefathers, though it arose from most sound beginnings,reached the height it did, if in any matter man's wit knew moderation, and Iwere not about to show, in the appropriate place, that this very system ofmedicine invented byAsclepiades hassurpassed even Magian nonsense. It is without exception the nature of the humanmind that what begins with necessities is finally carried to excess. I shalltherefore go on to describe the omitted properties of the plants I dealt with inthe preceding book, adding any other plants that my judgment willsuggest.

X. But of lichen, which is so disfiguring a disease, I shall amass fromall sources a greater number of remedies, although not a few have been noticedalready. Remedies, then, are pounded plaintain, cinqnefoil, root of asphodel invinegar, shoots of the fig-tree boiled down in vinegar, and the root of hibiscuswith bee-glue and strong vinegar boiled down to one quarter. The affected partis also rubbed with pumice, as a preparation for the application of rumex rootpounded in vinegar, or of mistletoe scum kneaded with lime. A decoctiontoo of tithymallus with resin is highly recommended; the plant lichen howeveris considered a better remedy than all these, a fact which has given the plantits name. It grows among rocks, has one broad leaf near the root, and one smallstem with long leaves hanging down from it. This plant removes also marks ofscars; it is pounded with honey. There is another kind of lichen, entirelyclinging, as does moss, to rocks; this too is used by itself as a localapplication. It also stops bleeding if the juice is dropped into wounds, andapplied locally it is good for gatherings. With honey also it cures jaundice,if the mouth and tongue are smeared with it. Patients undergoing this treatmentare ordered to bathe in salt water, to be rubbed with almond oil, and to abstainfrom garden vegetables. To treat lichen is also used the root of thapsia poundedwith honey.

XI. For the treatment of quinsy argemonia is taken in wine, hyssopis boiled down with figs and used as a gargle, peucedanum is used with rennet ofthe seal in equal parts, and proserpinaca pounded with sprats-brine and oil, orelse held beneath the tongue. Cinquefoil juice also, in doses of three cyathi.This also used as gargle is good for all affections of the throat; verbascumtaken in water is specific for the tonsils.

XII. For scrofulous sores are prescribed plantain, the great celandinewith honey and axle-grease, cinquefoil, root of persollata also withaxle-greasethe application is covered with the plant's leavesartemisia alsoand the root of mandrake in water. Broad-leaved sideritis dug up with a nail inthe left hand is attached as an amulet, but the healed patients must guard it,lest herbalists wickedly plant it again, as I have said in certain places, andbring about a relapse, a danger against which I find those also arewarned who have been cured by artemisia, and those too cured by plantain.Damasonium, which is also calledalisma, is gathered at the solstice and appliedin rainwater to the sores, the leaf being crushed, or the root pounded, withaxle-grease, but the application must be covered with a leaf from the sameplant. The same method is used for all pains in the neck and for tumours in anypart of the body.

XIII. The daisy grows in meadows. It has a white flower, to acertain distance tinged with red. It is held that an application of it is moreefficacious if artemisia is added.

XIV. Condurdum too is a plant blooming at the summer solstice, having ared flower. Hung round the neck it is said to arrest scrofula; the same is saidof vervain with plantain. All complaints of the fingers and specificallywhitlows are successfully treated with cinquefoil.

XV. Of chest complaints quite the most distressing is cough. Remedies forit are: root of panaces taken in sweet wine, juice of henbane (even when thereis spitting of blood; the fumes too of bnrning henbane help the cough),scordotis also mixed with cress and dry resin pounded with honeyeven by itselfit makes expectoration easythe greater centaury too, even when there isspitting of blood, for which complaint the juice of the plantain also is aremedy, three oboli of betony in water for spitting of pus or blood, root ofpersollata in doses of one drachma with eleven pine seeds, juice of peucedanum.For pains in the chest acorum is a help, and for this reason it is a componentof antidotes, a help too for cough are daucum and the Scythian herb.The last is helpful for all chest complaints. For cough and spitting of pus, thedose being three oboli in the same amount of raisin wine, the golden-floweredverbascum is a good remedy. The potency of this plant is so great that beasts ofburden that are not only suffering from cough but also broken-winded, arerelieved by a draught, and the same I find is true of gentian. The root ofcaccalia, soaked in wine and chewed, is good not only for cough but also for thethroat. A decoction of five sprays of hyssop, two of rue, and three figs, clearsthe chest and soothes the cough.

XVI. Bechion is also calledtussilago. There are two kinds of it.Wherever the wild kind grows it is believed that springs run under the surface,and the plant is considered a sign by the water-finders. The leaves are ratherlarger than those of ivy, numbering five or seven, whitish underneath and paleon the upper side. There is no stem, or flower, or seed, and the root isslender. Some think it is the same asareion, andchamaeleuce under anothername. The smoke of this plant, dried with the root and burnt, is said to cure,if inhaled deeply through a reed, an inveterate cough, but the patient must takea sip of raisin wine at each inhalation.

XVII. The second kind is called by somesalvia, being like verbascum. Finely ground, strained and warmed, it is taken indrink for a cough and pains in the side; this prescription is also a remedy forscorpion stings and the poison of the sea dragon. An embrocation also of theplant and oil is good for snakebites. For cough, pains in the side and in thechest, a decoction is made of a bunch of hyssop and a quarter of a pound ofhoney, and verbascum with rue is taken in water, or powdered betony in hotwater.

XVIII. The stomach is strengthened by the juice of scordotis, bycentaury, by gentian taken in water, by plantain, either taken by itselfin food or mixed with lentils or alica gruel. Although betony ingeneral lies heavy on the stomach, yet taken in drink, or if the leaves arechewed, it cures its troubles; aristolochia also may be taken in drink or dryagaric chewed, neat wine being drunk after a while, and nymphaea heraclia orjuice of pencedanum may be applied locally. Psyllion is applied toinflammations, or pounded cotyledon with pearl-barley, or aizoüm.

XIX. Molon has a striated stalk, soft small leaves, and a root fourfingers long, at the end of which is a head like that of garlic. Some give itthe name ofsyron. In wine it cures stomach troubles and difficulty ofbreathing, as do the greater centaury in an electuary, plantain, its juice or asfood, pounded betony, in the proportion of one pound to half an ounce of Attichoney and taken daily in hot water, and aristolochia or agaric in doses of threeoboli taken in hot water or ass's milk. Cissanthemus is given in drink afor orthopnoea, for that and for asthma hyssop, while for pains in the liver,chest, and side, if there is no fever, the juice of peucedanum. For spitting ofblood also agaric is of help; a vietoriatus by weight is pounded and given infive cyathi of honey wine. For this complaint amomum is equally good. For livercomplaints fresh teucria is specific, taken in the proportion of four drachmaeto one hemina of vinegar and water, or betony, one drachma to three cyathi ofhot water: the same amount of betony, in two cvathi of cold water, is given forheart affections. The juice of cinquefoil is a remedy for affections of theliver and lungs, for spitting of blood, and for all internal blood impurities.Both kinds of anagallis are wonderfully good for liver complaints. Those whohave eaten the plant called capnos (smoke) pass bile in their urine. Acoron is acure for liver diseases, and daucum for those of the chest and hypochondria.

XX. Ephedra, called by some anabasis, grows generally inwind-swept regions, climbs trees and hangs down from their branches. It has noleaves, but numerous rush-like, jointed tufts, and a pale root. For cough,asthma and colic it is given pounded in a dark-red, dry wine; and it may be madeinto a gruel, to which wine should be added. Another remedy is gentian,thoroughly pounded after being steeped the day before, the dose being a denariusby weight in three cyathi of wine.

XXI. Geum has little roots, slender, blackish and with a pleasantsmell. It not only is a cure for pains in the chest or side, but also dispelsindigestion, having besides a pleasant taste. Vervain however is a cure fortroubles of all the internal organssides, lungs, liver and chest. Butespecially good for the lungs, and for those attacked by pulmonary tuberculosis,is the root of the plant consiligo, which I have said was but recentlydiscovered. It is a sovereign remedy indeed for lung trouble in pigs and in allcattle, even though it is merely placed across the ear-lap. It ought to be drunkin water and held continuously in the mouth under the tongue. Whether the partof this plant above ground is of any use is not yet agreed. The kidneys arebenefited by plantain taken as food, by betony taken in drink, and by agarictaken in drink as is prescribed for cough.

XXII. Tripolion is found on coastal rocks washed by the waves, butneither in the sea nor on dry ground; the leaf is that of isatis only thicker,the stem a span high and divided at the end, and the root white, thick, with astrong smell and a hot taste. Cooked in emmer wheat it is prescribed forpatients with liver complaint. This plant is thought by some to be the same aspolium, about which I have spoken in its proper place.

XXIII. Gromphaena, which has its leaves alternately green and rose-colouralong the stem, taken. in vinegar and water cures spitting of blood;

XXIV. and the plant malundrum cures troubles of the liver; itgrows among the corn and in meadows, with a strong scent and a white flower. Itsyoung shoot a is beaten up in old wine.

XXV. The plant calcetum likewise is crushed with grape-skins and appliedlocally. Betony root acts as a gentle emetic, administered as is hellebore, thedose being four drachmae taken in raisin wine or in honey wine. The same is trueof hyssop beaten up with honey, the result being better if cress or irio istaken first. Another cure is molemouium in doses of one denarius by weight. Themilky juice of sillybum also, which thickens into a gum, is taken with honey,the dose being as above, and is excellent for carrying off bile. On the otherhand, vomiting is arrested by wild cummin, or by powdered betony, both taken inwater. Distaste for food is banished and indigestion dispelled by daucum, bypowdered betony in hydromel, and by plantain boiled down as are greens.Hemionion relieves hiccoughs, as also does aristolochia, and clymenus relievesasthma. For pleurisy and pneumonia the greater centaury, and likewise hyssop,are taken in drink, and for pleurisy is taken juice of peucedanum.

XXVI. Halus also, which the Gauls callsil and the Veneticotonea, curespain in the side, as well as kidney troubles, sprains and ruptures. It is likeox-eunila, and the tops are like those of thyme. It is sweet and allays thirst.Its roots are in some districts light, in others dark.

XXVII. The same good effect on pain in the sides is given by chamaerops,taken in wine, a plant with myrtle-like leaves around its twin stems, and withheads like those of a Greek rose. Agaric, taken in drink as for cough, relievessciatica and pains in the spine, as does powdered stoechas or betony, taken inhydromel.

XXVIII. The greatest part however of man's trouble is caused by thebelly, the gratification of which is the life's work of the majority of mankind.For at one time it does not allow food to pass, at another it will not retainit, at another it does not take it, at another it does not digest it; and so much have our customs degenerated that it is chiefly through his food that a mandies. This, the most troublesome organ in the body, presses as does a creditor,making its demands several times a day. It is for the belly's sake especiallythat avarice is so acquisitive; for its sake luxury uses spices, voyages aremade to the Phasis, and the bottom of the ocean is explored. Nobody, again, isled to consider how base an organ it is by the foulness of its completed work.Therefore the tasks of medicine concerned with the belly are very numerous.Looseness of the bowels is checked by a drachma dose of fresh scordotis beatenup with wine, or by the same quantity taken in a decoction, by polemonia inwine, which is also given for dysentery, by root of verbascum in doses of twofingers' size taken in water, the seed of nymphaea heraclia taken with wine, theupper root of xiphium, the dose being a drachma by weight, taken in vinegar, theseed of plantain beaten up in wine, plantain itself boiled in vinegar, or groatstaken in plantain juice, also the plant boiled with lentils, or the plant dried,powdered and sprinkled in drink with parched and pounded poppies, juice ofplantain injected or drunk, or betony in wine made warm with hot iron. Betony isalso administered in a dry wine for coeliac affections, for which hiberis alsois applied locally in the way I have described. For tenesmus the root ofnymphaea heraclia is taken in wine, psyllium in water, or a decoction of root ofacoron. The juice of aizoüm checks looseness of the bowels and dysentery, andexpels round worms. Root of symphytum taken in wine checks looseness of thebowels and dysentery, as does the root of daucum. Leaves of aizoüm thoroughlybeaten up in wine arrest griping pains, as does dried alcima powdered and takenwith wine.

XXIX. Astragalus has long leaves with many slanting incisions, around theroot three or four stems covered with leaves, blossom like that of thebyacinthus, and roots that are hairy, matted, red and very hard. It grows onstony ground that is exposed to sunshine and also to falls of snow, like theground around Pheneus in Arcadia. Its property is to brace the body. Its root,taken in wine, checks looseness of the bowels, a result of which is that it isdiuretic by forcing back their fluid, as most things do that check looseness. Itcures dysentery also when ground in light-red wine, but it is ground only withdifficulty. Fomentation with the same plant is very good for gum-boils. It isgathered at the end of autumn, when it has lost its leaves, and is dried in theshade.

XXX. Looseness of the bowels is also checked by both kindsof ladanum; the one that grows in cornfields must be first crushed andpassed through a sieve. It is taken in hydromel, or in wine of a good vintage.The name of lcdon is given to a plant from which in Cyprus is made the ladannmthat clings to the beards of goats; a finer sort is prepared in Arabia. Today akind is also found in Syria and in Africa, called toxicum. For they surroundwith pieces of wool strings fastened across a bow, and drag it over the plant; tothis wool adhere the dew-like tufts of ladanum. I have said more about the plantin my section on unguents. This ladanum has a very strong smell and is very hardto the touch. In fact a great deal of earth sticks to it, while the most valuedkind is clean, scented, soft, green and resinous. Its nature is to soften, todry, to mature abscesses, and to induce sleep. It prevents the hair from fallingoff, and preserves its dark colour. It is poured into the ears with hydromel orrose-oil. With the addition of salt it cures scurf on the skin and runningsores, and chronic cough when taken with stdrax; it is also a very effectivecarminative.

XXXI. Looseness of the bowels is checked too by chondris, also calledpseudodictamnum. Hypocisthis, called by some orobothron, which is like anunripe pomegranate, grows as I have said under the cisthus, and from this factderives its name. Either kind of hypocisthis (there are two; the white and thered), dried in the shade and taken in dark-red, dry wine, checks looseness ofthe bowels. The part used is the juice, which braces and dries, and it is thered kind that arrests better stomach catarrhs, spitting of blood when threeoboli are taken with starch in drink, and dysentery when taken in drink orinjected; similarly vervain given in water, or in Aminnean wine if there is nofever, the dose being five spoonfuls added to three cyathi of wine.

XXXII. Layer also, which grows in streams, when preserved and boiledcures gripings,

XXXIII. potamogiton, however, taken in wine, cures dysentery as well andcoeliac affections. The latter is a plant with leaves like those of beet, onlyit is a smaller and more hairy plant, never rising more than a little above thesurface of the water. Only the leaves are used. which have a cooling and bracingquality, being especially useful for bad legs, and, with honey or vinegar, forcorroding ulcers. The plant known toCastorunder this name was different; it had slender leaves like horsehair, a long,smooth stem, and grew in marshy districts. With its rootCastor used to cure scrofulous sores andindurations. The crocodile has an antipathy a to potamogiton, so that crocodilehunters carry some of it on their persons. Achillea too checks looseness of thebowels. Statice also has the same properties, a plant that bears seven heads,like the heads of a rose, upon seven stems.

XXXIV. Ceratia, a plant with one leaf, and a large, knotted root, takenin food cures sufferers from coeliac disease and dysentery. Leontopodium, calledby some leuceoron, by others dorypetron, by others thorybethron, is a plant theroot of which, in doses of two denarii by weight added to hydromel, checkslooseness of the bowels and carries off bile. It grows on flat land with a thinsoil. Its seed, taken in drink, is said to cause nightmares. Lagopustaken in wine, or in water if there is fever, checks looseness of the bowels. Itis also attached to the groin when there is swelling there. It grows incornfields. Many recommend above all else for desperate cases of dysentery dosesof a decoction in milk of the roots of cinquefoil, or aristolochia, avictoriatus by weight in three cyathi of wine. When the prescriptions mentionedabove are to be taken warm, it will be found best to heat them with red-hotiron. On the other hand a drachma of the juice of the lesser centaury taken in ahemina of water with a little salt and vinegar purges the bowels and carries offbile; the greater centaury dispels griping pains. Betony acts as an aperient,four drachmae being added to nine cyathi of hydromel; so also euphorbeum oragaric, in doses of two drachmae with a little salt, taken in water or in threeoboli of honey wine. Cyclamen too is an aperient, either taken in water or usedas a suppository; the same in its action is a suppository of chamaecissos. Ahandful of hyssop, boiled down to one third with salt, or pounded in oxymel andsalt, both carries off phlegm and expels worms from the intestines. Root ofpeucedanum carries off both phlegm and bile.

XXXV. Both kinds of anagallis, taken in hydromel, are purgative, as isalso epithymum, which is the blossom of the thyme like satureia. The onlydifference is that this has a grass-green flower, the other thyme a white one.Some call ithippopheos. Less beneficial to the stomach, it causes vomitings,but dispels colic and flatulence. As an electuary it is also taken with honey,and sometimes with iris, for chest troubles. From four to six drachmaewith honey and a little salt and vinegar move the bowels. Others give adifferent account of epithymum: that it grows without a root, has a small headlike a little hood, is red in colour and is dried in the shade, and a dose ofhalf an acetabulnm, taken in water, carries off phlegm and bile, acting as agentle aperient.

XXXVI. Nymphaea too in a dry wine loosensthe bowels, as also does pycnocomon, which has leaves like rocket, but thickerand more acrid, a round root of a yellow colour and an earthy smell, aquadrangular stem, of moderate length and slender, and the blossom of basil. Itis found on stony ground. Its root, taken in hydromel in doses of two denarii byweight, thoroughly purges the bowels of bile and phlegm. A drachma of the seed,taken in wine, causes wild dreams. Capnos trunca also carries away bile.

XXXVII. Of polypodium, a plant called by Romans filicula, being like afern (filix), the root is medicinal, hairy, grass-green inside, asthick as the little finger, with indented edges so as to look like a polypus'sarms, of a sweetish taste, and to be found in stony soils or under old trees.The juice is extracted from the root soaked in water, and chopped up fine theroot itself is sprinkled on cabbage, beet, mallows and pickled fish, or elseboiled with gruel to make a gentle aperient usable even in fever. It brings awaybile and phlegm, although injurious to the stomach. Dried and reduced to powderit eats away polypus if pushed up the nostrils. There is no flower and no seed.

XXXVIII. It is by relaxing the stomach that a scamonium toobrings away bile and loosens the bowels, unless indeed to two oboli of it areadded two drachmae of aloes. This is the juice of a plant with many branches atthe root, fleshy, three-cornered, pale leaves, and a thick, wet, nauseatingroot. It grows in rich, pale soil. Near the rising of the Dog-star a hollow ismade in this root, so that the juice may collect in it automatically; this isdried in the sun and worked into lozenges. The root itself or the skin is alsodried. The kind most approved grows in the regions of Colophon, Mysia andPriene. This is shiny, as like as possible to bull glue, spongy with very finecracks, quickly melting, with a poisonous smell, gummy, becoming like milk at atouch of the tongue, extremely light, and turning white when dissolved. Thishappens too with bastard scamonmm, which is made, generally in Judea, withflour of bitter vetch and juice of sea spurge, and even chokes those who takeit. The bastard kind is detected by the taste, for the genuine burns the tongue.It is to be used when two years old, being of no use either before or after. Ithas been prescribed by itself in water or in hydromel and salt, the dose beingfour oboli, but most effectively with aloes, though honey wine must be taken assoon as purging begins. The root too is boiled down in vinegar to theconsistency of honey, the decoction being applied to leprous sores, and with oilit is used as an ointment for the head when there is headache.

XXXIX. Tithymallus is called 'milky plant' by us Romans, sometimes 'goatlettuce.' It is said that, if letters are traced on the body with its milk andthen allowed to dry, on being sprinkled with ash the letters become visible. Andit is by this means, rather than by a letter, that some lovers have preferred toaddress unfaithful wives. The kinds of it are many, the first being surnamedcharacias, which is also considered the male plant. five or six branches, acubit long, as thick as a finger, red and juicy; the leaves at the root are verylike those of the olive, and on the top of the stem is a head a like that of therush. It grows on rough ground near the sea. The seed is gathered in autumntogether with the head; after being left to get dry in the sun it is pounded andstored away; as to the juice, as soon as down begins to form on fruit, twigsare broken off, and juice therefrom is caught on meal of bitter vetch or on figsand left to get dry with them. Five drops are enough to be caught on each fig,and it is reported that a dropsical patient on taking a fig has as many motionsas the fig has caught drops of juice. When the juice is being collected caremust be taken that it does not touch the eyes. A juice is alsoextracted from pounded leaves, but one less efficacious than the former. Adecoction too is made from the branches. The seed is also used, boiled down withhoney, to make purgative pills. The seed is also inserted with wax into hollowteeth. A decoction too of the root in wine or oil is used as a monthwash. Thejuice is applied locally for lichen; it is taken internally as a purge, beingboth an emetic and an aperient; apart from this it is bad for the stomach. Takenin drink with the addition of salt it brings away phlegm, but to bringaway bile saltpetre must be added; if it is desired that the purging shall be bystool, the drink should be vinegar and water; if by vomiting, raisin wine orhydromel. A moderate draught is made up with three oboli. It is better taken ona fig, and after food. The juice burns the throat slightly; for it is of soheating a nature that, applied externally by itself to the body, it raisesblisters as fire does, and so it is sometimes used as a cautery.

XL. The second kind of tithymallus is called myrtites by some, andcaryites by others, having leaves like those of the myrtle, pointed and prickly,but larger, and growing like the first kind in rough ground. Its heads aregathered when the barley is beginning to swell, dried in the shade for nine daysand thoroughly dried in the sun. The fruit does not ripen all together, but apart in the following year. It is called the nut, and for this reason the Greekshave surnamed this tithymallus earyites. It is gathered when the harvest isready, washed, and then dried. It is given with twice the amount of black poppy,the dose being one acetabulum altogether. It is a less violent emeticthan the preceding, as are also the others. Some have given the leaf also in asimilar dose, the nut however by itself in honey wine or raisin wine, or withsesame. It carries off phlegm and bile by stool. Sores in the mouth it cures,but for corroding ulcers in the mouth the leaf is eaten with honey.

XLI. The third kind of tithymallus is called paralius or tithvmallis. Ithas a round leaf, a stem a span high, reddish branches, and a white seed, whichis gathered when the grape begins to form, and after being dried and pounded istaken in doses of one acetabulum as a purgative.

XLII. The fourth kind of tithymallus is called helioscopios. It has theleaves of purslane, and four or five small branches standing out from the root,which are reddish, half a foot high and full of juice. This kind grows aroundtowns, and has a white seed of which pigeons are very fond. The namehelioscopios has been given to this plant because it moves its heads round tofollow the sun. Bile it carries away by urine or stool when taken in doses ofhalf an acetabulum in oxymel. Its other uses are the same as those of characias.

XLIII. The fifth kind is calledcyparittias, because its leaves are likethose of cypress. It has a double or triple stem, and grows in fiat country. Itsproperties are the same as those of helioscopios or characias.

XLIV. The sixth kind is called by some platyphyllos, by otherscorymbites, and by others amygdalites from its likeness to the almond tree. Itsleaves are broader than those of any other. It kills fish. Root, leaves or juiceare purgative if a dose of four drachmae is taken in honey wine or hydromel. Itis specific for carrying away morbid fluids.

XLV. The seventh kind is surnameddendroides, and is called by somecohios, and by others leptophyllos. It growsamong rocks, and is the most thickly headed of all the kinds. It has very large,reddish stems, and an abundance of seed. The properties are the same as those ofcharacias.

XLVI. Apios ischas or raphanos agria spreads out on the ground two orthree rush-like stalks of a reddish colour with leaves like those of rue. Theroot is like that of an onion, but bigger, and this is the reason why some callit the wild radish. Inside it has a white pap, outside, dark skins. It grows inrough, hilly spots, sometimes also in grass land. Dug up in spring, it ispounded and immersed in an earthen vessel. After throwing away what floats onthe surface they use the juice that remains as a purge and emetic, the dosebeing an obolus and a half in hydromel. Prepared after this fashion a dose of anacetabulum is also given for dropsy. The dried root powdered is also sprinkledin a draught. They say that the upper part of it brings away the hues byvomiting, the lower part by stool.

XLVII. Colic is cured by any kind of panaces, by betony, except when thecause is indigestion, by the juice of peucedanum, which also, being carminative,dispels flatulence, by the root of acoron, or by daucum, if it is taken as asalad like lettuce. Cyprian ladanum, taken in drink, is good for intestinalcomplaints, as also is powdered gentian, of the size of a bean, taken in warmwater, or plantain taken in the morning, the dose being two spoonfuls with oneof poppy in four cyathi of wine which is not old. It is also given before goingto sleep with the addition of soda or pearl barley, provided that it is longafter the last meal. For colitis a hemina of the juice is injected, even whenfever is present.

XLVIII. Agaric taken in drink, the dose being three oboli in one cyathusof old wine, is good for disorders of the spleen, as is the root in honeywine of all kinds of panaces, but best of all is teneria, dried and taken indrink by boiling down to one hemina a handful of it with three heminae ofvinegar. In vinegar it is also used as a liniment, or, if that cannot be borne,in figs or water. Polemonia is taken in wine, or a drachma of betony in threecyathi of oxymel, or aristolochia as used for snake bite. Argemonia, taken infood on seven consecutive days, is said to reduce the spleen, and so are twooboli of agaric in oxymel. It is reduced also by the root of nymphaea heracliataken in wine or by itself. Cissanthemus, if a drachma is taken twice daily intwo cyathi of white wine for forty days, is said to carry off the spleengradually in the urine. Useful too is a decoction of hyssop with fig, or of theroot of lonchitis before it sheds its seed, while a decoction of root ofpeucedannm is good for both spleen and kidneys. The spleen is reduced by thejuice of acoron taken by the mouththe roots are very useful for trouble of thehypochondria and groinby the seed of clymenus taken in drink for thirty days,the dose being a denarius by weight in white wine, by powdered betony taken inhoney and squill vinegar, and by root of lonchitis in water. Teucrium is used asliniment, likewise scordium with wax, or agaric with powdered fenugreek.

XLIX. For diseases of the bladder and for the cure of stone, whichcauses as we have said the most severe torture, help is obtained from polemoniataken in wine, from agaric, from leaves or root of plantain taken inraisin wine, from betony as we prescribed it for the liver; this last,taken in drink and used as liniment, is good for hernia and wonderfullyeffective for strangury. Some recommend betony, vervain and millefolium, inequal parts and taken in water, as a sovereign remedy for stone. It is certainthat strangury is cured by dittany also, and by cinquefoil boiled down to onethird in wine. The latter preparation is very useful to be taken, and to beused locally as a liniment, by sufferers from intestinal hernia. The upper partof the root of xiphilum also is diuretic; it is given in water and appliedlocally as liniment for intestinal hernia in infants. For bladder troubles thejuice of peucedanum is applied locally, and psyllion is so applied for herniaand umbilical rupture in infants. The two kinds of anagallis are diuretic, as isa decoction of root of acoron, or the root by itself pounded and taken in drink;these are good for all troubles of the bladder, for stone both cotyledon and itsroot, and also, for all inflammations of the genitals, equal parts by weight ofthe stem, of the seed, and of myrrh. Ebulum ground with its tender leaves andtaken in wine expels stone, and applied locally cures complaints of thetesticles. Erigeron too with powdered frankincense and sweet wine curesinflammation of the testicles. Root of symphytum used as liniment reducesintestinal hernia, and white hypocisthis is good for corroding ulcers of thegenitals. Artemisia too in sweet wine is given for stone and for strangury; rootof nymphaea heraclia in wine relieves pains of the bladder.

L. The same property is to be found in crethmos, a plant very highly praised byHippocrates. It is also one of the wild plants that are eatenat any rateinCallimachus the peasant Hecale puts it on the tableand aspecies of garden elate. It has one stem a span high, and a hot seed, scentedlike that of libanotis, and round. When dried it bursts, and has inside a whitekernel, which some call cachrys. The leaves are fleshy, and whitish like thoseof the olive only thicker, and salt to the taste; there are three or four roots,of the thickness of a finger. It grows in rocky places by the sea. It is eaten,raw or boiled, with cabbage, and has a pleasant, aromatic taste; it is alsopreserved in brine. It is especially useful for strangury, the leaves, stem, orroot being taken in wine. The complexion also of the skin is improved by it, buttoo large a dose causes flatulence. A decoction relaxes the bowels, brings awayurine and humours from the kidneys, as does the powder of dried alcima taken inwine, and relieves strangury, more efficaciously however if daucum is added. Itis also good for the spleen, and is taken in drink for snake bites. Phlegm orstrangury in draught animals also is relieved if crethsnos is sprinkled overtheir barley.

LI. Anthyllion is very like the lentil, and taken in wine curesbladder troubles and arrests bleeding. A second plant, anthyllis, is likechamaepitys, and has a purple flower, a heavy scent, and a root like that ofendive. It is even better treatment taken in oxymel for epilepsy.

LII. Cepaea is like purslane, but has a darker root, which is of novalue. It grows on sandy shores, and has a bitter taste. Taken in wine with rootof asparagus it is very good indeed for the bladder.

LIII. The same properties are to be found in hypericonsome callitchamaepitys, othersconssumwhich has the stem of a garden vegetable, thin,reddish, and a cubit high. The leaves are like those of rue and have a pungentsmell. The seed, which is black, is in a pod, and it ripens at the same time asbarley. This seed is of a bracing quality, checks diarrhoea and promotes urine;it is taken with wine for bladder troubles.

LIV. There is another hypericon, called by somecaro, having a leaf likethat of the tamariskit grows underneath itbut more fleshy and less red. It isscented, more than a span high, with a sweet and rather pungent taste. The seedis of a heating nature and therefore causes inflammation, but it is notinjurious to the stomach; it is particularly good for strangury, if the bladderis not ulcerated. Taken in wine it is also good for pleurisy,

LV. as moreover is callithrix for the bladder if beaten up with eumminand administered in white wine. Vervain too if boiled down with the leaves toone third, or its root in warm honey wine, expels stone from the bladder, asdoes also perpressa, which grows near Arretium and in Illyricum; it is taken indrink, boiled down in water from three heminae to one. Trefoil, taken in wine,and chrysanthemum, have the same effect. Stone is expelled also by anthemis,which has five small leaves growing from the root, two long stems and arose-coloured flower. The roots pounded by themselves a layer, raw.

LVI. Silaus grows in running streams with gravelly bottoms; acubit high it resembles celery. It is boiled as is an acid vegetable, and isvery good for the bladder, which if it suffers from is cured by the root ofpanaces, a plant otherwise injurious to the bladder. Stone is expelled by thewild apple, a pound of the root being boiled down to one half in a congius ofwinea hemina of it is taken daily for three days, the rest is taken in winebysea-nettle, by daucum, and by the seed of plantain in wine.

LVII. The plant of Fulvins, beaten up with wine, is another remedy forstone. It is one of the plants named after the discoverer, and is well known tobotanists.

LVIII. Scordion is diuretic; hyoscyamusreduces swollen testicles; the genitals are effectively treated by juice ofpencedannm, and by its seed in honey; strangury by three-oboli doses of agaricin one cyathus of old wine, by two-drachmae doses of root of trefoil in wine,and by one-drachma doses of daucum or of its seed. Sciatica is cured by poundedseed and leaves of erythrodanus, by panaces taken in drink and rubbed on theaffected part, by polemonia, and by a decoction of the leaves of aristolochia.Agaric indeed cures both the tendon called 'broad' and pain in the shoulders,the dose being three oboli taken in one cyathus of old wine. For sciaticacinquefoil is both taken in drink and applied, as is also a decoction ofscammony with barley meal added. The seed of either kind of hypericum is takenin wine. Affections and chafings of the seat are cured very quickly by plantain,condylomata by cinquefoil; if however these have already become callous, byeyclamen root in vinegar. The blue anagallis pushes back prolapsus of the anus;the red anagallis on the contrary makes it worse. Cotyledon is wonderfully goodtreatment for condylomata and for piles; so is, for swollen testicles, theapplication of root of acoron, pounded and boiled down in wine.Cato says that those carrying on theirpersons Pontic wormwood never suffer from chafing between the thighs. Otherauthorities add pennyroyal to the list of remedies; this, gathered by a fastingman and tied behind him, prevents pains in the groin or relieves those whichhave begun already.

LIX. Inguinalis ('groin-wort'), called by some argemonion,a plant growing anywhere in briar patches, needs only to be held in the hand tobe of benefit.

LX. Superficial abscess is cured by panaces in honey, plantain with salt,cinquefoil, root of persollata administered as for scrofula; also by damasoniumand by verbascum, pounded with its root, sprinkled with wine, wrapped round withits leaves, and heated, thus prepared, on embers, so that it may be applied hot.Those with experience have assured us that it makes all the difference if, whilethe patient is fasting, the poultice is laid upon him by a maiden, herselffasting and naked, who must touch him with the back of her hand and say: 'Apollotells us that a plague cannot grow more fiery in a patient if a naked maidenquench the fire;' and with her hand so reversed she must repeat the formulathree times, and both must spit on the ground three times. Other cures aremandrake root in water, a decoction of scammony root with honey, sideritiscrushed with stale grease, marruvinm with stale axle-grease, orehrysippiosanother plant named after its discovererwith plump figs.

LXI. Nymphaea heraelia, as I have said, takes away altogethersexual desire; a single draught of it does so for forty days; sexualdreams too are prevented if it is taken in drink on an empty stomach and eatenwith food. Applied to the genitals the root also cheeks not only desire but alsoexcessive accumulation of semen. For this reason it is said to make flesh and toimprove the voice. Sexual desire is excited by the upper part of xiphium rootgiven in wine as a draught; also by the plant callederemuos agrios and byormenos agrios crushed with pearl barley.

LXII. But very high on the list of wonders is the plant orchis, orserapias, which has the leaves of leek, a stem a span high, and a purple flower.The root has two tubers, like testicles, so that the larger, or, as someput it, the thinner, taken in water excites desire; the smaller, or softer,taken in goat's milk checks it. Some say that this orchis has leaves like thoseof the squill, only smoother and smaller, and a prickly stem. The roots curesores in the mouth and phlegm on the chest; taken in wine they are constipating.Satyrion is a sexual stimulant. There are two kinds of it: one withlonger leaves thap those of the olive, a stem four fingers high, purple blossom,and a double root shaped like human testicles, which swells and subsides againin alternate years. The other kind has the further name ofsatyrios orehis, andis thought to be female. It is distinguished from the former kind bythe spaces between the joints, by its more branchy, bushy shape, also by itsroot's being like a phallus. The plant is generally found near thesea.

This latter kind, if applied with pearl barley orby itself after being pounded, relieves swellings and affections of the privyparts. The root of the former kind, taken in the milk of a farmyard sheep,causes erections; taken in water, however, it makes them subside.

LXIII. The Greeks speak of a satyrion that has leaves like those of thelily, but red, smaller, and springing from the ground not more than three innumber, a smooth, bare stem a cubit high, and a double root, the lower, andlarger, part favouring the conception of males, the upper, and smaller, theconception of females. Yet another kind of satyrion they callerythraicon,saying that its seed is like that of the vitex, but larger, smooth and hard;that the root is covered with a red rind, and contains a a white substance witha sweetish taste, and that the plant is generally found in hilly country. Theytell us that sexual desire is aroused if the root is merely held in the hand, astronger passion, however, if it is taken in a dry wine, that rams also andhe-goats are given it in drink when they are too sluggish, and that it is givento stallions from Sarmatia when they are too fatigued in copulationbecause of prolonged labour; this condition is calledprosedamum. The effects ofthe plant can be neutralized by doses of hydromel or lettuce. The Greeks indeedalways, when they wish to indicate this aphrodisiac nature of a plant, use thenamesatyrion, so applying it to crataegis, thelygonon, and arrenogonon, theseeds of which resemble testicles. Again, those carrying on their persons thepith of tithymallus branches are said to become thereby more excited sexually.The remarks on this subject made byTheophrastus generally a weighty authority, are fabulous. He says thatthe lust to have intercourse seventy times in succession has been given by thetouch of a certain plant whose name and kind he has not mentioned.

LXIV. Tied to the part as an amulet sideritis reduces varicose veins anddoes its work without pain. Gout was a rarer disease within the memory, not onlyof our fathers and grandfathers, but also of our own generation. It is alsoitself a foreign complaint; had it existed in Italy in early times it would havereceived a Latin name. It must not be considered incurable, for many cases havebeen cured without treatment, and yet more with it. Useful remedies are roots ofpanaces with raisins, juice of henbane with meal, or the seed of henbane,scordion in vinegar, hiberis as already prescribed vervain beaten up withaxle-grease, and the root of cyclamen, a decoction of which is also good forchilblains. Cooling applications for gouty pains are made from xiphion root,psyllion seed, hemlock with litharge or axle-grease, and aizotim for the firstonset of red, that is hot, gout. Good for either kind however is erigeron withaxle-grease, plantain leaves beaten up with a little salt added, and argemoniapounded with honey. Vervain too may be applied as a remedyor the feet may be soaked in the water in which it has been boiled

LXV. or the lappago that is like anagallis, but more branchy and leafy,and with a strong smell. This kind of plant is called mollugo; like it, but withrougher leaves, is asperugo. The juice of the former a is taken daily,the dose being one denarius by weight in two cyathi of wine.

LXVI. The sovereign remedy, however, for this complaint is phycos thelassion, or seaweed, which is like lettuce, and is used as a ground-colourfor the purple of the murex; it is sovereign, not for gout only, but for alldiseases of the joints, if applied before it becomes dry. There are moreoverthree kinds of it: one is broad, the second is rather long and inclining to red,and the third, which has curly leaves, is used in Crete to dye cloth. They haveall the same medicinal uses. Nicandergave these too in wine for snakebite. A further remedy is the seed, soaked in water, of the plant I have calledpsyllion: one hemina of such seed iscompounded with two spoonfuls of Colophonian resin and one spoonful offrankincense. Another highly valued remedy is made from leaves of mandrakepounded with pearl barley. When however ankles swell, water-mud kneaded with oilmakes a wonderfully good plaster; for the joints the juice of the smallercentaury is very beneficial, as it is also for the sinews; beneficial too is centauris. For the sinews running across the shoulder blades, for the shoulders,for the backbone and the loins, a good remedy is betony, taken as prescribed forthe liver; for the joints an application of cinquefoil, leaves of mandrake withpearl barley, or its root pounded fresh with wild cucumber or boiled down inwater; for chaps on the toes the root of polypodium; for the joints juice ofhenbane with axle-grease, the decocted juice of amomum, a decoction too ofcentunculus, or fresh moss soaked in water and bound round the part until thewater dries off, and also root of lappa boaria taken in wine. Cyclamen boileddown in water is a good remedy for chilblains and for all other affectionscaused by cold; for chilblains cotyledon too with axle-grease, leaves ofbatrachion and the juice of epithymum. Corns are extracted from the feet byladanum mixed with beaver-oil, and by vervain in wine.

LXVII. Having now finished the complaints that affect separate limbs Ishall go on to describe those that attack the whole body. Of remedies that aregenerally useful I learn that the best is dodecatheum, to be given in drink,a plant I have already described; next the roots of all kinds of panaces, especially good for long illnesses, and the seed is used for intestinalcomplaints; for general bodily pains however juice of seordion and also ofbetony, which taken in drink is specific for removing a leaden colour of theskin and restoring a more pleasing complexion.

LXVIII. Geranion is called by somemyrris and by othersmyrtidas. Itresembles hemlock, but with smaller leaves and shorter in the stem, round, andof a pleasant taste and smell. In this way it is described by our Romanauthorities; but Greeks say that it has leaves a little lighter in colour thanthose of the mallow, thin stems, and downy, with branches at interval and twospans long; on them are the leaves, among which on the tips of the stems areminiature heads of cranes. A second kind has leaves like those of anemone, whichare marked with rather long incisions, and a round root like an apple, sweet,and very beneficial to convalescents. The last seems to be the true geranion. Itis taken in drink for consumption twice a day in doses of one drachma in threecyathi of wine; the same prescription is good for flatulence, and eaten raw theplant has the same effect. The juice of the root is good for ear trouble; foropisthotonic tetanus four-drachmae doses of seed are taken in drink with pepperand myrrh. Consumption is cured too by drinking plantain juice, and by plantainitself boiled and taken as food. Eaten with salt and oil on waking from sleep inthe morning it is very refreshing. It is also given every other day to those whowe say are wasting away, but to consumptives we give betony made up with honeyinto an electuary of the size of a bean, or agarie in raisin wine in two-obolidoses, or daucum with the greater centaury in wine. Cases of phagedaena, a wordmeaning bulimia as well as rodent ulcer, are treated by tithymallus with sesame.

LXIX. Of the maladies that affect the whole body sleeplessness is themost common. As remedies for it are recommended panaces, clymenos,aristolochiaby the smell or by bathing the headaizoum, that is houseleek,wrapped in black cloth and placed under the pillow without the knowledge of thepatient. Onothera also, that is onear, is soporific although exhilarating inwine, having leaves like those of the almond tree, rose-coloured blossom, abushy shape and a long root, which when dried smells of wine, and given in theirdrink soothes even wild beasts. Indigestion causing nausea is relieved bybetony; it also if taken in drink after dinner promotes digestion; in doses ofone drachma by weight in three cyathi of oxymel it also removes theafter-effects of drink, as does agaric too taken in hot water after food. Betonyis said to cure paralysis and so does hiberis as prescribed previously. It isalso good for numbness of the limbs; so also is argemonia, by removing allsymptoms indicating that surgical treatment (i.e. venesection) may benecessary.

LXX. Epilepsy is cured by the root of the panaces. I have calledheraclion taken in drink with seal's rennet; three quarters of the mixture mustbe panaces. Other cures are plantain in drink, doses of one drachma of betony orthree oboli of agaric in oxymel, leaves of cinquefoil in water, and alsoarchezostis, but the last must be taken in drink for a year. Other cures aredried root of baccar crushed to powder and taken in hot water in doses of threecyathi with one of coriander, pounded centunculus in vinegar or honey or hotwater, vervain taken in wine, three crushed berries of hyssop takenin water for sixteen days, equal quantities of peucedanum and seal's rennettaken in drink, crushed leaves of cinquefoil taken in wine for thirty days,powdered betony in doses of three denarii by weight with a cyathus of squillvinegar and an ounce of Attic honey, scammony in doses of two oboliwith four drachmae of beaver-oil.

LXXI. The chills of fever are relieved by agaric taken in hotwater, tertian fevers by sideritis with oil, by crushed ladanum, a plant foundin grain fields, by plantain in hydromel taken in two-drachma doses within twohours before a paroxysm, juice of its root soaked or pounded, or by the rootitself beaten up in water heated with hot iron. Some physicians have prescribeddoses of three roots in three cyathi of water, changing three to four if thefever is quartan. If one takes, when bugloss is withering, the pith out of astem and says that he does it to free so and so from fever, attaching to thepatient seven leaves before a paroxysm begins, he is freed, it is said, from thefever. Another remedy is betony in doses of one drachma in three cyathiof hydromel, or agaric, especially in fevers attended with violent shivers. Somehave prescribed doses of three cinquefoil leaves for tertians, of four forquartans, and of more for the other fevers; others prescribe for all three oboliwith pepper in hydromel. Vervain in wine indeed is a remedy for fever even ofbeasts of burden, but for tertians the plant must be cut at the third joint, andfor quartans at the fourth. For quartans and feverish shivers is taken in drinkthe seed of either kind of hypericum, powdered betony, which checks allshiverings, and panaces also, which is of such a heating nature that those aboutto travel through snow are recommended to take it in drink and to be rubbed withit. Violent chills are also checked by aristolochia.

LXXII. Phrenitis is cured by sleep, which will be induced by pouring onthe head an infusion of peucedanum in vinegar, or the juice of eitheranagallis. On the other hand it is difficult to awaken sufferers fromlethargus; this is done by touching the nostrils with euphorbeumin vinegar, or with the juice of peucedanum. For delirium betony is taken indrink. Carbuncles are made to burst by panaces, and cured by powdered betony inwater, or by cabbage and frankincense with frequent draughts of hot water; orthe ash from a burning coal extinguished in the patient's presence may bepicked up with a finger and applied. Other remedies are pounded plantain and tithymallus characites.

LXXIII. Remedies for dropsy are: panaces; plantain as food, afterdry bread without any drink; two-drachma doses of betony in two cyathi of wineor honey wine; agaric, or lonchitis seed, two spoonfuls for a dose taken inwater; psyllion in wine; juice of either anagallis; root of cotyledon in honeywine; root of fresh ebulum, shaken only and not washed, a two-finger pinch for adose, taken in an emma of old wine and hot water; root of trefoil in wine, twodrachmae for a dose; the tithymallus called platyphyllon; seed of the hypericumknown ascaros; acte, which some identify with ebulum, the root, if there is nofever, being crushed in three cyathi of wine, or the seed being taken in darkwine; vervain also, a good handful being boiled down in water to one half. Themost efficacious remedy however is believed to be the juice of chamaeacte. An ofphlegm is relieved by plantain, by cyclamen root in honey, and by pounded leavesof ebulum in old wine. An application of the last cures boa also, aneruption of red pimples, and the juice of strychnos applied as liniment curesitch.

LXXIV. Erysipelas is treated with aizoum, pounded leaves ofhemlock, and root of mandrakeit is cut into slices as is cucumber, hung firstover must, then in smoke, and finally pounded taken in wine or vinegar. It isbeneficial too to foment with myrtle wine, or to use as an ointment two ouncesof mint with one ounce of native sulphur beaten np together in vinegar, or sootmixed with vinegar. There are several kinds of erysipelas, among them one calledzoster, which goes round the patient's waist, and is fatal if thecircle becomes quite complete. Remedies are: plantain with Cimolian chalk,penstereos by itself and the root of persollata; as remedies for the creepingforms can be used root of cotyledon with honey wine, aizoum, and the juice oflinozostis with vinegar.

LXXV. Root of polypodinm made up into liniment is a remedy fordislocations, and the pain and swelling are taken away by seed of psyllion,plantain leaves beaten up with a little salt, ground seed of verbascum boiledin wine, and hemlock with axle-grease. The leaves of ephemeron are applied inthe form of liniment to tumours and swellings that are still able to bedispersed.

LXXVI. The most striking symptom of jaundice is the effect uponthe eyes; the bile penetrates even between the membranes, thin and closetogether as they are.Hippocrates saysthat if jaundice supervenes from the seventh day of a fever it is a fatalsymptom. I however know of recoveries even from this desperate condition. Butcases of jaundice occur without fever, and can be overcome by the greatercentaury, taken in drink as I have prescribed, by betony, by three-oboli dosesof agaric in a cyathns of old wine, and by three-oboli doses of vervain leavestaken for four days in a hemina of warmed wine. The quickest remedy however isjuice of cinquefoil taken in doses of three cyathi with salt and honey.Three-drachmae doses of root of cyclamen are taken in drink while the patient isin a warm place protected from chilly draughtsthe medicine induces sweats fullof galland good is done by leaves of tussilago in water, by seed oflinozostis of either kind sprinkled in drink or boiled down with wormwood orchick peas, by hyssop berries taken with water, by the herb lichen, the patientduring the treatment abstaining from all other vegetables, by polythrixadministered in wine, and by struthion in honey wine.

LXXVII. A common complaint, affecting any part of the body, butespecially an inconvenient part, is what are called boils, sometimes a fatalmalady after surgical operations. Pounded leaves of pycnocomon with pearlbarley are a remedy if the boil has not yet come to a head. Boils are alsodispersed by applications of leaves of ephedron.

LXXVIII. Fistulas also form in any part of the body through thecareless use of the surgeon's knife. The lesser centaury, if suppositories madefrom it are inserted with boiled honey, is a help; so is plantain juice pouredinto them, cinquefoil with salt and honey, ladanum with beaver-oil, andcotyledon with deer's marrow warmed and applied; the pith of verbascum root, cutas slender as a suppository, is inserted into the fistula, or there may be usedroot of aristolochia or juice of tithymallus.

LXXIX. Gatherings and inflammations are cured by an application ofargemonia leaves, all indurations and gatherings by vervain, or by cinquefoilboiled down in vinegar, by leaves or root of verbascum, by an applicationof hyssop in wine, by fomenting with a decoction of acoron root, and by aizotim;for bruises, indurations, and for pitted sores in the flesh the remedy isillecebra. All foreign bodies buried in the flesh may be extracted by leaves oftussilago, by daucum, or by seed of leontopodium beaten up in water with pearlbarley. To suppurations are applied leaves, or seed, of pycnocomon beaten upwith pearl barley, likewise orchis. For affections of the bones a veryefficacious cure is said to be an application of satyrion root, and forcorroding sores and gatherings of all kinds an application of seaweed usedwhile it is still wet. Root of alcima too disperses gatherings.

LXXX. Burns are healed by plantain, and by arctium so well that noscars are seen. A decoction in water of crushed arctium leaves is used asliniment for burns, and so are cyclamen roots with aizoum, and the plant itselfof the hypericum I have called corissum.

LXXXI. Good for sinews and joints are plantain beaten up with saltand argemonia pounded in honey. Juice of peucedanum is rubbed all overthose suffering from spasms or tetanus. For indurations of the sinews juice of aegilops is used as liniment, and for pains of the sinews erigeron (orepithymum) is so used in vinegar. Spasms and opisthotonic tetanus are benefitedby thorough rubbing with seed of the hypericum known ascaros, and this seedalso benefits if taken in drink. Sinews even when severed are said to be healedby phrynion, beaten up or chewed, if it is applied immediately. Spasms, palsy,and opisthotonic tetanus are treated by root of alcima taken in hydromel. Sotaken it also warms rigors.

LXXXII. Haemorrhage is checked by the red seed of the plant paeoniatheroot also is stypticbut by clymenus when blood is discharged from themouth or nostrils, or when it flows from the bowels or the uterus; by lysimachiatoo taken in drink, or applied as liniment, or inserted into the nostrils, alsoby plantain seed, by cinquefoil taken in drink and applied, by hemlock seedbeaten up in water and inserted into the nostrils should there be epistaxis, byaizoum and by root of astragalus. Ischaemon too and achillia check bleeding.

LXXXIII. Equisaetum, called hippuris by the Greeks, and found fault withby me when I discussed meadow land, it is in fact hair of the earth resemblinghorse hairreduces the spleen of runners if as much as the pot will hold isboiled down to one third in new earthenware, and taken in drink for three daysin doses of one hemina. There must be abstinence from fatty foods for at leastone day previously. The Greeks hold various views about this plant; some underthe same name speak of a dark plant with leaves like those of the pine, assuringus that, so wonderful is its nature, its mere touch stanches a patient'sbleeding; some call it hippuris, others ephedron, others anabasis. Theiraccount is that it grows near trees, which it climbs, and hangs down in manydark, rush-like hairs as if from a horse's tail; that its little branches arejointed, and its leaves few, slender and small; that the seed is round,resembling that of coriander, that its root is ligneous, and that it growsmostly in plantations. Its property is to brace the body. Its juice, keptin the nostrils, checks haemorrhage therefrom, and it also checks looseness ofthe bowels. Taken in a sweet wine, in doses of three cyathi, it is good fordysentery, promotes passing of urine, and cures cough and orthopnoea, rupturesalso and spreading sores. The leaves are taken in drink for complaints of thebowels and bladder; the plant itself reduces intestinal hernia. The Greeksrecognise yet another hippuris, which has shorter, softer and paler hairs,making a very useful application in vinegar d for sciatica, and also for cuts,as it stanches the flow of blood. Nymphaea also beaten up is applied towounds from blows, and peucedanum with cypress seed is taken in drink if bloodis brought up through the mouth or flows from the lower passages. Sideritis hassuch a powerful effect that if bandaged to a gladiator's wound, however recent,it stops the bleeding, as does also the ash or cinders of fennel-giant, thoughmore efficacious still is the fungus that grows about its root.

LXXXIV. For epistaxis however hemlock seed also beaten up in water andinserted into the nostrils is held to be efficacious, and so is stephanomelis inwater. Ground betony taken in goat's milk checks haemorrhage from the breasts,as does crushed plantain. The juice of the latter is given to those who vomitblood. For sporadic bleeding however is recommended an application of persollataroot with stale axle-grease.

LXXXV. For ruptures, sprains, and fallsfrom a height remedies are: the greater centaury, gentian root beaten up orboiled down, or its juice, betony, and especially when the lesion is caused bystraining the voice or sides, panaces, scordium, aristolochia in drink, agaricalso for bruises and falls, the dose being two oboli taken in three cyathi ofhoney wine or, if there is fever, in hydromel, the verbascum with the goldenflower, root of acoron, all the kinds of aizoum; the most efficaciouspreparation however being the juice of the greater aizoum, the broth too ofsymphytum or a decoction of the root, raw daucos, erysithalesthe flower isyellow, the leaves those of the acanthustaken in wine, chamaerops also and irioin soup, or any preparation of plantain, likewise.

LXXXVI.Sulla the dictatorperished from phthiriasis; in the very blood of the patient creaturescome to life that will eat up his flesh? The disease is combated by rubbing thewhole body with juice of the taminian grape, or with hellebore juice and oil.Taminian grapes indeed boiled down in vinegar remove this nuisance even fromgarments.

LXXXVII. Ulcers are of many kinds, and the methods of treatmentare many. To running sores is applied in warmed wine the root of any kind ofpanaces. A specific for drying them is the herb I have chironia; beaten up withhoney it opens hard swellings, and affords relief to desperate cases ofspreading ulcers; it is diluted with wine and combined with flower of copper,and seed, flower or root may be used indiscriminately. This plant with pearlbarley is also good for old wounds, so too is heraclion siderion, apollinaris,psyllium and tragacantha. Scordotis with honey cleanses them; its powderconsumes morbid excrescences of flesh, if sprinkled on them by itself. Polemoniaheals ulcers that are called malignant; the greater centaury, whether sprinkledor applied as liniment, the tuft also of the lesser centaury, boiled down orbeaten up, cleanses and thoroughly heals even chronic ulcers. The seed pods of clymenus are applied to fresh wounds. From gentian too is made a liniment forspreading ulcers; the pounded root is boiled down in water to the consistency ofhoney or the juice may be used; from gentian is made a lycium for wounds.Lysimachia is good treatment for fresh wounds, and plantain for ulcers of allkinds, especially for those of old men and babies. It is better when softened byfire, and with wax-salve cleanses the thickened lips of ulcers and arrestscorrosive sores. The pounded plant when applied should be covered with its ownleaves. Suppurations, gatherings and pitted ulcers are also dried up by chelidonia, wounds are healed so well that it is even used instead of spodium.It is also applied with axle-grease to sores that are already despaired of.Dittany taken in drink forces out arrows; an external application causes to fallout other kinds of weaponsthe dose for a draught is an obolus of the leaves ina cyathus of waterand bastard dittany is almost as effective; both too dispersesuppurations. Aristolochia also eats away festering ulcers, with honey cleansesthose that are foul, expels worms, the callosities also that form in ulcers andall things embedded in the flesh, especially with resin arrows and bonesplinters; but the pits of ulcers it fills up by itself or with the addition ofiris. For fresh wounds it is used in vinegar; for chronic ulcers vervain isused, or cinquefoil with salt and honey. The roots of persollata are applied tofresh wounds that have been inflicted by iron, and the leaves to old wounds,axle-grease being added to both with a covering of the plant's leaves. Otherapplications are damasonium, used as for serofula, and the leaves of verbascumin vinegar or wine. Peristereos is good for all kinds of ulcers, evenwhen hard and festering. Running ulcers are cured by root of nymphaea heraclia,also by the root of cyclamen, by itself, in vinegar, or with honey. This last isalso excellent for fatty tumours, as is hyssop for running ulcers, and peucedanum also, which when used for fresh wounds is so powerful as to exfoliatebones. The two kinds of anagallis also have this property, and check fluxes andthe sores callednomae, being useful for fresh wounds, but especially forthose on the flesh of the aged. Abscesses and foul ulcers may be treated withfresh leaves of mandrake and wax-salve, wounds with its root and honey or oil,or with hemlock added to wheat and neat wine. For herpes also, nomae andfestering ulcers, aizoum may be used, as may erigeron for vermuinous sores, forfresh wounds root of astragalus, and for chronic ulcers either kind ofhypocisthis, which cleanses them. The seed of leontopodium, beaten up in waterand applied with pearl barley, extracts the heads of arrows, as does also theseed of pycnocomon. The juice of tithymallus characites heals gangrenes,phagedaenic sores and purulent ulcers, as does a decoction of the branches withpearl barley and oil; the roots of orchis moreover with honey cure evenmalignant sores, healing wounds without further addition, and whether dry orfreshly gathered. Onothera heals ulcers that are becoming virulent. TheScythians treat wounds with scythice. For carcinoma argemonia applied with honeyis very efficacious. For ulcers prematurely healed root of asphodel, boiled downas I have said, beaten up with pearl barley and applied, is good; butapollinaris is good for any kind of sore, and root of astragalus, beaten topowder, for ulcers that are running, and so is callithrix boiled down in water;specific however for sores caused by footwear is vervain, crushed lysimachiaalso, and dried nymphaea reduced to powder. But when these last have becomechronic polythrix proves more useful.

LXXXVIII. Polycnemon is like ox cunila, and its seed resembles that ofpennyroyal; it has a wood-like stem with many joints, and its clusters arescented, with a pungent but sweet smell. When chewed it is applied to cuts madeby iron, but is taken off on the fifth day. Symphyton very quickly causes a scarto form, as also does sideritis, which is applied with honey. The seed andleaves of verbascum, boiled down in wine and beaten up, bring away everythingembedded in the flesh, as do mandrake leaves with pearl barley, or cyclamenroots with honey. Trixago leaves crushed in oil are applied especially tospreading ulcers as is also seaweed beaten up in honey; betony, with theaddition of salt, is used for carcinoma and chronic pustules on the neck.

LXXXIX. Warts are removed by argemonia in vinegar, by root ofbatrachium, which also brings away scabrous nails, and by an application of theleaves or juice of either kind of linozostis. All kinds of tithymallus removeall kinds of warts, hangnails, and pimples on the face. Ladanum smoothes awayscars and restores the colour. A traveller who has artemisia and elelisphacustied on him does not, they say, feel any fatigue.

XC. For diseases of women a very good general remedy is the black seed,taken in hydromel, of the plant paeonia; its root also has the same property. Anemmenagogue is seed of panaces with wormwood, and a sudorific emmenagogue isscordotis, taken internally or applied locally. Betony in doses of one drachmato three cyathi of wine is taken for all uterine affections, and for those thatresult from childbirth. Excessive menstruation is checked by an application of achillia or a sitz bath in a decoction of it. To the breasts is applied henbaneseed in winebut to the uterus henbane root in a plaster ... and also chelidonia.A pessary of panaces roots brings away retarded afterbirth or the dead foetus.The uterus is purged by panaces, taken by itself in wine, and by a pessary of itwith honey. Polemonia taken in wine forces out the afterbirth, and the fumes ofit when burnt correct the uterus. Juice of the lesser centaury takenin drink or used as a fomentation is an emmenagogue, and the root of the greatercentaury, used in the same ways, is good for uterine pains, while if it isscraped and applied as a pessary it brings away a dead foetus. Plantain isapplied as a pessary in wool for pain in the uterus; for hystericalsuffocation it is taken in drink. But it is dittany that is of the greatestefficacy; it is an emmenagogue, and forces out the foetus when dead or lyingtransverselyan obolus of the leaves is taken in waterbeing so efficacious inthese respects that it is not even introduced into the bedroom of pregnantwomen. Not only when taken in drink but also when used as embrocation or afumigation it has medicinal power. Bastard dittany is very nearly as good, butfor an emmenagogue it is boiled down with neat wine, the dose being one denariusby weight. Very many however are the ways in which aristolochia does good, forit is an emmenagogue, hastens the afterbirth, and brings away a dead foetus;myrrh and pepper being added it is taken in drink or used as a pessary. It alsochecks prolapsus of the uterus, whether used as fomentation, fumigation orpessary, especially the slender aristolochia. Hysterical suffocations anddelayed menstruation are relieved by agaric taken in doses of three oboli to acyathus of old wine, by a pessary of peristereos in fresh lard, and byantirrhinon with rose oil and honey. The root also of Thessalian nymphaea curesuterine pain when used as a pessary; taken in dark-red wine it checks excessivemenstruation; on the contrary, root of cyclamen is an enxmenagogue if taken indrink or a used as a pessary; a sits bath in the decoction is a remedy fortroubles of the bladder. Cissanthemos taken in drink forces out the afterbirthand heals the uterus. The upper part of the root of xiphium is an emmenagogue,the dose being a drachma taken in vinegar. Peucedanum calms hystericalsuffocations by its smell when burnt; leucorrhoea is purged especially bypsyllion in doses of one drachma to three cyathi of water. Seed of mandraketaken in drink purges the uterus; a pessary of its juice is an enimenagogue andbrings away a dead foetus. Excessive menstruation again is checked by mandrakeseed with live sulphur; on the contrary, menstruation is promoted bybatrachium, taken in drink or food, a plant which, though when raw it has, as Ihave said, a burning taste, is made agreeable, when cooked, by salt,oil and cummin. Daucum in drink readily acts as an emmenagogue, and readilybrings away the afterbirth; fumigation with ladanum corrects the uterus, andthe plant is applied locally for pain there and ulceration. Scammonytaken in drink or used as a pessary forces out a dead foetus. Either kind ofhypericum, used as a pessary, acts as an eminenagogue; pre-eminently so,however, asHippocrates believes, doescrethmos, the seed, or the skin of the root, being taken in wine; it also bringsaway the afterbirth, and taken in water is helpful in hysterical suffocations,as is the root of geranion, which is specific for the afterbirth and forinflation of the uterus. Hippuris, taken in drink and applied as apessary, purges the uterus, as does polygonus taken in drink. The root of alcimatoo is an enunenagogue, leaves of plantain a violent one, as is also agaric inhydromel. Artemisia beaten up is good for the uterus, applied as a pessary iniris oil or with fig or with myrrh. Its root taken in drink purges the uterusso violently that it expels a dead foetus. A sitz bath of a decoction of thebranches is an enimenagogue, and also hastens the afterbirth; so too acts adrachma of the leaves taken in drink. For all the same purposes the leaves arealso good when merely applied with barley meal to the base of the abdomen. Acoron too is beneficial for internal diseases of women, and so is either kindof conyza, and also crethmos. The two kinds of anthyllis, taken in wine, arevery useful for uterine troubles, for griping pains there, and for delay of theafterbirth. Callithrix used for fomentations is healing to the uterus, removesalbugo on the head, and beaten up in oil stains the hair. Geranion taken in awhite wine, and hypocisthis taken in a red, check excessive menstruation.Hyssop relieves hysteria. The root of vervain, taken in water, is a sovereignremedy for all troubles at or after childbirth. Some physicians prescribe pencedanum in dark-red wine mixed with crushed cypress seed. But seed ofpsyllixun, boiled in water and taken while still warm, relieves all fluxes ofthe uterus. Symphyton beaten up in dark-red wine promotes menstruation.Scordotis taken in drink hastens delivery, the dose being a drachma of the juicein four cyathi of hydromel. Leaves of dittany given in water are excellent forthis purpose. It is an established fact that a single obolus of them by weightimmediately brings away the foetus, even if it is dead in the uterus, withoutany distress to the lying-in woman. Good in a similar way is bastard dittany,but slower, also cyclamen used as an amulet, cissanthemos taken in drink, andpowdered betony in hydromel.

XCI. Arsenogonon and thelygonon are plants bearing clusters like theflowers of the olive, but paler, and a white seed like that of the poppy. It issaid that thelygonon, taken in drink, causes the conception of a female;arsenogonon differs from it in having a seed like that of the olive, but in noother way; taken in drink this plant is said to cause the generation of males,if we care to believe it. Some hold that both plants are like basil, but thatthe seed of arsenogonon is double, resembling testicles.

XCII. For affections of the breasts the aizoum I have called adigitillumis an outstanding remedy. Erigeron in raisin wine makes the breasts richer inmilk, as does soncum boiled with emmer wheat; the plant called mastos, however,is applied as liniment. The hairy affection appearing on the breasts atchildbirth, brick-red spots on the face, and other skin tronbles, are removedby gentian, or by an application of nymphaea heraclia, and all kinds of spots byroot of cyclamen. The grains of caccalia, mixed with melted wax, smooth theface, taking away the wrinkles, and all facial troubles are removed by root ofacoron.

XCIII. Lycinm juice dyes the hair flaxen; hypericum, also called corissum, dyes it black, as does ophrys, a plant like indented cabbage, but with only two leaves. Polemonia, too, boiled down in oil, imparts a black colour. Depilatories I myself indeed regard as a woman's cosmetic, but now today men also use them. But very efficacious is held to be archezostis, as also the tithymalli, the juice being applied frequently with oil either in the sun or when the hairs have been pulled out. Hyssop in oil heals the itch in quadrupeds, and sideritis is specific for the quinsy in swine. But I must go on to describe the remaining kinds of plants.

I. THE mere treatment of this subject undoubtedly increases theadmiration that I at least feel for the men of old; the greater the number ofplants waiting to be described, the more one is led to revere the carefulresearch of the ancients and their kindness in passing on the results. Without adoubt even the bounteousness of Nature herself might seem to have been surpassedby them in this way if the discoveries had been the result of human endeavour.But as it is, it is clear that this bounteousness has been the work of the gods,or at least due to their inspiration, even when the actual discoverer was a man,and that the same Mother of all things both produced the herbs and made themknown to us. This is the greatest miracle of life, if we care to admit thetruth. To think that the Scythian plant, for example, is brought fromthe marshes of Maeotis, euphorbea from Mount Atlas and from beyond the pillarsof Hercules, where the works of Nature actually begin to fail; on another sidebritannica, from islands in the ocean lying beyond the mainland, aethiopis toofrom the clime scorched by the constellations of heaven, and other plantsmoreover passing hither and thither from all quarters throughout the wholeworld for the welfare of mankind, all owing to the boundless grandeur of theRoman Peace, which displays in turn not men only with their different lands andtribes, but also mountains, and peaks soaring into the clouds, their offspringand also their plants. May this gift of the gods last, I pray, for ever! Sotruly do they seem to have given to the human race the Romans as it were asecond Sun.

II. But who could revere enough the diligent research of theancients? It is established that of all poisons the quickest to act is aeonite,and that death occurs on the same day if the genitals of a female creature arebut touched by it. This was the poison thatMarcus Caelius accusedCalpurniusBestia of using to kill his wives intheir sleep. Hence the damning peroration of the prosecutor's speech accusingthe defendant's finger. Fable has it that aeonite sprang out of the foam of thedog Cerberus when Hercules dragged him from the underworld, and that this is whyit grows around Heraclea in Pontus, where is pointed out the entrance to theunderworld used by Hercules. Yet even aconite the ancients have turned to thebenefit of human health, by finding out by experience that administered in warmwine it neutralizes the stings of scorpions. It is its nature to kill a humanbeing unless in that being it finds something else to destroy. Against thisalone it struggles, regarding it as more pressing than the find. [This is theonly fight, when the aconite discovers a poison in the viscera.] What a marvel!Although by themselves both are deadly, yet the two poisons in a humanbeing perish together so that the human survives. Moreover even remedies used bywild beasts have been handed down by the ancients, who have shown how venomous acreatures also by themselves obtain healing. Scorpions, touched by aconite,become numbed, and are pale and stupefied, acknowledging their defeat. Theyfind a help in white hellebore, its touch dispelling the torpor; the aconiteyields to two evil foes, one peculiar to itself and one common to all creatures.If anyone believes that these discoveries could, by any chance, have been madeby a man, he shows himself ungrateful for the gods' gifts. They touch flesh withaconite, and kill panthers by a mere taste of it, otherwise panthers wouldoverrun the regions where they are found. For this reason some have calledaconite pardalianehes, that is panther-strangler. But it has been proved thatpanthers are at once saved from this death by tasting human excrement; surelynobody doubts that this remedy has been found by Chance, and that on everyoccasion it is even today a new find, since wild animals have neither reason norexperience for results to be passed from one to another. This Chance therefore,this is that great deity who has made most of the discoveries that enrich ourlife, this is the name of him by whom is meant she who is at once the Mother andthe Mistress of all creation. Either guess is equally likely, whether we judgethat wild animals make these discoveries every day or that they possess anever-failing instinct. Again it is shameful that all animals except man knowwhat is health-giving for themselves. Our ancestors however advertised the viewthat aconite is also a very health-giving ingredient of preparations for theeyes, openly declaring their belief that no evil a at all is without someadmixture of good. It will therefore be right for me, who have describedno poisons, to point out the nature of aconite, if only for the purpose ofdetecting it. It has leaves like those of cyclamen or of cucumber, not more thanfour, rising from the root and slightly hairy, and a root of moderate size, likea crayfish (cammarus), whence some have called itcammaran,and othersthelyphonon, for the reason I have given already. The end ofthe root curves up a little like a scorpion's tail, whence some have called italso scorpion. There have been some who would prefer to call itmyoctonossince at a distance, even a long distance, its smell kills rats and mice. Theplant grows on bare crags which are calledaeonae, and for that reasonsome have given it the name of aconite, there being nothing near, not even dust,to give it nourishment. This then is the reason for its name given by some;others have thought it was so named because it had the same power to cause rapiddeath as whetstones had to give an edge to an iron blade; no sooner was thestone applied than its rapid action was noticeable.

III. Aethiopis has leaves like those ofphlomos, large, numerous and hairy, growing from the root. The stem isquadrangular, rough, like that of arction and hollowed by many axils. The seedis like that of vetch, white and geminate; the roots are numerous, long, fleshy,soft, and gluey to the taste. When dry these become black and hard, so that theymight be taken for horns. This plant grows not only in Aethiopia, but also onMount Ida in the Troad and in Messenia. The roots are gathered in autumn anddried in the sun for some days to prevent their growing mouldy. Taken in whitewine they are a remedy for uterine troubles, and a decoction is given by themouth for sciatica, pleurisy and rough throats. The Aethiopian kind, however,gives the greatest, and immediate, relief.

IV. Ageraton resembles fennel-giant, is two spans high and likeoriganum, and the flowers are golden knobs. The fumes when the plant is burntare diuretic and purge the uterus: used in a sits bath the plant does this moreeffectively. The reason for the name is [not this but] because it lasts for along time without fading.

V. The aloe bears a resemblance to the squill, but it is larger,and has more fleshy leaves, and with slanting streaks. Its stem is tender, redin the centre, and not unlike anthericus; the root is single, as it were a stakesunk into the ground. It has an oppressive smell, and a bitter taste. The mostvalued kind is imported from India, but it also grows in the province of Asia.This kind is used only for wounds, the freshly gathered leaves, or the juice,having a wonderful power of uniting. For this reason it is planted in conicaljars, as is the greater aizoum. Some, before the seed ripens, make an incisionin the stem to get the juice; some do so in the leaves as well. Drops too formspontaneously on it, and adhere. Some therefore recommend that the ground wherethe aloe has been planted should be beaten down hard, so as to preventabsorption. Some have reported that in Judea beyond Jerusalem can be foundmineral aloes. This however is the most inferior kind of all, and no other isdarker or more moist. So the best aloes will he fatty and shiny, of a ruddycolour, friable, compact like liver, and easily melted. The kind to be rejectedis dark and hard, gritty, and adulterated with gum and acacia, the adulterationbeing easily detected by the taste. The nature of an aloe is bracing,astringent! and gently warming. There are many uses for it, but the chief is torelax the bowels, for it is almost the only laxative that is also a stomachtonic, no ill effects whatever resulting from its use. A drachma is taken indrink, but for fluxes of the stomach a spoonful in two cyathi of warm or coldwater is taken twice or three times a day at intervals, as circumstancesrequire; but for purging the bowels the maximum dose is three drachmae, which ismore effective if food is taken after the draught. With a dry wine it preventsthe hair from falling out, the head being thoroughly rubbed in the contrary wayto the hair. It relieves headache if it is applied in vinegar and rose oil tothe temples and forehead, or a dilute solution may be poured over them. All eyetroubles, it is agreed, are cured by the aloe, but it is specific for itch and scaliness of the eyelids; it is also good, applied with honey, especially with Pontic honey, for marks and bruises; for diseased tonsils or gums, for all soresin the mouth, and for spitting of blood, the dose is a drachma, taken in waterif the spitting is not excessive, and in vinegar if it is. Haemorrhage due towounds also, or to any other cause, it arrests if used by itself or in vinegar.In other ways too it is very useful for wounds, as it promotes cicatrisation. Itis also sprinkled on ulcerated male genitals, condylomata and chaps of the anus,sometimes in wine, in raisin wine, or else dry by itself, according as thetreatment may need mild measures or coercive. It also gently arrests excessivebleeding from haemorrhoids. For dysentery it is injected, and for indigestionit is taken in drink shortly after the evening meal. For jaundice the dose isthree oboli in water; for internal purgings pills also are swallowed made upwith boiled honey or turpentine resin. It removes hangnails; for eyepreparations it is washed, to let the most gritty parts settle, or else it isroasted in an earthen vessel and occasionally stirred with a feather so that theroasting may be even throughout.

VI. Alcea has leaves like those of the vervain called aristereon,three or four stems covered with leaves, flowers like a rose, and white roots,six at most, a cubit long, and slanting. It grows in a soil which is rich butnot dry. The root is used in wine or water for dysentery, diarrhoea, rupturesand sprains.

VII. Alypon is a small sprout with a soft head, and not unlikebeet, sharp to the taste and viscous, very pungent and burning. In hydromel witha little salt added it loosens the bowels. The smallest dose is two drachmae, amoderate one four, the maximum being six. When given as a purge it is taken inchicken broth.

VIII. Alsine, which some call myosoton, is found in groves; henceits name. It begins to grow just after midwinter, and withers at midsummer. Whenit puts forth its leaves, they are like the ears of little mice. However, Ishall describe another plant, to which more properly would be given the namemyosotis. Alsine would be just the same as helxine, were it not that it issmaller and less hairy. It grows in gardens and especially on walls. When beingbruised it smells like cucumber. It is used for gatherings and inflammations,and for all purposes for which helxine is employed, but with less efficacy.Especially is it applied to eye fluxes, and with barley meal to soregenitals and ulcers. Its juice is poured into the ears.

IX. Androsaces is a whitish plant, bitter, leafless, with seedpods in hairy tufts. It grows especially along the sea coast of Syria. Fordropsy are prescribed two-drachma doses of the plant pounded or boiled down inwater, vinegar, or wine, for it is a powerful diuretic. It is also prescribedfor dropsy and applied locally. The seed too has the same properties.

X. Androsaemon, or, as others have called it, ascyron, is not unlikehypericum, about which I have already spoken, but the stalks are larger,closer together, and redder. Its leaves are pale and shaped like those of rue;the seed resembles that of the dark poppy. The stalk tops when crushed give outa juice of the colour of blood. Their smell is resinous. It grows in vineyards;about the middle of autumn it is dug and hung up. When used as a purge it ispounded with the seed and taken early in the morning or after dinner, the dosebeing two drachmae in hydromel, wine, or plain water, and the whole draught asextarius. It brings away bile, and is excellent for sciatica, but on thefollowing day should be swallowed a drachma of caper root well mixed with resin.This dose should be repeated after an interval of four days. After the actualpurging wine should be drunk by the stronger patients and water by the weaker.The plant is applied also to gouty limbs, to burns, and, as it stanches blood,to wounds.

XI. Ambrosia, an indeterminate name loosely given to other plants,is the primary name of one in particular, which is branchy and close set,slender about three spans high, with a root one span less, and with leavesaround the bottom of the stem resembling those of rue. The seed is on the twigs,hanging dawn in clusters, and has a vinous smell; and so the plant is calledbotrys by some, although others call itartemisia. The Cappadocians use it forchaplets. In medicine it is used as a discutient.

XII. Anonis, which some prefer to callononis, is branchy, andlike fenugreek, except that it is more bushy and more hairy. It has an agreeablesmell, and becomes prickly after spring. Preserved in brine it is also used asfood, while the fresh plant cauterizes the edges of ulcers. The root is boileddown in vinegar and water for toothache, and taken in drink with honey it alsoexpels stone from the bladder. For epilepsy it is given in oxymel boiled down toone half.

XIII. Anagyros, which some callacopon, is bushy, with a strong smell anda flower like that of cabbage. The seed grows in little horn-like pods of somelength; it is kidney-shaped and becomes hard during the harvests. The leaves areplaced on gatherings, and tied as an amulet on women in difficult labour, carebeing taken to remove them immediately after delivery. But if a dead foetus doesnot come away, or if the afterbirth or menstruation is retarded, the leavesare taken in raisin-wine, a dose being a drachma. Similar doses are given forasthma, and in old wine the leaves are given for the bites of poisonousspiders. The root is employed to disperse or mature boils; the seed chewed actsas an emetic.

XIV. Anonymus has found a name by not finding one. It is importedfrom Scythia.Hicesius, a physician ofno small authority, spread its fame, as didAristogiton; it is excellent for wounds if applied pounded in water;taken however in drink it is equally good for blows on the breasts or on thehypochondia, likewise for spitting of blood. Some authorities have held thatwounded patients should take it in drink. The further statement I thinkfabulous, that if burnt fresh it acts as solder for iron or copper.

XV. Aparine, called by some omphalocarpos, by othersphilanthropós, is branchy, hairy, and with five or six leaves arranged atintervals in a circle around the branches. The seed is round, hard, hollowed,and rather sweet. It grows in cornfields, or gardens, or meadows, and is soprickly as even to cling to the clothes. The seed, taken in drachma doses inwine, is efficacious against the bite of serpents and poisonous spiders. Theleaves, applied locally, check excessive bleeding from wounds. The juice ispoured into the ears.

XVI. Arction, which some prefer to callarcturns, has leaves likethose of verbascum, except that they are more hairy. The stem is long and soft,and the seed like that of cummin. It grows on rocky soils, and has a tenderroot, whitish and sweet. A decoction of it in wine is given for toothache, hutit must be retained in the mouth. The decoction is drunk for sciatica and strangury. In wine the root is applied to burns and chilblains, which are alsofomented with the seed pounded in wine with the root.

XVII. Asplenon, called by somehemionion, has many leaves fourinches long, a slimy root, pitted as is a fern's, whitish and hairy. There is nostem, flower or seed. It grows on rocks and on shaded, damp walls, themost approved kind in Crete. A decoction of its leaves in vinegar, taken as adraught for thirty days, is said to reduce the spleen, the leavesbeing also applied locally. They relieve too hiccoughs. This plant, as it causesbarrenness, must not be given to women.

XVIII. Asclepias has leaves like those of ivy, bug branches,numerous roots that are slender and scented, stinking flowers, and ahatchet-shaped seed. It grows on hills. The roots cure colic and are used forsnakebite; they are not only taken in drink but also applied locally.

XIX. Aster is called by some bubonion, because it is a sovereignremedy for affections of the groin. Its stem has two or three oblong leaves, andon the top are little heads with rays like stars. In drink it is also taken forsnake bites. But as medicine for the groin it is enjoined to be pluckedwith the left hand, and to be tied as an amulet next the girdle. As an amulet itis also good for sciatica.

XX. Ascyron and ascyroides are like one another and also likehypericon, but what is called ascyroides has larger branches, which are likefennel-giant, red and with small yellow heads. The seed, in little cups, is verysmall, black, and resinous. The hairy tufts when crushed cause stains likeblood, and therefore some have called the plantandrosaemon. Two-drachmae dosesof the seed, taken in a sextarius of hydromel, are used for sciatica. Itloosens the bowels, brings away bile, and is applied to burns.

XXI. Aphaca has very slender and tiny leaves. Taller than thelentil it also bears larger pods, in which are three or four seeds, darker andsmaller than those of the lentil. It grows in cultivated fields, and has bracingqualities more powerful than those of the lentil, its other uses being the same.A decoction of the seed checks fluxes of the stomach and bowels.

XXII. In my authorities I have found no description of alcibium, but onlythat its pounded root and leaves are applied locally, and taken in drink, forsnake bite; a handful of the pounded leaves with three cyathi of neat wine, orthree drachmae by weight of the root with the same measure of wine.

XXIII. Alectoros lophos, which we Romans call, 'comb' (crista),has several leaves like a cock's comb, a slender stem, and black seedin pods. Boiled with ground beans it is useful for cough, and with the additionof honey for film on the eyes. The seed is cast whole into the eye; it does noharm but attracts the film to itself. Changing colour it begins to turn fromblack to white, swells, and works out by itself.

XXIV. We Romans call alum what the Greeks callsymphyton petraeum.It is like ox cunila, with small leaves and three or four branches growing fromthe root, which have tips like those of thyme; a ligneous plant, scented, sweetto the taste, promoting saliva, and with a long, red root. It grows on rocks(hence its surnamepetraeum, 'rocky'), and is very useful foraffections of the sides and kidneys, for colic, chest, lungs, spitting of blood,and sore throat. The root is pounded and taken in drink or boiled down in wine;sometimes too this is used as embrocation. Moreover, chewed it allays thirst,and is especially cooling to the lungs. It is also applied to dislocations andbruises, and it soothes the intestines. Cooked in hot ashes, pounded, afterremoval of the pods, with nine peppercorns and taken in water, it is binding tothe bowels. So excellent is it for healing wounds that, added even to pieces ofmeat that are being boiled, it binds them together. Hence its Greek namesymphyton. It is also good for broken bones.

XXVI. Actaea has leaves with an offensive smell, rough and jointedstems, black seed like that of ivy, and soft berries. It grows on shaded, rough,watery wound. In doses of a full acetabulum it is given for internal diseases ofwomen.

XXVII.Ampelos agria is a name given to a plant with hard leaves of anashy colour, as I have described in my account of cultivated trees.It has long, hard-skinned twigs, of a red colour like the blossom we call flameof Jupiter. It bears in little clusters seed like pomegranate pips. Its root,boiled down in three cyathi of water with the addition of two cyathi of Coanwine, is a gentle aperient, and therefore is given to dropsical patients. Theclusters remove the spots on women's faces. Sciatica too is relieved by thisplant ground up with the leaves and applied with its own juice.

XXVIII. There are several kinds of wormwood. The Santonic comesfrom the state of the Santoni in Gaul, the Pontic from Pontus, where cattlefatten on it, and so are found to be without gall; there is no finer wormwoodthan this, the Italian being far more bitter, but the pith of Pontic wormwood issweet. About its use there is general agreement, for it is a plant veryeasily found, and one of the most useful, being moreover especially honoured atthe religious rites of the Roman people, seeing that at the Latin festival thereis a race for four-horse chariots on the Capitoline Hill, the winner of whichtakes a draught of wormwood, our ancestors thinking, I believe, that health wasa very grand prize to give. It strengthens the stomach and for this reason it isused, as I have said, to give a flavour to wines. A decoction in water, which isafterwards cooled in the open for a day and a night, is also taken; six drachmaeof the leaves with their branches are boiled down in three sextarii of rainwater; salt too should be added. When very old it can still be used. There isalso administered an infusion of wormwood in water; for this preparation shouldbe styled 'infusion,' and an essential of the infusion is that, whateverquantity of water is used, for three days the preparation should be whollyenclosed. Pounded wormwood is rarely employed; rarely too the extracted juice.It is extracted, however, as soon as the seed begins to swell, the plant beingsoaked in water for three days when fresh and for seven when dried; it is thenboiled down to one third in a bronze vessel, ten heminae to forty-five sextariiof water; and after being strained to remove the solid pieces it is boiled downagain to the thickness of honey, just like juice obtained from the lessercentaury. But this juice is injurious to the stomach and head, while thedecoction I mentioned is very wholesome. For it is astringent to the stomach,and with sil, Gallic nard and a little vinegar, brings away bile, promotesurine, soothes the bowels, curing them when in pain, drives out worms from thebelly, and removes nausea and flatulence. With rue, pepper and salt, it takesaway the distaste for food, and aids digestion, bringing away undigested food.As a purge, the old custom was to give six drachmae of the seed, three of salt,and a cyathus of honey, in a sextarius of sea water kept for a time, the purgebeing more efficacious if the amount of salt is doubled. The pounding howevermust be carefully done, as it is a difficult task. Some have also given theaforesaid weight in pearl barley with the addition of pennyroyal; some theleaves in a dried fig to children, so that the bitter taste is not noticed.Taken with iris it purges the thorax. For jaundice it is taken raw in drink withcelery or adiantum. For flatulence it is slowly sipped hot in water; for theliver it is taken with Gallic nard; for the spleen, with vinegar, pottage orfig. In vinegar it is an antidote to poisonous fungi, as also to mistletoe; inwine, to hemlock, the poison of the shrew mouse, sea weever and scorpions. Itis a great aid to clear vision. With raisin wine it is applied to eye fluxes,and with honey to bruises. Ear trouble is cured by fumigation with the steam ofthe decoction, or when bloody pus exudes, by pounded wormwood with honey. Threeor four twigs, with one root of Gallic nard and six cyathi of water, arediuretic and an emmenagogue; it is specific for faulty menstruation if takenwith honey or applied as a pessary in wool. With honey and soda it ishelpful for quinsy. In water it cures night rashes. Recent wounds it heals ifapplied before they have been touched with water; it cures, moreover, sores onthe head. With Cyprian wax or with fig it makes an exceptionally goodapplication for affections of the flanks. It also cures pruritus, but must notbe given to feverish patients. Taken in drink on sea voyages it prevents nausea;worn under a belly-band, swellings of the groin. It induces sleep ifinhaled through the nose or placed secretly under the sufferer's head. Put intoclothes it keeps away moth. Rubbing the body all over with it in oil drives awaygnats, as does the smoke of it when burnt. Writing ink mixed with the infusionprotects the writing from mice. Ashes of wormwood mixed with ointment androse-oil stain the hair black.

XXIX. There is also a sea wormwood, called by some seriphum, the mostapproved growing at Taposiris in Egypt. At the ceremonies of Isis the priestscarry a branch of it ritually before them. Narrower than the former, and lessbitter, it is injurious to the stomach, but softens the bowels and expelsintestinal worms. It is taken in drink with oil and salt, or infused intogruel of three-month wheat. A handful is boiled down in a sextarius of water toone-half.

XXX. Ballote has a second name, black leek, given to it by theGreeks. It is a bushy plant, with quadrangulate, dark stems, coveredwith hairy leaves, larger and darker than those of leek, and with an offensivesmell. It proves an effective antidote to dog-bites, the pounded leaves beinglaid with salt on the wound; cooked also in hot ashes and wrapped in a cabbageleaf they are applied to condylomata. With honey the plant also cleanses foululcers.

XXXI. Botrys is a bushy plant with yellow twigs. Seed grows allround them, and the leaves are like those of chicory. It is found on the banksof torrents, and is used as treatment for orthopnoea. The Cappadocians call itambrosia, othersartemisia.

XXXII. Brabilla has an astringent property like the quince;apart from this my authorities tell me nothing about it.

XXXIII. Sea bryon is without doubt a plant; it has leaves likethose of lettuce, wrinkled, and as it were crumpled. It has no stem, the leavesgrowing out of a single root. It grows more especially upon rocks and on shellssunk in the ground. Its special properties are to dry, astringency, and toreduce all gatherings and inflammations, in particular those of gout, andwhenever there is need of cooling applications.

XXXIV. The seed of bupleuron I find is given for snakebite, andthat wounds are fomented with a decoction of this plant to which has been addedleaves of mulberry or of origanum.

XXXV. Catanance, Thessalian plant, it would be a waste of time forme to describe, since it is used only for love-potions. One thing it is quitepertinent to say in order to show up the fraud of sorcery: the plant was chosenfor this purpose by soothsayers because as it withers it crumples up into theshape of the claws of a dead kite. For the same reason I shall say nothing about cemos.

XXXVI. There are two kinds of calyx. One is like arum, and growson ploughed land. It is gathered before it withers, and has the same uses as aris. Its root is also taken in drink as a powerful aperient and emmenagogue,while its stalks, boiled down with the leaves in pulse, cures tenesmus.

XXXVII. The other kind of it is called by some anchusa, by othersrhinoclia, having leaves like those of lettuce, but longer and downy, and a redroot. This applied with the finest pearl barley cures erysipelas, and, taken inwhite wine, liver complaints.

XXXVIII. Circaea is like cultivated trychnos, having a tiny,dark flower, small seed like that of millet forming in a sort of little horn, asix-inch root, generally triple or quadruple, whitish, scented, and with a hottaste. It grows on sunny rocks. An infusion of it in wine is taken for uterinepains and affections. Three ounces of the pounded root should be steeped for anight and a day in three sextarii of wine. The same draught also brings away theafterbirth. The seed taken in wine or hydromel reduces the supply of milk.

XXXIX. Cirsion is a tender, little sprout, two cubits high,triangular, and surrounded by prickly leaves, the prickles being soft. Theleaves are like those of bugloss, but smaller, and whitish. At the tip aresmall, purple heads, which fall off as down. It is said that this plant, or itsroot, used as an amulet, cures the pain of varicose veins.

XL. Crataegonon is like an ear of wheat, with many reed-like shoots, fullof joints, springing from a single root. It is found in shaded places. The seedis like that of millet, with a very sharp taste. If three oboli of it in threecyathi of water are taken in wine before supper by the woman, and also by theman, for forty days before conception takes place, the child they say will be ofthe male sex. There is another crataegonos, which is called thelygonos; it isdistinguished from the other by its mild taste. There are some who maintain thatwomen who take the flower of crataegonos in drink conceive within forty days.These plants with honey also heal chronic black ulcers, fill up the pits ofulcers, add flesh to atrophied parts, thoroughly cleanse purulent sores,disperse superficial abscesses, and soothe gout and every kind of gathering, inparticular those on the breasts. By crataegos or crataegon Theophrastus a wouldhave us understand the tree which in Italy is calledaquifolium.

XLI. Crocodileon is like black chamaeleon in shape, with a long rootuniformly thick, and a pungent smell. It grows in sandy places. Taken in drinkit causes copious epistaxis of thick blood; it is also said to reduce thespleen.

XLII. Cynosorchis, called by someorchis, has leaves like oliveleaves, soft, three in number and lying on the ground to the length of half afoot. The root is bulbous, longish, and in two parts, the upper being harder andthe lower softer. Found generally in vineyards these are boiled and eaten as arebulbs. If men eat the larger of these roots, male children are said to beconceived, but female if the smaller is eaten by women. In Thessaly men take ingoat's milk the softer root as an aphrodisiac, but the harder as anantaphrodisiac. The one part neutralizes the other.

XLIII. Chrysolachanum, growing in pine woods, is like lettuce. Ifapplied at once it heals cut sinews. Elsewhere too is said to grow a kind ofchrysolachanum with a golden flower and leaves like those of cabbage. It iseaten boiled as a soft vegetable. This plant, tied on as an amulet so that thepatient can look at it, is said to cure jaundice. I know that this account ofchrysolachanum is inadequate, yet I find no more detail given, for a furtherfault of which our modern herbalists, at least, are guilty is that they havedescribed but briefly, and even by a mere name, plants well known to themselvesjust as if these were generally familiar. They say, for instance, that coagulumterrae (earth rennet) is constipating and diuretic if taken in water or wine,and that

XLIV. the pounded leaves of eucullus with vinegar cure the bites ofserpents and the stings of scorpions. Some give this plant another name,strumus, others the Greek name of strychnus. It has black berries; a cyathus ofjuice from these, with two of honey wine, is good treatment for lumbago, as alsofor headache if used with rose oil for bathing the brow, while for serofuloussores the plant itself is applied locally.

XLV. Couferva is peculiar to running streams, Alpine inparticular, so named from confer-vamainare, to solder together. It ismore like a freshwater sponge than a moss or vascular plant, being a hairy,dense, and porous mass. To my knowledge a man who, pruning a very high tree,fell and broke nearly all his bones, was treated with this plant. His entirebody was enveloped in it; whenever it dried it was sprinkled with its nativewater but rarely taken off, only in fact for renewals when the plant lost itsstrength. The patient recovered in an almost incredibly short time.

XLVI. The Cnidian grain has the colour of kermes-red, and in size islarger than a peppercorn. Its heating properties are so great that it isswallowed in bread, lest it should scorch the throat in its passage. A sovereignremedy for hemlock poisoning, it also checks looseness of the bowels.

XLVII. Dipsacos has leaves like those of lettuce, with pricklyknobs on the middle of their backs. The stem, two cubits long and rough with thesame prickles, has joints enfolded by pairs of leaves, forming hollow axils inwhich collects a salt, dewy fluid. On the top of the stem are little heads,which bristle with prickles. The plant grows on watery ground. A decoction ofthe root in wine heals chaps of the anus; fistulas as well, but the decoctionmust be reduced to the consistency of wax, so that a suppository may be insertedinto the fistula. It also removes warts of all kinds, for which purpose someapply the juice that is found in the axils which I mentioned above.

XLVIII. Dryopteris, which is like fern, grows on trees; it hassweetish leaves with a slight indentation and a hairy root. It has causticproperties, so that its crushed root is also used as a depilatory, for it isrubbed on until the skin sweats, and then again and a third time without washingthe sweat away.

XLIX. Drabe is a similar plant to phonos, with slender stalks acubit high surrounded on either side by leaves the size of a thumb, similar tothose of oxymyrsine, but whiter and softer. The blossom is white and like thatof the elder. The stalks are eaten boiled, but its seed is used instead ofpepper.

L. Elatine has leaves like those of cassia, very small, shaggy andround, with five or six little branches, half a foot long, which are coveredwith leaves right from the root. The plant grows among the corn, is harsh to thetaste and therefore good for fluxes of the eyes; the leaves are pounded withpearl barley and applied, a napkin being placed underneath. The plant boiledwith linseed makes a gruel that cures dysentery.

LI. Empetros, called calcifraga by us Romans, is found on coastalmountains, generally on a rock. When it has grown near the sea it is salt, andtaken in drink brings away bile and phlegms; when farther off and in deeper soilit tastes more bitter. It brings away fluid, and is taken in broth of some kindor in hydromel. When stale it loses its potency, but when fresh and boiled downin water or beaten up it is diuretic and breaks up stone in the bladder. Thosewho seek to win belief in this assurance assert that pebbles boiled with it arebroken up.

LII. Epicactis, called by someelleborine, is a small plant with tinyleaves; taken in drink it is very useful for liver complaints and to counteractpoisons.

LIII. Epimedion is a stem, not large, with ten or even twelveleaves like ivy leaves. It never flowers, has a slender, blackish, evil-smellingroot, and ...[an insipid taste?] This plant, which grows in damp soils, is oneof those with bracing and cooling properties, and should be avoided by women.Its leaves, beaten up in wine, check the growth of maidens' breasts.

LIV. Enneaphyllon has nine long leaves, and is of caustic nature. Whenapplied it is wrapped up in wool, lest it cauterize too far, for it raisesblisters immediately. It is very good for the pains of lumbago and sciatica.

LV. Ferns are of two kinds, neither havingblossom or seed. Some Greeks callpteris, othersblachnon, the kind from thesole root of which shoot out several other ferns exceeding even two cubits inlength, with a not unpleasant smell. This is considered male. The other kind theGreeks callthelypteris, somenymphaeapteris. It has only one stem, and is notbushy, but shorter, softer and more compact than the other, and channelled withleaves at the root. The root of both kinds fattens pigs. In both kinds theleaves are pinnate on either side, whence the Greeks have named thempteris. Theroots of both are long, slanting, and blackish, especially when they have lostmoisture; they should, however, be dried in the sun. Ferns grow everywhere, butespecially in a cold soil. They ought to be dug up at the setting of thePleiades. The root must be used only at the end of three years, neither earliernor later. Ferns expel intestinal worms, tapeworms when taken with honey, butfor other worms they must be taken in sweet wine on three consecutive days; bothkinds are very injurious to the stomach. Fern opens the bowels, bringing awayfirst bile, then fluid. tapeworms better with an equal weight of scammony. Totreat catarrhal fluxes two oboli by weight of the root are taken in water afterfasting for one day, with a taste of honey beforehand. Neither fern should begiven to women, since either causes a miscarriage when they are pregnant, andbarrenness when they are not. Reduced to powder they are sprinkled over foululcers as well as on the necks of draught animals. The leaves kill lice and willnot harbour snakes, so that it is well to spread them in suspected places; bythe smell too when burnt they drive away these creatures. Among ferns alsophysicians have their preference; the Macedonian is the best, the next bestcomes from Cassiope?

LVI. Femur bubulum ('ox thigh') is the name given to a plantwhich, applied fresh and beaten up in. vinegar and salt, is one of theremedies beneficial for the sinews.

LVII. Galeopsis, called by somegaleobdolon orgalion, has stemand leaves like those of the nettle, but smoother, and giving off when beaten upan offensive smell; the flower is purple. It grows along hedges and laneseverywhere. Its leaves and stalks, beaten up in vinegar and applied, cureindurations and malignant growths, dispersing scrofulous sores, superficialabscesses and parotid swellings. It is also beneficial to use the juice of adecoction as a fomentation. With the addition of salt moreover it healsfestering sores and gangrenes.

LVIII. Glaux, called of oldeugalacton, has leaves like those ofcytisus and the lentil; they are whiter underneath. The branches, five or six innumber, extremely slender and springing from the root, lie along the ground; onthem form small, purple blossoms. It is found near the sea, and is boiled insimilago porridge to stimulate a rich supply of milk; those who have drunk adose should proceed to a bath.

LIX. Glaucion grows in Syria and Parthia, a low plant, withtightly packed leaves, rather like those of the poppy but smaller and dirtierlooking; it has a foul smell and a bitter, astringent taste. The seed, of asaffron colour, is put into a pot lined with fuller's clay and heated in anoven. Then it is taken out, and a juice of the same name is extracted from it.Both the juice and beaten-up leaves are used for the fluxes that fall in streamsfrom the whole eye. There is made from it a salve called by physiciansdiaglaucin. It also restores a rich supply of milk if this fails. When takenfor this purpose, water is the medium.

LX. Glycyside, called by somepaeonia orpentorobon, has a stem two spanshigh; two or three others go with it. This stem is reddish, with bark like thatof bay; the leaves resemble those of isatis, only more fleshy, rounder, andsmaller. The seed is in pods, with some grains red, some black. There arehowever two kinds of the plant. The one to the roots of which are attached aboutsix or eight rather long bulbs like acorns is regarded as female. The male hasno more bulbs, since it is supported only by a single root, a span deep, white,and astringent to the taste. The leaves of the female smell of myrrh, and arecloser together. The plants grow in woods. It is said that they should be dug upby night, because to do so in the daytime is dangerous, for the woodpeckercalled 'bird of Mars' assaults the eyes. That there is a danger, however,of prolapsus of the anus when a root is being dug up, I hold to be a veryfraudulent lie, calculated to exaggerate the real facts. These plants are ofmanifold use. The red grains check red menstrual discharge, about fifteen beingtaken in dark-red wine. The black grains are healing to the uterus, the samenumber being taken in raisin or ordinary wine. The root in wine relieves allpains of the belly, opens the bowels, cures opisthotonic tetanus, jaundice, andcomplaints of the kidneys and bladder; for the trachea and the stomach however adecoction in wine is used, which also acts astringently on the bowels. It iseaten too as a food, but as a medicine four drachmae are enough. The blackgrains, taken in wine to the number mentioned, also prevent nightmares, whilefor stomach ache and for gnawing colic it is beneficial both to eat them and toapply them locally. Suppurations too are dispersed, recent by the black seed andold by the red. Both kinds are good for snakebites, and to cure stone inchildren when strangury is beginning.

LXI. Gnaphalium is called by somechamaezelon; its pale, soft leaves areused as flock; the two indeed are similar. It is given in a dry wine fordysentery, arrests fluxes of the belly and excessive menstruation, is injectedfor tenesmus and applied to festering ulcers.

LXII.Xenocrates calls gallidragaa prickly marsh-plant like leucacanthus, with a tall stem like fennel-giant, onthe top of which is perched an egg-shaped ball. In this, he says, as summeradvances, are bred maggots, which are kept in a box and attached with bread, asan amulet, to the arm on the same side as an aching tooth, and the paindisappears at once in a wonderful manner. These maggots, he says, retain theirpotency for not more than a year, and then only if they have not touched theground.

LXIII. Holcus grows on dry rocks. The plant is like barley that has grownagain after cutting, with ears at the top of a slender straw. Tied round thehead or round the arm this plant draws ears (orisias) from theflesh, for which reason some call itaristis.

LXIV. Hyoseris is like endive, but smaller and rougher to thetouch; crushed it is a splendid remedy for wounds.

LXV. Holosteon (all-bone) is a plant with nothing hard about it,the name being an antiphrasis coined by the Greeks, just as they call gallsweet. Its root is so slender as to look like hair. Four fingers long, the planthas narrow leaves like grass and an astringent taste, growing on hills withdeep soil. Taken in wine for sprains and ruptures it also closes wounds, for iteven fastens together pieces of meat when boiled with them.

LXVI. Hippophaeston is to be found among the thorns out of which fullers'pots are made up, having no stem, no blossom, but only little, hollowheads and many small leaves of the colour of grass. Its little roots are whitishand soft. Their juice is extracted in summer; the dose to open the bowels isthree oboli, being used especially in epilepsy, palsy, dropsy, and to treatgiddiness, orthopnoea, and incipient paralysis.

LXVII. Hypoglossa has leaves shaped like those of wild myrtle,concave, prickly, and on them as it were tongues, small leaves growing out ofthe leaves proper. A chaplet made from these and placed on the head relievesheadache.

LXVIII. Hypecod grows in cornfields and has leaves like those of rue. Itsproperties are those of poppy juice.

LXIX. The plant of Ida has leaves like those of oxymyrsine, and tothem adhere as it were tendrils, which bear the blossom. The plant itself cheekslooseness of the bowels, menstruation, and all excessive bleeding, as it hasastringent, and repressive properties.

LXX. Isopyron is called by somephaselion, because its leaf, whichresembles that of anise, twists itself into the shape of the tendrils of thepasseolus. At the top of the stem grow little heads, slender, full of seed likethat of melanthium, and very efficacious, when taken with honey or hydromel, forcough, other chest complaints, and also those of the liver.

LXXI. Lathyris has many leaves like those of lettuce, butslighter, and many buds, in which the seed is enclosed in envelopes as is thatof the caper. When the buds are dry, the seeds, of the size of a peppercorn, aretaken out; they are white, sweet, and easily shelled. Twenty of them in freshwater or hydromel cure dropsy, and also draw away bile. Those who wish for amore violent purge take the pods themselves with the seeds, but since theyinjure the stomach the plan has been devised of taking them with fish or chickenbroth.

LXXII. Leontopetalon, called by somerapadion, has leaves like cabbageleaves and a stem half a foot long. There are several side branches, and at theends, in pods like those of chick-peas, is the seed. The root is like a turnip,large and blackish. It grows on cultivated ground. Taken in wine the rootneutralises the poison of serpents of every kind [or 'of the bites of allserpents'], and no other remedy acts more quickly. It is also given to sufferersfrom sciatica.

LXXIII. Lycapsos has longer and coarser leaves than those oflettuce, a long stem, with many subsidiary others, hairy and a cubit long, anda small, purple flower. It grows in flat, meadowy land. With barley meal itmakes a local application for erysipelas. The juice with hot water addedpromotes perspiration in fevers.

LXXIV. Among all plants nothing is more wonderful than lithospermum, called by some exonychon, by others 'Juppiter's corn,' and byothers 'corn of Hercules.' The plant is about five inches high, with leavestwice as big as those of rue, and ligneous little branches of the thickness of arush. Near the leaves it grows as it were little beards, which are single, andon their tops little stones, white and round as pearls, as big as a chick-peabut as hard as a stone. Where they are attached to pedicels these jewels havelittle holes, in which is the seed. The plant grows indeed in Italy, but themost highly valued in Crete, and I have never seen anything among plants thatfilled me with greater wonder. So charming the adornment that one might thinkthat the jeweller's art had arranged gleaming white pearls symmetrically amongthe leaves; very exquisite and difficult the birth of a gem from a plant! Theauthorities say that it lies and spreads over the ground; have seen it only whengathered, not when so growing. It is indisputable that a drachma by weight ofthese jewels taken in white wine breaks up and brings away stone, and cures strangury. There is no other plant the medicinal property of which can berecognised with greater confidence; its very appearance is such that at once bya glance, even without being told, people can become aware of this property.

LXXV. On ordinary stones near rivers grows a dry, hoary moss. One of them is rubbed with another one smeared with human spittle; with the latter stone is touched eczema, and he who touches says: 'Begone, cantharides, for a savage wolfseeks your blood.'

LXXVI.Limeum is the name given by the Gauls to a plant that theyuse to make a drug, called by them deer poison, with which when hunting theypoison their arrows. As much of the plant as is usually used for one arrow ismixed with three bushels of saliva stimulant, and when cattle are sick this mashis forced down their throats. Afterwards they must be tied to their stalls untilthey are purgedfor they usually go wildand if sweating ensues cold watershould be poured over them.

LXXVII. Leuce, a plant like mercurialis, has a reason for the nameit bears, because a white line runs down the middle of the leaves, which is whysome call it mesoleucion. Its juice heals fistulas; crushed, the plant itselfcures malignant ulcers. Perhaps it is the same as the plant calledleueas, whichis a remedy for the poison of all sea creatures. My authorities do not reportits appearance; they only say that the wild plant has the broader leaves, thatthis is the more efficacious, and has the more pungent seed.

LXXVIII. A description of leucographis I have nowhere found in writing. Iam the more surprised at this because in three-oboli doses with saffron it isconsidered useful for haemoptysis, and also for the coeliae disease;beaten up in water and applied as a pessary for excessive menstruation; usefultoo as an ingredient of eye salves, and for filling up ulcers that form ontender parts of the body.

LXXIX. Medion has leaves like those of cultivated seris; the stemis three feet long, on which is a large, purple, round flower, bearing tinyseeds; the root is half a foot long. The plant grows on shaded rocks. The rootchecks excessive menstruation, two-drachma doses, with honey, being taken in theform of an electuary for a few successive days. For the same purpose the seedtoo is given in wine.

XX. Myosota or myosotis is a smooth plant with several stemsgrowing from one root, these being red to a certain extent and hollow; narrowleaves grow at the bottom, longish, with a spine along the back, dark, carefullyarranged in pairs at regular intervals. There are slender stalks growing fromthe axils, and the blossom is blue. The root, of the thickness of a finger, isfringed with many filaments like hairs. It has tseptic and ulceratingproperties, and so heals lacrimal fistulas. The Egyptians say that if, on thetwenty-eighth day of the month they callthoti (a day generally falling in ourAugust), you rub yourself over in the morning with the juice of this plantbefore speaking to anyone, you will not in that year a suffer from ophthahnia.

LXXXI. Myagros is a plant like fennel-giant, with leaves likethose of madder; it is three feet high. The seed is oily, and from it isextracted an oil. This juice, used as liniment, is good treatment for anulcerated mouth.

LXXXII. The plant callednyma, with its three long leaves likethose of endive, makes a liniment that restores the colour of a skin disfiguredby scars.

LXXXIII. Natrix is the name of a plant the root of which, when pulled up,gives out the foul smell of he-goats. In Picenum they use this plant to driveaway from women what are, with a strange credulity, called Fatui. Imyself should believe that it is the hallucination of minds delirious in thisway that is helped by such a drugs.

LXXXIV. Odontitis is classed as a hay with close-set stalks growing fromthe same root, jointed, triangular and dark. At the joints it has small leaves,longer however than those of polygonum, seed like barley in the axils, and atiny, bright red flower. It grows in meadows. A decoction of its stalks, ahandful in a dry wine, is a cure for toothache, but it must be kept in themouth.

LXXXV. Othonna grows in Syria. It is like eruca, has leaves fullof holes and a saffron flower. This is why some have called it anemone. Itsjuice is a suitable ingredient of eye salves, for it is slightly biting,warming, and astringent, because of its drying nature; it clears away scars,films and all obstructions. Some say that it is washed, and then, after drying,worked up into lozenges.

LXXXVI. Onosma has long leaves up to about three fingers inlength, lying on the ground like those of anchusa. It has no stem, no blossomand no seed. If a woman with child should eat it or step over it, she is saidto miscarry.

LXXXVII. Asses are said, if they have eaten onopradon, to breakwind. It is diuretic and an emmenagogue, checks looseness of the bowels, anddisperses suppurations and gatherings.

LXXXVIII. Osyris bears dark twigs, slender and pliant, on whichare dark leaves like those of flax. The seed on the twigs is black to beginwith, and then the colour changes to red. From them are made cosmetics forwomen. A decoction of the roots taken by the mouth cures jaundice. These rootsalso, if cut off before the seed ripens and dried in the sun, check looseness ofthe bowels; but, if dug up after the ripening and boiled down in gruel, they aregood treatment for catarrhs of the belly, and by themselves they are beaten upand taken in rain water.

LXXXIX. Oxys has three leaves. It is given for a relaxed stomach,and is also eaten by sufferers from intestinal hernia.

XC. Polyanthemum, called by somebatrachion, with its caustic propertyclears away scars and brings back a healthy colour. It also effaces psoriasis.

XCI. Polygonum is the name given by the Greeks to the plant weRomans callsanguinaria. It does not rise from the ground, hasleaves like those of rue, and resembles grass. Its juice poured intothe nostrils checks epistaxis, and taken with wine stays haemorrhage in any partof the body and the spitting of blood. Those who hold that there are severalkinds of polygonum would have this to be considered the male plant, and to be sonamed because of the great number of its seeds or from its being a shrub withclose-packed branches. Some call itpolygonaton from its many joints, othersthalattias orcarcinothron orclema, manymyrtopetalum. There are also to befound some who say that this kind is the female, and that the male is larger,less dark, with the joints closer together, and swelling with seed under all theleaves. However this may be, the property of these plants is to be astringentand to cool. Their seed relaxes the bowels, and taken in larger doses isdiuretic; it checks catarrhs, and if these have not occurred it is of no usesThe leaves are applied to a heated stomach, and also used to make liniment for apainful bladder and for erysipclas. The juice is also dropped into purulent earsand painful eyes. It used also to be given by itself in doses of two cyathi,before the paroxysms of agues, especially tertian and quartan, also for cholera,dysentery and a relaxed stomach. The third kind, calledorion, grows onmountains and is like a tender reed. It has one stem with knots close togetherand fitted one into another, leaves resembling those of the pitch pine, and aroot of no medicinal use. This kind is less efficacious than those alreadymentioned, and used especially for sciatica. The fourth kind is called wildpolygonum, a shrub that is almost a tree; it has a ligneous root, a red trunklike that of the cedar, branches like those of spartum, two spans long, and withthree or four dark, knotted joints. This kind too is of an astringent nature,and tastes like a quince. It is boiled down in water to one third, or dried andpowdered for sprinkling on ulcerations of the mouth and excoriated bruises, butfor sore gums the plant itself is chewed. It arrests corrosive ulcers, and allthose that spread or are slow to heal; for frostbite however it is specific.Herbalists also use it for quinsy; for headache they make a chaplet of it whichthey place on the head; while to cure eye fluxes they put one round the neck.For tertian ague some pluck it with the left hand and attach it as anamulet, and for haemorrhage also. There is no other plant that they keep in adry state more than they do polygonum.

XCII. Pancratium some prefer to call 'little squill.' It has leavesresembling those of the white lily, but longer and thicker, and a root like alarge, red bulb. Its juice taken with retch flour relaxes the bowels and cleansulcers. With honey it is given for dropsy and affections of the spleen. Othersboil it down until the water becomes sweet, pour this off, pound the root, andwork it into lozenges, which they dry in the sun and use afterwards for sores onthe head and all other ailments that call for a detergent. Moreover, they givein wine a three-finger pinch for cough, and an electuary made of it for pleurisyor pneumonia. They also give it to be taken in wine for sciatica, for colic, andas an emmenagogue.

XCIII. Peplis, called by somesyce, by othersmeconion ormeconaphrodes, grows into a shrub from one slender root, and has leaves like those ofrue but a little broader. Under the leaves is a round seed, smaller than that ofthe white poppy. It is generally gathered among vines at harvest time, and isdried with its seed after a vessel has been placed beneath to catch this. Takenin drink it relaxes the bowels, bringing away bile and phlegm. A moderate doseis an acetabulum in three heminae of hydromel. It is sprinkled over foods andrelishes to loosen the bowels.

XCIV. Periclymenon too is a plant which grows into a shrub,having after an interval two leaves which are whitish and soft. And at the topamong the leaves is a seed which is hard, and difficult to pluck. The plantgrows in cultivated fields and in hedges, climbing round supports of any kind.Its seed is dried in the shade, pounded, and worked up into lozenges. These,dissolved in three cyathi of white wine, are given for thirty days to curesplenic affections, the spleen being reduced either by blood in the urine orthrough the bowels, as is plain immediately from the tenth day. The boiledleaves too are diuretic, and also beneficial to asthmatics; they aid deliveryand bring away the afterbirth if taken in drink in a similar way.

XCV. Pelecinos I have said grows in cornfields. It makes a bushyplant with its stalks, and has leaves like those of the chick-pea. It bearsseed, like git seed as we know it, in three or four pods curved like littlehorns. This seed is bitter, a good stomachic, and an ingredient of antidotes.

XCVI. Polygala is a full span in height, with leaves, like thoseof lentil, on the top of the stem, and with an astringent taste. Taken in drinkit promotes an abundant supply of milk.

XCVII. Poterion, or as some call it,phrynion orneuras, is aspreading shrub, shrivelled and prickly, with thick down, small round leaves,long branches that are soft, flexible and slender, and a long flower of agrass-green colour. The seed is not used in medicine, but has a sham, aromatictaste. The plant is found on moist hills. It has two or three roots, two cubitsin depth, sinewy, white and firm. It is dug np in autumn, and when the shrub hasbeen cut away, the root yields a juice like gum. An application of the root issaid to be a wonderful healer of wounds, especially of sinews even when theyhave been severed. A decoction of the root also, taken with honey, is good forrelaxed, weak, or cut sinews.

XCVIII. Phalangitis is called by somephalangion, by othersleucanthemum, or, as I find in some copies,leucacantha. It has little branches,never fewer than two, which grow in opposite directions; white flowers like thered lily in shape, a black, broad seed, of the shape of half a lentil, but muchthinner, and a slender root of a grass-green colour. The leaves, flowers or seedof this plant are of help for the treatment of wounds inflicted by scorpions,poisonous spiders, and serpents; they are also good for griping colic.

XCIX. To describe phyteuma is in my opinion a waste of time, because itis used only for love-philtres.

C. Phyllon is the name given by the Greeks to a plant that growson rocky heights. The female is more grass-green in colour than the male, with aslender stem and a small root. The seed is like the round seed of a poppy. Thiskind causes births of its own sex, the male those of males, differing from thefemale merely in its seed, which resembles that of the olive when it is justbeginning to form. Both kinds are taken in wine.

CI. Phelandrion grows in marshy places, and has leaves resembling celery.Its seed is taken in drink for stone and troubles of the bladder.

CII. Phaleris has a stalk which is long and slender as a reed; atthe top is a drooping flower; the seed resembles sesame seed, and is one of theremedies that break up stone in the bladder, being taken in wine, vinegar, orwith honey and milk; it also cures complaints of the bladder.

CIII. Polyrrhizon has leaves like those of myrtle, and many roots. Theseare pounded and given in wine for snake bite. They are also of benefit whenquadrupeds are bitten.

CIV. Proserpinaca is a common plant, and an excellent remedy for scorpionstings. It also, they say, when thoroughly crushed and with the addition ofbrine and sprats oil, makes an excellent remedy for quinsy; moreover, howevertired one may be, even so weary as to lose one's voice, to put it under thetongue is said to dispel the fatigue; also that to swallow it results inhealthful vomiting.

CV. Rhecoma is imported from the regions beyond Pontus. The rootresembles dark costus, but is smaller and a little redder, without smell bntwith a hot, astringent taste. When pounded it also is of a wine-like colour, butinclining to saffron. Used as liniment it reduces gatherings and inflammations,and heals wounds; in raisin wine it relieves eye-fluxes; with honey it removesdark bruises, and in vinegar other livid marks. Powdered it is sprinkled overmalignant sores; for spitting of blood a drachma by weight is taken in water;for dysentery too and coeliac disease, should no fever be present, it is givenin wine, but where there is fever, in water. It is easier to pound if it issteeped the night before. Its decoction too is given, to be drunk in doubledoses, for ruptures, sprains, bruises, and tumbles from a height. Should therebe pains in the chest, a little quantity of pepper and myrrh is added; shouldthe stomach be relaxed, it is taken in cold water; so also for chronic cough andspitting of pus, likewise for liver complaints, spleen complaints, sciatica,kidney troubles, asthma, and orthopnoea. Roughness of the trachea is cured bythree-oboli doses of it pounded and taken in raisin wine, or by its decoction.Lichen also is cleared away by an application of the root in vinegar. It istaken in drink for flatulence, chills, feverish shivers, hiccough, colic,herpes, heaviness of the head, bilious giddiness, tired pains, and sprains.

CVI. Around Ariminnm is well known the plant calledreseda. It dispersesall gatherings and inflammations. Those who use it in treatment add thesewords:

CVII. Stoechas grows only in the islands of the same name, afragrant plant with the foliage of hyssop and a bitter taste. Taken in drink itis an emmenagogue, and relieves pains in the chest. It is also an ingredient ofantidotes.

CVIII. Solanum according toCorneliusCelsus is called by the Greeks. It has repressive and cooling properties.

CIX. Smyrnion has a stem like that of celery, and rather broadleaves, which grow mostly about its many shoots, from the curve of which theyspring; they are juicy, bending towards the ground, and with a drug-like smellnot unpleasing with a sort of sharpness. The colour shades off to yellow; theheads of the stems are umbellate, as are those of celery; the seed is round andblack. It withers at the beginning of summer. The root too has a smell,and a sharp, biting taste, being soft and full of juice. Its skin is dark on theoutside, but the inside is pale. The smell has the character of myrrh, whencetoo the plant gets its name. It grows on rocky hills, and also on those withplenty of earth. It is used for warming and for reducing. Leaves, root, and seedare diuretic and emmenagogues. The root binds the bowels, and an application ofit disperses gatherings and suppurations, if not chronic, as well asindurations; mixed with cachry, polium, or melissophyllum, it is also taken inwine to counteract the poison of spiders and serpents, but only a little at atime, for if taken all at once it acts as an emetic, and so is sometimes givenwith rue. Seed or root is a remedy for cough and orthopnoea, also for affectionsof thorax, spleen, kidneys or bladder, and the root is for ruptures andsprains; it also facilitates delivery and brings away the afterbirth. In winewith crethmos it is also given for sciatica. It promotes sweating and belching,and therefore dispels flatulence of the stomach. It causes wounds to cicatrize.There is also extracted from the root a juice useful for female ailments, andfor affections of the thorax and of the hypochondria, for it is warming,digestive and cleansing. The seed is given in drink, especially for dropsy, forwhich the juice also is used as liniment. The dried skin is used in plasters,and also as a side-dish with honey wine, oil and garum, especially when the meatis boiled.

Sinon tastes very like pepper and aids digestion.It also is very good for pain in the stomach.

CX. Telephion resembles purslane in both stem and leaves. Seven or eightbranches from the root make a bushy plant with coarse, fleshy leaves. It growson cultivated ground, especially among vines. It is used as liniment forfreckles and rubbed off when dry; it makes liniment also for psoriasis, to beapplied for about three months, six hours each night or day; afterwards barleymeal should be applied. It is also good treatment for wounds and fistulas.

CXI. Trichomanes resembles adiantum, but is thinner and darker;the leaves are like those of the lentil, closely set, small, and opposite oneanother. The decoction, taken in white wine, with wild cummin added, curesstrangury. Eaten as food it prevents hair falling off, or if it has already doneso, restores it. Beaten up and applied in oil it makes a thick growth when thereis mange. Sneezing too is provoked by the taste.

CXII. Thalictrum has coriander-like leaves, but a little morefleshy, and the stem of a poppy. It grows everywhere, but particularly in flat,meadowy country. The leaves with honey are good treatment for ulcers.

CXIII. Thlaspi is of two kinds. One has narrow leaves, a finger inbreadth and length, turned towards the ground, and divided at the tip. The stemis half a foot long, not without branches, and with seed enclosed in shield-likepods and shaped like a lentil, except thathence comes the nameit is indented.The blossom is white, and the plant grows in lanes and in hedges. The seed has asharp taste and brings away bile and phlegm by both vomit and stools. Themeasure of a dose is an acetabnlum. Injections are good for sciatica, ifcontinued until they draw blood. It is also an emmenagogue but kills the foetus.The other thlaspi is called by somePersicon napy; it has broad leaves and largeroots, while the plant itself is useful to make an injection for sciatica. Bothkinds are good for affections of the groin. The picker is recommended to saythat he is taking it as a remedy for the groin, all kinds of gatherings, andwounds. He should lift it with one hand.

CXIV. We are not told the nature of the plant trachinia. I thinkit untrue, and the assurance ofDemocritusfantastic, that used as an amulet it consumes the spleen in three days.

CXV. Tragonis, or tragion, grows only on the shores of the islandof Crete, and resembles juniper in seed, leaf and branches. Its milky juice,hardened into gum, or its seed taken in drink, brings away sharp points embeddedin the flesh. For use as liniment it is beaten up when fresh and applied withwine, or it is dried, powdered, and applied with honey. It also promotesabundance of milk, and is a specific for ailments of the breasts.

CXVI. There is also another plant, tragos, called by somescorpion, half a foot high, bushy, without leaves, and bearing tiny red clusterswith wheat-like seeds, and pointed at the extremity. This plant too grows incoastal districts. Ten or twelve extremities of clusters, pounded and taken inwine, are good for coeliac affections, dysentery, spitting of blood, andexcessive menstruation.

CXVII. There is also tragopogon, called by some come with a smallstem, leaves like those of saffron, a long, sweet root, and at the top of thestem a broad, dark calyx. It grows on rugged soils, and is eaten but never usedin medicine.

CXVIII. Such is all that I have been told or discovered worth recordingabout plants. At the close, I think it not out of place to add a warning thattheir properties vary with their age. As I have said, elaterium lasts longest,dark chamaeleon forty years, centaury not more than twelve, peucedanum andaristolochia up to six, and the wild vine one yearthat is, if they are kept inthe shade. And of external animals indeed none attack the roots that I havementioned except the sphondyle, a kind of creeping thing, whichinfests them all.

CXIX. There is no doubt either that the potency and efficacy of all rootsare lessened if the fruit ripens before they are dug, and it is the same withseeds if the root has been cut previously for the sake of the juice. Theproperties moreover of all plants are weakened by habit, and they cease to bebeneficial when needed if they have been in daily use; similarly with harmfulplants. All plants however have greater efficacy and potency when they grow incold regions subject to north-east winds, and likewise those that grow in dry.

CXX. There are also considerable differences between races. I have heard for instance about tapeworms and maw-worms, that they infest the peoples of Aegypt, Arabia, Syria and Cilicia, while on the contrary they are never found at all among those of Thrace and Phrygia. This is less remarkable than their being found among the Thebans, but not among the Athenians, although Attica and Boeotia are adjoining territories. That thought brings me to the nature of animals themselves, and to the remedies for all diseases, of even greater reliability, that are implanted in them at birth. For again, the Mother of all creation both willed that no animal should be born merely to eat or to satisfy the appetites of others, implanting also healthful medicines in their vitals, because she was implanting them even in unconscious things, and she also willed that those outstanding aids to life should come from another life, a thought beyond all else most wonderful.

I. I should have finished describing the character of all things growingbetween heaven and earth, leaving only whatever is dug out of the ground itself,if dealing with remedies derived from plants and shrubs did not make me digressto the wider sphere of medicines obtained from the very living creatures thatthemselves are healed. Well then, shall I, who have described plants and formsof flowers, including many rare things that are difficult to find, say nothingabout the benefits to man that are to be found in man himself, nothing about theother kinds of remedies that live among us, especially as life itself becomes apunishment for those who are not free from pains and diseases? Surely I must,and I shall devote all my care to the task, although I realize the risk ofcausing disgust, since it is my fixed determination to have less regard forpopularity than for benefiting human life. Furthermore, my investigations willinclude foreign things and even outlandish customs; belief here can appeal onlyto authority, although I myself also, when choosing my detail, have striven tofind views almost universally believed, and I have stressed careful researchrather than abundance of material. One thing it is very necessary to point out:I have already described the natures of living creatures and the discoveries weowe to each (for they did no less good by discovering medicines than they do bysupplying them). I am now showing what help is to be found in the creaturesthemselves. I did not entirely leave out this then; so although the new matteris different, it is yet intimately connected with the old.

II. But I shall begin with man seeking aid for himself out of himself,and at the outset there meet us a most baffling puzzle. The blood tooof gladiators is drunk by epileptics as though it were a draught of life, thoughwe shudder with horror when in the same arena we look at even the beasts doingthe same thing. But, by Heaven!, the patients think it most effectual to suckfrom a man himself warm, living blood, and putting their lips to the to drainthe very life, although it is not the custom of men to apply their mouths at allto the wounds even of wild beasts. Others seek to secure the leg-marrow and thebrain of infants. Not a few among the Greeks have even spoken of the flavour ofeach organ and limb, going into all details, not excluding nail parings; just asthough it could be thought health for a man to become a beast, and to deservedisease as punishment in the very process of healing. And, by Heaven!, welldeserved is the disappointment if these remedies prove of no avail. To look athuman entrails is considered sin; what must it be to eat them? Who was thefirst, Osthanes, to think of such devices as yours? For it is you who must bearthe blame, you destroyer of human rights and worker of horrors; you were theirfirst founder, in order, I suppose, to perpetuate your memory. Who first thoughtof chewing one by one human limbs? What soothsaying guided him? What origincould your medical practices have had? Who made magic potions more innocent thantheir remedies? Granted that foreigners and barbarians had discovered the rites,did the Greeks also make these arts their own? There is extant a treatise ofDemocritus stating that one complaintis more benefited by bones from the head of a criminal, and other complaints bythose of a friend or guest. Moreover,Apollonius put in writing that to scrape sore gums with the tooth of aman killed by violence is most efficacious, andMeletos that the gall of a human being cures cataract.Artemon treated epilepsy with draughtsof water drawn from a spring by night and drunk out of the skull of a man killedbut not cremated. From the skull of a man hangedAntaeus made pills to cure the bites ofa mad dog. Even quadrupeds too have been cured by remedies taken from a man; tocure flatulence in oxen their horns have been pierced and human bones inserted;for sick pigs wheat has been given which had remained for a whole night where aman had been killed or cremated. Far from me and my writings be such horrors. Ishall speak not of sins but of aids, such as when will prove an effective remedythe milk of lying-in women, or human saliva, or contact with a human body, andthe like. I do not indeed hold that life ought to be so prized that by any andevery means it should be prolonged. You holding this view, whoever youare, will none the less die, even though you may have lived longer throughfoulness or sin. Wherefore let every man consider that first among the remediesfor his soul is this: that of all the blessings given to man by Nature none isgreater than a timely death, and herein the brightest feature is that each mancan have the power to bestow it on himself.

III. Of the remedies derived from man, the first raises a most importantquestion, and one never settled: have words and formulated incantations anyeffect? If they have, it would be right and proper to give the credit tomankind. As individuals, however, all our wisest men reject belief in them,although as a body the public at all times believes in them unconsciously. Infact the sacrifice of victims without a prayer is supposed to be of no effect;without it too the gods are not thought to be properly consulted. Moreover,there is one form of words for getting favourable omens, another for avertingevil, and yet another for a commendation. We see also that our chief magistrateshave adopted fixed formulas for their prayers; that to prevent a word's beingomitted or out of place a reader dictates beforehand the prayer from a script;that another attendant is appointed as a guard to keep watch, and yet another isput in charge to maintain a strict silence; that a piper plays so that nothingbut the prayer is heard. Remarkable instances of both kinds of interference areon record: cases when the noise of actual ill omens has ruined the prayer, orwhen a mistake has been made in the prayer itself; then suddenly the head ofthe liver, or the heart, has disappeared from the entrails, or these have beendoubled, while the victim was standing. There has come down to us a strikingexample of ritual in that with which the Decii, father and son, devotedthemselves; extant too is the plea of innocence uttered by the Vestal Tucciawhen, accused of unchastity, she carried water in a sieve, in the year of theCity six hundred and nine. Our own generation indeed even saw buried alive inthe Cattle Market a Greek man and a Greek woman, and victims from other peopleswith whom at the time we were at war. The prayer used at this ceremony is wontto be dictated by the Master of the College of the Quindecimviri, and if onereads it one is forced to admit that there is power in ritual formulas, theevents of eight hundred and thirty years showing this for all of them. It isbelieved today that our Vestal virgins by a spell root to the spot runawayslaves, provided they have not left the City bounds, and yet, if this view isonce admitted, that the gods hear certain prayers, or are moved by any form ofwords, the whole question must be answered in the affirmative. Our ancestors,indeed, reported such wonders again and again, and that, most impossible of all,even lightning can be brought by charms from the sky, as I have mentionedon the proper occasion.

IV.Lucius Piso in the first bookof hisAnnals tells us thatKing Tullus Hostilius used the samesacrificial ritual asNuma, which hefound inNuma's books, in an attempt todraw Jupiter down from the sky, and was struck by lightning because he madecertain mistakes in the ceremony; many indeed assure us that by words thedestinies and omens of mighty events are changed. During the digging offoundations for a shrine on the Tarpeian Hill there was discovered a human head.For an interpretation envoys were sent to Olenus of Cales, the mostdistinguished seer of Etruria. Perceiving that the sign portended glory andsuccess, Olenus tried by questioning to divert the blessing to his own people.He first traced with his staff the outline of a temple on the ground iu front ofhim, and theu asked: 'Is this then, Romans, what you say? "Here will be thetemple of Jupiter, All-good and Almighty; here we found the head?"' TheAnnals most firmly insists that thedestiny of Rome would have passed to Etruria, had not the Roman envoys,forewarned by the seer's son, replied: 'Not exactly here, but it was in Romethat we say the head was found.' It is said that the same thing happened againwhen a clay four-horse chariot, designed for the roof of the same shrine, grewlarger in the furnace, and once more in a similar way was the happy augury retained. Let these instances suffice to show that the power of omens is reallyin our own control, and that their influence is conditional upon the way wereceive each. At any rate, in the teaching of the augurs it is a fundamentalprinciple that neither evil omens nor any auspices affect those who at theoutset of any undertaking declare that they take no notice of them; no greaterinstance of the divine mercy could be found than this boon. Again, in the actuallaws of the Twelve Tables we find also these words: 'Whoever shall havebewitched the crops,' and in another place: 'whoever shall have cast an evilspell.' Verrius Flaccus citestrustworthy authorities to show that it was the custom, at the very beginning ofa siege, for the Roman priests to call forth the divinity under whose protectionthe besieged town was, and to promise him the same or even more splendid worshipamong the Roman people. Down to the present day this ritual has remained part ofthe doctrine of the Pontiffs, and it is certain that the reason why the tutelarydeity of Rome has been kept a secret is to prevent any enemy from acting in asimilar way. There is indeed nobody who does not fear to be spellbound byimprecations. A similar feeling makes everybody break the shells of eggs orsnails immediately after eating them, or else pierce them with the spoon thatthey have used. And soTheocritus amongthe Greeks, Catullus and quite recentlyVirgil among ourselves, have representedlove charms in their poems. Many believe that by charms pottery can be crushed,and not a few even serpents; that these themselves can break the spell, thisbeing the only kind of intelligence they possess; and by the charms of the Marsithey are gathered together even when asleep at night. On walls too are writtenprayers to avert fires. It is not easy to say whether our faith is moreviolently shaken by the foreign, unpronounceable words, or by the unexpectedLatin ones, which our mind forces us to consider absurd, being always on thelook-out for something big, something adequate to move a god, or rather toimpose its will on his divinity.Homersaid that by a magic formula stayed the haemorrhage from his wounded thigh;Theophrastus that there is a formula tocure sciatica;Cato handed down one toset dislocated limbs,Marcus Varro onefor gout. The dictatorCaesar, after oneserious accident to his carriage, is said always, as soon as he was seated, tohave been in the habit of repeating three times a formula of prayer for a safejourney, a thing we know that most people do today.

V. I should like to reinforce this part of my argument by adding anappeal to the personal feeling of the individual. Why on the first day of theyear do we wish one another cheerfully a happy and prosperous New Year?Why do we also, on days of general purification, choose persons with lucky namesto lead the victims? Why do we meet the evil eye by a special attitude ofprayer, some invoking the Greek Nemesis, for which purpose there is at Rome animage of the goddess on the Capitol, although she has no Latin name? Why onmentioning the dead do we protest that their memory is not being attacked by us?Why do we believe that in all matters the odd numbers are more powerful, as isimplied by the attention paid to critical days in fevers? Why at the harvest ofthe first-fruits do we say: 'These are old,' and pray for new ones to take theirplace? Why do we say 'Good health' to those who sneeze? This custom according toreport evenTiberius Caesar, admittedlythe most gloomy of men, insisted on even in a carriage, and some think it moreeffective to add to the salutation the name of the sneezer. Moreover, accordingto an accepted belief absent people can divine by the ringing in their ears thatthey are the object of talk. Attalus assures us that if on seeing ascorpion one says 'Two,' it is checked and does not strike. The mention ofscorpions reminds me that in Africa nobody decides on anything without firstsaying 'Africa,' whereas among all other peoples a man prays first for theapproval of the gods. But a when a table is ready it is a universal custom, wesee, to take off one's ring, since it is clear that scrupulous actions, evenwithout words, have their powers. Some people, to calm mental anxiety, carrysaliva with the finger to behind the ear. There is even a proverb that bids usturn down our thumbs to show approval. In worshipping we raise our right hand toour lips and turn round our whole body, the Gauls considering it more effectiveto make the turn to the left. All peoples agree in worshipping lightning byclucking with the tongue. If during a banquet fires have been mentioned weavert the omen by pouring water under the table. It is supposed to be a mostunlucky sign for the floor to be swept while a diner is leaving the banquet, orfor a table or dumbwaiter to be removed while a guest is drinking.Servius Sulpicius, a noble Roman, hasleft an essay on why we should not leave the table; for in his day itwas not the custom to have more tables than there were guests; for if a courseor a table is recalled by a sneeze and nothing of it tasted afterwards, it isconsidered an evil portent, as is to eat nothing at all. These customs wereestablished by those of old, who believed that gods are present on alloccasions and at all times, and therefore left them to us reconciled even inour faults. Moreover, it has been remarked that a sudden silence falls on abanquet only when the number of those present is even, and that it portendsdanger to the reputation of each of them. Food also that fell from the hand usedto be put back at least during courses, and it was forbidden to blow off, fortidiness, any dirt; auguries have been recorded from the words orthoughts of the diner who dropped food, a very dreadful omen being if thePontiff should do so at a formal dinner. In any case putting it back on thetable and burning it before the Lar counts as expiation. Medicines set down bychance on a table before being used are said to lose their efficacy.

To cut the nails on the market days at Rome in silence, beginning withthe forefinger, is a custom many people feel binding on them; while to cut thehair on the seventeenth day of the month and on the twenty-ninth prevents itsfalling out as well as headaches. A country rule observed on most Italian farmsforbids women to twirl their spindles while walking along the road, or even tocarry them uncovered, on the ground that such action blights the hopes ofeverything, especially the hope of a good harvest.Marcus Servilius Nonianus, a leadingcitizen of Rome, who was not so long ago afraid of ophthalmia, used to tie roundhis neck, before he mentioned the disease himself or any one else spoke to himabout it, a sheet of paper fastened with thread, on which were written the twoGreek lettersrho andalpha; Mucianus,three times consul, following the same observance, used a living fly in a whitelinen bag. Both avowed that by these remedies they themselves were kept freefrom ophthalmia. We certainly still have formulas to charm away hail, variousdiseases, and burns, some actually tested by experience, but I am very shy ofquoting them, because of the widely different feelings they arouse. Whereforeeveryone must form his own opinion about them as he pleases.

VI. Persons possessed of powers of witchcraft and of the evil eye, alongwith many peculiar characteristics of animals, I have spoken of when dealingwith marvels of the nations; it is superfluous to go over the ground again. Ofcertain men the whole bodies are beneficent, for example the members of thosefamilies that frighten serpents. These by a mere touch or by wet suction relievebitten victims. In this class are the Psylli, the Marsi, and the Ophiogenes, asthey are called, in the island of Cyprus. An envoy from this family, by nameEvagon, was at Rome thrown by theconsuls as a test into a cask of serpents, which to the general amazement lickedhim all over. A feature of this family, if it still survives, is the foul smellof its members in spring. Their sweat also, not only their saliva, had curativepowers. But the natives of Tentyris, an island on the Nile, are such a terror tothe crocodiles that these run away at the mere sound of their voice. All thesepeoples, so strong their natural antipathy, can, as is well known, effect a cureby their very arrival, just as wounds grow worse on the entry of those who haveever been bitten by the tooth of snake or dog. The latter also addle the eggs ofa sitting hen, and make cattle miscarry; so much venom remains from the injuryonce received that the poisoned are turned into poisoners. The remedy is fortheir hands to be first washed in water, which is then used to sprinkle on thepatients. On the other hand, those who have once been stung by a scorpion arenever afterwards attacked by hornets, wasps or bees. He may be less surprised atthis who knows that moths do not touch a garment that has been worn at afuneral, and that snakes are with difficulty pulled out of their holes exceptwith the left hand. One of the discoveries ofPythagoras will not readily deceive you: that an uneven number of vowelsin given names portends lameness, blindness, or similar disability, on the rightside, an even number of vowels the same disabilities on the left. It is saidthat difficult labour ends in delivery at once, if over the house where is thelying-in woman there be thrown a stone or missile that has killed with onestroke each three living creaturesa human being, a boar, and a bear. Asuccessful result is more likely if a light-cavalry spear is used, pulled outfrom a human body without the ground being touched. The result indeed is thesame if the spear is carried indoors. So too, asOrpheus and Archelaus write, arrows drawn out of abody and not allowed to touch the ground act as a love-charm upon those underwhom when in bed they have been placed. Moreover, add these authorities,epilepsy is cured by food taken from the flesh of a wild beast killed by thesame iron weapon that has killed a human being. Some men have healing powersconfined to parts of their body. We have mentioned the thumb of KingPyrrhus and at this there used to beshown a shoulder blade of Pelops, which was stated to be of ivory. Many men eventoday have scruples about cutting hair from moles on the face.

VII. I have however pointed out that the best of all safeguards againstserpents is the saliva of fasting human being, but our daily experiencemay teach us yet other values of its use. We spit on epileptics in a fit,that is, we throw hack infections In a similar way we ward off witchcraft andthe bad luck that follows meeting a person lame in the right leg. We also askforgiveness of the gods for a too presumptuous hope by spitting into our bosom;the same reason again accounts for the custom, in using any remedy, of spittingon the ground three times by way of ritual thus increasing its efficacy, and ofmarking early incipient boils three times with fasting saliva. It is surprising,but easily tested, that if one is sorry for a blow, whether inflicted by hand orby a missile, and at once spits into the palm of the hand that gave the wound,the resentment of the victim is immediately softened. Corroborative evidence isoften seen in draught animals; when the animal has been flogged to lameness,after the remedy of spitting has been tried, it at once resumes its pace. Somepersons indeed add force to their blows in a similar way by spitting into thehand before making their effort. Let us therefore believe that lichens too andleprous sores are kept in check by continual application of fasting saliva, asis also ophthalmia by using saliva every morning as eye ointment, carcinomata bykneading earth apple a with saliva, and pains in the neck by applying fastingsaliva with the right hand to the right knee and with the left hand to the leftknee; let us also believe that any insect that has entered the ear, if spatupon, comes out. It acts as a charm for a man to spit on the urine he hasvoided; similarly to spit into the right shoe before putting it on, also whenpassing a place where one has run into some danger.Marcion of Smyrna, who wrote on thevirtues of simples, tells us that the sea scolopendra bursts if spat upon, as doalso bramble and other toads. Offlius says that serpents too burst if one spitsinto their open mouths, and Salpe that sensation in any numbed limb is restoredby spitting into the bosom, or if the upper eyelids are touched with saliva. Ifwe hold these beliefs, we should also believe that the right course, on thearrival of a stranger, or if a sleeping baby is looked at, is for the nurse tospit three times at her charge. And yet the baby is further under the divineprotection of Fascinus, guardian not only of babies but of generals,a deity whose worship, part of the Roman religion, is entrusted to the Vestals;hanging under the chariots of generals at their triumphs he defends them as aphysician from jealousy, and the similar physic of the tongue bids them lookback, so that at the back Fortune, destroyer of fame, may be won over.

VIII. The bite of a human being is considered to be a most seriousone. It is treated with ear wax, and (let no one be surprised) this, if appliedlocally at once, is also good for the stings of scorpions and for the bites ofserpents, being more efficacious if taken from the ears of the sufferer.Hangnails too are said to be cured in this way; the bite of serpents by a humantooth ground to powder.

IX. The hair cut off first from a child's head, if tied round theaffected part, is said to relieve attacks of gout, as does the application ofthe hair of all, generally speaking, who have not arrived at puberty. The hairof adult men also, applied with vinegar, is good for dog bites, with oil or winefor wounds on the head. If we believe it, the hair of a man torn from the crossis good for quartan ague; burnt hair is certainly good for carcinoma. The firsttooth of a child to fall out, provided that it does not touch the ground, if setin a bracelet and worn constantly on a woman's arm, keeps pain away from herprivate parts. If the big toe is tied to the one next to it, swellings in thegroin are relieved; if the two middle fingers of the right hand are lightly tiedtogether with a linen thread, catarrhs and ophthalmia are kept away. Again, astone voided by a sufferer from bladder trouble, if attached above the pubes, issaid to relieve other similar patients as well as pains in the liver, and alsoto hasten childbirth. Granius adds that the stone is more effective for thelast purpose if it has been cut out by an iron knife. If the man by whom a womanhas conceived unties his girdle and puts it round her waist, and then unties itwith the ritual formula: 'I bound, and I too will unloose,' then taking hisdeparture, childbirth is made more rapid.

X. The blood let from any part of the patient himself makes, we are toldbyOrpheus and Archelaus, a very efficaciousapplication for quinsy; efficacious too if applied to the mouth of those whohave fainted in an epileptic fit, for they rise up immediately. Some say the bigtoes should be pricked and the drops of blood applied to the face, or that avirgin should touch it with her right thumb; hence theirconclusion that epileptics should eat virgin meat. Aeschines the Athenian used the ash ofexcrements for quinsy, sore tonsils, sore uvula, and carcinomata.

This medicament he called botryon. Many kinds ofillness are cleared up by the first sexual intercourse, or by the firstmenstruation; if they do not, they become chronic, especially epilepsy.Moreover, it is held that snake bites and scorpion stings are relieved byintercourse, but that the act does harm to the woman. They say that neither ophthalmia nor other eye troubles afflict those who, when they wash their feet,touch the eyes three times with the water they have used.

XI. We are assured that the hand of a person carried off by prematuredeath cures by a touch scrofulous sores, diseased parotid glands, and throataffections; some however say that the back of any dead person's left hand willdo this if the patient is of the same sex. A piece bitten off from wood struckby lightning by a person with hands thrown behind his back, if it is applied toan aching tooth, is a remedy we are told for the pain. Some prescribefumigation of the tooth with a human tooth from one of the same sex, and to useas an amulet a dog-tooth taken from an unburied corpse. Earth taken out of askull acts, it is said, as a depilator for the eyelashes, while any plant thathas grown in the skull makes, when chewed, the teeth fall out, and ulcers markedround with a human bone do not spread. Some mix in equal quantities water fromthree wells, pour a libation from new earthenware, and give the rest to bedrunk, at the rise of temperature, by sufferers from tertian ague. These alsowrap up in wool and tie round the neck of quartan patients a piece of a nailtaken from a cross, or else a cord taken from a crucifixion, and after thepatient's neck has been freed they hide it in a hole where the sunlight cannotreach.

XII. Here are some lies of the Magi, who say that a whetstone on whichiron tools have been often sharpened, if placed without his knowledge under thepillows of a man sinking from the effects of poisoning, actuallymakes him give evidence about what has been given him, where and when, but notthe name of the criminal. It is certainly a fact that the victim of lightning,if turned upon the wounded side, at once begins to speak. Some treat affectionsof the groin by tying with nine or seven knots a thread taken from a web, ateach knot naming some widow, and so attach it to the groin as an amulet. Toprevent a wound's being painful they prescribe wearing as an amulet, tied on theperson with a thread, the nail or other object that he has trodden on. Warts areremoved by those who, after the twentieth day of the, month, lie face upwards ona path, gaze at the moon with hands stretched over their head, and rub the wartwith whatever they have grasped. If a corn or callus is cut when a star isfalling, they say that it is very quickly cured, and that applying to theforehead the mud obtained by pouring vinegar over a front door's hinges relievesheadaches, as does also the rope used by a suicide if tied round the temples.Should a fish bone stick in the throat, they say that it comes out if the feetare plunged into cold water; if however it is another kind of bone, bits ofbone from the same pot should be applied to the head; if it is a piece of breadthat sticks, pieces from the same loaf must be placed in either ear.

XIII. Moreover, important remedies have been made by the profit-seekingGreeks even with human off-scouring from the gymnasia; for the scrapings from thebodies soften, warm, disperse, and make flesh, sweat and oil formingan ointment. This is used as a pessary for inflammation and contraction of theuterus. So used it is also an emmenagogue; it soothes inflammations of the anusand condylomata, likewise pains of the sinews, dislocations, and knotty joints.More efficacious for the same purposes are scrapings from the bath, and so theseare ingredients of ointments for suppurations. But those that have wax salve inthem, and are mixed with mud, are more efficacious only for softening joints,for warming and for dispersing, but for all other purposes they are lesspowerful. Shameless beyond belief is the treatment prescribed by very famousauthorities, who proclaim that male semenis an excellent antidote to scorpionstings, holding on the other hand that a pessary for women made from the faecesof babies voided in the uterus itself is a cure for barrenness; they call itmeconium. Moreover, they have scraped the very walls of the gymnasia, and theseoff-scourings are said to have great warming properties; they dispersesuperficial abscesses, and are applied as ointment to the sores of old peopleand children. as well as to excoriations and burns.

XLV. It would be all the less seemly to pass over the remedies that arein the control of a man's will. To fast from all food and drink, sometimes onlyfrom wine or meat, sometimes from baths, when health demands suchabstinence, is held to be one of the most sovereign remedies. Among the othersare physical exercise, voice exercises, anointing, and massage if carried outwith skilled care; for violent massage hardens, gentle softens, too much reducesflesh and a moderate amount makes it. Especially beneficial however are walking,carriage rides of various kinds, horse riding, which is very good for the stomachand hips, a sea voyage for consumption, change of locality for chronic diseases,and self-treatment by sleep, lying down, and occasional emeties. Lying on theback is good for the eyes, on the face for coughs, and on either side forcatarrhs.Aristotle andFabianus tell us that dreaming is mostcommon around spring and autumn, and especially when we lie on the back; when welie on the face there are no dreams at all.Theophrastus says that quicker digestion results from lying on the rightside, more difficult digestion from lying on the back. Sunshine too, best ofremedies, we can administer to ourselves, we can the vigorous use of towels andscrapers. To bathe the head with hot water before the hot steam of the bath, andwith cold water after it, is understood to be very healthful; so it is to drinkcold water before a meal and at intervals during it, and to take a draught ofthe same before going to sleep, breaking your sleep, if you like, in order todrink. It should be observed that no animal except man likes hot drinks, whichis evidence that they are unnatural. Experience plainly shows that it is goodbefore sleeping to rinse the mouth with neat wine as a safeguard againstoffensive breath, and with cold water an uneven number of times in the morningto keep off toothache; that to bathe the eyes in vinegar and water prevents ophthalmia, and that general health is promoted by an unstudied variety ofregimen.Hippocrates teaches that thehabit of not taking lunch makes the internal organs age more rapidly; in thisaphorism, however, he is thinking of remedies, not encouraging gluttony, for byfar the greatest aid to health is moderation in food.L. Lucullus gave charge over himself toa slave to enforce control, and he, an old man who had celebrated a triumph,suffered the very deep disgrace of having his hand kept away from the viandseven when feasting in the Capitol, with the added shame of obeying his own slavemore readily than himself.

XV. Sneezing caused by a feather relieves a cold in the head, andsneezing and hiccough are relieved by touching with the lips, it is said, thenostrils of a mule. For sneezingVarroadvises us to scratch the palm of each hand with the other; mostpeople advise us to transfer the ring from the left hand to the longest fingerof the right, and to dip the hands into very hot water.Theophrastus says that old people sneezewith greater difficulty than others.

XVI. Sexual intercourse was disapproved of byDemocritus, as being merely the actwhereby one human being springs from another. Heaven knows, the less indulgencein this respect the better. Athletes, however, when sluggish regain by it theiractivity, and the voice, when it has lost its clearness and become husky, isrestored. It cures pain in the loins, dullness of vision, unsoundness of mind andmelancholia.

XVII. To sit in the presence of pregnant women, or when medicine is beinggiven to patients, with the fingers interlaced comb-wise, is to be guilty ofsorcery, a discovery made, it is said, when Alemena was giving birth toHercules. The sorcery is worse if the hands are clasped round one knee or both,and also to cross the knees first in one way and then in the other. For thisreason our ancestors forbade such postures at councils of war or of officials,on the ground that they were an obstacle to the transaction of all business.They also forbade them, indeed, to those attending sacred rites and prayers; butto uncover the head at the sight of magistrates they ordered, not as a mark ofrespect, but (our authority isVarro)for the sake of health, for the habit of baring the head gives it greaterstrength. When something has fallen into the eye, it does good to press down theother; when water gets into the right ear, to jump with the left leg, leaningthe head towards the right shoulder; if into the left ear, to jump in thecontrary way; if saliva provokes a cough, for another person to blow on theforehead; if the uvula is relaxed, for another to hold up the top of thehead a with his teeth; if there is pain in the neck, to rub the back of theknees, and to rub the neck for pain in the back of the knees; to plant the feeton the ground for cramp in feet or legs when in bed; or if the cramp is on theleft side to seize with the right hand the big toe of the left foot and viceversa; to rub the extremities with pieces of fleece to step shivers orviolent nose-bleeding; with linen or papyrus the tip of the genitals and themiddle of the thigh to check incontinence of urine; for weakness of the stomachto press together the feet or dip the hands into very hot water. Moreover, torefrain from talking is healthful for many reasons. Maecenas Melissus, we are told, imposeda three-year silence on himself because of spitting of blood after convulsions.But if any danger threatens those thrown down, climbing, or prostrate, and as aguard against blows, to hold the breath is an excellent protection, a discoverywhich, I have stated, we owe to an animal. To drive an iron nail into the placefirst struck by the head of an epileptic in his fall is said to be deliverancefrom that malady. For severe pain in thekidneys, Loins or bladder, it is supposed to be soothing if the patient voidshis urine while lying on his face in the tub of the bath. To tie up wounds withthe Hercules knot makes the healing wonderfully more rapid, and even to tiedaily the girdle with this knot is said to have a certain usefulness, forDemetrius wrote a treatise in which hestates that the number four is one of the prerogatives of Hercules, givingreasons why four cyathi or sextarii at a time should not be drunk. Forophthalmia it is good to rub behind the ears, and for watery eyes the forehead.From the patient himself it is a reliable omen that, as long as the pupils ofhis eyes reflect an image, a fatal end to an illness is not to be feared.

XVIII. Our authorities attribute to urine also great power, not onlynatural but supernatural; they divide it into kinds, using even that of eunuchsto counteract the sorcery that prevents fertility. But of the properties itwould be proper to speak of I may mention the following:the urine of childrennot yet arrived at puberty is used to counteract the spittle of the ptyas, anasp so called because it spits venom into men's eyes; for albugo, dimness,scars, argema, and affections of the eyelids; with flour of vetch for burns; andfor pus or worms in the ear if boiled down to one half with a headed leek in newearthenware. Its steam too is an emmenagogue. Salpe would foment the eyes withurine a to strengthen them, and would apply it for two hours at a time tosunburn, adding the white of an egg, by preference that of an ostrich. Urinealso takes out ink blots. Men's urine relieves gout, as is shown by thetestimony of fullers, who for that reason never, they say, suffer from thismalady. Old urine is added to the ash of burnt oyster-shells to treat rashes onthe bodies of babies, and for all running ulcers. Pitted sores, burns,affections of the anus, chaps, and scorpion stings, are treated by applicationsof urine. The most celebrated midwives have declared that no other lotion isbetter treatment for irritation of the skin, and with soda added for sores onthe head, dandruff, and spreading ulcers, especially on the genitals. Eachperson's own urine, if it be proper for me to say so, does him the most good, ifa dog-bite is immediately bathed in it, if it is applied on a sponge or wool tothe quills of an urchin that are sticking in the flesh, or if ash kneaded withit is used to treat the bite of a mad dog, or a serpent's bite. Moreover, for scolopendra bite a wonderful remedy is said to be for the wounded person totouch the top of his head with a drop of his own urine, when his wound is atonce healed.

XIX. Urine gives us symptoms of general health: if in the morning it isclear, becoming tawny later, the former means that coction is still going on,the latter that it is complete. A bad symptom is red urine, a bad one also whenit bubbles, and the worst of all when it is very dark. Thick urine, in whichwhat sinks to the bottom is white, means that there is pain coming on about thejoints or in the region of the bowels; if it is green, that the bowels arediseased. Pale urine means diseased bile, red urine diseased blood. Bad urinealso is that in which is to be seen as it were bran, and cloudiness. Watery,pale, urine also is unhealthy, but thick, foul-smelling urine indicates death,as does thin, watery urine from children. The Magi say that when making urineone must not expose one's person to the face of the sun or moon, or let dropsfall on anyone's shadow.Hesiod advisesus to urinate facing an object that screens, lest our nakedness should offendsome deity. Osthanes assuredpeople that protection against all sorcerers' potions is secured by lettingone's own morning urine drip upon the foot.

XX. Some reported products of women's bodies should be added to the classof marvels, to say nothing from men; of tearing to pieces for sinful practicesthe limbs of stillborn babies, the undoing of spells by the menstrual fluid,and the other accounts given not only by midwives but actually by harlots. Forexample: that the smell of burnt woman's hair keeps away serpents, andthe fumes of it make women breathe naturally who are choking with hysteria; thissame ash indeed, from hair burnt in a jar, or used with litharge, curesroughness and itch of the eyes, as well as warts and sores on babies; that withhoney it cures also wounds on the head and the cavities made by any kind ofulcer, with honey and frankincense, superficial abscesses and gout; that withlard it cures erysipelas and checks haemorrhage, and that when applied it curesalso irritating rashes on the body.

XXI. As to the use of woman's milk, it is agreed that it is the sweetestand most delicate of all, very useful in long fevers and coeliac disease,especially the milk of a woman who has already weaned her baby. For nausea ofthe stomach, in fevers, and for gnawing pains, it is found most efficacious,also with frankincense for gatherings on the breasts. It is very beneficial toan eye that is bloodshot from a blow, in pain, or suffering from a flux, if itis milked straight into it, more beneficial still if honey is added and juice ofnarcissus a or powdered incense. For all purposes, moreover, a woman's milk ismore efficacious if she has given birth to a boy, and much the most efficaciousis hers, who has borne twin boys and herself abstains from wine and the moreacrid foods. Mixed moreover with liquid white of eggs, and applied to theforehead on wool soaked in it, it checks fluxes of the eyes. But if a toad hassquirted its fluid into the eye it is a splendid remedy; for the bite also ofthe toad it is drunk and poured in drops into the wound. It is asserted that onewho has been rubbed with the milk of mother and daughter together never needs tofear eye trouble for the rest of his life. Affections of the ears also aresuccessfully treated by the milk mixed with a little oil, or, if there is anypain from a blow, warmed with goose grease. If there is an offensive smell fromthe ears, as usually happens in illnesses of long standing, wool is put intothem soaked in milk in which honey has been dissolved. When jaundice has lefttraces remaining in the eyes, the milk together with elaterium is dropped intothem. A draught of woman's milk is especially efficacious against the poison ofthe sea-hare, of the buprestis, or, asAristotle tells us, of dorycnium, andfor the madness caused by drinking henbane. Combined with hemlock it isalso prescribed as a liniment for gout; others make it up with the suint of wooland goose grease, in the form that is also used as an application for pains ofthe uterus. A draught also acts astringently upon the bowels, as Rabirius writes, and is an emmenagogue.The milk of a woman however who has borne a girl is excellent, but only forcuring spots on the face. Lung affections also are cured by woman's milk, and ifAttic honey is mixed with it and the urine of a child before puberty, a singlespoonful of each, I find that worms a too are driven from the ears. The motherof a boy gives a milk a taste of which, they say, prevents dogs from going mad.

XXII. The saliva too of a fasting woman is judged to be powerful medicinefor bloodshot eyes and fluxes, if the inflamed corners are occasionallymoistened with it, the efficacy being greater if she has fasted from food andwine the day before. I find that a woman's breast-band tied round the headrelieves headache.

XXIII. Over and above all this there is no limit to woman's power. Firstof all, they say that hailstorms and whirlwinds are driven away if menstrualfluid is exposed to the very flashes of lightning; that stormy weather too isthus kept away, and that at sea exposure, even without menstruation, preventsstorms. Wild indeed are the stories told of the mysterious and awful power ofthe menstruous discharge itself, the manifold magic of which I have spoken of inthe proper place. Of these tales I may without shame mention the following: ifthis female power should issue when the moon or sun is in eclipse, it will causeirremediable harm; no less harm if there is no moon; at such seasons sexualintercourse brings disease and death upon the man; purple too is tarnished thenby the woman's touch. So much greater then is the power of a menstruous woman.But at any other time of menstruation, if women go round the cornfield naked,caterpillars, worms, beetles and other vermin fall to the ground. Metrodorus of Scepsos states that thediscovery was made in Cappadocia owing to the plague there of Spanish fly, sothat women walk, he says, through the middle of the fields with their clothespulled up above the buttocks. In other places the custom is kept up for them towalk barefoot, with hair dishevelled and with girdle loose. Care must he takenthat they do not do so at sunrise, for the crop dries up, they say, the youngvines are irremedially harmed by the touch, and rue and ivy, plants of thehighest medicinal power, die at once. I have said much about this virulentdischarge, but besides it is certain that when their hives are touched by womenin this state bees fly away, at their touch linen they are boiling turns black,the edge of razors is blunted, brass contracts copper rust and a foul smell,especially if the moon is waning at the time, mares in foal if touched miscarry,nay the mere sight at however great a distance is enough, if the menstruationis the first after maidenhood, or that of a virgin who on account of age ismenstruating naturally for the first time. But the bitumen also that is found in Judea can be mastered only by the power of this fluid, as I have alreadystated, a thread from an fluid. infected dress is sufficient. Not even fire, theall-conquering, overcomes it; even when reduced to ash, if sprinkled on clothesin the wash, it changes purples and robs colours of their brightness. Nor arewomen themselves immune to the effect of this plague of their sex; a miscarriageis caused by a smear, or even if a woman with child steps over it.Lais andElephantis do not agree in theirstatements about abortives, the burning root of cabbage, myrtle, or tamariskextinguished by the menstrual blood, about asses' not conceiving for as manyyears as they have eaten grains of barley contaminated with it, or in theirother portentous or contradictory pronouncements, one saying that fertility, theother that barrenness is caused by the same measures. It is better not tobelieve them.Bithus of Dyrrhachiumsays that a mirror which has been tarnished by the glance of a menstruous womanrecovers its brightness if it is turned round for her to look at the back, andthat all this sinister power is counteracted if she carries on her person thefish called red mullet. Many however say that even this great plague isremedial; that it makes a liniment for gout, and that by her touch a woman inthis state relieves scrofula, parotid tumours, superficial abscesses,erysipelas, boils and eye-fluxes.LaisandSalpe hold that the bite of a maddog, tertians, and quartans are cured by the flux on wool from a black ramenclosed in a silver bracelet;Diotimusof Thebes says that even a bit, nay a mere thread, of a garment contaminated inthis way and enclosed in the bracelet, is sufficient. The midwifeSotira has said that it is a veryefficacious remedy for tertians and quartans to smear with the flux the soles ofthe patient's feet, much more so if the operation is performed by the womanherself without the patient's knowledge, adding that this remedy also revives anepileptic who has fainted.Icatidas, thephysician, assures us that quartans are ended by sexual intercourse, providedthat the woman is beginning to menstruate. All are agreed that, if water ordrink is dreaded after a dog-bite, if only a contaminated cloth be placedbeneath the cup, that fear disappears at once, since of course that sympathy, asGreeks call it, has an all-powerful effect, for I have said that dogs begin togo mad on tasting that blood. It is a fact that, added to soot and wax, the ashof the flux when burnt heals the sores of all draught-animals, but menstrualstains on a dress can be taken out only by the urine of the same woman, that theash, mixed with nothing but rose oil, if applied to the forehead, relievesheadache, especially that of women, and that the power of the flux is mostvirulent when virginity has been lost solely through lapse of time. This also isagreed, and there is nothing I would more willingly believe, that if doorpostsare merely touched by the menstrual discharge, the tricks are rendered vain ofthe Magi, a lying crowd, as is easily ascertained. I will give the most moderateof their promises: take the parings of a patient's finger nails and toe nails,mix with wax, say that a cure is sought for tertian, quartan or quotidian fever,and fasten them before sunrise on another man's door as a cure for thesediseases. What a fraud if they lie! What wickedness if they pass the diseaseon! Less guilty are those of them who tell us to cut all the nails, throw theparings near ant holes, catch the first ant that begins to drag a paring away,tie it round the neck, and in this way the disease is cured.

XXIV. This is all the information it would be right for me to repeat,most of which also needs an apology from me. As the rest of it is detestable andunspeakable, let me hasten to leave the subject of remedies from man. Takingthe other animals I shall try to find what is striking either in them or intheir effects.

The blood of an elephant, particularly that of themale, checks all the fluxes that are called ivory shavings with Attic honey aresaid to remove dark spots on the face, and ivory dust whitlows. By the touch ofthe trunk headache is relieved, more successfully if the animal also sneezes.The right side of the trunk used as an amulet with the red earth of Lemnos isaphrodisiac. The blood too is good for consumption, and the liver for epilepsy.

XXV. Lion fat with rose oil preserves fairness of complexion and keepsthe face free from spots; it also cures frostbite and swollen joints. The lyingMagi promise those rubbed with this fat a readier popularity with peoples andwith kings, especially when the fat is that between the brows, where no fat canbe. Similar promises are made about the possession of a tooth, especially onefrom the right side, and of the tuft beneath the muzzle. The gall, used with theaddition of water as a salve, improves vision, and if lion fat is added a slighttaste cures epilepsy, provided that those who have taken it at once aidits digestion by running. The heart taken as a food cures quartans; the fat withrose oil cures quotidians. Wild beasts run away from those smeared withit, and it is supposed to protect even from treachery.

XXVI. They say that a camel's brain, dried and taken in vinegar, curesepilepsy, as does the gall taken with honey, this being also a remedy forquinsy; that the tail when dried is laxative, and that the ash of the burnt dungmakes the hair curl. This ash applied with oil is also good for dysentery, as isa three-finger pinch taken in drink, and also for epilepsy. They say that theurine is very useful to the fullers, and for running ulcersit is a fact thatforeigners keep it for five years, and use heminadoses as a purgativeand thatthe tail hairs plaited into an amulet for the left arm cure quartan fevers.

XXVII. The Magi have held in the highest admiration the hyena of allanimals, seeing that they have attributed even to an animal magical skill andpower, by which it takes away the senses and entices men to itself. I havespoken of its yearly change of sex and its other weird characteristics; now I amgoing to speak of all that is reported about its medicinal properties. It issaid to be a terror to panthers in particular, so that a panther does not evenattempt to resist an hyena; that a person carrying anything made of hyenaleather is not attacked, and, marvellous to relate, if the skins of each arehung up opposite to one another the hairs of the panther fall off. When anhyena is running away from the hunter, any swerve it makes to the fight has forits object stepping in the man's tracks as he now goes in front. If it succeeds,the man is deranged and even falls off his horse. Should however the hyenaswerve to the left, it is a sign of failing strength and a speedy capture; thiswill be easier however if the hunter tie his girdle with seven knots, and sevenin the whip with which he controls his horse. The Magi go on to recommend, socunning are the evasions of the fraudulent charlatans, that the hyena should becaptured when the moon is passing through the constellation of the Twins,without, if possible, the loss of a single hair. They add that the skin of itshead if tied on relieves headache; that the gall if applied to the foreheadcures ophthalmia, preventing it altogether if an ointment is made of gall boileddown with three cyathi of Attic honey and one ounce of saffron, and that thesame prescription disperses film and cataract. They say that clear vision issecured better if the medicament is kept till old, but it must be in a box ofcopper; the same is a cure for argema, scabbiness, excrescences and scars on theeyes, but opaqueness needs an ointment made with gravy from fresh roasted liveradded to skimmed honey. They add that hyena's teeth relieve toothache by thetouch of the corresponding tooth, or by using it as an amulet, and the shouldersrelieve pains of the shoulders and arm muscles; that the animal's teeth (butthey must be from the left side of the muzzle), wrapped in sheep skin or goatskin, are good for severe pains in the stomach, the lungs taken as food forcoeliac disease, and their ash, applied with oil, for pain in the belly; thatsinews are soothed by its spinal marrow with its gall and old oil, quartanfevers relieved by three tastes of the liver before the attacks, gout by the ashof the spine, with the tongue and right foot of a seal added to bull's gall, allbeing boiled together and applied on hyena skin. In the same disease the gallof the hyena (so they say) with the stone of Assos beneficial; adding thatthose afflicted with tremors, spasms, jumpiness, and palpitation, should eat apiece of the heart boiled, but the rest must be reduced to ash and hyena'sbrain added to make an ointment; that an application of this mixture or of thegall by itself removes hairs, those not wanted to grow again must first bepulled out; by this method unwanted eyelashes are removed; that for pains inthe loins flesh of an hyena's loins should be eaten and used us an ointmentwith oil; that barrenness in women is cured by an eye taken in food withliquorice and dill, conception being guaranteed within three days. For nighttenors and fear of ghosts one of the large teeth tied on with thread as anamulet is said to be a help. They recommend fumigation with such a tooth fordelirium, and to tie one round in front of the patient's chest, adding fat fromthe kidneys, or a piece of liver, or of skin. A woman is guaranteed never tomiscarry if, tied round her neck in gazelle leather, she wears white flesh froma hyena's breast, seven hyena's hairs, and the genital organ of a stag. Ahyena's genitals taken in honey stimulate desire for their own sex, even whenmen hate intercourse with women; nay the peace of the whole household isassured by keeping in the home these genitals and a vertebra with the hide stilladhering to them. This vertebra or joint they call the Atlas joint; it is thefirst. They consider it too to be one of the remedies for epilepsy. They addthat burning hyena fat keeps serpents away; that the jawbone, pounded in aniseand taken in food, relieves fits of shivering, and that fumigation with it is anemmenagogue. They lie so grossly as to declare that, if an upper tooth from theright side of the muzzle is tied to the arm of a man, his javelin will nevermiss its mark. They say too that the palate of a hyena, dried, and warmed withEgyptian alum, cures foul breath and ulcers in the month, if the mixture isrenewed three times; that those however who carry a hyena's tongue in theirshoe under the foot never have dogs bark at them; that if a part of the leftside of the brain is smeared on patients' nostrils dangerous diseases arerelieved, whether of man or quadruped; that the hide of the forehead averts theevil eye, and the flesh of the neck, whether eaten, or dried and taken in drink,is good for lumbago; that sinews from the back and shoulders should be used forfumigating painful sinews; that hairs from the muzzle, applied to a woman'slips, act as a love-charm; that the liver given in drink cures colic and stonein the bladder. But they add that the heart, taken either in food or in drink,gives relief from all pains of the body, the spleen from those of the spleen,the caul with oil from inflamed ulcers, and the marrow from pains of the spineand of tired sinews; that the kidney sinews taken with frankincense in winerestore fertility lost through sorcery; that the uterus with the rind of a sweetpomegranate given in drink is good for the uterus of women; that the fat fromthe loins, used in fumigation, gives even immediate delivery to women indifficult labour; that the spinal marrow used as an amulet is a help againsthallucinations, and fumigation with the male organ against spasms, as well asophthalmia; a that for ruptures and inflammations a help is the touch of an hyena's feet, which are kept for the purpose, of the left foot for affectionson the right side, and of the right foot for affections on the left side; thatthe left foot, drawn across a woman in labour, causes death, but the right footlaid one her easy delivery. The Magi say that the membrane enclosing the gall,taken in wine or in the food, is of use in cardiac affections; that the bladdertaken in wine relieves incontinence of urine, and the urine found in thebladder, drunk with oil, sesame, and honey added, relieves chronic acidity ofthe stomach; that the first or eighth rib, used in fumigation, is curative forruptures, but the spinal bones are so for women in labour; the blood taken withpearl barley is good for colic, and if the doorposts are everywhere touchedwith this blood, the tricks of the Magi are made ineffective, for they canneither call down the gods nor speak with them, whether they try lamps, bowl,water, globe, or any other means; that to eat the flesh neutralizesthe bites of a mad dog, the liver being still more efficacious. They add thatthe flesh or bones of a man found in the stomach of an hyena when killedrelieve gout by fumigation; that if fingernails are found in them it is a signof death for one of the hunters; that excrement or bones, voided when the beastis being killed, can prevail against the insidious attacks of sorcerers; thatdung found in the intestines is, when dried, excellent for dysentery, and,taken in drink and applied with goose grease, gives relief anywhere in the bodyto the victims of noxious drugs; that for dog-bites, however, rubbing with thefat as ointment, and lying on the skin, are helpful; that on the other handthose rubbed with the ash of the left pastern bone, boiled down with weasel'sblood, incur universal hatred, the same effect being produced by a decoction ofthe eye. Over and above all these things they assert that the extreme end of theintestine prevails against the injustices leaders and potentates, bringingsuccess to petitions and a happy issue to trials and lawsuits if it is merelykept on the person; that the anus, worn as an amulet on the left arm, is sopowerful a love-charm that, if a man but espies a woman, she at once followshim; that the hairs also of this part, reduced to ashes, mixed with oil, andused as ointment on men guilty of shocking effeminacy, make them assume, notonly a modest character, but one of the strictest morality.

XXVIII. Almost as legendary is the crocodile, in its naturea alsoI mean the famous one, which is amphibious; for there are two kinds ofcrocodiles. His teeth from the right jaw, worn as an amulet on the right arm,are (if we believe it) aphrodisiac, while the dog teeth, stuffed withfrankincense (for they are hollow), drive away the intermittent fevers if thesick man can be kept for five days from seeing the person who fastened them on.It is said that pebbles taken from his belly have a similar power to checkfeverish shivers as they come on. For the same reason the Egyptians rub theirsick with its fat. The other kind of crocodile is similar to this, though muchsmaller in size, living only on land and eating very sweet-scented flowers. Itsintestines therefore are much in demand, being hued with fragrant stuff calledcrocodilea, which with leek juice makes a very useful salve for affections ofthe eyes, and to treat cataract or films. Applied also with cyprus oil crocodileremoves blotches appearing on the face, with water indeed all those diseases thenature of which is to spread over the face, and it also clears the complexion.It removes freckles, pimples, and all spots; two-oboli doses are taken in oxymelfor epilepsy, and a pessary made of it acts as an emmenagogue. The best kind isvery shiny, friable, and extremely light, fermenting when rubbed between thefingers. It is washed in the same way as white lead. They adulterate it withstarch or Cimoliau chalk, but mostly with the dung of starlings, which theycatch and feed on nothing but rice. We are assured that there is no more usefulremedy for cataract than to anoint the eyes with crocodile's gall and honey.They say that fumigation with the intestines and the rest of its body is ofbenefit to women with uterine trouble, as it is to wrap them up in a fleeceimpregnated with its steam. Ashes from burning the skin of either kind ofcrocodile, applied in vinegar to the parts in need of surgery, or even thefumes, cause no pain to be felt from the lancet. The blood of either kind, ifthe eyes are anointed with it, improves the vision and removes eye scars. Thebody itself, boiled without the head and feet, is eaten for sciatica and cureschronic cough, especially that of children, as well as lumbago. Crocodiles alsohave a fat, a touch of which makes hair fall out. Used as embrocation thisprotects from crocodiles, and is poured by drops into their bites. The heart,tied on in the wool of a black sheep, the firstborn of its mother, thewool having no other colour intermixed, is said to drive away quartan fevers.

XXIX. To these animals I will add othersvery like them and equally foreign, taking first the chamaeleon, thought byDemocritus worthy of a volume to itself,each part of the body receiving separate attention. It afforded me greatamusement to read an exposure of Greek lies and fraud. The chamaeleon is alsoas big as the crocodile just mentioned, differing only in the greater curve ofthe spine and in the size of its tail. People think it the most timid ofanimals, and that it is for this reason it continually changes its colour. Overthe hawk family it has very great power, for as a hawk flies overhead, it isbrought down to the chamaeleon, they say, and made an unresisting prey for otheranimals to tear. Democritus relates that its head and throat, if burnt on logsof oak, cause storms of rain and thunder, as does the liver if burnt on tiles.The rest of what he says is of the nature of sorcery, and although I think thatit is untrue. I shall omit all, except where something must be refuted by beinglaughed at; examples are as follow. The right eye, plucked from the livinganimal and added to goat's milk, removes white ulcers on the eyes; the tongue,worn as an amulet, the perils of childbirth. The same eye, if in the house, isfavourable to childbirth; if brought in, very dangerous. The tongue, taken fromthe living animal, controls the results of cases in the courts; the heart, tiedon with black wool of the first shearing, overcomes quartan fevers. The rightfront foot, tied as an amulet to the left arm by hyena skin, is powerfulprotection against robbery and tenors of the night, and the right teat againstfears and panic. The left foot however is roasted in a furnace with the plantthat also is calledchamaeleon, an unguent is added, and the lozenges thus madeare stored away in a wooden vessel and, if we believe it, make the ownerinvisible to others. The right shoulder has power to overcome adversaries andpublic enemies, especially if a person throws away sinews of the same animal andtreads on them. But as to the left shoulder, I am ashamed to repeat thegrotesque magic thatDemocritus assignsto it; how any dreams you like be may sent to any person you like; how thesedreams are dispelled by the right foot, just as the torpor caused by the rightfoot is dispelled by the left flank. In this way headache is cured by sprinklingon the head wine in which either side of a chamaeleon has been soaked. If sow'smilk is mixed with the ash of the left thigh or foot, gout is caused by rubbingthe feet with the mixture. It is practically a current belief that anointing theeyes for three days with the gall is a cure for opaqueness of the eye andcataract, that serpents run away if the gall is dropped into fire, that weaselsrun together when it is thrown into water, while hairs are removed from the bodywhen it is rubbed therewith.Democritusrelates that the same result comes from applying the liver with the lung of thebramble toad; that moreover the liver makes of no effect love charms andphiltres, curing melancholy also if the juice of the herb helenium is drunk in achamaeleon's skin; that the intestines and their content (although the animallives without food) with the urine of apes, if smeared on the door of an enemy,brings on him the hatred of all men; that by its tail rivers and rushing watersare stayed and serpents put to sleep; that the tail also, if treated with cedarand myrrh and tied on to a twin palm-branch, divides the water struck with it,so that all within becomes plain. Would thatDemocritus had been touched with such a branch, seeing that he assures usthat by it wild talk is restrained! It is clear that a man, in other respects ofsound judgement and of great service to humanity, fell very low through hisover-keenness to help mankind.

XXX. A similar animal is the scincosand indeed it has been styledthe land crocodilebut it is paler, and with a thinner skin. The chiefdifference, however, between it and the crocodile is in the arrangement of thescales, which are turned from the tail towards the head. The Indian is thebiggest scincos, next coming the Arabian. They import them salted. Its muzzleand feet, taken in white wine, are aphrodisiac, especially with the addition ofsatyrion and rocket seed, a single drachma of all three and two drachmae ofpepper being compounded. One-drachma lozenges of the compound should be takenin drink. Two oboli of the flesh of the flanks by itself, taken in drink withmyrrh and pepper in similar proportions, are believed to be more efficacious forthe same purpose. It is also good for the poison of arrows, as Apelles informsus, if taken before and after the wound. It is also an ingredient of the morecelebrated antidotes. Sextius says that more than a drachma by weight, taken ina hemina of wine, is a fatal dose, and that moreover the broth of a scincostaken with honey is antaphrodisiac.

XXXI. There is a kind of relationship between thecrocodile and the hippopotamus, for they both live in the same river and bothare amphibious. The hippopotamus, as I have related, was the discoverer ofbleeding, and is most numerous above the prefecture of Sais. His hide, reducedto ash and applied with water, cures superficial abscesses; the fat and likewisethe dung chilly agues by fumigation, and the teeth on the left side, if the gumsare scraped with them, aching teeth. The hide from the left side of hisforehead, worn as an amulet on the groin, is an antaphrodisiac; the same reducedto ash restores hair lost through mange. A drachma of a testicle is taken inwater for snake bite. The blood is used by painters.

XXXII. The lynx too is a foreign animal, and has keener sight than anyother quadruped. On the island of Carpathus all their nails, with the hide,make, it is said, a very efficacious medicine when reduced to ash by burning.They say that these ashes taken in drink by men check shameful conduct, andsprinkled on women lustful desire; that they also cure irritation of the skinand that the urine cures strangury. And so, as is said, the animal at oncecovers it with earth by scratching with his paws. This urine is also prescribedfor pain in the throat.

XXXIII. Hitherto I have dealt with things foreign, but will now turn tothe Roman world speaking first of remedies common to all animals and excellent inquality, such as milk and its uses. Mothers milk is for everybody the mostbeneficial. [It is very bad for women to conceive while nursing; theirnurselings are calledcolostrati, the milk being thick like cheese. Butcolostra is the first milk given after delivery, and is thick and spongy.] Butany woman's milk is more nourishing than any of hem kind the next being that ofthe goat; this perhaps is the origin of the story that Jupiter was nursed inthis way. The sweetest milk after woman's is that of the camel, the mostefficacious that of the ass. A big species or a big individual yields its milkmore readily. Goat's milk is the most suited to the stomach, as the animalbrowses rather than grazes. Cow's milk is more medicinal, sheep's sweeter andmore nourishing, although less useful for the stomach because of its greaterrichness. All spring milk, however, is more watery than that of summer, as isthat from new pastures. The highest grade, however, is that of which a dropstays on the nail without falling off. Milk is less harmful when boiled,especially with sea pebbles. Cow's milk is the most relaxing, and any milkcauses less flatulence when boiled. Milk is used for all internalulcers, especially those of the kidneys, bladder, intestines, throat, and lungs,externally for irritation of the skin, and for outbursts of phlegm, but it mustbe drunk after fasting. And I have mentioned in my account of herbs, how inArcadia cow's milk is drunk by consumptives, and by those in a decline or poorstate of health. Cases too are quoted of patients who by drinking ass's milkhave been freed from gout in feet or hands. To the various kinds of milkphysicians have added another, namedschiston, that is, divided. It ismade in this way: milk, by preference goats milk, is boiled in new earthenwareand stirred with fresh branches of a fig-tree, after adding as many cyathi ofhoney wine as there are heminae of milk. When it boils, to prevent its boilingover a silver cyathus of cold water is lowered into it so that none is spilled.Then taken off the fire it divides as it cools, and the whey separates from themilk. Some also boil down to one-third the whey itself, which is now very vinousindeed, and cool it in the open air. But the most efficacious way to drink it isa hemina at a time at intervals, five heminae in all on fixed days;it is better to take a drive afterwards. It is given for epilepsy, melancholia,paralysis, leprous sores, leprosy, and diseases of the joints. Milk is alsoinjected for smarting caused by purges, or, for the swatting of dysentery, milkboiled down with sea pebbles or with barley gruel. For smarting intestines alsocow's milk or sheep's is the more effective. Fresh milk too is injected fordysentery, and raw milk for colitis, uterus trouble, snake bite, swallowingpine-caterpillars, buprestis, the poison of Spanish fly or salamander, and cow'smilk is specific when there has been taken in drink Colchicum, hemlock,doryenium, or sea hare, as ass's milk is for gypsum, white lead, sulphur,quicksilver, and constipation in fever. It also makes a very useful gargle forulcerated throats, is drank by convalescents from weakening illness, said to be'in a decline,' and also for fever which is without headache. To give tochildren before food a hemina of ass's milk, or failing that of goat's milk, andif the rectum smarted at stool, the ancients held to be one of their secrets.Better for orthopnoea than other remedies is whey of cow's milk with theaddition of cress. The eyes also are bathed for ophthalmia with a hemina of milkto which have been added four drachmae of pounded sesame. Splenic diseases arecured by drinking goat's milk for three days without any other food, but thegoats must fast for two days and then browse on ivy the third day. Drinking milkis generally bad for headache, complaints of the liver, spleen and sinews, forfevers, for giddiness except as a purge, and for a heavy cold, cough, andophthalmia. Sheep's milk is very beneficial for tenesmus, dysentery, andconsumption; there have been some who said that this milk is also the mostwholesome for women.

XXXIV. The kinds of cheese I discussed when speaking of udders and theseparate parts of animals. Sextius gives to cow's-milk cheese the sameproperties as he gives to that from mare's milk, which is calledhippace.Beneficial to the stomach are those not salted, that is to say the fresh.Old cheeses bind the bowels and reduce flesh, being rather bad for the stomach;on the whole salty foods reduce flesh, soft foods make it. Fresh cheese withhoney heals bruises, a soft cheese binds the bowels, and relieves gripes iflozenges of it are boiled in a dry wine and then roasted in a pan with honey.Coeliac affections are cured by the cheese that they callsaprum, takenin drink after being pounded in wine with salt and dried sorb apples; carbunclesof the genitals by an application of pounded goat's-milk cheese. Sour cheesealso with oxymel is applied in the bath alternately with oil to remove spots.

XXXV. From milk is also made butter, among barbarian tribesaccounted the choicest food, one that distinguishes the rich from the lowerorders. Mostly cow's milk is used (hence the name), but the richest comesfrom sheep'sit is also made from goat'sbut in winter the milk is warmed, whilein summer the butter is extracted merely by shaking it rapidly in a tall vessel.This has a small hole to admit the air, made just under the mouth, which isotherwise completely stopped. There is added a little water to make the milkturn sour. The part that curdles most, floating on the top, is skimmed off, andwith salt added is called oxygala; the rest they boil down in pots. What comesto the surface is butter, a fatty substance. The stronger the taste, the morehighly is butter esteemed. When matured it is used as an ingredient for severalmixtures. It is by nature astringent, emollient, flesh-forming, and cleansing.

XXXVI. Oxygala is made in yet another way, by adding sourmilk to the fresh that it is wished to turn sour. It is very good for thestomach; of its properties I shall speak in the appropriate places.

XXXVII. Of remedies common to animals the next in repute isfat, especially pig's fat, which to the men of old was not a little sacred. Atany rate brides even today touch ritually the doorposts with it on enteringtheir homes. Lard is matured in two ways, with salt or by itself; it is so muchthe more beneficial when matured. The nameaxungia (axlegrease) is the oneadopted by the Greeks also in their writings. Nor is the cause of its propertiesa mystery, for the pig feeds on the roots of plants, so that there are very manyuses even for its dung. Therefore I shall not speak of other grease than that ofthe pig. By far the more beneficial is that from a sow that has not littered,[but much snore excellent is that of boars]. Axle-grease then is used forsoftening, warming, dispersing, and cleansing. Certain medical men recommendfor gout a mixture of it with goose grease, bull suet and suint; if however thepain should persist, they add wax, myrtle berries, resin, and pitch. Unsaltedaxle-grease is good for bums or frostbite; for chilblains add equal measures ofbarley-ash and gall nuts. It is also beneficial for chafed limbs, and relievesweariness and fatigue from a journey. Fresh axle-grease, three ounces in three cyathi of wine with honey added, is boiled down for chronic cough. Old greasetaken in pills cures even consumption, but it must have matured without salt,for salt grease is not recommended at all except where cleansing is required andwhere there is no ulceration. Some boil down three ounces of axle-grease and ofhoney wine in three cyathi of wine to treat consumption, recommending that onevery fourth day liquid pitch should be taken in egg. Poultices of it areapplied to the sides, chest, and shoulders of consumptive patients, and sogreat is its power that even when fastened to the knees as an amulet the tastecomes back to the mouth and they seem to be spitting it out. Fat from a sow thathas not littered is used with very great advantage by women as a cosmetic, butfor itch any kind is good, mixed with a third part of beef suet andpitch, all being warmed together. Unsalted axle-grease used as a pessarynourishes the foetus when there is the threat of a miscarriage. Mixedwith white lead or litharge lard gives to scars the colour of the surroundingskin, and with sulphur cleans scabrous nails. It cures too the falling-out ofhair, and with a quarter of a gall nut sores on the head of women; as a fumigantit is good for eyelashes. It is also given to consumptives, in doses of oneounce with a hemina of old wine boiled down until of the whole three ouncesremain; some add also a little honey. With lime it is applied to superficialabscesses, also to boils and to indurations of the breasts. It cures ruptures,sprains, cramps, and dislocations; with white hellebore corns, chaps, andcallosities; and parotid swellings with pounded earthenware that has containedsalted food, the same being also good for scrofulous sores. Rubbing in the bathwith this fat removes irritation and pimples, and administered in yet anotherway it is good for gout: mixed with old oil, crushed sarcophagus stone, andcinquefoil pounded in wine, or with lime, or with ash. A special plaster too ismade of 75 denarii by weight of lard mixed with 100 of litharge, very useful forinflamed ulcers. They also think it useful to treat such sores with boar'sgrease, and to apply it with resin to those that spread. The men of old usedlard in particular for greasing the axles of their vehicles, that the wheelsmight revolve more easily, and in this way it received its name. So also withthat rust of the wheels it made a useful medicament for affections of the anusand of the male genitals. The old physicians valued most the fat taken from thekidneys: removing the veins they rubbed it briskly with rain water, boiled itdown several times in new earthenware, and then finally stored itaway. It is agreed that when salted it has increased power of softening,warming, and dispersing, and that it is more useful when washed withwine.Masurius tells us that the men ofold gave the palm to wolf's fat; that, he said, was why new brides were wont tosmear with it the door-posts to keep out all evil drugs.

XXXVIII. Corresponding to fat in other animals is suet in ruminants;used in other ways it is of no less potency. All suet is prepared bytaking out the veins, washing in seawater or salt water, and then pounding in amortar with frequent sprinklings of seawater. Afterwards it is boileduntil all smell disappears, and then by continual exposure to the sun it isbleached to a shining white. All suet from the kidneys is highly valued. But ifstale suet is being put to use, it is recommended first to melt it, thenwash it several times in cold water, and then to melt it after pouring on itwine with the most fragrant bouquet. They boil it in the same way againand again, until all the rankness disappears. Many recommend that in this wayshould be prepared the fat in particular of bulls, lions, panthers, and camels.Their use will be given in the appropriate places.

XXXIX. The various marrows too are all in use. All marrow is emollient,filling, drying, and warming. The most highly valued is that of deer, next ofcalves, and then of goats, male and female. Marrow is prepared before autumn;it should be fresh, washed, dried in the shade, then passed melted through asieve, strained through a linen cloth, and then stored away in anearthenware vessel in a cool place.

XL. But of all the parts common to animals gall by far the mostefficacious. Its nature is warming, pungent,dissolvent, extractive, and dispersive. That of the smaller animals isunderstood to be more delicate, and so is thought to be more useful for eyemedicaments. Bull's gall is particularly potent, staining even bronze and basinswith a golden colour. All gall is prepared when fresh by tying with stout threadthe mouth of the gall bladder, steeping it for half an hour in boiling water,then drying it out of the sun, and storing away in honey. That of horses aloneis condemned as a poison. Therefore the sacrificial flamen is not allowed totouch a horse, although at the public sacrifices at Rome a horse is even offeredas a victim.

XLI. Moreover the blood of horses has a corrosive power; the bloodof mares also, except that of virgin animals. It cleans out ulcers and eats awaytheir lips. Fresh bull's blood indeed is reckoned one of the poisons, except at Aegira. For there the priestess of Earth, when about to prophesy, drinks bull'sblood before she goes down into the eaves. So strong is that famous sympathy Ispeak of that it sometimes becomes active under the influence of religions aweor of a place.Drusus, tribune of thepeople, is reported to have drunk goat's blood because he wished, by his pallor,to accuse his enemy Q.Caepio of havingpoisoned him, and so to arouse hatred against him. So great is the power ofhe-goats' blood that iron tools cannot in any other way be hardened to a fineredge, and roughness is smoothed more thoroughly by it than by a file.Accordingly blood cannot be included among the remedies common to animals, andso each kind of blood will be discussed according to its effects.

XLII. For I shall arrange remedies according to each malady, serpents'bites requiring very full treatment. Nobody is unaware that deer are theirdeadly enemies, in that they drag any they may find from their holes and eatthem. Not only, however, when whole and alive are they the enemy of serpents;the parts of their body are so also. The fumes from their horns when burnt, as Ihave said, keep serpents away; but if the topmost bones of a stag's neck havebeen burnt, serpents are said to assemble. The skins of the same animal make abed in which one may sleep without fear of snakes, and the rennet taken invinegar prevents being bitten; if it is merely handled, in fact, on that day noserpent strikes. A stag's testicles dried, or the dried male organ, are in winea salutary drink; so is that stomach which is calledcentipellio.Serpents keep away from those who have about them merely a stag's tooth, or havebeen rubbed with the marrow or suet of stag or fawn. As I have already pointedout, to sovereign remedies is preferred the rennet of a young stag cut from hismother's uterus. Stag's blood, if with it are burnt on a lentisk-wood firedracontion, cunilago and anchusa, is said to collect serpents together; thenthey scatter, it is said, if in place of blood pyrethrum is added. In my Greekauthorities I find mentioned an animal that they callophion, smaller than astag and like it only in its hair, which is found nowhere save in Sardinia. Ibelieve that it is extinct today, and therefore I give no remedies from it. Thebrain and blood of a wild boar is another approved protection against serpents,as is its liver preserved and taken in wine with rue, likewise the fat withhoney and resin, and given in the same way boar's liver and thefibre only of the gall-bladder, the dose being four denarii by weight, or thebrain taken in wine. The horn or hair of she-goats, when burnt, is said to keepserpents away, and the ash from the horn, whether taken in drink or applied, tobe efficacious for their bites; as are also draughts of their milk with taminiangrapes, or of their urine with squill vinegar; so too an application of goatcheese with marjoram, or of goat suet with wax. Thousands of remedies besidesfrom the goat are given in prescriptions, as will be pointed out; ibis issurprising to me, because it is said never to be free from fever. The potency ofthe wild-goatgoats are a very numerous species, as I have said is greater, buta he-goat too has a potency of its own.Democritus also holds that if a goat is the only one at a birthhe supplies more efficacious remedies. An application also of she-goat's dungboiled down in vinegar is approved treatment for snake bite, and so is the ashof fresh dung boiled down in wine; speaking generally, slow convalescents fromsnake bite recover best in a goat's stable. Those who want more efficacioustreatment apply immediately as a plaster a slaughtered she-goat's belly cutopen, including any dung found inside. Others fumigate with fresh kid-meat, nottaking away the hair, and with the same fumes drive snakes away. They also use afresh kid-skin for the wound, or the flesh and dung of a horse fed by pastureand the rennet of a hare in vinegar; the same for scorpions and the shrewmouse.It is said that rubbing with hare's rennet protects froth being stung or bitten.Those stung by a scorpion are helped by she-goat's dung, more efficaciously ifit is boiled down in vinegar; the fat and broth of the decoction, if drunk,helps those too who have swallowed a buprestis. Moreover, if anyone says in theear of an ass that he has been stung by a scorpion, the mischief, it is said, atonce passes over into the animal, all venomous creatures run away from an ass'sburning lung, and those stung by a scorpion are benefited by fumigation with thedung of a calf.

XLIII. Wounds made by the bite of a mad dog some cut round into the quickand apply veal, giving to drink veal broth, or else axle-grease poundedwith lime, or he-goat's liver, an application of which is said to keep offentirely the dread of water. Approved treatment is also she-goat's dung appliedin wine, and to drink a decoction of the dung of badger, cuckoo and swallow. Forthe other beast-bites dried goat's cheese with marjoram is applied andrecommended to be taken in drink; to human bites is applied boiled beet boiledveal being more efficacious, if it is not taken off before the fifth day.

XLIV. Sorceries are said to be counteracted by a wolf's preservedmuzzle, and for this reason they hang one up on the gates of country houses. Thesame effect is supposed to be given by the whole fur from a wolf's neck, thelegs included, for so great is the power of the animal that, besides what I havealready stated, his footprints when trodden on by horses make them torpid.

XLV. Those who have swallowed quicksilver find a remedy in lard. Bydrinking ass's milk poisons are neutralized, especially if henbane hasbeen swallowed, or mistletoe, hemlock, sea-hare, opocarpathum, pharicum,dorycnium, or if milk has done harm by curdling, for there is poison in thefirst coagulation of it. I shall give many other uses of ass's milk, but itshould be remembered to use it when fresh, or nearly fresh and warmed, for nomilk loses its power more rapidly. The bones too of the ass, crushed and boiled,are given for the poison of the sea-hare. All these remedies are moreefficacious from the wild ass. About wild horses the Greeks have not written,because Greek lands did not breed them, but it must be inferred that allremedies from them are more potent than from the tame animal. By mare's milk areneutralized the poison of the sea-hare and arrow poisons. The Greeks had not theurus or the bison to try out, although the Indian jungles swarm with wildcattle. All the same remedies from them, however, it is reasonable to believe,are proportionally more efficacious. So cow's milk too is said to neutralizeall poisons, especially those mentioned before, and if ephemerum has gone downthe throat or Spanish fly administered, and to expel by vomiting allthe noxious substances; goat broth also to act in the same way on Spanish fly.Those poisons however that cause fatal ulceration are relieved by veal-suet orbeef-suet. But for leeches swallowed in drink butter, with vinegar warmed by hotiron, is a remedy, butter even by itself being beneficial against poisonink,for if one has no oil butter is a good substitute. It and honey togethercure the bites of millipedes. Tripe broth and also veal suet are thought toneutralize the poisons mentioned above, especially however aconite and hemlock.Fresh goat-cheese is a remedy for those who have taken mistletoe in drink, as isgoat's milk for Spanish fly, and with Taminian grapes for swallowingephenserum. Goat's blood boiled with the marrow is taken for arrow poison, kid'sfor the other poisons, kid's rennet for mistletoe, white chamaeleon and bull'sblood, for which another remedy is hare's rennet in vinegar; for the stingrayhowever, and for the stings or bites of all sea creatures, hare's rennet or thatof a kid or lamb, the dose being a drachma by weight in wine. Hare's rennet isalso an ingredient of antidotes against poisons. The moth too that flutters tothe lamplight is counted among noxious drugs; an antidote is goat's liver, asis its gall for sorcerer's potions made from the field weasel. At this point Ishall return to the various kinds of diseases.

XLVI. Bear's grease mixed with ladanum and adiantum prevents the hairfrom falling out, and cures mange, and scanty eyebrows, if mixed with thelamp-black from lamp wicks and the soot that collects in their nozzles. Mixedwith wine it cures dandruff. Good too for the last is the ash of deer's horn inwine, good also to prevent verniin from breeding in the hair, likewise goat'sgall with Cimolian chalk and vinegar, the mixture being allowed to dry a littleon the head; sow's gall too, and the urine of a bull. If indeed it should beold, with the addition of sulphur it also cures dandruff. It is thought that athicker growth of hair and prevention of greyness are given by an ass's genitalorgan reduced to ash; this should be pounded with oil iu a leaden mortar, andapplied after shaving the head. They also think that thicker hair is encouragedby applying the urine of a young ass. Nard is mixed with it because of itsnastiness. For mange is applied warmed bull's gall with Egyptian alum. Runningsores on the head are healed efficaciously by bull's urine, also by stale humanurine with the addition of cyclamen and sulphur, more efficaciously however bythe gall of a calf, which warmed with vinegar also removes nits. For sores onthe head calf's suet pounded with salt is very useful. Fox fat is alsorecommended, but especially cats' dung applied with an equal quantity ofmustard; goat's horn, ground to powder or reduced to ash, a he-goat's beingbetter, with the addition of soda, tamarisk seed, butter, and oil, the headbeing first shaved; this treatment is wonderful for preventing loss of hair,just as goat's meat, reduced to ash and applied with oil, darkens the eyebrows.Goat's milk is said to remove nits, the dung with honey to replace hair lost bymange, likewise the hoofs reduced to ash and added to pitch. Hare's fleshreduced to ash, with oil of myrtle, prevents hair from falling out. Headache isrelieved by drinking the water left after an ox or ass has drunk, and also, ifwe care to believe it, by the genital organ of a male fox fastened round thehead, and by a deer's horn reduced to ashes and applied in vinegar, rose oil, oriris oil.

XLVII. To eye fluxes is applied beef suet boiled with oil; scabrous eyesare smeared with the same and deer's born reduced to ash, but the tips bythemselves are thought to be more efficacious. Cataract is benefited by applyinground the eyes the excrement of a wolf, dimness by smearing them with its ashand Attic honey, also with bear's gall, and epinyctis with wild boar's fat androse oil. The ash of an ass's hoof smeared on the eyes with the same ass's milkremoves scars and albugo. The marrow from the right front leg of an ox, poundedand added to soot, eyelashes, affections of the eyelids and of the corners ofthe eyes (the soot for this purpose is prepared as for a calliblepharum, bestfrom a papyrus wick and sesame oil, the soot being wiped off with feathers intoa new vessel), very efficiently however it prevents the hairs once pulled outthere from growing again. From the gall of a bull with white of egg are madeeye-salves, and dissolved in water they are applied for four successive days.Calf suet with goose-grease and juice of ochnum is very good for affections ofthe eyelids. Calf marrow, with equal weights of wax and of oil or rose-oil,with an egg added, is applied to indurations of the eyelids. Eye fluxes arerelieved by an application in warm water of soft cheese made from goat's milk,or, if there is swelling, in honey; in both cases there should be fomentationwith warm whey. Dry ophthalmia is cured by taking the small loins ofpork, burning, pounding, and then placing them on the eyes. She-goats are saidnever to suffer from ophthalmia, because of certain herbs they eat, and likewisegazelles; for this reason it is recommended that at the new moon their dungshould be swallowed, coated with wax. Since they see equally well at night, itis thought that those who have no night vision (the Greeks call themnyctalopes) are cured by the blood of a he-goat, but also by theliver of a she-goat boiled down in a dry wine. Some smear the eyes with thegravy from a she-goat's roasted liver, or with its gall; they prescribeits meat as a food, and fumigation of the eyes with the steam that arises fromthe cooking; they also consider it important for the animal to have been of ared colour. They also wish the eyes to be fumigated with the steam of the liverboiled in a clay pot; some say that it should he roasted. The gall indeed ofgoats is employed in many ways; with honey for dimness; with a third part ofwhite hellebore for opaqueness of the lens; with wine for sears, albugo,dimness, pterygia, and argema; but with cabbage juice for affections of theeyelids, the hairs being first pulled out, and the application being left todry; with human milk for rupture of the eye-coats. For all purposes preservedgall is thought to be more efficacious. Goat's dung with honey is a not unvaluedointment for eye fluxes, or the marrow for eye pains, or a hare's lung,and for dimness its gall with raisin wine or honey. Wolf's fat also or pig'smarrow is prescribed as an ointment for ophthalmia. But it is said that thosewho carry a fox's tongue in a bracelet will never suffer from ophthalmia.

XLVIII. Pain in the ears and ear affectionsare cured by the urine of a wild boar kept in a glass vessel, by the gall of awild boar, pig, or ox, with citrus oil and rose oil in equal proportions, butbest of all by warm bull's gall with leek juice, or with honey should there besuppuration, and for foul odour the gall by itself warmed in a pomegranate rind.Ruptures in this region are thoroughly healed by the gall with woman's milk.Some hold that for hardness of hearing also the ears should be rinsed out withthis wash, others add serpents' slough and vinegar (they insert the mixture onwool), the ears being first rinsed with warm water, or, if the hardness ofhearing amounts to deafness, they pour in bull's gall with myrrh and rue warmedin pomegranate rind, also fat bacon; or fresh ass's dung with rose oil isinserted in drops, all being warmed. More useful is the foam of a horse, orfresh horse-dung reduced to ash and mixed with rose-oil, fresh butter, beef suetwith goose grease, she-goat's or bull's urine, or that used by fullers, stale,and warmed until the steam rises up the neck of the jar (a third part of vinegaris added and little myrrh), the dung, mixed with the gall, of a calf that hasnot tasted grass added to the slough of snakes, the ears being first warmed;these medicaments are inserted into the ears on wool. Beneficial is also vealsuet, with goose grease and juice of ocimum; the marrow of a calf mixed withrounded cummin and poured into the ear; and for tar pains the seminal fluid of ahog, caught as it drips from a sow before it can touch the ground; for fracturesof the ears the glue made from the genitals of calves and melted in water; forother affections the fat of foxes, goat's gall with warm rose-oil or with leekjuice, or, if any part of the ear has been ruptured, with woman's milk; if thereis hardness of hearing, ox gall with the urine of a goat, male or female, or ifthere is pus. But whatever the use may be, it is thought that these remedies aremore efficacious if they ate smoke-dried for twenty days in a goat's horn.Another approved treatment is a third of a denarius of hare's rennet and half adenarius of sacopenium in Ammincan wine. Parotid swellings are reduced by bear'sgrease with an equal weight of wax and bull suet (some add hypocisthis), and anapplication of butter by itself after previous fomentation with a decoction offenugreek, more efficaciously with the addition of strychnos. Beneficialalso are the testicles of foxes and bull's blood dried and pounded, she-goat'surine warmed and poured by drops into the ear, and an application of she-goat'sdung with axle-grease.

XLIX. Loose teeth are made tight by the ash of deer's horn, whichrelieves their pain, whether used as dentifrice or in a mouth wash. Someconsider more efficacious for all the same purposes the unburnt hornground to powder. Dentifrices are made in either way. A grand remedy too is awolf's head reduced to ash. It is certain that bones are generally found in theexcrements of wolves. Used as an amulet these have the same effect, and hare'srennet relieves toothache if poured through the ear. Hare's head reduced to ashmakes a dentifrice, and with nard added corrects a bad odour from the mouth.Some prefer to add as well ash from the burnt heads of mice. There is found inthe flank of a hare a bone like a needle, with Which they recommend aching teethto be scraped. The ignited pastern bone of an ox, applied to teeth that areloose and aching, tightens them; the ash of the same with myrrh makes adentifrice. The bones also of pigs' feet, when burnt, have the same effect, ashave the bones from the sockets round which the hipbones move. It is well knownthat by these, when inserted into the throat of draught cattle, worms are cured,that by them, when burnt, teeth are tightened, as they are, when loosenedthrough a blow, by ass's milk, by the ash of an ass's teeth, or by the lichen ofa horse poured with oil through the ear. This lichen is not the same as hippomanes, which being pernicious on several grounds I omit, but an excrescenceon the knees of homes and above their hoofs. Moreover, in the heart of horses isfound a bone like very large canine teeth; with this they prescribe the painfultooth to be scraped, or with the tooth, corresponding to the place of the achingtooth, extracted from the jawbone of a dead horse. Anaxilaus has informed usthat the fluid coming from mares when covered, if ignited on lamp wicks, showsweird appearances of horses' heads, and similarly with asses. But hippomanes hassuch virulent and magical properties that, added to the molten bronze for afigure of an Olympian mare, it maddens any stallions brought near with a ravingsexual lust. Teeth are also healed by workman's glue boiled down in water,applied, and shortly after taken off, the teeth immediately to be rinsed inwine in which the rind of sweet pomegranates has been boiled. It is also thoughtefficacious to rinse the teeth in goat's milk or bull's gall. The ash from afreshly-killed she-goat's pastern bones makes a popular dentifrice, and, so thatI need not repeat myself, the same is true of nearly all female farm quadrupeds.

L. It is thought that ass's milk removes wrinkles from the face, makingthe skin white and soft, and it is well known that some womenevery day bathe their cheeks in it seven times, keeping carefully to thatnumber. Poppaea, wife of the EmperorNero, began this custom, even preparingher bathtubs with the milk, and for this purpose she was always attended bytroops of she-asses. Pituitous eruptions on the face are removed by theapplication of butter, the addition of white-lead being an improvement, butspreading sores by unmixed butter with a sprinkling of barley meal on top, andulcers on the face by the membrane, still moist, that follows the birth of acalf. The following recipe may seem a trifle, but to satisfy the women I mustnot omit it: the pastern bone of a white bull-calf, boiled for forty days andnights until it melts to a jelly, and applied on a linen cloth, gives whitenessto the skin and smoothes away wrinkles. They say that bull's dung brings a rosycolour to the cheeks, though it is better to rub them with crocodilea, butbefore and after they must be bathed with cold water. Brick-red spots anddiscolorations of the skin are removed by calf dung kneaded by hand with oiland gum, sores and cracks in the mouth by veal suet or beef suet with goosegrease and juice of ocimum. There is yet another compound, veal suet with deer'smarrow and white-thorn leaves pounded together. The same effect is given bymarrow with resin, even if it is cow marrow, and by the broth from cow beef. Anexcellent cure for facial lichens is the gluey substance made from the genitalsof calves, dissolved in vinegar with native sulphur, stirred up with a figbranch and applied fresh twice a day, and the same boiled down in honey andvinegar for leprous sores, which are also removed by a warm application ofhe-goat's liver, as is leprosy by goat's gall. Moreover, leprous sores and scurfare removed by bull's gall with soda, or at the rising of the Dog-star by ass'surine; spots on the face by the gall of either animal broken up in water withoutaddition; after the skin has come away sun and winds must be avoided. A similareffect is also obtained by bull's gall or veal gall, with the seed of cunila,and the ash of deer's horn burnt at the rising of the lesser Dog-star. By asssuet their natural colour is restored to scars, especially to those removed byhe-goat's gall mixed with cheese, native left by lichen or leprous sores.Freckles too are sulphur, and sponge ash; the consistency of the mixture shouldbe that of honey. Some have preferred to use matured gall, mixing one obolus ofwarm bran and four oboli of honey, the spots being first rubbed. An efficaciousmixture is also he-goat's suet with melanthium, sulphur, and iris; for cracks inthe lips the suet with goose grease, deer's marrow, resin, and lime. I find inmy authorities that those with freckles are debarred from assisting at magicritual.

LI. Cow's milk or goat's is helpful for ulcerated tonsils or trachea. Itis used as a gargle, of the usual warmth, either newly milked or heated. Goat'smilk is more useful, boiled down with mallow and a little salt. For ulcerationof the tongue or trachea a remedy is a gargle of tripe broth, while for tonsilsare specific dried fox kidneys pounded with honey and applied, and for quinsybull's or goat's gall with honey, or badger's liver in water. Butter remediesoffensive breath and ulcerated mouth. If a pointed thing or anything else sticksin the throat, external rubbing with cat's dung is said either to bring it up orto make it pass down. Scrofulous sores are dispersed by a warm application ofwild-boar's gall or ox gall (but hare's rennet, on a linen cloth with wine, isapplied only when there is ulceration) or by the ash of the hoof of ass or horseapplied in oil or water, the urine heated, the ash of an ox's hoof in water, thehot dung in vinegar, goat suet with lime or dung boiled in vinegar, or a fox'stesticles. Soap is also good, an invention of the Gallic provinces formaking the hair red. It is made from suet and ash, the best from beech ash andgoat suet, in two kinds, thick and liquid, both being usedamong the Germans, more by men than by women.

LII. For pains in the neck it should be rubbed with butter or bear'sgrease, and for stiffness with beef suet, which with oil is good for scrofuloussores. The rigid cramp, calledopisthotonus, is relieved by she-goat's urinepoured into the ears or by an application of the dung with bulbs, crushed nailsby binding round them the gall of any animal, and whitlows by dried bull's galldissolved in hot water. Some add sulphur and alum, all the ingredients being ofequal weight.

LIII. Cough is cured by wolf's liver in warmed wine, by bear's gall mixedwith honey, by the tips of the horns of ox or cow reduced to ash, by the salivaof a horse taken for three days (they say that the horse dies), by adeer's lung dried in smoke with the gullet, then pounded in honey and takendaily as an electuary, the species of deer more efficacious for this purposebeing the subulo. Spitting of blood is cured by the ash of deer'shorn, and by hare's rennet, the dose being one third part of a denarius, withSamian earth and myrtle wine. hare's dung reduced to ash and taken in wine inthe evening cures night coughs, and inhaling the smoke of burning hare's furbrings up difficult expectorations. Purulent ulceration of the chest or lungs,and foul breath from the lungs, are very effectively relieved by butter boiledwith an equal measure of Attic honey until it turns red, the dose being aspoonful taken in the morning; some instead of honey have preferred to add larchresin. For spitting of blood it is said to be beneficial to drink ox or cowblood, a moderate amount taken in vinegar. But to trust recommendations ofbull's blood is hazardous; bull glue, however, in threeoboli doses is takenwith warm water for chronic spitting of blood.

LIV. An ulcerated stomach is cured by drinking ass's milk or cow's milk;gnawings of the stomach by beef boiled in a mixture of vinegar and wine;catarrhs by the ash of deer's horn; spitting of blood by fresh kid's-blood takenhot, in doses up to three cyathi, with an equal amount of strong vinegar, or byone part of kid's rennet with two parts of vinegar;

LV. pains of the liver by dried wolf's liver in honey wine; by driedass's liver, with two parts of rock parsley and three nuts, pounded in honey andtaken in food, and by he-goat's blood made suitable for food. For asthma,effective above all things is to drink the blood of wild horses, next to drinkwarm ass's milk, or cow's milk boiled, the part drunk being the whey only, withthe addition for every three heminae of a cyathus of white cress steeped inwater and then tempered with honey. A fox's liver or lung also in dark wine, orbear's gall in water, loosens the breath passage.

LVI. Pains in the loins and all other complaints needingemollients should be treated by rubbing with bear's grease, or the ash of wildboar's or pig's dried dung should be sprinkled in a draught of wine. [The Magitoo add their usual lies: first of all, that the madness of he-goats is soothedif their beard is stroked, and if itis cut off, they do not stray to another herd.] For sciatica they apply cow-dungheated in leaves over hot embers. With this dung they mix goat's dung,prescribing that as much as it can contain should be held hot in the hollow ofthe hand, a linen cloth soaked in oil being placed underneath; if the left sideaches the medicament should be held in the right hand, and vice versa; the dungfor this purpose, they say, must be taken up with the point of a bronze needle.The treatment is continued until the warmth is felt to have reached the loins;afterwards they rub the hand with pounded leek, the loins also with the dungitself and honey. For this pain they also recommend sufferers to swallow ahare's testicles. For pain in the kidneys they prescribe the kidneys of a hareto be swallowed raw, or if boiled at least not to be touched by a tooth. Bowelpain indeed never, they say, afflicts those who carry about them the pasternbone of a hare.

LVII. The spleen is relieved by wild boar's or pig's gall taken by themouth, by ash of deer's horn in vinegar, but most efficaciously by matured ass'sspleen, with the result that benefit is felt within three days. The first dungpassed by an ass's foal, calledpolea, is administered by the Syrians inoxymel. There is also administered in wine as a sovereign remedy the driedtongue of a horse, as Caecilius Bion reports that he learnt from foreigners.Spleen of ox or cow is administered in a similar way; if fresh it is roasted orboiled and taken in food. There are also applied for pains in the spleen twentycrushed heads of garlic in the bladder of an ox with a sextarius of vinegar. Forthe same purpose the Magi recommend a calf's spleen to be bought at theprice asked, without any haggling, attention to this also affecting the efficacyof the ritual. This spleen should be divided lengthwise and attached to thepatient's tunic on both sides. As he puts it on, the patient should allow thespleen to fall to his feet, then pick it up and dry in the shade. At the sametime as this happens, the diseased spleen of the patient is said to shrink, andhe himself to be freed from his complaint. Beneficial too is fox lung dried onembers and taken in water, and kids' spleen applied locally.

LVIII. Binding to the bowels are stag's blood, stag's horn reduced toash, wild boar's liver taken in wine, unsalted and fresh, the same liverroasted, pig's liver, he-goat's liver boiled down to one fifth in wine, hare'srennet of the size of a chick-pea in wine, or if there is fever, in watersomeadd a gall-nut, others are content with hare's blood by itselfboiled milk,horse dung reduced to ash in a draught of water, the root of an old horn of abull reduced to ash and sprinkled on a draught of water, he-goat's blood boileddown over charcoal, the juice, taken by the mouth, of goat's skin boiled downwith the hair on, horse rennet and goat's blood, marrow, or liver. The bowelsare loosened by wolf's gall applied to the navel with elaterium, or by draughtsof mare's milk, or of goat's milk with salt and honey, by she-goat's gall withjuice of eyclamen and a little alumsome prefer to add both soda andwaterbull's gall pounded with wormwood and used in the form of a lozenge as asuppository, and by large doses of butter. Those with coeliac disorder ordysentery are benefited by cow's liver, a three-finger pinch of the ash ofdeer's horn taken in a draught of water, by hare's rennet kneaded in bread, butin pearl barley if blood is brought away, and by ash of wild boar's, pig's, orhare's dung sprinkled on a draught of warm wine. It is also reported that vealbroth is a popular remedy to relieve sufferers from coeliac disorder ordysentery. Ass's milk makes a more beneficial draught with the addition ofhoney, the dung, reduced to ash and taken in wine, is no less efficacious foreither complaint, poke too, which I mentioned just now, horse's rennet,that some call hippace, even if blood is brought away, or the dung ashand crushed teeth of the same animal, a health-giving powder, and taken withboiled cow's milk. For dysentery is prescribed the addition of a little honey,and if there are griping pains to apply to the navel the ash of deer's horn orbull's gall mixed with cnmmin, and the fleshy parts of a gourd. New cheese madefrom cow's milk is injected for both complaints, so also four heminae of butterwith two ounces of terebinth resin, or with a decoction of mallows, or with roseoil. There is administered also veal suet, beef suet, or the marrow (they areboiled with a little flour and wax, and with oil, so that to drink the mixtureis possible, and the marrow is also kneaded in bread), and goat's milk boileddown to one half; if there is also griping, proiropum is added. It isthought by some that a sufficient remedy for griping is even a single dose ofhare's rennet taken in warm wine; more careful people also apply asembrocation to the belly goat's blood with barley meal and resin. For all fluxesfrom the belly an application of soft cheese is recommended, but matured cheesepowdered a is used for coeliac disorders and dysentery, the dose being a cyathus of cheese in three cyathi of ordinary wine. A decoction of goat's bloodwith goat's marrow is beneficial for dysentery, roasted she-goat's liver forcoeliac complaints, or, better still, that of a he-goat boiled down in dry wineand drunk, or applied to the navel in myrtle oil. Some boil it down from three sextarii of water to one hemina with rue added. They also use the roasted spleenof a she-goat or he-goat with the suet of a he-goat in bread baked over hotashes, the best suet being from the kidneys of a she-goat, which should beswallowed by itself, and be immediately followed by a draught of moderately coldwater. Some prescribe also a decoction of the suet in water, made into a stewwith other ingredientspearl barley, cummin, dill, and vinegar. They also rubthe belly of sufferers from coeliac disorders with a decoction of honey andgoat's dung. For both complaints they also use kid's rennet, of the size of abean, taken in myrtle wine, or kid's blood made into a food, called 'bloodpudding.' They also inject into dysentery patients bull glue dissolved in hotwater. Flatulence is dispersed by calf dung boiled down in wine. Disorders ofthe intestines are greatly benefited by a decoction of deers' rennet withlentils and beet, and so taken in food, by the ash of hare's fur boiled downwith honey, by a draught of goat's milk boiled down with mallows with theaddition of a little salt; if goat's rennet too is added the beneficial effectswill be much greater. The same is the effect of goat's suet in some kind ofstew, to be immediately followed by a draught of cold water. A kid's hams alsoreduced to ash are said to be wonderfully healing to intestinal rupture, and thedung of a hare, boiled down with honey and taken daily in doses the size of abean, to be so beneficial as they have cured desperate cases. Highly recommendedalso is the broth of a goat's head with the fur still on.

LIX. Tenesmus, that is a frequent and ineffectual desire to go to stool,is removed by drinking ass's milk, or cow's milk. Worms are expelled by ash ofdeer's horn, taken in drink. The bones that I have said are found in theexcrements of a wolf, tied on to the arm as an amulet without touching theearth, are a cure for colitis. Polea also, mentioned above, is of great benefitif boiled down in sapa, likewise too powdered pig's dung and cummin in thewater of a decoction of rue, and young deer's horn reduced to ash, mixed withAfrican snails pounded with their shells and taken in a draught of wine.

LX. The tortures of stone in the bladder are relieved by the urine of awild boar and by his bladder itself taken as food; both remedies are moreefficacious if first thoroughly smoked. The bladder should be eaten boiled, andbe a sow's if the patient is a woman. There are also found in the liver of theseanimals little stones, or hard substances like stones, white, and like thosefound in the liver of the common pig. These, crushed and taken in wine, are saidto expel stone. His own urine is such a burden to the boar himself that unlesshe has voided it he is not strong enough for flight, and is overcome as ifspellbound. It is said that the urine dissolves the stone. Stone is alsoexpelled by a hare's kidneys, dried and taken in wine. In the ham jointsof pigs I have said there are bones the broth from which is beneficial forurinary disorders. The kidneys of an ass, dried, pounded, and given in neatwine, cure complaints of the bladder. The excrescences on the legs of horses,taken for forty days in wine or honey wine, expel stone. Beneficial too is theash of a horse's hoof in wine or water, the dung also in honey wine ofshe-goats, that of wild goats being more efficacious, the ash also of goat'shair, while for carbuncles on the privates are used the brains and blood of awild boar or pig. Creeping sores however in the same part are cured by the burntliver of these animals, best if the fire is of juniper wood, mixed with paperand orpiment, by their dung reduced to ash, by ox gall with Egyptian alum andmyrrh, kneaded to the consistency of honey, moreover by an application of beetboiled in wine, also by beef; but running ulcers by beef suet with the marrow ofa calf boiled down in wine, by goat's gall with honey and blackberry juice, evenif the sores are spreading. They say that goat's dung too with honey or vinegaris beneficial, and also butter by itself. Swelling of the testicles is reducedby veal suet with the addition of soda, or by calf's dung boiled down invinegar. Incontinence of urine is checked by a wild-boar's bladder, if eatenroasted, by the ash of a wild-boar's or pig's hoofs sprinkled on a drink, by thebladder of a sow burnt and taken in drink, of a kid also, or by its lung, by thebrain of a hare in wine, by a hare's roasted testicles, or the rennet, withgoose grease in pearl barley, or by the kidneys of an ass pounded in neat wineand drunk. The Magi recommend that, after drinking in sweet wine a boar'sgenital organ reduced to ash, the patient should make water in a dog's bed andadd a prayer, that he may not himself make water, as a dog does, in hisown bed. On the other hand, the bladder of a pig is diuretic, if, withouttouching the ground, it is applied to the pubic part.

LXI. Complaints of the anus are greatly benefited by bear's galland bear's fat; some add litharge and frankincense. Beneficial too is butterwith goose grease and rose oil; the quantities are determined by circumstances;the mixture must be easy to apply. Greatly beneficial too is bull's gall inscraps of linen; it makes chaps to cicatrize. Swellings in that part of the bodyare reduced by veal suet, especially by that from the groin, with rue; othercomplaints are cured by goat's blood with pearl barley, condylomata by goat'sgall by itself, or by wolf's gall in wine. Superficial and other abscesses inany part are dispersed by bear's blood, and likewise by bull's dried andpowdered. The finest remedy, however, is said to be the stone which the wild assis reported to pass in his urine when he is being killed; more fluid than it atfirst, it grows thick when on the ground. This stone fastened to the thigh as anamulet disperses all inflamed swellings and clears away any suppuration. It isfound, however, rarely and not always in the wild ass, but it is wonderfullyfamous as a remedy. Beneficial also is the urine of an ass with melanthium, ahorse's hoof reduced to ash and applied with oil and water, the blood of ahorse, especially of a stallion, and the blood or gall of an ox or cow. Beef toohas the same effect if applied hot, the ash of the hoof in water or honey, theurine of she-goats, the flesh too of he-goats boiled down in water or their dungboiled down with honey, a boar's gall, and a pigs' urine applied on wool. It iswell known that riding on a horse chafes and galls the inner side of the thighs;most useful for all such troubles is to rub on the groin the foam from the mouthof a horse. The groin also swells because of sores; the remedy is to tie withinthe sore three horse hairs with three knots.

LXII. Gout is benefited by bear's grease and bull suet with an equalweight of wax as well; to which some add hypocisthis and gall nut. Others preferhe-goat suet with the dung of a she-goat and with saffron, mustard, poundedstalks of ivy, and perdicium or the blossom of wild cucumber. Highly praisedalso is ox dung with lees of vinegar and the dung of a calf that has not yettasted grass, or, by itself, the blood of a bull, a fox boiled down alive untilonly the bones remain, or a wolf boiled alive in oil as though to make awax-salve, he-goat's suet with an equal quantity of helxine, a third part ofmustard, calcined goat's dung and axle-grease. Moreover, to put a burning-hotpoultice of this dung under the big toes is said to be excellent for sciatica,and bear's gall very useful for diseases of the joints, as are also the feet ofa hare worn as an amulet, while gouty pains are alleviated by a hare's foot, cutoff from the living animal, if the patient carries it about continuously on theperson. Chilblains and all chaps on the feet are healed by bear's grease, moreefficaciously with the addition of alum, by goat suet, by a horse's teeth groundto powder, by the gall and fat of a wild boar or pig, by the lung applied tothem even if they are chafed or broken by a knock, but if they are frost bites,by a hare's fur reduced to ash; if they are broken, by the lung of the sameanimal cut up or reduced to ash. Sunburns are most beneficially treated by asssuet, and also by suet of an ox or cow with rose oil. Corns, chaps, and callusesare cured by an application of fresh wild-boar's dung, or pig's, taken off onthe third day, by their pastern bones reduced to ashes, by the lung of wildboar, pig, or deer; chafing from shoes by the application of an ass's urine withthe mud made by it; corns by beef suet with powdered frankincense; chilblains,however, by burnt leather, if from an old shoe so much the better, sores fromfootwear by the ash of goat leather in oil. The pains of varicose veins arealleviated by the ash of calf's dung boiled down with the bulbs of a lily, withthe addition of a little honey, and so are all inflamed places that threaten tosuppurate. The same preparation is good for gout and diseases of the joints,especially if it is taken from a male calf, for chafed joints the gall of wildboars or of pigs applied in a heated linen cloth, the dung of a calf that hasnot tasted grass, also the dung of goats boiled down in vinegar with honey.Scabrous nails are cured by veal suet, also by goat suet mixed with sanderach.Warts however are removed by the ash of calf's dung in vinegar, or by the urinewith its mud of an ass.

LXIII. For epilepsy it is beneficial to eat a bear's testes or totake those of a wild boar in mare's milk or water, likewise wild-boar's urine inoxymel, with increased efficacy if it has dried in his bladder. There are alsogiven the testicles of pigs dried and pounded in sow's milk, abstinence fromwine preceding and following for ten days. There are also given the lungs of ahare preserved in salt, with a third part of frankincense, taken in white winefor thirty days; likewise a hare's rennet, an ass's brain in hydromel, firstsmoked on burning leaves, half an ounce a day for five days, or an ass's hoofsreduced to ash and two spoonfuls taken in drink for a whole month, likewise histestes preserved in salt and sprinkled on drink, preferably on ass's milk, or onwater. The odour of the afterbirth of she-asses, especially if they have had amale foal, inhaled on the approach of a fit, repels it. There are some whorecommend eating with bread the heart of a black jackass in the open air on thefirst or second day of the moon, some the flesh, others drinking for forty daysthe blood diluted with vinegar. Certain people mix an ass's urine with smithywater in which hot iron has been dipped, and use the same draught to treatdelirious raving. To epileptics is also given mare's milk to drink, theexcrescence on a horse's leg taken in oxymel; there is given too goat's fleshroasted on a funeral pyre, as the Magi would have it, goat suet boiled down withan equal weight of bull's gall stored in the gall bladder without touching theearth, and taken in water with the patient standing upright. The disease itselfis detected by the fumes of burnt goat's horn or deer's horn. Rubbing with theurine of an ass's foal mixed with nard is said to be beneficial to theplanet-struck.

LXIV. Jaundice is cured within two days by deer's horn reduced to ash, bythe blood of an ass, likewise by the dung of an ass's foal, the first topass afterbirth, of the size of a bean and taken in wine. The first dung tooof a young colt, administered in a similar way, has the same effect.

LXV. For broken bones a sovereign remedy is the ash of the jawbone of awild boar or of a pig; likewise boiled bacon-fat, tied round thefracture, heals with marvellous rapidity. For broken ribs however the highestpraise is given to goat's dung in old wine; it opens, extracts, andcompletely heals.

LXVI. Fevers are kept away by the flesh of deer, as I have said,those indeed which return at fixed intervals by the salted right eye of awolf worn as an amulet if we are to believe the Magi. There is a kind of fevercalledamphemerinos. It is said that he is freed from this who drinks threedrops of blood from an ass's ear in two heminae of water. For quartans the Magiprescribe the excrement of a cat with the claw of a horned owl worn as anamulet, and to prevent a relapse the amulet should not be removed before theseventh periodic return. Who pray could have made this discovery? What sort ofcombination is this? Why was an owl's claw chosen rather than anything else?Some more moderate people have prescribed the salted liver of a cat killed whenthe moon is on the wane, to be taken in wine before the access of a quartan. TheMagi also apply to the toes and fingers ox or cow dung reduced to ash andsprinkled with children's urine. They use the heart of a hare as an amulet, andgive hare's rennet before each access. There is also given with honey freshgoat's cheese with the whey carefully pressed out.

LXVII. A remedy for melancholia is calf's dung boiled down in wine.Victims of lethargy are amused by applying to the nostrils in vinegar theexcrescence on the leg of an ass, by the fumes from goat's horns or goat's hair,and by wild boar's liver; accordingly it is also administered to the comatose.Consumptives are benefited by wolf's liver in thin wine, by the lard of a sowfed on herbs, and by ass's flesh taken in its gravy. This treatment for thecomplaint is very popular in Achaia. The smoke also from dried dung of an ox fedon green fodder, inhaled through a reed, is said to be beneficial, or the burnttip of the horn of an ox, the dose being two spoonful, with the addition ofhoney, swallowed in pills. It is held by not a few authorities that byshe-goat's suet in groat porridge consumption and cough are cured, or by freshsuet melted with honey wine, an ounce of suet added to a cyathus of wine andstirred with a spray of rue. An authoritative writer assures us that adespaired-of consumptive has recovered by being treated with a cyathus ofmountain-goat suet and the same amount of the milk. Some have written that pig'sdung reduced to ash, taken in misinwine, has proved of value, or the lung of astag, especially a subulo, dried in smoke and pounded in wine.

LXVIII. Good for dropsy is urine from the bladder of a wild boargiven little by little in the drink, that being more beneficial which has driedup with its bladder, the ash of bull's dung especially but also that ofoxenherd animals I mean; it is calledbolbitonthree spoonfuls in a hemina ofhoney wine, cow dung for women, bull dung for men (the Magi have made a sort ofmystery of this distinction), the dung of a bull calf applied locally, ash ofcalf dung with staphylinus seed in equal proportions taken in wine, and goat'sblood with goat's marrow. That of a he-goat is considered more beneficial,especially if he has browsed on lentisk.

LXIX. There is applied for erysipelas bear's fat, especially that on thekidneys, fresh dung of calves or cattle, dried goat's cheese with leek,scrapings of deer's skin rubbed off with pumice and pounded in vinegar. Forinflamed itch the foam of a horse or the ash of his hoof; for pituitouseruptions ass's dung reduced to ash with butter; for black pimples dried goat'scheese in honey and vinegar, applied in the bath, no oil being used, forpustules pig's dung reduced to ash and applied in water, or the ash of deer'shorn,

LXX. for dislocations the freshdung of wild boar or of pig, orof calves, the fresh foam of a boar with vinegar, the dung of a goat withhoney, an application of beef, and for swellings pig's dung warmed in an earthenpot and beaten up with oil. All indurations of the body are best removed by anapplication of wolf's fat. In the case of sores that need to break the mostbeneficial application is ox dung warmed on hot cinders or goat's dung boileddown in wine or vinegar, for boils beef suet with salt, or if there is painmelted with oil without salt, similarly with goat suet;

LXXI. for burns bear's grease with lilyroots, dried dung of wild boar or of pig, the ash of pig's bristles fromplasterers' brushes beaten up with pig fat, the ash of the pastern bone of bullor cow with wax and deer marrow, bull's gall, hare's dung; but the dung ofshe-goats is said to heal without a scar. The finest glue is made from the earsand genitals of bulls, and there is no better remedy for burns, but it is moreadulterated than any other, a decoction being made from any old skins and evenfrom shoes. The most reliable glue comes from Rhodes, which is used by paintersand physicians. The Rhodian too is the more approved the whiter it is; the darkand wood-like is rejected.

LXXII. It is thought that for pains in the sinews, even if pus ispresent there, the most beneficial remedy is a decoction of goat's dung invinegar with honey. Strains and injuries from a blow are treated withwild-boar's dung collected in spring and dried; the same remedy is also good forcharioteers who have been dragged along, or wounded by a wheel, or bruised inany way, even if the dung is applied while fresh. There are some who think itmore beneficial to boil the dung in vinegar. Moreover, they assure us that thisdung, reduced to powder and taken in drink, is curative of ruptures and sprains;for falls from vehicles it should be taken in vinegar. The more recentauthorities reduce it to ash and take in water, saying that even theEmperorNero used to refresh himselfwith this draught, since he was ready even by this means to distinguish himselfin the three-horse chariot-race. They think that the next most efficacious dungis that of pigs.

LXXIII. Bleeding is stayed by deer's rennet in vinegar, by hare's also,by the latter reduced to ash with the fur, also by the application of ass's dungreduced to ashthe effect is more powerful if the ass is male, vinegar mixedwith the ash, and wool used for the application to any haemorrhage, horse dungbeing similarly used, by the head and thighs, or dung, of calves, reduced to ashand applied in vinegar, also by the ash in vinegar of goat's horn ordung. The sanies, however, exuding from he-goat's liver when cut up ismore efficacious, as is the liver of goats of either sex, reduced to ash andtaken in wine or applied to the nostrils in vinegar, or the leather of ahe-goat, but only that of a wine bottle, reduced to ash and with an equal weightof resin, by which remedy bleeding is stayed and the wonnd closed. Kid's rennetalso in vinegar and kid's thighs burnt to ash are reported to be similarlyeffective.

LXXIV. Ulcers on the shins or shanks arc healed by bear's grease mixedwith ruddle, but spreading ulcers by wild boar's gall with resin and white lead,by the jawbones of wild boars or pigs reduced to ash, by the application ofdried pigs'-dung, also by goat's dung, kneaded in vinegar and warmed. The otherkinds of sores are cleansed and filled up by butter, by the ash of deer's hornor by deer's marrow, by bull's gall with cyprus oil or he-goat's dung.To wounds inflicted with iron is applied pigs' dung, either fresh or driedand powdered. Injected into phagedaenic ulcers and fistulas is bull's gall withjuice of leek or woman's milk, or else dried blood with the herb cotyledon.Cancerous sores are treated with hare's rennet and an equal weight of capersprinkled in wine, gangrenes by bear's gall applied with a feather, spreadingulcers by the ash of ass's hoofs sprinkled over them. Flesh is eaten away by thecorrosive action of horse's blood and by the ash of dried horse-dung, but theulcers coming under the class they call phagedaenic by the ash of ox-hide withhoney. Veal prevents fresh wounds from swelling. Foul ulcers and those calledmalignant are healed by dung of ox or cow with honey, or by the ash of calf'sdung in woman's milk, fresh wounds inflicted with iron by melted bull's glue,which is taken off on the third day. Ulcers are cleansed by dry goat's-cheese invinegar and honey, while spreading ulcers are checked by goat suet with wax, andthe addition of pitch and sulphur makes the cure complete. In a similar waymalignant ulcers are improved by the ash of a kid's thighs in woman's milk, andfor carbuncles are used a sow's brains, roasted and applied.

LXXV. For itch in men the best cure is the marrow of theass, or ass's urine applied with its own mud, butter likewise, which with warmresin also benefits itch in draught animals, bull glue melted in vinegar andwith lime added, goat gall with the ash of alum; ox or cow dung is good forbovae, whence comes the name of the disease. Itch in dogs is cured by thefresh blood of ox or cow, applied again when it is dry, and on the following daywashed off with lye ash.

LXXVI. Thorns and similar objects are extracted by a cat'sexcrements, also by a she-goat's in wine, by any kind of rennet but especiallyby hare's with powdered frankincense and oil, or else with an equal weight ofmistletoe, or with bee glue. Black scars are brought back to the original colourby ass's suet, and made fainter by warmed calf's gall. Physicians add myrrh,honey and saffron, and keep in a bronze box; some add to the mixture flower ofbronze.

LXXVII. The purgings of women are aided by bull's gall applied as a pessary in unwashed woolOlympias, a woman of Thebes added suint and sodaby ashof deer's horn taken in drink, and uterine troubles by an application also ofthis, and by twooboli pessaries of bull's gall and poppy juice. It isbeneficial also to fumigate the uterus with deer's hair. It is reported thathinds, when they realise that they are pregnant, swallow a little stone which,found in their excrements or in the uterusfor it is found there alsopreventsmiscarriage if worn as an amulet. There are also found in the heart and in theuterus little bones that are very useful to women who are pregnant or inchild-bed. But about the pumice-like stone which in a similar way is found inthe uterus of cows I have spoken when dealing with the nature of oxen. Theuterus is softened by an application of wolf's fat, pains there by wolf's liver,but to have eaten the flesh of the wolf is beneficial for women near delivery,or at the beginning of labour the near presence of one who has eaten it, so muchso that sorceries put upon the woman are counteracted. But for such a person toenter during delivery is a deadly danger. The hare is also of great use towomen. The uterus is benefited by the dried lung taken in drink, fluxes by theliver taken in water with Samian earth, the afterbirth is eased by hare'srennetthe bath must be avoided the day beforeby the rennet applied also withsaffron and leek juice; a pessary of it in raw wool brings away a dead foetus.If the uterus of the hare is taken in food, it is believed that males areconceived; that the same result is obtained by eating its testicles and rennet;that the foetus of a hare, taken from its uterus, brings a renewed fertility towomen who are passed child-bearing. But the sanies of a hare is given by theMagi even to the male partner that conception may occur, and likewise to amaiden nine pellets of hare's droppings to make the breasts permanently firm.They also use for this purpose the rennet with honey as liniment, and the bloodto prevent hairs plucked out from growing again. For inflation of the uterus itis beneficial to make with oil a liniment of wild boar's dung or pig's. Moreefficacious is the dried dung reduced to powder to sprinkle in the drink, evenif the woman is suffering the pains of pregnancy or childbirth. By drinkingsow's milk with honey wine childbirth is eased, while taken by itself itrefills the drying breasts of nursing mothers. These swell less if rubbed roundwith a sow's blood. If they are painful they are soothed by drinking ass's milk,which taken with the addition of honey is also beneficial for the purgings ofwomen. Ulcerations also of the uterus are healed by the dried suet of the sameanimal, which applied in raw wool as a pessary softens uterine indurations,while by itself either fresh or dried suet, applied in water, acts as adepilatory. Dried ass's spleen, applied in water to the breasts, produces anabundant supply of milk, and used in fumigation corrects displacement of theuterus. Fumigation with ass's hoofs hastens delivery, so that even a deadfoetus is extracted; only then is the treatment applied, for it kills a livinginfant. Ass's dung applied fresh is said to be a wonderful reliever of fluxes ofblood, as is also the ash of the same dung, an application which is alsobeneficial to the uterus. By horse's foam, applied for forty days before theyfirst grow, hairs are prevented, also by a decoction of deer's horns, which ismore beneficial if the horns are new. It is beneficial to wash out the uteruswith mare's milk. But if the foetus is felt to be dead, it is expelled by takingin fresh water the excrescence from the leg of a mare, also by fumigation withthe hoof or the dried dung. An injection of butter stays prolapsus of theuterus. A hardened uterus is opened by ox gall mixed with rose oil, with anexternal application of terebinth resin on unwashed wool. They say thatprolapsus of the uterus is corrected also by fumigation with the dung of an ox,that delivery is aided, and conception also, by drinking cow's milk. It iscertain that sterility may result from sufferings at childbirth. This kind ofbarrenness, we are assured by Olympias of Thebes, is cured by bull's gall,serpents' fat, copper rust and honey, rubbed on the parts before intercourse.Calf's gall also, sprinkled on the uterus during menstruation just beforeintercourse, softens even indurations of the bowels checks the flow if rubbed onthe navel, and is generally beneficial to the uterus. The amount of gallprescribed is a denarius by weight; this and a third part of poppy juice, withas much almond oil as seems to be called for. The mixture is laid on unwashedwool. A bull-calf's gall beaten up with half the quantity of honey is storedaway for uterine complaints. If women about the time of conception eat roastedveal with aristolochia, they are assured that they will bring forth a malechild. A calf's marrow, boiled down in wine and water with calf's suet andapplied to an ulcerated uterus, is beneficial, as is the fat of foxes with theexcrement of cats, the last being applied with resin and rose oil. It is thoughtthat to fumigate the uterus with goat's horn is very beneficial. The blood ofwild she-goats with sea palm acts as a depilatory, while of other she-goats thegall softens callus of the uterus if sprinkled on it, and after a menstruationcauses conception; such an application also acts as a depilatory; afterthe hairs are pulled out it is kept on for three days. Midwives assure us that aflux, however copious, is stayed by drinking the urine of a she-goat, or if anapplication is made of her dung. The membrane that covers the newborn offspringof she-goats, kept fill dry and taken in wine, brings away the afterbirth. Tofumigate the uterus with the hairs of kids is thought to be beneficial, and itis so for a flux of blood if kid's rennet is taken in drink, or applied locallywith seed of hyoscyamus. Osthanes says that if the loins of a woman are rubbedthoroughly with the blood of a tick from a black wild-bull, she will bedisgusted with sexual intercourse, and also with her love if she drinks theurine of a he-goat, nard being added to disguise the foul taste.

LXXVIII. For babies nothing is more beneficial than butter, either byitself or with honey, especially when they are troubled with teething,sore gums, or ulcerated mouth. The tooth of a wolf tied on as an amulet keepsaway childish terrors and ailments due to teething, as does also a piece ofwolf's skin. Indeed the largest teeth of wolves tied as an amulet even on horsesare said to give them unwearied power of speed. Hare's rennet applied to themothers' breasts checks the diarrhoea of babies. Ass's liver mixed with amoderate amount of panaces and let drip into the mouth protects babies fromepilepsy and other diseases; the treatment, it is prescribed, should continuefor forty days. Ass's hide laid on babies keeps them free from fears. The firstteeth of horses to fall out make the cutting of teeth easy for babies who wearthem as an amulet, a more efficacious one if the teeth have not touched theground. Ox spleen in honey is administered internally and externally for painfulspleen; for running sores with honey ... a calf's spleen boiled in wine,beaten up, and applied to little sores in the mouth. The brain of a she-goat,passed through a golden ring, is given drop by drop by the Magi to babies,before they are fed with milk, to guard them from epilepsy and other diseases ofbabies. Restless babies, especially girls, are quietened by an amulet of goat'sdung wrapped in a piece of cloth. Rubbing the gums with goat's milk or hares'brains makes easy the cutting of teeth.

LXXIX.Cato thought that to takehare as food is soporific, and a popular belief is that it also addscharm to the person for nine days, a flippant pun, but so strong a belief musthave some justification. According to the Magi the gall of a she-goatshe mustbe an animal sacrificedinduces sleep if applied to the eyes or placed under thepillow. Sweats are checked by rubbing the body with myrtle oil and ash of goat'shorn.

LXXX. Aphrodisiacs are: an application ofwild-boar's gall, pig's marrow swallowed, or an application of ass's suet mixedwith a gander's grease; also the fluid that Virgil too describes as coming froma mare after copulation, the testicles of a horse, dried so that they may bepowdered into drink, the right testis of an ass taken in wine, or a portion ofit worn as an amulet on a bracelet; or the foam of an ass after copulation,collected in a red cloth and enclosed, asOsthanes tells us, in silver.Salpeprescribes an ass's genital organ to be plunged seven times into hot oil, andthe relevant parts to be rubbed therewith, Dalion the ash from it to be taken indrink, or the urine of a bull after copulation to be drunk, or the mud itselfmade by it applied to the pubic parts. On the other hand antaphrodisiac for menis an application of mouse's dung. Intoxication is kept away by the roastedlung of a wild boar or pig, taken in food the same day on an empty stomach, orthe lung used may be that of a kid.

LXXXI. In addition, wonderful things are reported of the same animals: that if a horse casts his shoe, as often happens, and some one picks it up and puts it away, it is a cure of hiccoughs in those who remember where they have put it; that a wolf's liver is like a horse's hoof; that horses burst themselves which, carrying a rider, follow the tracks of wolves; that there is a kind of quarrelsome force in the pastern bones of pigs; that if, in case of fire, a little dung is brought out of the stables, sheep and oxen are more easily pulled out and do not run back; that the flesh of he-goats does not taste strong if on the day they are killed they have eaten barley bread or drunk diluted laser; that no meat, salted when the moon is on the wane, is eaten by maggots. So much care has been taken to leave nothing out, that I find that a deaf hare fattens more quickly, and that there are also medicines made for animals: it is prescribed that if draught cattle suffer from haemorrhage, there should be injected pig's dung in wine; and that for the diseases of oxen suet, native sulphur, and a decoction of wild garlic, should all be pounded and given in wine, or else fox fat; that horse flesh thoroughly boiled and taken in drink cures the diseases of pigs, while those of all quadrupeds are cured by a she-goat boiled whole with the hide and a bramble toad; that chickens are not touched by foxes if they have eaten dried fox-liver, or if the cocks have trodden the hens wearing a piece of fox skin round their necks; similarly with a weasel's gall; that the oxen in Cyprus eat human excrement to cure themselves of colic; that the hoofs of oxen are not chafed underneath if the bases of their horns are first rubbed with liquid pitch; that wolves do not enter a field if one is caught, his legs broken, a knife driven into the body, the blood sprinkled a little at a time around the boundaries of that field, and the body itself buried in that place at which the dragging of it began; or if the share, with which that year the first furrow of that field was cut, is knocked from the plough and burnt on the hearth of the Lares where the family assemble, a wolf will harm no animal in that field so long as the custom is kept up. We will now turn to animals in a peculiar class by themselves, which are not either tame or wild.

I. THE nature of remedies, and the great number of those alreadydescribed or waiting to be described, compel me to say more about the artof medicine itself, although I am aware that no one hitherto has treated thesubject in Latin, and that the judgement passed on all new endeavours isuncertain, especially on such as arc barren of all charm, and the difficulty ofsetting them forth is so great. But since it is likely to come into the minds ofall students of the subject to ask why ever things ready to hand and appropriatehave become obsolete in medical practice, the thought occurs at once that it isboth a wonder and a shame that none of the arts has been more unstable, or evennow more often changed, although none is more profitable. To its pioneersmedicine assigned a place among the gods and a home in heaven, and even todaymedical aid is in many ways sought from the oracle. Then medicine became morefamous even through sin, for legend said that Aesculapius was struck by lightning for bringingTyndareus back to life. But medicine didnot cease to give out that by its agency other men had come to life again, beingfamous in Trojan times, in which its renown was more assured, but only for thetreatment of wounds.

II. Thesubsequent story of medicine, strange to say, lay hidden in darkest night downto the Peloponnesian War, when it was restored to the light byHippocrates, who was born in the veryfamous and powerful island of Cos, sacred to Aesculapius. It had been the customfor patients recovered from illness to inscribe in the temple of that god anaccount of the help that they had received, so that afterwards similar remediesmight be enjoyed. AccordinglyHippocrates,it is said, wrote out these inscriptions, and, as our countrymanVarro believes, after the temple hadbeen burnt, founded that branch of medicine called 'clinical.' Afterwards therewas no limit to the profit from medical practice, for one of the pupils ofHippocrates, Prodicus, born in Selymbria, foundediatraliptice ('ointment cure'), and so discovered revenue for theanointers even and drudges of the doctors.

III. Changes from their tenets were made, with a flood of verbiage, by Chrysippus, and fromChrysippus also a violent change wasmade by his pupilErasistratus, a son ofthe daughter ofAristotle. For curingKingAntiochus he received a hundredtalents from KingPtolemy, his son, tobegin my account of the prizes also of the profession.

IV. Another medical clique, calling themselves 'Empirics' because theyrelied on experience, arose in Sicily, where Acron of Agrigentum received support fromEmpedocles, the physical scientist.

V. These schools disagreed with each other, and were all condemned by Herophilus, who dividedpulsation into rhythmic feet for the various periods of life. Then this sectalso was abandoned, because it was necessary for its members to have booklearning, and that sect also was changed that afterwards had been founded, as Ihave related, by Asclepiades. He had a pupil calledThemison, who at first followedhis master, but then later in life he also changed his tenets, a further changebeing made byAntonius Musa, anotherpupil ofAsclepiades, with the supportof the late EmperorAugustus, whose lifein a dangerous illness he had saved by reversing the treatment. I pass over manyfamous physicians, among them men likeCassius,Calpetanus,Arruntius andRubrius. Two hundred andfifty thousand sesterces were their annual incomes from the Emperors. Q.Stertinius said that the Emperors werein his debt because he had been content with an income of five hundred thousandsesterces a year, proving by a counting of homes that his city practice hadbrought in six hundred thousand. A like fortune also was showered byClaudius Caesar upon his brother, andthe estates, although exhausted by beautifying Naples with buildings, left tothe heir thirty million, Arruntius alone in the same age leaving as much. Thenthere aroseVettius Valens, celebratedfor his intrigue withMessalina, wife ofClaudius Caesar, and equally so for hiseloquence. Chancing to gain followers and power he founded a new sect. The samegeneration in the principate of Nero rushed over toThessalus, who swept away allreceived doctrines, and preached against the physicians of every age with a sortof rabid frenzy. The wisdom and talent he showed can be fully judged even by onepiece of evidence: on his monument on the Appian Way he described himself asiatronices, the conqueror ofphysicians. No actor, no driver of a three-horse chariot, was attended bygreater crowds than he as he walked abroad in public, whenCrinas of Massilia united medicine withanother art, being of a rather careful and superstitious nature, and regulatedthe diet of patients by the motions of the stars according to the almanacs ofthe astronomers, keeping watch for the proper times, and outstripped Thessalusin influence. Recently he left ten millions, and the sum he spent upon buildingthe walls of his native city and other fortifications was almost as much. Thesemen were ruling our destinies when suddenly the state was invaded byCharmis, also fromMassilia, who condemned not onlyprevious physicians but also hot baths, persuading people to bathe in coldwater even during the winter frosts. His patients he plunged into tanks, and weused to see old men, consulars, actually stiff with cold in order to show off.Of this we have today a confirmation even in the writings ofAnnaeus Seneca. There is no doubt thatall these, in their hunt for popularity by means of some novelty, did nothesitate to buy it with our lives. Hence those wretched, quarrelsomeconsultations at the bedside of the patient, no consultant agreeing with anotherlest he should appear to acknowledge a superior. Hence too that gloomy'inscription on monuments.' It was the crowd of 'physicians that killed me.'Medicine changes every day, being furbished up again and again, and we are sweptalong on the puffs of the clever brains of Greece. It is obvious that anyoneamong them who acquires power of speaking at once assumes supreme command overour life and slaughter, just as if thousands of peoples do not live withoutphysicians, though not without physic, as the Roman people have done for morethan six hundred years, although not slow themselves to welcome science andart, being actually greedy for medicine until trial led them to condemn it.

VI. In fact this is the time to review the outstanding features ofmedical practices in the days of our fathers.Cassius Hemina, one of our earliest authorities, asserts that the firstphysician to come to Rome wasArchagathus,son ofLysanias, who migrated from thePeloponnesus in the year of the city 535, whenLucius Aemilius andMarcus Liviuswere consuls. He adds that citizen rights were given him, and a surgery at thecrossway of Acilius was bought with public money for his own use. They say thathe was a wound specialist, and that his arrival at first was wonderfullypopular, but presently from his savage use of the knife and cautery he wasnicknamed 'Executioner,' and his profession, with all physicians, became objectsof loathing. The truth of this can be seen most plainly in the opinion ofMarcus Cato, whose authority is verylittle enhanced by his triumph and censorship; so much more comes from hispersonality. Therefore I will lay before my readers his very words.

VII. I shall speak about those Greek fellows in can their proper place,sonMarcus, and point out the result ofmy enquiries at Athens, and convince you what benefit comes from dipping intotheir literature, and not making a close study of it. They are a quite worthlesspeople, and an intractable one, and you must consider my words prophetic. Whenthat race gives us its literature it will corrupt all things, and even all themore if it sends hither its physicians. They have conspired together to murderall foreigners with their physic, but this very thing they do for a fee, to gaincredit and to destroy us easily. They are also always dubbing us foreigners, andto fling more filth on us than on others they give us the foul nickname of Opici. I have forbidden you to have dealings with physicians.

VIII. And thisCato died in the605th year of the City and the 85th of his own life, so that nobody can thinkthat he lacked opportunities in public life, or length of years in private life,to gather experiences. What then? Are we to believe that he condemned a veryuseful thing? No, by heaven! For he adds the medical treatment bywhich he prolonged his own life and that of his wife to an advanced age, bythese very remedies in fact with which I am now dealing, and he claims to have anotebook of recipes, by the aid of which he treated his son, servants, andhousehold; these I rearrange under the diseases for which they are used. It wasnot medicine that our forefathers condemned, but the medical profession,chiefly because they refused to pay fees to profiteers in order to save theirlives. For this reason even when Aesculapiuswas brought as a god to Rome, they are said to have built his temple outside thecity, and on another occasion upon an island, and when, a long time too afterCato, they banished Greeks from Italy,to have expressly included e physicians. I will magnify yet further theirwisdom. Medicine alone of the Greek arts we serious Romans have not yetpractised; in spite of its great profits only a very few of our citizens havetouched upon it, and even these were at once deserters to the Greeks; nay, ifmedical treatises are written in a language other than Greek they have noprestige even among unlearned men ignorant of Greek, and if any shouldunderstand them they have less faith in what concerns their own health.Accordingly, heaven knows, the medical profession is the only one in whichanybody professing to be a physician is at once trusted, although nowhere elseis an untruth more dangerous. We pay however no attention to the danger, sogreat for each of us is the seductive sweetness of wishful thinking. Besidesthis, there is no law to punish criminal ignorance, no instance of retribution.Physicians acquire their knowledge from our dangers, making experiments at thecost of our lives. Only a physician can commit homicide with complete impunity.Nay, the victim, not the criminal, is abused; his is the blame for want ofself-control, and it is actually the dead who are brought to account. Panels ofjudges are tested according to custom by the censorial powers of the Emperor;their examination invades the privacy of our homes; to give a verdict on apetty sum a man is summoned from Cadiz and the Pillars of Hercules; indeed,before the penalty of exile can be inflicted forty-five selected men are givenpower to vote on it; yet on the judge himself what manner of men sit inconsultation to murder him out of hand! We deserve it all, so long as not one ofus cares to know what is necessary for his own good health. We walk with thefeet of others, we recognise our acquaintances with the eyes of others, rely onothers' memory to make our salutations, and put into the hands of others ourvery lives; the precious things of nature, which support life, we havequite lost. We have nothing else of our own save our luxuries. I will notabandonCato exposed by me to the hatredof so vainglorious a profession, or yet that Senate which shared his views, andthat without seizing, as one might expect, any chances of accusation against theprofession. For what has been a more fertile source of poisonings? Whence moreconspiracies against wills? Yes, and through it too adulteries occur evenin our imperial homes, that of EudemuswithLivia, wife ofDrusus Caesar, and that ofValens with the royal lady with whom his name is linked. We may grant that the blame for such sins may lie with persons, not with the medical profession; Cato, I believe, had no more fears for Rome about these matters than he had about the presence in Rome of royal ladies. Let me not even bring charges against their avarice, their greedy bargains made with those whose fate lies in the balance,the prices charged for anodynes, the earnest-money paid for death, or theirmysterious instructions, that a cataract should be moved away and not pulledoff. The result is that the brightest side of the picture is the vast number ofmarauders; for it is not shame but the competition of rivals that brings downfees. It is well known that theCharmisaforesaid exchanged one sick provincial for 200,000 sesterces by a bargain withAlcon the wound-surgeon; thatCharmiswas condemned and fined by the EmperorClaudiusthe sum of 1,000,000 sesterces, yet as an exile in Gaul and on his return frombanishment he amassed a like sum within a few years. Let the blame for this sortof thing also be laid on persons. I must not accuse even the dregs of that mobor its ignorance: the irresponsibility of the physicians themselves, with theirout-of-the-way use of hot water in sickness, their strict fasts for patients,who when in a fainting condition are stuffed with food several times a day,their thousand ways moreover of changing their minds, their orders to thekitchen, and their compound ointments; for none of life's seductive attractionshave they refrained from touching. I am inclined to believe that our ancestorswere displeased with imports from abroad and with the fixing of prices byforeigners, but not thatCato foresawthese things when he condemned the profession. There is an elaborate mixturecalledtheriace, which is compounded of countless ingredients, althoughNature has given as many remedies, anyone of which would be enough by itself.The Mithridatic antidote is composed of fifty-four ingredients, no two of themhaving the same weight, while of some is prescribed one sixtieth part of onedenarius. Which of the gods, in the name of Truth, fixed these absurdproportions? No human brain could have been sharp enough. It is plainly a showyparade of the art, and a colossal boast of science. And not even the physiciansknow their facts; I have discovered that instead of Indian cinnabar there iscommonly added to medicines, through a confusion of names, red lead, which, as Ishall point out when I discuss pigments, is a poison. These things howeverconcern the health of individuals; but those other practices, whichCato feared and foresaw, much lessharmful and less regarded, such as the heads of that profession themselves admitabout themselves, those, I say, have ruined the morals of the Empire, I mean thepractices to which we submit when in healthwrestlers' ointments, as thoughthey were intended to treat ill health, broiling baths, by which they havepersuaded us that food is cooked in our bodies, so that everybody leaves themthe weaker for the treatment, and the most submissive are carried out to beburied, the draughts taken fasting, vomitings followed by further heavypotations, effeminate depilations produced by their resins, and even the pubesof women exposed to public view. It is certainly true that our degeneracy, dueto medicine more than to anything else, proves daily thatCato was a genuine prophet andoracle when he stated that it is enough to dip into the works of Greek brainswithout making a close study of them. Thus much must be said in defence of thatSenate and those 600 years of the Roman State, against a profession where thetreacherous conditions allow good men to give authority to the worst, and at thesame time against the stupid convictions of certain people who consider nothingbeneficial unless it is costly. For I feel sure that some will be disgusted at the animals I shall treat of, although Virgil did not disdain to speak quite unnecessarily of ants and weevils, and of:

Nor didHomer disdain amid the battles of thegods to tell of the greed of the fly, nor yet did Nature disdain to create thembecause she creates man. Therefore let each take into account, not thingsthemselves, but causes and results.

IX. But I shall commence with admitted medical aids, that is, with woolsand eggs, to give first honours to things of the first importance. Certainmatters even out of their proper place it will be necessary to discuss, at leastas incidental asides. Nor would material be wanting for rhetoric if it pleasedme to pay attention to anything else than to making my work trustworthy, seeingthat fable even says that among the first a medicines was one from the ashesand nest of the phoenix, just as though the story were fact and not myth. It isto joke with mankind to point out remedies that return only after a thousandyears. The old Romans assigned to wool even supernatural powers, for they badebrides touch with it the doorposts of their new homes; and besides dress andprotection from cold, unwashed wool supplies very many remedies if dipped in oiland wine or vinegar, according as the particular need is for an emollient or apungent remedy, for an astringent or a relaxing one, being applied, andfrequently moistened, for dislocations and aching sinews. For dislocations someadd salt also; others apply with wool pounded rue and fat, likewise for bruisesand swellings. To rub too the teeth and gums with wool and honey is said to makethe breath more pleasant, and to fumigate with wool benefits phrenitis.Nose bleeding is checked by inserting wool and rose oil; another way is toput it into the ears and plug them rather firmly. It is applied moreover withhoney to old sores. Wounds it heals if dipped in wine, or vinegar, or cold waterand oil, and then squeezed out. A ram's fleece washed in cold water and soakedin oil, soothes inflammations of the uterus in women's complaints, and byfumigation reduces prolapsus. Unwashed wool applied or used as a pessaryextracts a dead foetus; it also stays uterine fluxes. Plugged into the bites ofa mad dog it is taken away after the seventh day. With cold water it cureshangnails. Again, dipped into a hot mixture of soda, sulphur, oil, vinegarand liquid pitch, all as hot as possible, and applied twice a day, woolrelieves lumbago. Unwashed ram's wool also stays bleeding if bound round thejoints of the extremities. The most highly esteemed wool is: all from the neck,and that from the districts of Galatia, Tareutum, Attica, and Miletus. Unwashedwool is applied to excoriations, blows, bruises, contusions, crushed parts,galling, falls, pains in the head and elsewhere, and with vinegar and rose oilto inflammation of the stomach. The ash of wool is applied to chafings, wounds,and burns. lit is added to medicaments for the eyes, and also used for fistulasand suppurating ears. For this purpose some take shorn wool, others wool pluckedout, cut off the ends, dry, card, place in a vessel of unbaked clay, steep inhoney, and burn. Others place under it a layer of pitch-pine chips, makeseveral alternate layers, sprinkle with oil, and set on fire. The ash is rubbedby the hand into little pots, with water added, and then allowed to settle. Theoperation is repeated several times, with changes of water, until the ashbecomes slightly astringent to the tongue without stinging it; then it is storedaway. It has a caustic property that makes it an excellent detergent for theeyelids.

X. Moreover, even the greasy sweat of sheep that clings to the woolunder the hollows of their flanks and forelegsit is calledoesypum(suint)has uses almost innumerable. The most prized is that obtained fromAttic sheep. There are several ways of preparing it, but the most approved is totake fresh-plucked wool from the parts mentioned, or first to gather the greasysweat from any part, then warm it in a bronze pot over a slow fire, cool itagain, collect in an earthen vessel the fat that floats on the top, and boilagain the stuff originally used. Both the fats obtained are washed in coldwater, strained through linen, heated in the sun until they become white andtransparent, and then stored away in a box of stennum. The test of itspurity is that it should retain the strong smell of the grease, and when rubbedwith the hand in water, should not melt, but become white like white-lead. It isvery useful for inflammations of the eyes and hard places on the eyelids. Somebake it in an earthen jar until it is no longer fatty, holding that in thiscondition it is a more useful remedy for sores that have eaten into the eyelids,for indurations there, and for watery itch at the corners. It heals, not onlysores of the eyes, but also with goose grease those of the mouth and genitals.With melilot and butter it cures inflammations of the uterus, chaps in the anus,and condylomata. Its other uses I shall set out in order later on. The sweatygrease too that gathers into pills about the tail, dried by itself and ground topowder, is wonderfully beneficial if rubbed on the teeth, even when these areloose, and on the gums when they suffer from malignant, running sores.Furthermore, clean pieces of fleece are applied to blind pains, either bythemselves or with sulphur added, and their ash to affections of the genitals,being so potent that they are even placed over medicinal applications. Wool isalso the best of remedies for sheep themselves if they lose their appetite andwill not pasture. For if their tails are tied as tightly as possible with woolplucked therefrom they at once begin to feed, and it is said that all the tailoutside the knot dies off.

XI. Wool has also a close affinity with eggs, the two being laid togetheron the forehead for eye fluxes. There is no need for the wool, when so used, tohave been treated with radicula, or for anything else except to spread on itwhite of egg and powdered frankincense. White of egg by itself, poured into theeyes, checks fluxes and cools in laminations, although some prefer to addsaffron, and eggs can take the place of water in eye salves. But for infantophthahnia scarcely anything else is so remedial as egg mixed with fresh butter.Eggs beaten up with olive oil relieve erysipelas if beet leaves are tied on top.White of egg mixed with pounded gum ammoniac sets back eyelashes, and removesspots on the face with pine nuts and a little honey. The face itself if smearedwith egg is not burnt by the sun. If scalds are at once covered with egg they donot blistersome add barley flour and a pinch of saltwhile sores from a burnare made wonderfully better by roasted barley with white of egg and pig's lard.The same treatment is used for affections of the anus, and even for procidencein the case of infants; for chaps on the feet the white of eggs is boiled downwith two denarii by weight of white lead, an equal weight of litharge, a littlemyrrh, and then wine; for erysipelas is used the white of three eggs withstarch. It is also said that white of egg closes wounds and expels stone fromthe bladder. The yolk of eggs, boiled hard, mixed with a little saffron andhoney, and applied in woman's milk, relieves pains of the eyes; or it may beplaced over the eyes on wool with rose oil and honey wine, or applied in honeywine with ground celery-seed and pearl barley. Swallowed liquid, without lettingit touch the teeth, the yolk by itself is good for cough, catarrh of the chest,and rough throats. Applied externally or taken internally the raw yolk isspecific for the bite of the haemorrhois. It is also good for the kidneys, andfor irritation or ulceration of the bladder. For spitting of blood five yolks ofegg are swallowed raw in a hemina of wine, and for dysentery they are taken withthe ash of their shells, poppy juice, and wine. With the same weight of plumpraisins and pomegranate rind yolk of egg is given in equal doses for three daysto sufferers from coeliac affections. Another way is to take the yolks of threeeggs, three ounces of old bacon fat and of honey, and three cyathi of old wine,beat them up until they are of the consistency of honey, and take in water whenrequired pieces of the size of a filbert. Yet another way is to fry three eggsafter steeping them whole the day before in vinegar, and to use them so forspleen diseases, but to take them in three cyathi of must for the spitting ofblood. Eggs are used with bulbs and honey forpersistent bruises. Boiled and taken in wine they also check menstruation;inflation too of the uterus if applied raw with oil and wine. They are usefultoo, with goose grease and rose oil, for pains in the neck; for affections ofthe anus also, if hardened over fire and applied while the additional benefit ofthe heat is still retained; for condylomata with rose oil; for burns they arehardened in water, then over hot coals; when the shells have been burned off,finally the yolks are applied in rose oil. Eggs become entirely yolk (they arethen calledsitista) when the hen has sat upon them for three days beforethey are taken up. The chicks found in eggs taken with half a gall nut settle adisordered stomach, but care must be taken to eat no other food for the next twohours. There are also given to dysentery patients chicks boiled in the eggitself and added to a hemina of dry wine and the same quantity of oil and pearlbarley. The membrane peeled off the shell of a raw or boiled egg heals cracks inthe lips. The shell reduced to ash and taken in wine cures discharges of blood.It must be burnt without the membrane. From this ash is also made a dentitrice.It also checks menstruation if applied with myrrh. The strength of the shells isso great that no force or weight will break them when the eggs areperpendicular, but only when the oval is slightly inclined. Childbirth is madeeasier by whole eggs, with rue, dill, and cummin, taken in wine. Itch andirritation of the skin are removed by a mixture of oil, cedar-resin, and eggs;running ulcers too on the head by eggs mixed with cyclamen. For spitting of pusor blood is swallowed a raw egg warmed with juice of cutleek and an equal amountof Greek honey. There are given to patients with a cough boiled eggs beaten upwith honey, or raw eggs with raisin wine and an equal measure of oil. Eggs arealso injected for complaints of the male organs, the dose being one egg withthree cyathi of raisin wine and half an ounce of starch, given after the bath;for snake bite they are applied after boiling them and beating up with theaddition of cress. How helpful in many ways eggs are as food is well known, forthey pass a swollen throat and incidentally by their heat soothe it. There is noother food so nourishing in sickness without overloading the stomach, and it hasthe nature of both food and drink. I have said that the shell is softened ofeggs steeped in vinegar. Eggs so prepared and kneaded into bread with flour giverefreshment to patients with coeliac affections. Some think it more useful,after softening them in this way, to bake them in shallow pans; when soprepared they check not only diarrhoea but also excessive menstruation; or ifthe attack is specially severe they are swallowed raw with flour and water, orthe yolks from these eggs by themselves are boiled hard in vinegar, and thenroasted with ground pepper to check diarrhoea. There is also made for dysenteryan excellent remedy by pouring an egg into a new earthen vessel, and so thatthere may be equal quantities of all the ingredients, in the shell of this eggare measured honey, then vinegar, and oil, which are mixed, and stirred manytimes. The more excellent the quality of these ingredients the more sovereignwill the remedy be. Others substitute for oil and vinegar the same amounts ofred resin and wine. There is yet another method of compounding: only thequantity of oil remains the same, and with it are boiled down together twosixtieths of a denarius of pine bark, one of the shrub I have calledrhus, andfive oboli of honey, but no other food must be taken until four hours havepassed. Many also treat colic by beating up two eggs together with four heads ofgarlic, warming with a hemina of wine, and so giving the mixture as a draught.To omit no attractive feature of eggs, white of egg mixed with quicklime fastenstogether broken glass. So great indeed is its power that wood dipped in egg willnot take fire, and not even cloth stained with it will burn. But I have beenspeaking only about farmyard hen's eggs; there remain also other birds, the eggsof which are of great utility; about them I shall speak on the proper occasions.

XII. There is, moreover, a kind of egg which is very famous in the Gauls,but not mentioned by the Greeks. Snakes intertwined in great numbers in astudied embrace make these round objects with the saliva from their jaws and thefoam from their bodies. It is called a 'wind egg.' The Druids say that it istossed aloft by the snakes' hisses, and that it ought to be caught in a militarycloak before it can touch the earth. The catcher, they say, must flee onhorseback, for the serpents chase him until they are separated by someintervening river. A test of a genuine egg is that it floats against thecurrent, even if it is set in gold. Such is the clever cunning of the Magi inwrapping up their frauds that they give out as their opinion that it must becaught at a fixed period of the moon, as if agreement between snakes and moonfor this act depended upon the will of man. I indeed have seen this egg, whichwas like a round apple of medium size, and remarkable for its hard coveringpitted with many gristly cup-hollows, as it were, like those on the tentacles ofan octopus. The Druids praise it. highly as the giver of victory in thelaw-courts and of easy access to potentates. Herein they are guilty of suchlying fraud that a Roman knight of the Vocontii, for keeping one in his bosomduring a lawsuit, was executed by the late EmperorClaudius, and for no other reason.However, this embrace and fertile union of snakes seem to be the reason whyforeign nations, when discussing peace terms, have made the herald's staffsurrounded with figures of snakes; and it is not the custom for the snakes on aherald's staff to have a crest.

XIII. As in this Book I am going to treat of the very useful gooseegg, and of the goose itself, our respects are due to the famous preparationcalledcommagenum. It is made from goose grease, a very popular medicamenteverywhere, [and for this purpose especially in Commagene, a district of Syria]with cinnamon, cassia, white pepper, and the herb calledcornmagene. The mixtureis put into vessels and buried in snow; it has a pleasant smell, and is veryuseful for chills, sprains, blind or sudden pains, and for all the complaintstreated by anodynes being equally good as an ointment and as a medicine. It isalso prepared in Syria in another way. The grease of the birds is treated in themanner I shall describe, and there are added to it erysisceptrum, balsam-wood,ground palm, and also crushed reed, the same quantity of each as of the grease,the whole being warmed two or three times in wine. But it must be prepared inwinter, for it will riot set in summer unless wax is added. There are many otherremedies made from the goose, which surprise me as much as the many from thegoat, for the goose and the crow are said to be afflicted withdisease from the beginning of summer well into the autumn.

XIV. I have spoken of the fame won by the geese whichdetected the ascent of the Capitoline Hill by the Gauls. For the same reasonsdogs are punished with death every year, being crucified alive on a cross ofelder between the temple of Juventas and that of Sununanus. But the customs ofthe ancients compel me to say several other things about the dog. Suckingpuppies were thought to be such pure food that they even took the place ofsacrificial victims to placate the divinities. Genita Mana is worshipped withthe sacrifice of a puppy, and at dinners in honour of the gods even now puppyflesh is put on the table. That it was commonly in fact a special dish atinaugural banquets there is evidence in the comedies of Plautus's Dog's blood issupposed to be the best remedy for arrow poison, and this animal seems also tohave shown mankind the use of emetics. Other highly praised remedies from thedog I shall speak of on the appropriate occasions. I will now go on with myproposed plan.

XV. For snake bites efficacious remedies are considered to be fresh dungof sheep boiled down in wine and applied, and mice cut in two and placed on thewound. The nature of mice is not to be despised, especially in their agreement,as I have said, with the heavenly bodies, for the number of theirliver filaments becomes greater or less with the light of the moon. The Magideclare that if a mouse's liver in a fig is offered to pigs, that animal willfollow the offerer, adding that it has a similar effect on a human being also,but that the spell is broken by drinking a cyathus of oil.

XVI. Of weasels there are two kinds, one wild and larger than the other,called by the Greeksictis. The gall of both is said to be efficaciousagainst asps, though otherwise poisonous. The other kind, however, which straysabout our homes, and moves daily, asCicerotells us, its nest and kittens, chases away snakes. Its flesh, preserved in saltand given in doses of one denarius by weight, is given in three cyathi of drinkto those who have been bitten, or its stomach stuffed with coriander seed iskept to dry and taken in wine. A kitten of the weasel is even better still forthis purpose.

XVII. Certain things, revolting to speakof, are so strongly recommended by our authorities that it would not be right topass them by, if it is indeed true that medicines are produced by that famoussympathy and antipathy between things. The nature for instance of bugs, a mostfoul creature and nauseating even to speak of, is said to be effective againstthe bite of serpents, and especially of asps, as also against all poisons. Asproof, they say that hens are not killed by an asp on the day they have eatenbugs, and that their flesh then is most beneficial to such as have been bitten.Of the accounts given the least disgusting is how they are applied to bites withthe blood of a tortoise, how fumigation with them makes leeches loose theirhold, and how they destroy leeches swallowed by animals if administered indrink. And yet some actually anoint the eyes with bugs pounded in salt andwoman's milk, and the ears with bugs in honey and rose oil. Those which arefield bugs and found in rnallows are burnt, and the ash mixed with rose oil ispoured into the ears. The other virtues attributed to bugs, that they are curesfor vomiting, quartans, and other diseases, although it is prescribed that theyshould be swallowed in egg, wax, or a bean, I hold to be imaginary and not worthrepeating. Only as a remedy for lethargy are they employed with reason, for theyovercome the narcotic poison of asps, and are given in doses of seven in acyathus of water, and for children in doses of four. For strangury bugs havebeen inserted into the urethra. So true it is that the Universal Mother gavebirth to nothing without very good reasons. Furthermore, a couple of bugsattached to the left arm in wool stolen from shepherds have been said to keepaway night fevers, and day fevers when attached in a red cloth. On the otherhand, the scolopendra is their enemy, and kills them by fumigation.

XVIII. Asps kill those they strike by torpor and coma,inflicting of all serpents the most incurable bites. But their venom, if itcomes into contact with the blood or a fresh wound, is immediately fatal, ifwith an old sore, its action is delayed. Apart from this, however much is drunk,it is harmless, having no corrosive property. And so the flesh of animals killedby their bite may be eaten with safety. I should hesitate to put forward aremedy obtained from these creatures, had notMarcus Varro, in the seventy-third year of his life, recorded that asovereign remedy for asp bites is for the victim to drink his own urine.

XIX. The basilisk, which puts to flighteven the very serpents, killing them sometimes by its smell, is said to be fatalto a man if it only looks at him. Its blood the Magi praise to the skies, tellinghow it thickens as does pitch, and resembles pitch in colour, but becomes abrighter red than cinnabar when diluted. They claim that by it petitions topotentates, and even prayers to the gods, are made successful; that itprovides cures for disease and amulets against sorcery. Some call it Saturn'sblood.

XX. The dragon has no venom. Its head, buried under the thresholdof doors after the gods have been propitiated by worship, brings, we areassured, good luck to a home; those rubbed with an ointment of his eyes, driedand beaten up with honey, are not panic-stricken, however nervous, by phantomsof the night; the fat of the heart, tied in the skin of a gazelle on the upperarm by deer sinew, makes for victory in lawsuits; the first vertebra smoothesthe approach to potentates; and its teeth, wrapped in the skin of a roe and tiedon with deer sinew, make masters kind and potentates gracious. But all these arenothing compared with a mixture that the lying Magi assert makes men invincible,composed of: the tail and head of a dragon, hair from the forehead of a lion andlion's marrow, foam of a victorious racehorse, and the claw of a dog, allattached in deer hide with deer sinew and gazelle sinew plaited alternately. Toexpose these lies will be no less worth while than to describe their remediesfor snakebite, for these too are some of the sorceries of the Magi. Dragon'sfat is shunned by venomous creatures, and so too, when burnt, is that of theichneumon; they shun too those rubbed with nettles pounded in vinegar.

XXI. The head of a viper, placed on the bite, even though the sameviper did not inflict it, is infinitely beneficial, as is the snake itself, heldup on a stick in steamit is said to undo the harm doneor if the viper is burntand the ash applied. But Nigidiusasserts that a serpent instinctively comes back to the person it has bitten.Some split skilfully the head between the ears, in order to extract the pebbleit is said to swallow when alarmed, but others use the entire head itself. Fromthe viper are made the lozenges called by the Greekstheriaci. Lengths ofthree fingers are cut off from head and tail, the intestines drawn with thelivid part that adheres to the spine, the rest of the body, with the vertebraeextracted and fine flour added, is thoroughly boiled in a pan of water withdill, and the mixture dried in the shade and made into lozenges, which are usedin making many medicameats. We must note, it appears, that only from the vipercan the preparation be made. Some take the fat from the body, cleaned asdescribed above, boil down with a sectarius of oil to one-half, add three dropsfrom it when necessary to oil, and use as ointment to keep off all harmfulcreatures.

XXII. Furthermore, it is well known that the application of theentrails of a serpent itself is a help for the bites however hard to cure of anyof them, and that those who once have swallowed the boiled liver of a viper arenever afterwards bitten by a serpent. A snake too is venomous only when duringthe month it is angered by the moon, and it is beneficial if a snake is caughtalive, beaten up in water, and a bite fomented with the preparation. Moreover,many remedies are believed to be obtained from a snake, as I shall relate intheir proper order, and this is why it is sacred to Aesculapius.Democritus indeed invents some weirdstories about snakes, how for instance they make it possible to understand thelanguage of birds. The Aesculapian snake [note: the wordanguis is here usedinterchangeably with serpent] was brought to Rome from Bpidaurus, and a snake iscommonly kept as a pet even in our homes; so that were not their eggs destroyedin fires there would be an incurable plague of them. The most beautiful snake inthe world is the kind, calledhydri, that is amphibious, no other snakebeing more venomous. Its liver when preserved does good to those who have beenbitten. The scorpion when pounded up counteracts the poison of the spottedlizard, for there is made from these lizards an evil drug: if one hasbeen drowned in wine it covers the face of those who drink it with an eruptionof freckle-like spots. So women, plotting to spoil the beauty of rival courtesans, kill a spotted lizard in the ointment used by them. The remedy isyolk of egg, honey, and soda. The gall of this kind of lizard, beaten up inwater, is said to attract weasels.

XXIII. Of all venomous creatures the salamander is the most wicked, forwhile the others strike individuals, and do not kill several together, to saynothing (according to report) of their dying of remorse when they have bitten aman, and of earth's refusal to grant them further admission, the salamander cankill whole tribes unawares. For if it has crawled into a tree, it infects withits venom all the fruit, killing like aconite by its freezing property those whohave eaten of it. Nay, moreover, if a slice of bread is placed upon wood orstone that has been touched by a salamander, or if one falls into a well, thebread and the water, like the fruit, are poisoned, while all the hair on thewhole body falls off if its saliva has sprinkled any part whatever of the body,even the sole of the foot. Nevertheless, although it is so venomous acreature, some animals, such as pigs, eat it. Under the sway of that sameantipathy between things it is likely that his venom is neutralized best of allby those who eat the salamander; but among approved remedies are cantharidestaken in drink or a lizard taken in food. The other antidotes I have spoken of,and shall speak of, in the appropriate places. As to the power to protectagainst fires, which the Magi attribute to the animal, since according to themno other can put fire out, could the salamander really do so, Rome by trialwould have already found out. Sextiustells us that as food the salamander, preserved in honey after entrails, feet,and head have been cut away, is aphrodisiac but he denies its power to put fireout.

XXIV. Of birds, the chief protection against serpents is the vulture, andit has been noticed that there is less power in the black vulture. They say thatthe fumes of their burning feathers chase serpents away, and that thosewho carry about them a vulture's heart are protected not only from the attacksof serpents, but also from those of wild beasts, bandits, and angry potentates.

XXV. The flesh of chickens, torn away and applied warm to thebite, overcomes the venom of serpents, as will also a chicken's brain taken inwine. The Parthians prefer to put on the wound the brain of a hen. Chicken brothalso, taken by the mouth, is a splendid remedy, being wonderfully good for manyother purposes. Panthers and lions do not touch those rubbed over with thisbroth, especially if garlic has been boiled in it. A rather powerful purge isthe broth of an old cock, which is also good for prolonged fevers, paralysed andpalsied limbs, diseases of the joints, headaches, eye-fluxes, flatulence, lossof appetite, incipient tenesmus, complaints of liver, kidneys, and bladder,indigestion and asthma. And so instructions even are current for making it: theytell us that it is more effective boiled with sea-cabbage, or tunny-fish, orcaper, or celery, or the herb mercury, with polypodium or dill, but mostbeneficial when three congii of water are boiled down to three heminae, with theabove-mentioned herbs, cooled in the open air and administered, the best timebeing when an emetic has preceded. I will not pass over a marvel, though it hasnothing to do with medicine: if the limbs of hens are stirred up in melted goldthey absorb it all into themselves, so violent a poison of gold is chicken. Butcocks themselves do not crow if they have a collar of wood shavings round theirnecks.

XXVI. A help against snakebite is also flesh of doves or swallowsfreshly torn away, and the feet of a homed owl burnt with the herb plumbago. Speaking of this bird I will not omit a specimen of Magian fraud, forbesides their other monstrous lies they declare that an horned owl's heart,placed on the left breast of a sleeping woman, makes her tell all her secrets,and that men carrying it into battle are made braver by it. From the hornedowl's egg they prescribe recipes for the hair. Now who, I ask, could have everlooked at an horned owl's egg, when it is a portent to have seen the birditself? Who in any case could have tried it, particularly on the hair? Theblood, indeed, of a horned owl's chick is guaranteed even to curl the hair. Ofmuch the same kind would seem to be also their stories about the bat: that ifcarried alive three times round the house and then fastened head downwardsthrough the window, it acts as a talisman, and is specifically such tosheepfolds if carried round them three times and hung up by the feet over thethreshold. Its blood also with thistle the Magi praise as one of the sovereignremedies for snakebite.

XXVII. The phalangium is unknown to Italy and of several kinds. One islike the ant, but much larger, having a red head and the rest of the body blackwith white spots. Its wound is more painful than that of the wasp, and it livesespecially near furnaces and mills. One remedy is to show to the bitten personanother phalangium of the same kind; for this purpose are kept dead specimens.Their dry bodies are also found, which are pounded and taken as a remedy, as area weasel's young prepared as I have described. Among classes of spiders theGreeks also include a phalangion which they distinguish by the name of 'wolf.'There is also a third kind of phalangium, a hairy spider with an enormous head.When this is cut open, there are said to be found inside two little worms,which, tied in deer skin as an amulet on women before sunrise, act as acontraceptive, asCaecilius has told usin hisCommentarii. They retainthis property for a year. Of all such preventives this only would it be rightfor me to mention, to help those women who are so prolific that they stand inneed of such a respite. There is another phalangium calledrhox, like ablack grape, with a very small month under the abdomen, and very short legs asthough not fully grown. Its bite is as painful as a scorpion's sting, forming inthe urine as it were spider's webs The asterion is exactly like it, except thatit is marked with white streaks. Its bite makes the knees weak. Worse thaneither is the blue spider; it is covered with black hair, and causes dimness ofvision and vomit like spider's web. There is an even worse phalangium, whichdiffers from the hornet only in having no wings. The bite from one of this kindalso makes the body thin. The myrmecion in its head resembles the ant, with ablack body marked by white spots, and a bite as painful as a wasp. There are twokinds of the phalanginm called tetragnathius, the worse of which has two whitelines crossed on the middle of its head, and its bite makes the mouth swell; butthe ash-coloured kind, which is whitish in its hind part, is less vicious. Leastdangerous of all is the ash-coloured spider which spins its web all over ourwalls to catch flies. For the bites of all spiders remedial is a cock's brainwith a little pepper taken in vinegar and water, five ants also taken indrink, the ash of sheep's dung applied in vinegar, or spiders themselves of anysort that have rotted in oil.

The bite of the shrewmouse is healed by lamb's rennet taken in wine, bythe ash of a ram's hoof with honey, and by a young weasel, as I have prescribedfor snakebite. If it has bitten draught-animals, a freshly killed mouse isapplied with salt, or a bat's gall in vinegar. The shrew-mouse itself, tornasunder and applied, is a remedy for its own bite; but if a pregnant shrewmousehas bitten, it bursts open at once. It is best if the mouse applied is the onewhich gave the bite, but they preserve them for this purpose in oil, or enclosedin clay. Another remedy for its bite is earth from a wheel rut. For they saythat it will not cross a wheel rut owing to a sort of natural torpor.

XXVIII. The stelio is said in its turn to be such a great enemy toscorpions that the mere sight of one strikes them with panic, and torpor withcold sweat. Accordingly they let it rot in oil and so smear on scorpion wounds.Some boil down that oil with litharge to make a sort of ointment which they thusapply. This lizard the Greeks callcolotes,ascalabotes, or,galeotes. Thiskind is not found in Italy, for it is covered with spots, has a shrill cry, andfeeds on spiders, all which characteristics are lacking in our stelios.

XXIX. Beneficial too is ash of hen's dung applied, the liver of a python,a lizard or a mouse torn open, the scorpion laid on the wound it has itselfinflicted, or roasted and taken in food or in two cyathi of neat wine. Scorpionsare peculiar in that they do not sting the palm of the hand or touch any buthairy parts. A pebble of any kind, if the part next the ground is laid on thewound, relieves the pain, and a potsherd too is said to be a cure if a partcovered with earth is applied just as it was taken upthose making theapplication must not look back, and must take care that the sun does not beholdthemand another cure is an application of pounded earthworms. Many otherremedies are obtained from earthworms, so they are kept in honey for thispurpose. The night owl is an enemy of bees, wasps, hornets, and leeches, andthose are not stung by them who carry about their person a beak of thewoodpecker of Mars. Hostile to them are also the smallest of the locusts, whichare wingless and calledattelebi. There is also a venomous kind of ant,not generally found in Italy.Cicerocalls itsolipuga and in Baetica it is calledsalpuga. A bat'sheart is hostile to these, as it is to all ants. I have said that cantharidesare hostile to salamanders.

XXX. But herein arises a much-disputed question, for the fly taken indrink is a poison, causing excruciating pain in the bladder. Cossinus, a Roman knight, well known forhis friendship with the EmperorNero,fell a victim to lichen.Caesar calledin a specialist physician from Egypt, who decided on preliminary treatment withSpanish fly taken in drink, and the patient died. But there is no doubt that,with juice of taminian grapes, sheep suet, or that of a she-goat, an externalapplication is beneficial. In what part of the Spanish fly itself thepoison lies authorities disagree; some think in the feet and in the head, hutothers say not. The only point agreed upon is that, wherever the poison lies,their wings help. The fly itself is bred from grub found in the sponge-likesubstance on the stalk of the wild rose especially, but also very plentifully onthe ash. The third kind breeds on the white rose, but is less efficacious. Themost potent flies of all are marked with yellow lines across their wings and areplump; much less potent are those that are small, broad and hairy; the leastuseful however are of one colour, and thin. They are stored away in an earthenpot, not lined with pitch, but the mouth closed with a cloth. They are coveredwith full-blown roses and hung over boiling vinegar and salt until the steam,passing through the cloth, suffocates them. Then they are stored away. Theirproperty is to cauterise the flesh and to form scabs. Of the same character isthe pine-caterpillar, which is found on the pitch-pine, and the buprestis, andthey are prepared in a similar way. All these are very efficacious for leproussores and lichen. They are also said to be emmenagogue and diuretic, andsoHippocrates used them also fordropsy. Spanish fly was the subject of a charge againstCatoUticensis that he had sold poison at an auction of royal property, for hehad knocked some down for 60,000 sesterces. And I may remark in passing that atthis sale there was sold for 30,000 sesterees ostrich suet, a far more usefulfat for all purposes than goose-grease.

XXXI. I have also mentioned a kinds of poisonous honey. To counteract ithoney is used in which bees have died. The same honey is also a remedy forillness caused by eating fish.

XXXII. If a person has been bitten by a mad dog, as protection fromhydrophobia is given by an application to the wound of ash from the burnt headof a dog. Now all reduction to ash (that I may describe it once for all) shouldbe carried out in the following way: a new earthen vessel is covered all overwith clay and so put into a furnace. The same method is also good when the ashis to be taken in drink. Some have prescribed as a cure eating a dog's head.Others too have used as an amulet a worm from a dead dog, or placed in a clothunder the cup the sexual fluid of a bitch, or have rubbed into the wound the ashfrom the hair under the tail of the mad dog itself. Dogs run away from one whocarries a dog's heart, and indeed do not hark if a dog's tongue is placed in theshoe under the big toe, or at those who carry the severed tail of a weasel whichhas afterwards been set free. Under the tongue of a mad dog is a slimy saliva,which given in drink prevents hydrophobia, but much the most useful remedy isthe liver of the dog that bit in his madness to be eaten raw, if that can bedone, if it cannot, cooked in any way, or a broth must be made from the boiledflesh. There is a little worm on the tongue of dogs which the Greeks calllytta (madness), and if this is taken away when they are baby puppies theyneither go mad nor lose their appetite. It is also carried three times roundfire and given to those bitten by a mad dog to prevent their going mad. Thebrains of poultry are an antidote, but to swallow them gives protection for thatyear only. They say that it is also efficacious to apply to the wound a cock'scomb pounded up, or goose grease with honey. The flesh of dogs that have gonemad is also preserved in salt to be used for the same purposes given infood. Puppies too of the same sex as the bitten patient are immediately drownedand their livers swallowed raw. An application in vinegar of poultry dung, if itis red, is also of advantage, or the ash of a shrewmouse's tail (but themutilated animal must be set free alive), an application in vinegar of a bit ofearth from a swallow's nest, of the chicks of a swallow reduced to ash, or theskin or cast slough of snakes, pounded in wine with a male crab; for by it evenwhen put away by itself in chests and cupboards they kill moths. So great isthe virulence of this plague that even the urine of a mad dog does harm iftrodden on, especially to those who are suffering from sores. A remedy is anapplication of horse dung sprinkled with vinegar and warmed in a fig. Lesssurprised at all this will be one who remembers that `a dog will bite a stonethrown at him' has become a proverb to describe quarrelsomeness. It is said thathe who voids his own urine on that of a dog will suffer numbness in his loins.The lizard calledseps by some andchalcis by others, if taken inwine is a cure for its own bites.

XXXIII. For sorcerers' poisons obtained from the wild weasel a remedy isa copious draught of chicken broth made from an old bird; it is specific foraconite poisoning, and there should be added a dash of salt. Hens' dung,provided it is white, boiled down in hyssop or honey wine, is used for poisonousfungi and mushrooms, as well as for flatulence and suffocationsa matter forwonder, because if any animal save man should taste this dung, it will sufferfrom colic and flatulence. Goose blood, with the same quantity of oil, is goodfor the poison of sea hares, also for all sorcerers' poisonsit is kept with red Lemnian earth and the sap of white thorn, and five drachmae of the lozengesshould be taken as a dose in three cyathi of wateralso a baby weasel preparedas I have described. Lamb's rennet too is a powerful antidote to all sorcerers'poisons, as is the blood of Pontic ducks; and so when thickened it is alsostored away and dissolved in wine. Some are of opinion that the blood of afemale duck is more efficacious. In like manner general remedies for all poisonsare the crop of storks, sheep's rennet, the broth of ram's flesh (which isspecific for cantharides), likewise warmed sheep's milk, which is also good forthose who have swallowed buprestis or aconite, the dung of wild doves (specificif quicksilver has been swallowed), and for arrow poisons the common weasel,preserved and taken in drink, two drachmae at a time.

XXXIV. Bald patches through mange are covered again with hair by anapplication of ash of sheep's dung with cyprus oil and honey, by the hooves,reduced to ash, of a mule of either sex, applied in myrtle oil; moreover, as ourcountrymanVarro relates, by mouse dung,which he calls alsomuscerdae, or by the fresh heads of flies, but thepatches must first be roughened with a fig leaf. Some use the blood of flies,others for ten days apply their ash with that of paper or nuts, but athird of the whole must be that of flies; others make a paste of fly ash,woman's milk, and cabbage, while some add honey only. No creature is thought tobe less teachable or less intelligent than the fly; it is all the morewonderful that at the Olympic sacred games, after the bull has been sacrificedto the god they call Myiodes, clouds of flies depart from out Olympic territory.Hair lost by mange is restored by the ash of mice, their heads and tails, ortheir whole bodies, especially when this affliction is the result of sorcery; itis restored too by the ash of a hedgehog mixed with honey, or by its burnt skinwith liquid pitch. The head indeed of this animal, reduced to ash, by itselfrestores the hair even to scars. But for this treatment the patches must firstbe prepared by shaving with a razor. Some too have preferred to use mustard invinegar. All that will be said about the hedgehog will apply even more to theporcupine. Hair is also prevented from falling out by the ash of a lizard that,in the way I have described, has been burnt with the root of afresh-cut reed, which must be chopped up fine so that the two may be consumedtogether, an ointment being made by the admixture of myrtle-oil. All the sameresults are given more efficaciously by green lizards, and with even greaterbenefit if there are added salt, bear's grease, and crushed onion. Somethoroughly boil ten green lizards at a time in ten sextarii of old oil, beingcontent with one application a month. Vipers' skins reduced to ashes veryquickly restore hair lost through mange, as does also an application of freshhens' dung. A raven's egg, beaten up in a copper vessel and applied to the headafter shaving it, imparts a black colour to the hair, but until it dries oilmust be kept in the mouth lest the teeth too turn black at the same time; theapplication too must be made in the shade, and not washed off before three dayshave passed. Some use a raven's blood and brains added to dark wine;others thoroughly boil the raven itself and store it away at bed time in avessel of lead. Some apply to patches of mange Spanish fly pounded with liquidpitch, first preparing the skin with sodathe application is caustic, and caremust be taken not to cause deep soresand prescribe that afterwards to the soresso formed be applied the heads, gall, and dung of mice with hellebore andpepper.

XXXV. Nits are removed by dog fat, snakes taken in food like eels, or bythe cast slough of snakes taken in drink; dandruff by sheep's gall with Cimolianchalk rubbed on the head until it dries off.

XXXVI. Headaches have a remedy in the heads of snails, cut off from thosethat are found without shells, being not yet complete, and the hard stonysubstance taken from themit is of the width of a pebblewhich are used as anamulet, while the small snails are crushed, and rubbed on the forehead; there isalso wool grease; the bones from the head of a vulture attached as an amulet, orits brain with oil and cedar resin, the head being rubbed all over and the innerpart of the nostrils smeared with the ointment; the brain of a crow or owlboiled and taken in food; a cock penned up without food for a day and a night,the sufferer fasting with him at the same time, feathers plucked from the neck,or the comb, being tied round the head; the application of a weasel reduced toash; a twig from a kite's nest placed under the pillow; a mouse's skin burnt andthe ash applied in vinegar; the little bone of a slug found between two wheelruts, passed through gold, silver and ivory, and attached in dog skin as anamulet, a remedy that always does good to most. Applied in oil and vinegar to afractured skull, cobweb does not come away until the wound is healed.Cobweb also stops bleeding from a razor cut, but haemorrhage from the brain isstayed by pouring into the wound the blood of goose or duck, or the grease ofthese birds with rose oil. The head of a snail cut off with a reed as hefeeds in the morning, by preference when the moon is full, is attached in alinen cloth by a thread to the head of a sufferer from headaches, or else madeinto an ointment for the forehead with white wax, and an amulet attached ofdog's hair in a cloth.

XXXVII. A crow's brain taken in food is said to make eyelashesgrow, and also wool grease and myrrh applied with a warmed probe. We are assuredthat the same result is obtained by taking the ash of flies and of mouse dung inequal quantities, so that the weight of the whole amounts to half a denarius,then adding two-sixths of a denarius of antimony and applying all with woolgrease; or one may use baby mice beaten up in old wine to the consistency of ananodyne salve. When inconvenient hairs in the eyelashes have been plucked outthey are prevented from growing again by the gall of a hedgehog, the fluid partof a spotted lizard's eggs, the ash of a salamander, the gall of a green lizardin white wine condensed by sunshine to the consistency of honey in a coppervessel, the ash of a swallow's young added to the milky juice of tithymallus andthe slime of snails.

XXXVIII. Opaqueness of the eye-lens is cured, say the Magi, by the brainof a seven-day-old puppy, the probe being inserted into the right side of theeye to treat the right eye and into the left side to treat the left eye; or bythe fresh gall of the axio, a kind of owl whose feathers twitchlike ears.Apollonius of Pitanepreferred to treat cataract with honey and dog's gall rather than usinghyena's, as he did also to treat white eye ulcers. The heads and tails of mice,reduced to ash and made into an ointment with honey, restore, they say,clearness of vision; much better the ash of a dormouse or wild mouse, or thebrain of an eagle or the gall with Attic honey. The ash and fat ofthe shrewmouse, beaten up with antimony, is very good for watery eyeswhatantimony is I shall say when I speak of metalsthe ash of the weasel forcataract, likewise of the lizard, or the brain of the swallow. Pounded snailsapplied to the forehead relieve eye fluxes, either by themselves or with fineflour or with frankincense; so applied they are also good for sunstroke. To burnthem alive also, and to use as ointment the ash with Cretan honey is very goodfor dimness of vision. For the eyes of draught animals the slough cast in springby the asp makes with asp fat an ointment that improves their vision. To burn aviper alive in new earthenware, with addition of fennel juice up to one cyathus, and of one grain of frankincense, makes an ointment very good forcataract and dimness of vision; this prescription is calledeckeon. Aneye salve is also made by letting a viper rot in a jar, and pounding withsaffron the grubs that breed in it. A viper is also burned in a jar with salt,to lick which gives clearness of vision, and is a tonic to the stomach and tothe whole body. This salt is also given to sheep to keep them in health, and isan ingredient of an antidote to snakebite. Some use vipers as food. Theyprescribe that, first of all, as soon as the viper has been killed, salt shouldbe placed in its mouth until it melts; then at both ends a length of fourfingers is cut off and the intestines taken out; the rest they thoroughly boilin water, oil, salt and dill, and either eat at once, or mix in breadso that it can be used several times. In addition to what has been said above,the broth removes lice from any part of the body, as well as itching from thesurface of the skin. Even by itself, the ash of a viper's head shows results; asointment for the eyes it is very effective, and the same is true of viper'sfat. I would not confidently recommend what is prescribed about a viper's gall,because, as I have pointed out in the appropriate place a serpent's poison isnothing but gall. The fat of snakes mixed with bronze rust heals ruptured partsof the eyes, and rubbing with their skin, or slough, cast in spring, gives clearvision. The gall of the boa afro is recommended for white ulcers, cataract, anddimness, and its fat similarly for clear vision.

The gall of the eagle, which, as I have said,tests its chicks for gazing at the sun, makes, when mixed with Attic honey, anointment for film on the eyes, dimness of vision, and cataract. There is thesame property also in vulture's gall with leek juice and a little honey,likewise in the gall of a cock, especially of a white cock, diluted with waterand used for white specks, white ulcers, and cataract. The dung of poultry also,provided that it is red, is prescribed as an ointment for night blindness. Thegall of a hen also, and in particular the fat, is recommended for pustules onthe pupils, but of course hens are not fattened specially for this purpose. Itis a wonderful help, combined with the stones schistos and haematites, for thecoats of the eye when torn. The dung also of hens, provided it is white, is keptin old oil and horn boxes for white ulcers on the pupil; while on the subject Imust mention the tradition that peacocks swallow back their own dung, begrudgingmen its benefits. A hawk boiled down in rose oil is thought to make a veryefficacious liniment for all eye complaints, as is its dung reduced to ash andadded to Attic honey. A kite's liver too is recommended, and also pigeons' dung,applied in vinegar for fistulas, similarly for white ulcers and for sears,goose's gall and duck's blood for bruised eyes, provided that afterwards theyare treated with wool grease and honey; partridge gall can be used with an equalweight of honey, hut by itself for clear vision. It is on the supposed authorityofHippocrates that the furtherinstruction is given to keep this gall in a silver box. Partridge eggs boileddown with honey in a bronze vessel cure ulcers on the eyes and opaqueness of thelens. The blood of pigeons, doves, turtle doves, or partridges, makes anexcellent application for blood-shot eyes. Among pigeons, male birds aresupposed to have the more efficacious blood, and a vein under a wing is cut forthis purpose, because its natural heat makes it more useful. Over theapplication should be placed a plaster boiled in honey and greasy wool boiledin oil or wine. Night blindness is cured by the blood of the same birds and bythe liver of sheep, as I said a when speaking of goats, with greater benefit ifthe sheep are tawny. With a decoction also of the liver it is recommended tobathe the eyes and to apply the marrow to those that are painful or swollen. Weare assured that the eyes of the horned owl, reduced to ash and mixed with asalve, improves the vision. White ulcers are made better by the dung of a turtledove, by snails reduced to ash, and by the dung of the cenchris, a birdconsidered by the Greeks to be a species of hawk. White specks are cured by allthe above remedies applied with honey. The honey most beneficial for the eyes isthat in which bees have died. He who has eaten the chick of a stork, it is said,will not suffer from ophthalmia for years on end, likewise he who carries aboutthe head of a python. Its fat with honey and old oil is said to disperseincipient dimness. The chicks of swallows are blinded by the full moon, and whentheir sight is restored their heads are burnt and the ash used with honey toimprove the vision and for pains, ophthalmia, and blows. Lizards too areemployed in several ways for eye remedies. Some shut up a green lizard in newearthenware, and with them the pebbles calledcinaedia, which are used asamulets for swellings on the groin, mark them with nine marks and take away onedaily; on the ninth day they set the lizard free, but keep the pebbles for painsin the eyes. Others put earth under a green lizard after blinding it, and shutit in a glass vessel with rings of solid iron or gold. When they can see throughthe glass that the lizard has recovered its sight, they let it out, and use therings for ophthalmia; others use the ash of the head instead of antimony forscabrous eyes. Some burn the green lizard with a long neck that is found insandy places, and use it as ointment for incipient fluxes, as well as foropaqueness of the lens. They also say that when a weasel's eyes have been gougedout with a pointed tool, the sight. is restored, and they use the animal as theyused the lizards and rings, saying also that a serpent's right eye wornas au amulet, is good for eye fluxes, if the serpent is set free alive. The ashof a spotted lizard's head makes with antimony an excellent remedy forcontinually streaming eyes. The web of a fly-spider, particularly its very lair,is said to be a marvellous cure for fluxes if laid in a plaster acrossthe forehead from temple to temple; but it must be collected and appliedby a boy before puberty, who waits three days before showing himself to thepatient needing cure, during which days the latter must not touch the earth withbare feet. White ulcers also are said to be removed by the white spider withvery long and very thin legs, which is pounded in old oil and used as ointment.The spider too, whose very coarse web is generally found in rafters, is said tocure fluxes if worn in cloth as an amulet. The green beetle has the property ofsharpening the sight of those who gaze at it, and so the carvers of jewels gazeon one to rest their eves.

XXXIX. The ears are cleaned by sheep's gall with honey; pain is relieved by drops of bitch's milk; hardness of hearing by her fat with wormwood and old oil, also by goose grease. Some add the juice of onion and a like measure of garlic. They also use without addition ants' eggs, for this creature also has its use in medicine, and it is well known that bears when sick cure themselves by eating these eggs. The fat of geese and of all birds is prepared all the veins are taken out, and in a new earthenware pan with a lid it is melted in the sun with boiling hot water underneath, strained through linen strainers and set aside in new earthenware in a cool place; if honey is added the fat is less likely to go rancid. The ash of mice, either added to honey or boiled with rose oil, if dropped into the ears relieves pain. If some creature has crept into the ear, the sovereign remedy is mouse gall diluted with vinegar; if it is water that has got in, goose grease with the juice of an onion. A dormouse, skinned and the intestines taken out, is thoroughly boiled in honey in a new vessel. Physicians prefer it to be boiled down to one-third in nard, and so stored away, and then when needed poured into the ear in a warmed strigil. It is well ascertained that desperate ear complaints are cured by this remedy, or if a decoction of earthworms and goose grease is injected. The red worms also that are taken off trees, if pounded with oil, make excellent treatment for ulcerated or ruptured ears. Preserved lizards, with salt put into their mouths as they hang suspended, heal bruised ears that are suffering from a blow, most efficaciously those covered with spots of the colour of iron rust and also marked by streaks along the tail. The millipede, by some called centipede or multipede, is one of the earth worms; it is hairy, with many feet, moving sinuously its back as it crawls, drawing itself together when touched, and called by the Greeksoaiscos orjabs. It is said to be a good cure for ear pains if boiled down in pomegranate rind or leek juice. They add also rose oil, and pour it into the ear that is not painful. The kind however that does not move sinuously its back the Greeks callseps orscolopendra; it is smaller and very venomous. The snails that are edible are applied with myrrh or powdered frankincense, and the small, broad snails are made into an ointment with honey for fractured ears. The slough of serpents, burnt in a heated pot, is mixed with rose oil and dropped into the ears, efficacious indeed for all affections, but especially for offensive smell; if pus is present, vinegar is used, and it is better if there be added gall of goat, ox, or turtlethe slough, as some think, loses power if older than a year, or if soaked with rainthe gore of a spider on wool with rose oil, by itself, or with saffron; a cricket dug out with its earth and applied. Great efficacy is attributed to this creature by Nigidius, greater still by the Magi, just because it walks backwards, bores into the earth, and chirrups at night. They hunt it with an ant tied to a hair and put into the cricket's hole, first blowing the dust away lest it bury itself, and so when the ant has embraced it the cricket is pulled out. The lining of the crop of poultry, usually thrown away, if dried and pounded in wine, is poured warm into suppurating ears, likewise hens' fat and a kind of greasy substance coming from the black beetle if its head is pulled off. This, pounded with rose oil, is said to be wonderfully good for the ears, but the wool on which it is inserted must be taken out after a short time, for this grease very quickly turns into something alive, forming a grub. Some write that a dose of two or three of these beetles, boiled down in oil, make very good treatment for the ears, and that when these are bruised crushed beetles are placed in them in a piece of linen. This insect is one of the things that arouse disgust, but because Nature and the research of the ancients are so wonderful I must go fully into the matter here. They have made several classes of them: first the soft kind which, boiled down in oil, they found to make a good ointment for warts. The second kind they called mylvecos, because they are found commonly about mills. The instances they quoted include Musaeus the boxer, who cured leprous sores by this kind rubbed on without their heads. A third kind, one with a loathsome smell and a sharp-pronged tail-end, they say will cure, if applied with pisselaeum for twenty-one days, ulcers otherwise incurable, scrofulous sores and superficial abscesses; and without legs and wings bruises, contusions, even malignant sores, itch scab, and boils. Even to hear these remedies mentioned makes me feel sick; but, heaven help us! Diodorus says that he had given these beetles with resin and honey even in cases of jaundice and orthopnoea. So much power has the art of medicine to prescribe any medicament it may wish. The kindliest among physicians have thought that the ash of burnt black beetles should be kept for the purposes mentioned in a horn box, or that crushed they should be given in enemas to sufferers from orthopnoea or catarrh. It is a known fact at any rate that an application brings away things embedded in the flesh. The most suitable honey for the ears also is that in which bees have died. Parotid swellings are reduced by pigeon's dung either by itself or with barley meal or oatmeal, by the brain or liver of an owl, poured with oil into the ear on the side of the swelling, by a multipede with a third part of resin used as ointment, and by crickets, used as ointment or as amulets. Medicine for the remaining kinds of disease from the same animals or from animals of the same kind, I shall speak of in the next Book.

I. IN the previous part of my work I have often indeed refuted the fraudulent lies of the Magi, whenever the subject and the occasion required it, and I shall continue to expose them. In a few respects, however, the theme deserves to be enlarged upon, were it only because the most fraudulent of arts has held complete sway throughout the world for many ages. Nobody should be surprised at the greatness of its influence, since alone of the arts it has embraced three others that hold supreme dominion over the human mind, and made them subject to itself alone. Nobody will doubt that it first arose from medicine, and that professing to promote health it insidiously advanced under the disguise of a higher and holier system; that to the most seductive and welcome promises it added the powers of religion, about which even today the human race is quite in the dark; that again meeting with success it made a further addition of astrology, because there is nobody who is not eager to learn his destiny, or who does not believe that the truest account of it is that gained by watching the skies. Accordingly, holding men's emotions in a threefold bond, magic rose to such a height that even today it has sway over a great part of mankind, and in the East commands the Kings of Kings.

II. Without doubt magic arose in Persia withZoroaster. On this our authorities areagreed, but whether he was the only one of that name, or whether there was alsoanother afterwards, is not clear. Eudoxus,who wished magic to be acknowledged as the noblest and most useful of theschools of philosophy, declared that thisZoroaster lived six thousand years beforePlato's death, andAristotle agrees with him. Hermippus, a most studious writer aboutevery aspect of magic, and an exponent of two million verses composed byZoroaster, added summaries too to hisrolls, and gaveAgonaces as the teacherby whom he said that he had been instructed, assigning to the man himself a datefive thousand years before the Trojan War. What especially is surprising is thesurvival, through so long a period, of the craft and its tradition; treatisesare wanting, and besides there is no line of distinguished or continuoussuccessors to keep alive their memory. For how few know anything, even by hearsay, of those who alone have left their names but without other memorialApusorusandZaratus of Media,Marmarus andArabantiphocus of Babylon, orTarmoendas of Assyria? The mostsurprising thing, however, is the complete silence ofHomer about magic in his poem on theTrojan War, and yet so much of his work in the wanderings of Ulysses is sooccupied with it that it alone forms the backbone of the whole work, if indeedthey put a magical interpretation upon theProteus episode inHomer and thesongs of the Sirens, and especially upon the episode of Circe and of the callingup of the dead from Hades, of which magic is the sole theme. And in later timesnobody has explained how ever it reached Telmesus, a city given up tosuperstition, or when it passed over to the Thessalian matrons, whose surname awas long proverbial in our part of the world, although magic was a craftrepugnant to the Thessalian people, who were content, at any rate in the Trojanperiod, with the medicines ofChiron,and with the War God as the only wielder of the thunderbolt? I am indeedsurprised that the people over whom Achilles once ruled had a reputation formagic so lasting that actuallyMenander, a man with an unrivalled gift for sound literary taste, gave the name 'Thessala'to his comedy, which deals fully with the tricks of the women for calling downthe moon. I would believe thatOrpheuswas the first to carry the craft to his near neighbours, and that hissuperstition grew from medicine, if the whole of Thrace, the home ofOrpheus, had not been untainted bymagic. The first man, so far as I can discover, to write a still-extant treatiseon magic was Osthanes, who accompanied the Persian KingXerxes in his invasion of Greece, andsowed what I may call the seeds of this monstrous craft, infecting the wholeworld by the way at every stage of their travels. A little before Osthanes, the more careful inquirersplace anotherZoroaster, a native ofProconnesus. One thing is certain; it was thisOsthanes who chiefly roused among the Greek peoples not so much an eagerappetite for his science as a sheer mania. And yet I notice that of old, in factalmost always, the highest literary distinction and renown have been sought fromthat science. CertainlyPythagoras,Empedocles,Democritus andPlato went overseas to learn it, goinginto exile rather than on a journey, taught it openly on their return, andconsidered it one of their most treasured secrets.Democritus expounded Apollobex the Copt andDardanus the Phoenician, entering thelatter's tomb to obtain his works and basing his own on their doctrines. Thatthese were accepted by any human beings and transmitted by memory is the mostextraordinary phenomenon in history; so utterly are they lacking in credibilityand decency that those who like the other works ofDemocritus deny that the magical booksare his. But it is all to no purpose, for it is certain thatDemocritus especially instilled intomen's minds the sweets of magic. Another extraordinary thing is that both thesearts, medicine I mean and magic, flourished together,Democritus expounding magic in the sameage asHippocrates expounded medicine,about the time of the Peloponnesian War, which was waged in Greece from thethree-hundredth year of our city. There is yet another branch of magic, derivedfrom Moses, Jannes [an Egyptian magician], Lotapes [Iotape = Yahweh], and theJews, but living many thousand years afterZoroaster. So much more recent is the branch in Cyprus. In the time tooofAlexander the Great, no slightaddition was made to the influence of the profession by a secondOsthanes, who, honoured by hisattendance onAlexander, travelledcertainly without the slightest doubt all over the world.

III. Among Italian tribes also there still certainly exist traces ofmagic in the Twelve Tables, as is proved by my own and the other evidence setforth in an earlier Book? It was not until the 657th year of the City [97BC]that in the consulship of GnaeusCorneliusLentulus andPublius LiciniusCrassus there was passed a resolution ofthe Senate forbidding human sacrifice; so that down to that date it is manifestthat such abominable rites were practised.

IV. Magic certainly found a home in the two Gallic provinces, and thatdown to living memory. For the principate ofTiberius Caesar did away with their Druids and this tribe of seers andmedicine men. But why should I speak of these things when the craft has evencrossed the Ocean and reached the empty voids of Nature? Even today Britainpractises magic in awe, with such grand ritual that it might seem that she gaveit to the Persians. So universal is the cult of magic throughout the world.although its nations disagree or are unknown to each other. It is beyondcalculation how great is the debt owed to the Romans, who swept away themonstrous rites, in which to kill a man was the highest religious duty and forhim to be eaten a passport to health.

V. As Osthanes said, thereare several forms of magic; he professes to divine from water, globes, air,stars, lamps, basins and axes, and by many other methods, and besides toconverse with ghosts and those in the underworld. All of these in ourgeneration the EmperorNero discoveredto be lies and frauds. In fact his passion for the lyre and tragic song was nogreater than his passion for magic; his elevation to the greatest height ofhuman fortune aroused desire in the vicious depths of his mind; his greatestwish was to issue commands to the gods, and he could rise to no nobler ambition.No other of the arts ever had a more enthusiastic patron. Every means were histo gratify his desirewealth, strength, aptitude for learningand whatelse did the world not allow! That the craft is a fraud there could be nogreater or more indisputable proof than thatNero abandoned it; but would that he had consulted about his suspicionsthe powers of Hell and any other gods whatsoever, instead of entrusting theseresearches to pimps and harlots. Of a surety no ceremony, outlandish and savagethough the rites may be, would not have been gentler thanNero's thoughts; more cruelly behavingthan any didNero thus fill our Romewith ghosts.

VI. The Magi have certain means of evasion; for example that the godsneither obey those with freckles nor are seen by them. Was this perhaps theirobjection toNero? But his body waswithout blemish; he was free to choose the fixed days, could easily obtainperfectly black sheep, and as for human sacrifice, he took the greatest delightin it. Mithridates the Magus had come tohim bringing a retinue for the Annenian triumph over himself, thereby laying aheavy burden on the provinces. He had refused to travel by sea, for the Magihold it sin to spit into the sea or wrong that element by other necessaryfunctions of mortal creatures. He had brought Magi with him, had initiatedNero into their banquets; yet the mangiving him a kingdom was unable to acquire from him the magic art. Therefore letus be convinced by this that magic is detestable, vain, and idle; and though ithas what I might call shadows of truth, their power comes from the art of thepoisoner, not of the Magi. One might well ask what were the lies of the oldMagi, when as a youth I saw Apion the grammarian, who told me that the herbcynocephalia, called in Egyptosiritis, was an instrument of divination and aprotection from all kinds of sorcery, but if it were uprooted altogether thedigger would die at once, and that he had called up ghosts to inquire fromHomer his native country and the name ofhis parents, but did not dare to repeat the answers which he said were given.

VII. It should be unique evidence of fraud that they look upon the moleof all living creatures with the greatest awe, although it is cursed by Naturewith so many defects, being permanently blind, sunk in other darkness also, andresembling the buried dead. In no entrails is placed such faith; to no creaturedo they attribute more supernatural properties; so that if anyone eats itsheart, fresh and still beating, they promise powers of divination and offoretelling the issue of matters in hand. They declare that a tooth, extractedfrom a living mole and attached as an amulet, cures toothache. The rest of theirbeliefs about this animal I will relate in the appropriate places. But of allthey say nothing will be found more likely than that the mole is an antidote forthe bite of the shrewmouse, seeing that an antidote for it, as I have said, iseven earth that has been depressed by cart wheels.

VIII. Toothache is also cured, the Magi tell us, by the ash of the burntheads without any flesh of dogs that have died of madness, which must bedropped in cyprus oil through the ear on the side where the pain is; also by theleft eye-tooth of a dog, the aching tooth being scraped round with it; by one ofthe vertebrae of the draco or of the enhydris, the serpent being a white male.With this eye-tooth they serape all round the painful one, or they make anamulet of two upper teeth, when the pain is in the upper jaw, using lower teethfor the lower jaw. With its fat they rub hunters of the crocodile. They alsoscrape teeth with bones extracted from the forehead of a lizard at a full moon,without their touching the earth. They rinse the mouth with a decoction of dogs'teeth in wine, boiled down to one-half. The ash of these teeth with honey helpschildren who are slow in teething. A dentifrice also is made with the sameingredients. Hollow teeth are stuffed with the ash of mouse dung or with driedlizards' liver. A snake's heart, eaten or worn as an amulet, is consideredefficacious. There are among them some who recommend a mouse to be chewed uptwice a month to prevent aches. Earthworms, boiled down in oil and poured intothe ear on the side where there is pain, afford relief. These also, reduced toash and plugged into decayed teeth, force them to fall out easily, and appliedto sound teeth relieve any pain in them. They should be burnt, however, in anearthen pot. They also benefit if boiled down in squill vinegar with the root ofa mulberry tree, so as to make a wash for the teeth. The maggot also, which isfound on the plant called Venus' Bath, plugged into hollow teeth, is wonderfullygood. But they fall out at the touch of the cabbage caterpillar, and the bugsfrom the mallow are poured into the ears with rose oil. The little grains ofsand, that are found in the horns of snails, if put into hollow teeth, free themat once from pain. Empty snail shells, reduced to ash and myrrh added, are goodfor the gums, as is the ash of a serpent burnt with salt in an earthen pot,poured with rose oil into the opposite ear, or the slough of a snake with oiland pitch-pine resin warmed and poured into either earsome add frankincense androse oiland if put into hollow teeth it also makes them fall out withouttrouble. I think it an idle talc that white snakes cast their slough about therising of the Dog-star, since the casting has been seen in Italy before therising, and in warm regions it is much less probable for sloughing to be solate. But they say that this slough, even when dry, combined with wax forces outteeth very quickly. A snake's tooth also, worn as an amulet, relieves toothache.There are some who think that a spider also is beneficial, the animal itself,caught with the left hand, beaten up in rose oil, and poured into the ear on theside of the pain. The little bones of hens have been kept hanging on the wall ofa room with the gullet intact; if a tooth is touched, or the gum scraped, andthe bone thrown away, they assure us that the pain at once disappears, as itdoes if a raven's dung, wrapped in wool, is worn as an amulet, or if sparrows'dung is warmed with oil and poured into the ear nearer the pain. This howevercauses unbearable itching, and so it is better to rub the part with vinegar andthe ash of a sparrow's nestlings burnt on twigs.

IX. They assert that the taste in the mouthis made agreeable if the teeth are rubbed with the ash of burnt mice mixed withhoney; some add fennel root. If the teeth are picked with a vulture's feather,they make the breath sour. To pick them with a porcupine's quill conduces totheir firmness. Sores on the tongue or lips are healed by a decoction ofswallows in honey wine; chaps on them by goose grease or hen's grease, by oesypum with gall nut, by white webs of spiders, or by the small webs spun onrafters. If the mouth has been scalded by over-hot things, bitch's milk willgive an immediate cure.

X. Spots on theface are removed by oesypum with Gorsican honey, which is considered the mostacrid; scurf on the skin of the face by the same with rose oil on a piece offleece; some add also butter. If however there is psoriasis, dog's gall isapplied to the spots, which are first pricked with a needle; to livid spots andbruises rams' or sheep's lungs are applied hot and cut into thin slices, or elsepigeon's dung. The skin of the face is preserved by goose grease or hen's. Tolichen is also applied mouse dung in vinegar, or ash of the hedgehog in oil; forthis treatment they prescribe that the face should first be fomented with sodaand vinegar. Facial troubles are also removed by the ash with honey of the broadbut small snails that are found everywhere. The ash indeed of all snails, suchis its detergent property, thickens and warms; for that reason it is aningredient of caustic preparations and used as a liniment for itch, leproussores, and freckles. I find also that there are ants called Herculanean, whichbeaten up and with the addition of a little salt cure facial troubles. Thebuprestis is a creature rarely found in Italy, and very similar to a long-leggedbeetle. Oxen at pasture are very apt not to see ithence too its nameand shouldit be swallowed it causes such inflammation on reaching the gall that it burststhe animal. This insect applied with he-goat suet removes lichen from the faceby its corrosive property, as I have already said. Vulture's blood, beaten upwith cedar resin and the root of the white chamaeleon, a plant I have alreadymentioned, and covered with a cabbage leaf, heals leprous sores, as do thelegs of locusts beaten up with he-goat suet. Pimples are cured by poultry fatkneaded with onion. Very useful too for the face is honey in which bees havedied, but the best thing for clearing the complexion and removing wrinkles isswan's fat. Branded marks are removed by pigeon's dung in vinegar.

XI. I find that a heavy cold clears up if the sufferer kisses a mule'smuzzle. Pain in the uvula and in the throat is relieved by the dung, dried inshade, of lambs that have not yet eaten grass, uvula pain by applying the juiceof a snail transfixed by a needle, so that the snail itself may be hung up inthe smoke, and by the ash of swallows with honey. This also gives relief toaffections of the tonsils. Gargling with ewe's milk is a help to tonsils andthroat, as is a multipede beaten up, gargling with pigeon's dung and raisinwine, and also an external application of it with dried fig and soda. Sorethroat and a running cold are relieved by snailsthey should be boiled unwashedand with only the earth taken off crushed and given to drink in raisin wine;some hold that the snails of Astypalaea are the most efficaciousby their ash,and also by rubbing with a cricket or if anybody touches the tonsils with handsthat have crushed a cricket.

XII. In quinsy very speedy relief is afforded by goose gall withelaterium and honey, by the brain of an owl, and by the ash of a swallow takenin hot water. The last prescription is on the authority of the poetOvid. But more efficacious for allailments for which swallows are prescribed are the young of wild swallows, whichare recognised by the shape of their nests, but by far the most efficacious arethe young of sand martins, for so are called the swallows that build their nestsin holes on river banks. Many hold that a young swallow of any kind should beeaten to banish the fear of quinsy for a whole year. They wring their necks,burn them blood and all in a vessel, and give the ash with bread or in drink.Some add also to the prescription an equal quantity of weasel ash. Thesepreparations are given daily in drink for scrofula and for epilepsy.Preserved in salt also swallows are taken for quinsy in drachma doses, for whichcomplaint their nest also, taken in drink, is said to be a cure. It is thoughtthat an application of millipedes is very efficacious for quinsy; some thinkthat twenty, beaten up in a hemina of hydromel, should be given through a reed,because if the teeth are touched the draught is thought to be useless. They alsotell us that a mouse, well boiled with vervain, makes a broth that is a remedy,as does a thong of dog leather wrapped three times round the neck, or dove'sdung thoroughly mixed with wine and oil. For neck-sinews and opisthotonus a twigofagnus castus taken from the nest of a kite and worn as an amulet, is said tohelp, for ulcerated scrofula a weasel's blood, or the weasel itselfboiled down in wine, but it is not applied to sores that have been lanced. Theysay also that eating weasel in food has the same effect, or the animal burnedover twigs and the ash mixed with axle grease. A green lizard is attached as anamulet; after thirty days the weasel should be changed for another. Some keep aweasel's heart in a small silver vessel for scrofula in woman or man. Anointment is made of snails pounded with their shells, especially those thatcling to shrubs, or there is applied the ash of asps with bull suet, snake's fatmixed with oil, or an ointment of snake's ash in oil or with wax. To eat alsothe middle part of a snake after cutting off either end is good for scrofula, asis to take in drink the ash of this middle burnt in new earthenware, with muchgreater benefit if the snakes have been killed between two wheel-ruts. Theyrecommend also the application of a cricket dug up with its earth, also theapplication of dove's dung by itself, or with barley meal or oatmeal in vinegar,or of mole ash with honey. Some make an ointment of a mole's liver crushedbetween the hands, and do not wash it off for three days. They also assure usthat the right foot of the animal is a remedy for scrofula. Others cut off thehead, pound it with the earth of a mole-hill, work into lozenges in a pewterbox, and use for all swellings, for what are calledapostemata, and foraffections of the neck; during the treatment the eating of pork is forbidden.There are earth beetles like ticks that are called 'bulls'a name given becauseof their little hornsand by some 'earth lice.' These too throw up earth that isapplied to scrofulous and similar sores, and also to gouty parts, not beingwashed off for three days. The efficacy of this treatment lasts for a year. Tothese creatures are assigned all the properties I have mentioned when speakingof crickets. Some also use for this purpose the earth thrown up by ants, otherstie as an amulet as many earth worms as there are sores, which dry up as theworms shrivel. Others about the time of the Dog-star cut off, as I have said,the ends of a viper, then burn the middle part and give a three-finger pinch ofthe ash to be taken in drink for thrice seven days, treating scrofulous sores inthis way; some however do so by tying round them a linen thread by which a viperhas been suspended by the neck until it died. They also use millipedes with afourth part of terebinth resin, a medicament which they recommend for thetreatment of all apostemata.

XIII. Good treatment for pains in the shoulder is weasel ash and wax.Rubbing with ants' eggs prevents hair in the armpits of children, and dealers,to delay growth of downy hair on adolescents, use blood that comes from thetesticles of lambs when they are castrated. Applications of this blood after thehair has been pulled out also do away with the rank smell of the armpits.

XIV. Praecordia is a comprehensive name we use for the vitalorgans of the human body. When any one of them is in pain, the application of asucking puppy pressed close to that part is said to transfer the malady to it;they add that, if the organs of the puppy are taken out and washed with wine, bythe diseased aspect of those organs can be detected the source of the patient'spain; but the burial of an animal so used is an essential part of the ritual.Those puppies too that we call Melitaean relieve stomachache if laid frequentlyacross the abdomen. That the disease is transferred to the puppy is seen by itssickening, usually even by its death. Lung complaints are also cured by mice,especially African; they are skinned, boiled down in oil and salt, and taken infood. The same preparation is also a cure for expectoration of pus or blood.

XV. The best medicine, however, for the stomach is a diet of snails.They should be gently boiled in water, African snails by preference, withtheir bodies whole, then with nothing added grilled over a coal fire, and sotaken in wine and garum. Recently this treatment has been found to benefit verymany sufferers, who are also careful that the number of the snails taken is odd.Their rank juice, however, makes the breath foul. Pounded without their shellsand taken in water they are also good for the spitting of blood. The most prizedsnails are the African, especially those of Iol, those of Astypalaea, moderatesized Sicilian (for the large are hard, and without juice), and those of theBaliaric islands, calledcavaticae because they breed in caverns. Thosefrom the islands and of Capreae are prized, but none whether preserved or freshmake pleasant eating. River snails and white snails have a ranktaste; wood snails are not good for the stomach, relaxing the bowels, and sowith all small snails. On the other hand sea snails are rather beneficial forthe stomach, but of the prized snails the most efficacious for stomach-ache aresaid to be all that are swallowed alive in vinegar. Moreover, there are somesnails called άκέρατοι, which are broad, and breed in many places; of these Ishall speak in the appropriate places. The skin of the crop of poultry,sprinkled into the drink when dried, or roasted if fresh, relieves chestcatarrhs and moist coughs. A cough is relieved by pounded raw snailsswallowed in three cyathi of tepid water, running colds also by a piece of dogskin put round any finger. Partridge broth acts as a tonic on the stomach.

XVI. Pains in the liver are treated by the wild weasel, or its liver,taken in food, also by a ferret roasted as is a sucking pig; asthma by thriceseven multipedes, soaked in Attic honey and sucked through a reed, for everyvessel they touch they turn black. Some roast a sextarius of them in a pan untilthey turn white, then they mix them with honey and recommend giving them in warmwater. Snails in food have been given to those subject to fainting, aberrationof the mind, or vertigo, a dose being one snail in three cyathi of raisin wine,pounded with the shell, warmed, and taken in drink for nine days at most; somehave given one on the first day, two on the next, three on the third, two on thefourth, and one on the fifth. This treatment is also good for asthma andabscesses. Some hold that there is a creature like a locust, but without wings,calledtrixallis in Greek but without a name in Latin; some, and not afew authorities, maintain that it is what is called in Latingryllus(cricket); twenty of these they recommend to be roasted and taken in honey winefor orthopnoea. A cure for spitting of blood are snails, if the patient poursprotropum on them unwashed, or if he boils them down in seawater, and takesthem in food, or if pounded with their shells they are taken with protropum;these preparations also cure a cough. Specific for abscesses is honey inwhich bees have died. For coughing up blood a vulture's lung burnt over vinewood, with half as much pomegranate blossom and the same quantity of quinceblossom and of lilies, taken morning and evening in wine, if there is no fever,otherwise in water in which quinces have been boiled.

XVII. The fresh spleen of a sheep is placed, by a Magianprescription, over the painful spleen of a patient, the attendant saying that heis providing a remedy for the spleen. After this the Magi prescribe that itshould be plastered into the wall of the patient's bedroom, sealed with a ringthrice nine times and the same words repeated. If a dog's spleen is cut out ofthe living animal and taken in food it cures splenic complaints; some bind itwhen fresh over the affected part. Others without the patient's knowledge givein squill vinegar the spleen of a two-days-old puppy, or that of a hedgehog,also the ash of snails with linseed, nettle seed, and honey, until there is acomplete cure. Another remedy is a live green-lizard, hung up in a pot beforethe door of the bedroom of the patient, that he may touch it with his hand ongoing out and coming in, the ash of a horned owl's head with an unguent, honeyin which bees have died, or a spider, especially that called 'wolf.'

XVIII. The heart of a hoopoe is a prized remedy for pains in the side, asis the ash of snails boiled down in barley water; these are also used bythemselves as a liniment. The skull of a mad dog is reduced to ash and sprinkledin drink. For lumbago an overseas spotted lizard, with head and intestinesremoved, is boiled down in wine with half an ounce by weight of blackpoppy, and this broth is drunk. Green lizards, with feet and head cut off, aretaken in food, or three snails, beaten up with their shells and boiled down inwine with fifteen peppercorns. They break off, in the opposite way to the joint,the feet of an eagle, so that the right foot is attached as an amulet for painsin the right side, the left foot for those in the left side. The multipede too,that I have calledoniscos, is another remedy, the dose being adenarius by weight taken in two cyathi of wine. The Magi prescribe that anearthworm should be placed upon a wooden plate that has been split beforehandand mended with a piece of iron, soaked in water that has been taken up in thedish, and buried in the place from which it was dug out. Then the water in theplate is to be drunk, which they say is a wonderful remedy for sciatica.

XIX. Dysentery is relieved by a leg of mutton boiled down with linseed,the broth of which is drunk, by old cheese made with ewe's milk, and by muttonsuet boiled down in a dry wine. By this are also benefited ileos and chroniccough, and dysentery by a spotted lizard from overseas, boiled down with itsintestines, head, feet, and skin removedit is as efficacious in food also asdecoctedby two snails with egg, each beaten up with its shell, allowed tosimmer in a new vessel with salt, two cyathi of raisin wine or date juice, andthree cyathi of water; this preparation is taken in drink. Snails are alsobeneficial when burnt, and their ash taken in wine with a small piece of resin.Snails without shells, about which I have spoken they are found chiefly inAfricaare very useful in dysentery; five are burnt and taken with half adenarius by weight of gum acacia; of this ash two spoonfuls are given in myrtlewine or any dry wine with an equal quantity of hot water. Some, using allAfrican snails, administer according to this recipe; others prefer to injectthe same number of African snails or broad snails, adding if the fluxis severe gum acacia of the size of a bean. The cast slough of snakes is boileddown with rose oil for dysentery and tenesmus in a pewter vessel; if in anyother kind of vessel, the application must be made with the help of pewter.Chicken broth is good for these two complaints, but broth made with an old cock,thoroughly salted, is purgative. A hen's crop, roasted and given in oil andsalt, soothes the pains of coeliac troublesbut previously hen and patient mustboth abstain from cereals as does dove's dung roasted and taken in drink. Theflesh of a wood-pigeon boiled in vinegar is good for dysentery and for coeliactroubles; for dysentery too a thrush roasted with myrtle berries, so areblackbirds and honey in which bees have died.

XX. The most serious disease of the abdomen is ileos. It may be combated,they say, by tearing a bat apart and drinking its blood; it is also a help torub the belly with it. Looseness of the bowels is checked by a snail preparedaccording to my prescription for asthma, and also by the ash, taken in a drywine, of snails that have been burnt alive. Other remedies are: the roastedliver of cocks or the skin of their crop, usually thrown away, mixed with poppyjuice if dried, while some roast it fresh to be given in wine, partridge brothand its crop pounded by itself in dark wine, also wild wood-pigeon boiled downin vinegar and water, spleen of a sheep roasted and beaten up in wine, pigeon'sdung applied with honey, the gizzard of an osprey dried and taken in drink, verybeneficial to those who cannot digest their food, even if they only hold it intheir hand while eating. Some use it as an amulet for this purpose, but it mustnot be so used continuously, for it makes the body thin. Looseness is alsochecked by the blood of drakes. Flatulence is dispersed by a diet of snails,griping by the spleen of sheep, roasted and taken in wine, wild wood-pigeonboiled down in vinegar and water, the fat of a bustard in wine, the ash of anibis burnt without the feathers and taken in drink. Another prescription forgriping is of a marvellous character: it is said that if a duck is laid on thebelly, the disease is transferred to the duck, which dies. Good for griping isalso boiled honey in which bees have died. Colic is effectively cured by acrested lark, roasted and taken in food. Some recommend that it should be burntwith the feathers in a new vessel, ground to dust and taken in water, threespoonfuls daily for four days, others that a lark's heart should be tied as anamulet to the patient's thigh, and others that it should be swallowed whilefresh and still warm. The Asprenates are a consular family in which one of twobrothers was cured of colic by this bird taken in food and its heart worn in agolden bracelet, the other by performing a certain sacrifice in a shrine ofunbaked bricks built in the shape of an oven, and when a certain rite was overblocking it up. The osprey has only one gut, which through its wonderfulcharacter digests everything that the bird eats; the end of it attached as anamulet is well known to be excellent for colic. There are some obscure diseasesof the intestines, for which is prescribed a wonderful cure. If, before they cansee, puppies are applied for three days especially to the stomach and chest of apatient, and suck milk from his mouth, the power of the disease is transferredto them; finally they die and dissection makes clear the patient's trouble; thepuppies must be buried in the earth. The Magi indeed tell us that if the bellyis touched with a bat's blood there is protection from colic for a whole year;should there be pain, it is sufficient if the patient can bring himself to drinkthe water in which he washes his feet.

XXI. Mouse dung rubbed on the belly is good for stone in the bladder. Theflesh of a hedgehog is said to be pleasant to eat if it is killed by one blow onthe head before it can void its urine on itself. The flesh of hedgehogs killedin this manner is a remedy for obstruction to the urine; another is fumigationwith the same animal. Should however it have voided its urine on itself thosewho have eaten the flesh are said to be attacked by strangury. It is alsorecommended, in order to break up stone, to take earthworms in wine or raisinwine, or snails boiled down as for asthma; three snails taken from their shells,pounded, and given in a cyathus of wine, on the next day two, and on the thirdday one, for removing difficulty of urination; but the ash of the empty shellsfor expelling stone; the liver of a water snake or the ash of scorpions to betaken in drink or in bread, the grits to be found in the gizzard ofpoultry or in the crop of wood-pigeons to be crushed and sprinkled on drink,also the skin of the crop of poultry. When dried, or roasted when fresh, thedung too of wood-pigeons to be taken in beans for stone and other bladdertrouble; the ash too of wild wood-pigeon's feathers in oxymel, threespoonful-doses of their intestines reduced to ash, a bit of earth from aswallow's nest diluted with warm water, the crop of an osprey dried, dung of aturtle-dove boiled down in honey wine, or the broth of the bird itself. To eatthrushes also with myrtle berries is good for the urine, cicadas roasted in ashallow pan, to take in drink the millipede oniscos, and for pains inthe bladder the broth of lambs' trotters. Chicken broth too is laxative andsoftens acridities, laxative too is the dung of swallows with honey used as asuppository.

XXII. For complaints of the anus very efficacious are wool greasesomeadd pompholyx and rose oildog's head reduced to ash, a serpent's slough invinegar, if there are chaps, the ash of white dog's-dung with rose oilit issaid to have been a discovery of Aesculapius, removing warts also veryefficaciouslyash of mouse dung, fat of a swan, fat of a boa. Prolapsus there isreduced by an application of snail juice extracted by pricks. Chafings arerelieved by the ash of a field mouse with honey, the gall of a hedgehog with thebrain of a bat and bitch's milk, by goose grease with goose brain, alum and woolgrease, and by pigeon dung with honey; specific for condylomata is a spiderrubbed on the place when the head and feet have been removed; to prevent thesmart from acrid juices, apply goose grease with Punic wax, white lead, roseoil, and swan fat. This fat is said also to cure haemorrhoids. They say thatbeneficial for sciatica are raw snails, pounded with Aminnean wine and pepperand taken in drink, a green lizard taken in food, but with feet, bowels and headremoved, also so treated a spotted lizard with the addition of three oboli ofblack poppy for ruptures and sprains, sheep's gall with woman's milk. Itchingeruptions and warts on the privates are treated with the gravy from the roastedlung of a ram, other genital affections by the ash, applied with water, of raw,even unwashed, ram's wool, by the suet from the cad of a sheep, especially thatof the kidneys, mixed with salt and the ash of pumice, by greasy wool in coldwater, by the burnt flesh of sheep in water, by the ash of a she-mule's hoofs,by the tooth of a horse, ground to powder and dusted on the parts, andcomplaints of the testicles by the bones of a horse's head ground to powderwithout the flesh. If either testicle hangs down, we are told that a remedy isfound in applying the slime of snails. Foul and running ulcers on these partsare relieved by the fresh ashes of a dog's head, by the small broad kind ofsnail beaten up in vinegar, by the slough of a snake or its ash in vinegar, byhoney in which bees have died mixed with resin, by the shell-less kind of snail,which I have said a breeds in Africa, beaten up with powdered frankincense andwhite of eggs; the application is removed on the thirtieth day, and some add abulb instead of frankincense. Hydrocele, they tell us, is wonderfully benefitedby the spotted lizard: head, feet, and bowels are removed, and the rest of thebody is roastedfrequent doses are given in foodin food too for incontinence ofurine they prescribe dog fat with split alum in doses the size of a bean,African snails burnt with their flesh and shell, the ash being taken in drink,three roasted geese tongues taken in food. Sponsor for this treatment is Anaxilaus. But superficial abscesses are opened by mutton suet and roasted salt;they are dispersed by mouse dung mixed with powdered frankincense and sandarach,by ash of a lizard or the lizard itself, split and applied, also by multipedespounded and mixed with one third part of terebinth resinsome add also red ochreof Sinopeby crushed snails by themselves, or by the ash of empty snail-shellsmixed with wax. Power to disperse is possessed by pigeon's dung, applied byitself or with barley meal or with oatmeal. Cantharides mixed with lime removesuperficial abscesses as well as the lancet; swelling of the groin is relievedby an application of small snails with honey.

XXIII. To prevent varicose veins the legs of children are rubbed withlizard's blood, but both gout patient and rubber must be fasting. Gouty painsare soothed by ocsypum with woman's milk and white lead, by the dung of sheepthat they pass liquid, by lungs of sheep, by ram's gall with ram's suet, by micesplit and laid on the parts, by blood of a weasel applied with plantain and theash of a weasel burnt alive with vinegar and rose oilthe remedy should beapplied with a feather even a if wax and oil are made ingredientsbydog's gall, which must not be touched by hand but applied with a feather, bydung of hens, by ash of earthworms with honey, taken off on the third day. Someprefer to apply the worms in water, others prefer to rub the feet first withrose oil and then to apply without water an acctabulum of worms with threecyathi of honey. Snails of the broad kind taken in drink are said to banishpains of the feet and joints; the dose is two pounded in wine. They are alsoapplied with juice of the plant helxine; some are content to beat them up invinegar. Salt, burnt with a viper in a new jar and taken frequently, frees theysay from gout, adding that it is also beneficial to rub the feet with viper fat.They assure us also that the kite is a remedy; it is dried, pounded, and athree-finger pinch taken in water, or the feet are rubbed with its blood. To thefeet is also applied the blood of pigeons a with nettles, or their feathers maybe used when they are just sprouting, beaten up with nettles. Moreover theirdung is applied to painful joints, also the ash of a weasel or of snails, andwith starch or tragacanth. Bruised joints are treated very effectively withspider's web; some prefer to use the ash of it, or else that of pigeon's dungwith pearl barley and white wine. For dislocations a sovereign remedy is muttonsuet with ash of woman's hair. For chilblains too is applied mutton suet withalum, or the ash of a dog's head or of mouse dung. But if they are clean, ulcersare brought to cicatrize by these with the addition of wax, or by the warm ashin oil of burnt dormice, also by that of field mice with honey, and by that ofearthworms also with old oil and the snails that are found without shells. Allsores of the feet are healed by the ash of those snails that have been burntalive, by the ash of hens' dung, and ulcerations by the ash of pigeon's dung inoil. Chafings caused by foot-wear are healed by the ash of an old shoe, by thelung of a lamb and of a ram; for whitlows is specific a horse's tooth ground topowder; chafings under the feet of man or beast are healed by applying a greenlizard's blood, corns on the feet by applying the urine of a mule, male orfemale, with the mud made by it, by the dung of sheep, by the liver or blood ofa green lizard laid on a piece of wool, by earthworms in oil, by the head of aspotted lizard with an equal quantity ofagnus castus beaten up in oil,by pigeon's dung boiled down in vinegar; all kinds of warts are cured by freshdog's urine applied with its mud, by the ash of dog's dung with wax, by the dungof sheep, by the application of fresh mouse-blood, or of a mouse itself tornasunder, by the gall of a hedgehog, by the head or blood of a lizard or the ashof the whole creature, by the slough of snakes, or by the dung of a hen with oiland soda. Cantharides beaten up with Taminian grapes eat away warts, but whencorroded in this way they must be treated by the other remedies I haveprescribed for the complete healing of ulcers.

XXII. Now I will turn to those ills that threaten the whole body. TheMagi say that the gall of a black male dog, if a house is fumigated or purifiedwith it, acts as a talisman protecting all of it from sorcerers' potions; it isthe same if the inner walls are sprinkled with the dog's blood or his genitalorgan is buried under the threshold of the front door. Those would wonder lessat this who know how highly the Magi extol that very loathsome animal the tick,on the ground that it is the only creature that has no vent for its gorging, noryet any end save at death, living longer if it starves; they tell us that so itlasts for seven days, but if they eat to satiety they burst in a shorter time.They add that a tick from the left ear of a dog, worn as an amulet, relieves allpains. They also consider the tick a prognostication of life or death, for iftile patient at the beginning of his illness makes reply when he who has broughtin with him a tick, standing at his feet inquires about the illness, there issure hope of recovery; should no reply be made the patient will die. They addthat the tick must be taken from the left ear of a dog that is completely blackall over. Nigidius has left it inwriting that dogs run away for a whole day from the sight of one who has caughta tick on a pig. Again, the Magi tell us that sprinkling with mole's bloodrestores to their senses the delirious, while those who are haunted by nightghosts and goblins are freed from their terrors if tongue, eyes, gall, andintestines of a python are boiled down in wine and oil, cooled by night in theopen air, and used as embrocation night and morning.

XXV. For feverish chills Nicandergives as a remedy a dead serpent, the amphisbaena, worn as an amulet, or evenits skin; nay, he says that, if it is fastened to a tree that is being felled,the fellers feel no cold and do their business more easily. So much does this,alone of serpents, stand up to the cold, being the first of all serpents to makeits appearance, even before the cry of the cuckoo. One wonderful thing about thecuckoo is, that if, on the spot where that bird is heard for the first time, theprint of the right foot is marked round aud the earth dug out, no fleas breedwherever it is sprinkled.

XXVI. For those warding off paralysis thefats of decocted dormice and shrew mice are said to be very beneficial, as alsomillipedes taken in drink as I have prescribed for quinsy; for consumptives agreen lizard boiled down in three sextarii of wine to one cyathus, the dailydose being one spoonful until convalescence, or the ash of snails taken inwine;

XXVII. for epilepsy wool-grease with a morsel of myrrh, diluted with two cyathi of wine, a piece the size of a hazel nut being taken in drink, after thebath, or the testicles of a ram dried and pounded, half a denarius by weightbeing taken in a hemina of water or of ass's milk; to drink wine is forbiddenfor five days before and after. Very highly praised also is the blood of sheep,taken by the mouth, the gall of sheep, especially of a lamb, with honey, suckingpuppy taken in wine and myrrh after the head and feet have been cut off, theexcrescence on the leg of a she-mule taken in three cyathi of oxymel, the ash ofa spotted lizard from overseas taken in vinegar, the coat of a spotted lizard,which it casts in the same way as a snake, taken in drink. Some have also givenin drink the lizard itself, gutted with a reed and dried, others in food thelizard roasted on wooden spits. It is worth while knowing how, when cast, thewinter skin is hastily taken from the lizard, which otherwise devours it, for noliving creature, they say, shows greater spite in cheating man, for which reasonits name has been turned into a term of abuse. They note in the summer time itsnest, which is in the cornices over doors and windows, or in vaults or tombs.Over against the nest in the beginning of spring they place cages like weelswoven with split reeds, the narrow neck of which gives the creature actualdelight, as thereby it casts off more easily the encumbrance of its covering,but when this has been left no return is possible. No remedy for epilepsy ispreferred to this. A good one too is a weasel's brain dried and taken in drink,or a weasel's liver, testicles, uterus, or paunch, dried with coriander, as Ihave said; likewise its ash, or a wild weasel taken whole in food. All the samegood qualities are praised in the ferret. A green lizard, with seasonings tobanish any nausea, the feet and head being taken off, and an application ofsnails, reduced to ash, with linseed, nettle seed, and honey, are also cures.The Magi recommend the tail of a python attached as an amulet in gazelle skin bydeer sinews, or the bits of stone from the crops of baby swallows fastened tothe left upper arm; for swallows are said to administer a bit of stone to eachchick when hatched. But if, at the first attack of epilepsy, the chick from thefirst egg laid is given to the patient in food, he is freed from that complaint;afterwards the treatment is swallows' blood with frankincense, or eating a freshswallow's heart. Moreover, a little stone, taken from a swallow's nest and laidon the patient, is said to give immediate relief, and worn as an amuletpermanent protection. Highly praised also is eating a kite's liver or a snake'sslough, a vulture's liver pounded with its blood and taken in drink for thriceseven days, or the heart of a vulture's chick worn as an amulet. But theyrecommend also the vulture itself to be given in food, and that too when it haseaten its fill from a human corpse. Some are of opinion that a vulture's breastshould be taken in drink in a cup made of Turkey-oak wood, or the testicles of acock in water and milk, after abstinence from wine for five days; for thispurpose the testicles are preserved. There have also been some who gave in drinktwenty-one red flies, and that too from a corpse, but fewer to weak patients.

XXVIII. Jaundice is combated by dirt from the ears or teats of asheep, the dose being a denarius by weight with a morsel of myrrh and two cyathi of wine, by the ash of a dog's head in honey wine, by a millipede in ahemina of wine, by earthworms in oxymel with myrrh, by drinking wine that hasrinsed a hen's feetthey must be yellowafter they have been cleansed withwater, by the brain of a partridge or eagle taken in three cyathi of wine, bythe ash of the feathers or intestines of a wood-pigeon taken in honey wine up tothree spoonfuls, or by the ash of sparrows burnt over twigs taken in twospoonfuls of hydromel. There is a bird called 'jaundice' from its colour. If one with jaundice looks at it, he is cured, we are told, of that complaint and the bird dies. I think that this bird is the one called in Latin 'galgulus.'

XXIX. For brain-fever appears to be beneficial, a sheep's lungwrapped warm round the patient's head. But who could give to one delirious thebrain of a mouse to be taken in water, or the ash of a weasel, or even the driedflesh of a hedgehog, even if the treatment were bound to be successful? As forthe eyes of the horned owl reduced to ash, I should be inclined to count thisremedy as one of the frauds with which magicians mock mankind, and it isespecially in fevers that true medicine is opposed to the doctrines of thesequacks. For they have actually divided the art according to the passing of thesun, and also that of the moon, through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. That thewhole theory should be rejected I will show by a few examples. If the sun ispassing through Gemini, they recommend the sick to be rubbed with the combs,ears, and claws of cocks, burnt and pounded with oil; if it is the moon, thecocks' spurs and wattles must be used. If either sun or moon is passing throughVirgo, grains of barley must be used; if through Sagittarius, a bat's wings; ifthe moon is passing through Leo, leaves of tamarisk, and they add that it mustbe the cultivated shrub; if through Aquarius, boxwood charcoal, pounded. Ofthese remedies I shall include only those recognised, or at least thoughtprobable: for example, to rouse the victims of lethargus by pungent smells,among which perhaps I would put the dried testicles of a weasel or the fumes ofhis burnt liver. For these patients also they consider it useful to wrap roundthe head the warm lung of a sheep.

XXX. In quartans ordinary medicines are practically useless; forwhich reason I shall include several of the magicians' remedies, and in thefirst place the amulets they recommend: the dust in which a hawk has rolledhimself tied in a linen cloth by a red thread, or the longest tooth of a blackdog. The wasp they call pseudosphex, that flies about by itself, they catch withthe left hand and hang under the chin, and others use the first wasp seen inthat year; a severed viper's head attached in a linen cloth, or the heart takenfrom the creature while still alive; the snout and ear tips of a mouse, wrappedin red cloth, the mouse itself being allowed to go free; the right eye gougedout of a living lizard; a fly in a bit of goat skin, with its head cut off; orthe beetle that rolls little pellets. Because of this beetle the greater part ofEgypt worships the beetle as one of its deities.Apion gives an erudite explanation: heinfers that this creature resembles the sun and its revolutions, seeking to findan excuse for the religious customs of his race. But the Magi also make amuletsof other beetles. There is one with bent-back little horns, which they take upin the left hand; a third kind, calledfullo, with white spots, they cutin two and wear as an amulet on either upper arm; all the rest are worn on theleft arm; the heart, taken out `with the left hand from a living snake; fourjoints of a scorpion's tail, with the sting, wrapped in black cloth, care beingtaken that the sick man does not see, for three days, either the scorpion whenset free or him who attaches the amulet; after the third paroxysm he must hideit away. They tie a thread three times round a caterpillar in alinen cloth, and with three knots, the ministering attendant saying ateach knot the reason for so doing. Other amulets are: a slug in a piece of skin,or four slugs' heads cut off with a reed, a multipede wrapped up in wool, thegrubs from which gadflies are born, before they develop wings, or other hairygrubs found on thorny bushes. Some shut up four of these grubs in a walnut shelland attach as an amulet. Snails that are found without shells, or a spottedlizard shut up in a little box, they place under the patient's head and let outwhen the fever goes down. They also recommend the heart of a sea-diver, cut outwithout iron, dried and pounded, to be taken in warm water, or the hearts ofswallows with honey; others swallows' dung in doses of one drachma in three cyathi of goat's or sheep's milk or in raisin wine, to be taken before theparozysms. Some hold that the entire swallow should be taken. An asp's skin, indoses of one sixth of a denarius by weight with an equal quantity of pepper, istaken by Parthian tribes as a cure for a quartan.Chrysippus the philosopher has told usthat wearing a phryganion as an amulet is a cure for quartans: but what theanimal isChrysippus has left noaccount, and I have met nobody who knew. Yet a statement made by so great anauthority it was necessary to mention, in case somebody's research should meetwith better success. To eat the flesh of a crow or to apply its nest as afriction they think very beneficial in chronic diseases. In tertians too it maybe worth while to try whether there is any benefit (so much does sufferingdelight in hoping against hope) in the spider calledlycos (wolf) appliedwith its web in a small plaster of resin and the wax to both temples and to theforehead, or in the spider itself attached as an amulet in a reed, in which formit is also said to be beneficial for other fevers. A green lizard too may betried, attached alive, in a vessel just large enough to contain it; by whichmethod we are assured that recurrent fevers also are often banished.

XXXI. For dropsy is given in drink wool grease in wine mixed with alittle myrrh, in doses the size of a hazel nut. Some also add goose grease inmyrtle-wine. The dirt from the udders of sheep has the same effect, as has thedried flesh of a hedgehog taken by the mouth. An application too of dogs vomitto the abdomen brings away, we are assured, the dropsical fluid.

XXXII. Erysipelas is benefited by wool grease with pompholyx androse oil, by the blood of a tick, by earth-worms applied in vinegar, by acricket crushed between the handshe who succeeds in doing this before thecomplaint shows itself is protected from an attack for the whole of thatyear, but the cricket must be lifted with iron along with the earth of itsholeby goose grease, by the head of a viper, kept till dry, burnt, and thenapplied in vinegar, a serpent's slough applied in water with bitumen and lambsuet after a bath.

XXXIII. A carbuncle is removed by pigeon's dung, applied by itself orwith linseed in oxymel, also by bees that have died in honey, applied andsprinkled with pearl barley. If a carbuncle or other sore is on the privates,the remedy is wool grease with lead scales in honey, and sheep dung forincipient carbuncles. Hard swellings and whatever needs to be softened aretreated very efficaciously with goose grease, and equally good results are alsogiven by the grease of cranes.

XXXIV. Boils are said to be cured by a spider, applied before its namehas been mentioned and taken off on the third day, by a shrewmouse, killed andhung up so that it does not touch earth afterdeath, and passed three times round the boil, both the attendant and the patientspitting the same number of times, by the red part of poultry dung, best appliedfresh in vinegar, by a stork's crop boiled down in wine, by an odd number offlies rubbed on with the medical finger by dirt from the ears of sheep,by stale mutton suet with the ash of woman's hair, and by ram's suet with ash ofburnt pumice and an equal quantity of salt.

XXXV. Burns are treated with ash of a dog's head, the ash ofdormice and oil, sheep dung and wax, the the ash of mice; with the ash of snailsso well that not even a scar is to be seen, with viper fat, and with the ash ofpigeon's dung applied in oil.

XXXVI. Hard lumps in the sinews are treated with the ash of a viper'shead in cyprus oil, and by an application of earthworms and honey. Pains in thesinews are soothed by fat, by a dead amphisbaena attached as an amulet, byvulture's fat with its crop, dried and pounded with stale pig's fat, by the ashof a horned-owl's head taken in honey wine with the root of a lily, if webelieve the Magi. For cramp in the sinews woodpigeon's flesh dried and taken inthe food, for cramping spasms hedgehog's flesh, also the ash of a weaselaserpent's slough attached as an amulet in a piece of bull's leather preventssuch spasms for opisthotonic tetanus the dried liver of a kite, the dose beingthree oboli taken in three cyathi of hydromel.

XXXVII. Hangnails and whitlows that form on the fingersare removed by the ash of a dog's head, or by the uterus boiled down in oil,with a layer on top of butter from ewe's milk with honey, as also by the gallbladder of any animal; roughness of the nails by cantharides and pitch, takenoff on the third day, or by locusts fried with he-goat suet, and by mutton suet.Some mix with the ingredients mistletoe and purslane, others flowers of copperand mistletoe, but remove the application on the third day. Bleeding in thenostrils is arrested by inserting suet from the caul of a sheep, also by itsrennet in water, especially by lamb's rennet, snuffed up or injected, even ifother remedies do no good, by goose grease with an equal quantity of butterworked up into lozenges, by the earth off snails, but also by the actual snailsthemselves, taken from their shells; but when there is severe epistaxis it isstayed by snails beaten up and applied to the forehead, and also by spider'sweb; by the brain or blood of a cock are arrested fluxes from the brain, also bypigeon's blood; it is stored and congealed for this purpose.

If however there is violent haemorrhage from a wound, it is wonderfully arrestedby an application of the ash of horse-dung burnt with egg shells.

XXXIX. Ulcers are healed by wool grease, barley ash, and copperrust, in equal parts; this is also equally efficacious for carcinomata andspreading sores. It cauterizes too the edges of ulcers, and levels outexcrescences in the flesh; it also fills up hollows and forms scars. There isalso great power to heal carcinomata in the ash of sheep's dung with soda added,or in the ash of a lamb's thigh bones, especially when ulcers refuse tocicatrize. There is great power too in the lungs, especially those of rams,which flatten out very efficaciously excrescences of flesh on ulcers; ewe dungtoo by itself, warmed under an earthen jar and kneaded, reduces swollen wounds,and cleans and heals fistulas and epinyctides. The greatest power, however, isin the ash of a dog's head, which cauterizes and thoroughly heals allexcrescences as well as does spodium. These are cauterized too by mouse dung,and also by the ash of weasel's dung. Indurations in deep-seated ulcers andcarcinomata are penetrated by multipedes pounded and mixed with terebinth resinand earth of Sinope. The same remedies are very useful for those ulcers that arethreatened by worms. Moreover, the various kinds of worms themselves havewonderful uses. The larvae that breed in wood heal all ulcers; and nomaetoo if burnt with an equal weight of anise and applied in oil. Fresh wounds areunited so well by earth worms that there is a general conviction that evensevered sinews are by applying them made whole by the seventh day; accordinglyit is thought that they should be preserved in honey. Their ash with liquidpitch or symphytum and honey removes too-hard edges of ulcers. Some dry them inthe sun, use in vinegar to treat wounds, and do not take them off without aninterval of two days. Used in the same way the earth too off snails isbeneficial, and snails taken out whole, beaten up, and applied, unite freshwounds and arrest nomae. There is also an insect called by the Greeksherpes, which is specific for all creeping ulcers. Snails also are good forthem, beaten up with their shells; with myrrh indeed and frankincense they aresaid to heal even severed sinews. The fat of a python also, dried in the sun, isof great benefit, as is a cock's brain for fresh wounds. By viper's salt takenin food we are told that ulcers become more amenable to treatment and heal morerapidly. Indeed the physicianAntoniusafter operating on ulcers without success gave vipers as food to bring aboutcomplete cures with wonderful rapidity. The ash of the trixallis with honeyremoves hard edges on ulcers, as does ash of pigeon's dung with arsenic andhoney; these also remove all that needs a cautery. The brain of ahorned owl with goose grease is said to unite wounds wonderfully, as, withwoman's milk, does the ash of a ram's thighs the ulcers called malignant, butthe cloths must be first carefully washed, or the screech owl boiled in oil,with which when melted down are mixed ewe butter and honey. The lips of ulcersthat are too hard are softened by bees that have died in honey, andelephantiasis by the blood and ash of a weasel. Wounds and weals made by thescourge are removed by an application of fresh sheepskin.

XL. For fractures of the joints a specific is the ash of a sheep'sthighs with waxthis medicament is more efficacious if there are burnt with thethighs the sheep's jawbones and a deer's horn, and the wax is softened with roseoilspecific for broken bones is a dog's brain, spread on a linen cloth, overwhich is placed wool, occasionally moistened underneath (with oil). In aboutfourteen days it unites the broken parts, as does quite as quickly the ash of afield-mouse with honey, or that of earthworms, which also extracts fragments ofbone.

XLI. Scars are restored to the natural colour by the lungs of sheep,particularly of rams, by their suet in soda, by the ash of a greenlizard, by a snake's slough boiled down in wine, and by pigeon's dung withhoney; the last in wine does the same for both kinds a of white vitiligo; forvitiligo cantharides also with two parts of rue leaves. These must be kept on inthe sun until the skin is violently irritated; then there must be fomentationand rubbing with oil, followed by another application. This treatment should berepeated for several days, but deep ulceration must be guarded against. Forvitiligo of all kinds they also recommend the application of flies with root ofeupatoria, or the white part of hens' dung kept in old oil in a horn box, orbat's blood, or hedgehog's gall in water. Itch scab however is relieved by thebrain of a horned owl with saltpetre, but best of all by dog's blood, andpruritus by the small, broad, kind of snail, crushed and applied.

XLII. Arrows, weapons, and everything that must be extracted from theflesh, are withdrawn by a mouse split and laid on the wound, butespecially by a split lizard, or even its head only, crushed and laid on thewound with salt, by the snails that attack leaves in clusters, crushed andsimilarly laid on with the shells, and edible snails without them, but mostefficaciously by the bones of snakes with hare's rennet. These bones also, withthe rennet of any quadruped, show a good result by the third day. Cantharidestoo are highly recommended, beaten up and applied with barley meal.

XLIII. For women's complaints the afterbirth of an ewe is of service, asI said when speaking of goats. The dung too of sheep has the samemedicinal uses. Fumigation with lobsters is of the greatest help in strangury inwomen. If occasionally after conception a woman eats the testicles of a cock,males are said to be formed in the uterus. The foetus is retained by taking indrink the ash of porcupines, brought to maturity by drinking bitch's milk, andwithdrawn by the afterbirth of a bitch, which must not touch the earth, laid onthe loins of the woman in childbed. Mouse dung diluted with rain water reducesthe breasts of women swollen after childbirth. Rubbing the woman all over withthe ash of hedgehogs and oil prevents miscarriage. The delivery of those iseasier who have swallowed goose a with two cyathi of water, or the liquids thatflow from a weasel's uterus through its genitals. Applying earthworms preventspains in the sinews of neck and shoulders, and taken in raisin wine bring away asluggish afterbirth. These worms laid by themselves on the breasts also maturesuppurations there, open them, draw out the pus, and make them cicatrize. Takenwith honey wine they stimulate the flow of milk. There are also little wormsfound n grass; these, tied round the neck as an amulet, prevent a miscarriage,but they are taken off just before the birth, otherwise they prevent delivery,Care too must be taken not to lay them on the earth. Further, to causeconception five or seven at a time are given in drink. Snails taken in foodhasten delivery, and conception too if applied with saffron. An application ofsnails in starch and tragacanth arrests fluxes. They are also good formenstruation if taken in food, and correct with deer's marrow displacements ofthe uterus; to one snail should be added a denarius by weight of marrow andcyprus oil. Inflation too of the uterus is dispersed by snails taken out oftheir shells and beaten up with rose oil. For these purposes the most preferredare snails of Astypalaea. African snails are prepared in a different way; dosesof two are beaten up with a three-finger pinch of fenugreek, four spoonfuls ofhoney added, and the whole applied after rubbing the abdomen with iris juice.There are also found straying everywhere small snails with a white corslet.Dried in the sun on tiles, crushed to powder, and mixed with an equal quantityof bean meal, these impart both whiteness and smoothness to the skin. The desireto scratch is removed by the small, broad snails with pearl barley. If a womanwith child step across a viper she will miscarry; similarly if she cross anamphisbaena, a dead one at least, but those that carry on their persons a liveone in a box step across with impunity; even if it is a dead one and preservedit makes childbirth easy. In the case of a dead one, wonderful to relate, noharm is done should a pregnant woman cross it without a preserved one, if she atonce crosses a preserved one. Fumigation with a dried snake assistsmenstruation.

XLIV. A snake's slough, tied to the loins as an amulet, makes childbirtheasier, but it must be taken off immediately after delivery. They also give itin wine to be taken with frankincense; in any other way it causes miscarriage. Astick with which a frog has been shaken from a snake helps lying-in women, andthe ash of the trixallis, applied with honey, helps menstruation, as does aspider that is spinning a thread from a height. It should be caught in thehollow of the hand, crushed? and applied; but if it is caught as it ascendsagain, the same treatment will arrest menstruation. The stone aetites,found in the eagle's nest, protects a foetus from all plots to causeabortion. A vulture's feather, placed under their feet, helps lying-in women. Itis certain that pregnant women must avoid a raven's egg, since if they step overit they will miscarry through the mouth. A hawk's dung taken in honey wine seemsto make women fertile. Indurations and abscesses of the uterus are softened bygoose grease or by swan's grease.

XLV. The breasts after delivery are safeguarded by goose grease with roseoil and a spider's web. The Phrygians and Lycaonians have found that the fat ofbustards is beneficial for teats disordered by childbirth. For uterinesuffocation beetles also are applied. Ash of partridge eggshells mixed with cadmia and wax keeps the breasts firm. They also think that breasts do not droopif circles are traced round them three times with the egg of partridge or quail,and that if this egg is swallowed it also produces fertility and an abundantsupply of milk as well, that it lessens pains in the breasts if they are rubbedwith it and goose grease, that it breaks up moles in the uterus, and thatuterine itch is relieved if it is applied with crushed bugs.

XLVI. Bats' blood is a depilatory, but an application to the armpits ofboys is not enough unless copper rust or hemlock seed is spread over itafterwards; this treatment either removes the hair altogether or reduces it todown. They think that a bat's brain is equally efficaciousthis brain is double,red and white asome adding the bat's blood and liver. Others in three heminae ofoil thoroughly boil a viper after taking out the bones, using the decoction as adepilatory after first plucking out the hairs they do not wish to grow again.The gall of a hedgehog is a depilatory, especially when mixed with a bat's brainand goat's milk, as is also the ash by itself. Parts rubbed with the milk of abitch with her first litter, when the hairs have been plucked out or not yetgrown, do not grow hair again. The same result is said to be produced by theblood of a tick plucked from a dog, by the blood or gall of a swallow, or by theeggs of ants. They say that eyebrows are made black by crushed flies; if howeverit is desired that the eyes of babies should be black, the expectant mother musteat a shrewmouse; hair is prevented from turning grey by the ash of earth-wormsmixed with oil.

XLVII. Babies that are troubled with curdled milk have a preventative inlamb's rennet taken in water or if the trouble has occurred with milkalready curdled it is dispersed by this rennet given in vinegar. For dentitionthe brain of a sheep is very beneficial. The inflammation of babies calledsiriasis is cured by the bones found in dog's dung worn as an amulet, and herniain babies by bringing a green lizard to bite them when asleep. Afterwards theyfasten the lizard to a reed and hang it in smoke, and they say that as it diesthe baby recovers. The slime of snails applied to the eyes of babies straightensthe eyelashes and makes them grow. Hernia is cured by the ash of snails appliedfor thirty days with frankincense in white of egg. There are found in the littlehorns of snails sandy grits; worn as an amulet these make dentition easy. Theash of snail shells mixed with wax checks procidence of the end of the bowel,but the ash should be mixed with the discharge that exudes when the snails arepricked. A viper's brain tied on with a piece of his skin helps dentition. Thesame effect have also the largest teeth of serpents. The dung of a ravenattached with wool as an amulet cures babies' coughs. Certain details canscarcely be included as serious items, but I must not omit them, since they havebeen put on record. As a remedy for hernia in babies they recommend a lizard;there should be taken a male, which can be recognised by its having one ventbeneath the tail. The necessary ritual is: that it must bite the lesion througha gold or silver barrier; then it must be fastened in an unused cup andplaced in smoke. Incontinence of urine in babies is checked by giving in theirfood boiled mice. The tall, indented horns of the beetle, fastened to babies,serves as an amulet. In the head of the boa is said to be a little stone, whichis spit out by it when in fear of violent death; they add that dentition iswonderfully aided if the creature's head is cut off unawares, the stoneextracted and worn as an amulet. The brain too of the same creature theyrecommend to be worn for the same purpose, or the stone or little bone found onthe back of a slug. A splendid help also is the brain of a ewe rubbed on thegums, as for the ears is goose grease put in them with juice of ocimum. Onprickly plants are grubs which are rough and downy. These worn by babies as anamulet are said to effect an immediate recovery when part of their food sticksin the throat.

XLVIII. Sleep is induced by wool grease with a morsel of myrrh diluted intwo cyathi of wine, or else with goose grease and myrtle wine, by thecuckoo bird in a piece of hare's fur worn as an amulet or by a heron's beak wornas an amulet on the forehead in a piece of ass's hide. It is thought too thatthe beak of the heron by itself rinsed in wide has the same effect. Sleep iskept away, on the contrary, by a dried bat's head worn as an amulet.

XLIX. A lizard drowned in a man's urine is antaphrodisiac to himwho passed it, but the Magi claim that it is a love-philtre.Antaphrodisiac too are snails, and pigeon's dung taken with oil and wine.Aphrodisiac for men are the right parts of a vulture's lung, worn as an amuletin a piece of crane's skin; aphrodisiac also are the yolks of five pigeons' eggsmixed with a denarius by weight of pig fat and swallowed in honey, sparrows ortheir eggs in food, or the right testicle of a cock worn as an amulet in a pieceof ram's-skin. They say that rubbing with ibis ash, goose grease and iris oilprevent miscarriage when there has been conception; that desire on the contraryis inhibited if a fighting cock's testicles are rubbed with goose grease andworn as an amulet in a ram s skin, as it also is if with a cock's blood anycock's testicles are placed under the bed. Women unwilling to conceive areforced to do so by hairs from the tail of a she-mule, pulled out during theanimal copulation and entwined during the human. A man who passes his urine on adog's is said to become Less sexually active. A wonderful thing again (if it istrue) is told about the ash of the spotted lizard: if wrapped in a linen clothand held in the left hand it is aphrodisiac; if transferred to the right hand itis antaphrodisiac. Another wonder: the blood of a bat, collected on a flock ofwool and placed under the head of women, moves them to lust, as does the tongueof a goose, taken either in food or in drink.

L. The lice of phthiriasis even of the whole bodyare destroyed in three days by taking in drink the maggots, east sloughof a snake, or by drinking, with a little salt, whey after the cheese has beentaken out. They say that if the brain of a weasel is added to rennet, cheesesneither go rotten through age nor are touched by mice. If the ash too of aweasel is given to poultry or pigeons in their mash, they are said to be safefrom weasels. Pains of draught animals in making urine are ended by a bat put onthem as an amulet, and hots by a woodpigeon carried three times round theirmiddle. Wonderful to relate, the woodpigeon on being set free dies, while theanimal is at once freed from pain.

LI. The eggs of an owl, given for three days in wine to drunkards,produce distaste for it. Drunkenness is kept away by taking early the roastedlung of sheep. A swallow's beak reduced to ash, beaten up with myrrh, andsprinkled on the wine that will be drunk, will free drinkers from fear ofbecoming tipsy. This is a discovery of Orus, king of Assyria.

LII. In addition to all this there are some notable things about theanimals that belong to this Book: the gromphena, a bird spoken of in Sardinia aslike a crane, but now, I think, unknown even to the Sardinians. In the sameprovince we have the ophion, a creature like deer only in its hair, andfound nowhere else. The same authorities say that there is a creature calledsiralugum, but they have not told us what kind of an animal it is or whereit is found. I do not indeed doubt that it once existed, since even medicinesfrom it have been prescribed.Marcus Cicerotells us that there are animals calledbiuri which gnaw the vines inCampania.

LIII. There are still some wonders in the animals that I have mentioned: that a dog does not bark at a person having on him the membrane from the afterbirth of a bitch, or holding the dung or hair of a hare; included among gnats are mullones, which live only for a day; those taking honey from hives are not stung by the bees if they have on them the beak of a woodpecker; pigs follow those from whom they have received in their mash the brain of a raven; the dust in which a she-mule has wallowed, sprinkled on the body, lessens the fires of love. Shrew mice are put to flight if one of them is castrated and let go free; if a snake's skin, salt, emmer wheat, and wild thyme are pounded together and with wine poured down the throat of oxen when the grapes are ripening, they enjoy good health for a whole year, or if three young swallows are given at three meals in their mash; if dust is gathered from the track of a snake and sprinkled on bees, these return to their hives; if the right testicle of a ram is tied up he begets ewes only; those are not wearied by any toil who have on them sinews from the wings and legs of a crane; she-mules do not kick if they have drunk wine. The hoofs of she-mules are the only material discovered that is not rotted by the poisonous water of Styx, a notable fact discovered by Aristotle, to his great infamy, when Antipater sent a draught of it to Alexander the Great. Now I will pass to things found in water.

I. THERE follow the medicinal benefits obtained from aquatic animals;Nature the Creator is not idle even among them, but puts forth her tirelessstrength on waves, billows, ebb and flow of tides, and the rapid currents ofrivers; and nowhere with greater might, if we will but admit the truth, seeingthat this element is lord over all the others. Water swallows up the land,destroys flames, climbs aloft claiming the sovereignty even of the sky, and by ablanket of clouds chokes the life-giving spirit, so forcing out thunderbolts,the world waging civil war with itself. What can be more wonderful than waterseated in the sky? But as though it were a little thing to reach this greatheight, water sucks up thither with itself shoals of fish, and often evenstones, carrying up aloft a weight other than its own. This element also fallsagain to become the source of all things that spring from the earth. Rightwonderful action this on the part of Nature, if one considers it: in order thatcrops may grow, and that trees and shrubs may live, water soars to the sky andbrings down thence even to plants the breath of life, so we are forced to admitthat all the powers of earth too are part of the beneficence of water. WhereforeI shall first of all give examples of the might of water, for what mortalman could count them all?

II.. Everywhere in many lands gush forth beneficent waters, here cold,there hot, there both, as among the Tarbelli, an Aquitanian tribe, and in thePyrenees, with only a short distance separating the two, in some placestepid and lukewarm, promising relief to the sick and bursting forth to help onlymen of all the animals. Water adds to the number of the gods by its variousnames, and founds cities, such as Puteoli in Campania, Statiellae in Liguria,and Sextiae in the province of Narbonensis. Nowhere however is water morebountiful than in the Bay of Baiae, or with more variety of relief: some has thevirtue of sulphur, some of alum, some of salt, some of soda, some of bitumen,some are even acid and salt in combination; of some the mere steam isbeneficial, of which the power a is so great that it heats baths and evenmakes cold water boil in the tubs. The water called Posidian in the region ofBaiae, getting its name from a freedman ofClaudius Caesar, cooks thoroughly even meat. In the sea itself too, steamrises from the water that belonged toLiciniusCrassus, and there comes something valuable to health in the very midstof the billows.

III. To come now to the classes of water: some waters are good for sinewsor feet, or for sciatica; others for dislocations or fractures; theypurge the bowels; heal wounds; are specific for head, or for ears;while the Ciceronian are so for the eyes. It is worth while recording that thereis a country seat on the coast as you go from Lake Avernus to Puteoli, with afamous portico and grove, which lvi.Cicero,copying Athens, called Academia. There he wrote the volumes called Academica,and in it he also erected memorials to himself, as though indeed he had not doneso throughout the whole world. In the front part of this estate, when the ownerwasAntistius Vetus, a short time afterCicero's demise there burst out hotsprings, very beneficial for eye complaints, which have been made famous by apoem ofLaurea Tullus, who was one ofCicero's freedmen. From it we at oncerealize that even his servants drew inspiration from that mighty genius. For Iwill quote the actual poem, which deserves to be read, not only on this site,but everywhere.

IV. In Campania too are the waters of Sinuessa, which are said to curebarrenness in women and insanity in men.

V. The waters in the island of Aenaria are said to cure stone in thebladder, as does also the water called Acidulait is a cold onefour miles from Teanum Sidicinum, that at Stabiae called Dimidia, and the water of Venafrum fromthe spring Acidulus. The same result comes from drinking the water of LakeVelia, also of the Syrian spring near Mount Taurus, according toMarcus Varro, and of the Phrygian riverGallus, according toCallimachus. Buthere moderation is necessary in drinking lest it drive people to madness, whichCtesias writes those suffer from whodrink of the Red Spring in Ethiopia.

VI. Near Rome the waters of Albula heal wounds. These are lukewarm, butthose of Cutilia of the Sabines are very cold, penetrating the body with a sortof suction, so that they might seem almost to bite, being very healthful to thestomach, the sinews, and the whole body.

VII. The spring at Thespiae causes women to conceive, as does the river Elatum in Arcadia, and the spring Linus, also in Arcadia, guards the embryo andprevents miscarriage. The river in Pyrrha, on the contrary, that is called Aphrodisium, causes barrenness.

VIII. The water of Lake Alphins removes psoriasis,Varro tells us, adding thatTitius, an ex-praetor, as a result ofthis complaint had a face like that of a marble statue. The Cydnus, a river ofCilicia, cures gout, as appears from a letter ofCassius of Parma to M.Antonius. On the other hand, it is thefault of the water in Troezen that everyone there suffers from diseases of thefeet. The Tungri, a state of Gaul, has a remarkable spring that sparkles withinnumerable bubbles, with a taste of iron rust, which yet cannot be detecteduntil the water has been drunk. It is a purgative, and cures tertian agues andstone in the bladder. This water also, if fire is brought near it, becomesturbid, and finallyturns red. White Earth Springs, between Puteoli and Naples, is good forcomplaints of the eyes and for wounds.Ciceroin hisBook of Marvels alleges thatonly by marsh water of Reate are the hoofs of draught cattle hardened.

IX.Eudicus tells us that inHestiaeotis are two springs: Cerona, which makes black the sheep that drink ofit, and Neleus, which makes them white, while they are mottled if they drink ofeach.Theophrastus says that at Thuriithe Crathis makes oxen and sheep white, and the Sybaris makes them black.

X. He adds that men too are affected by this difference: that those whodrink of the Sybaris are darker and more hardy, and with curly hair, while thosewho drink of the Crathis are fair, softer, and with straight hair. He also saysthat in Macedonia those who wish white young to be born lead their beasts to theHaliacmon, but to the Axius if they wish the young to be black or dark. The sameauthority adds that in certain places all produce grows to be dark, even grainand vegetables, as among the Messapii, and that in a certain spring at Lusi inArcadia land mice live and dwell. At Erythrae the river Axios makes hair grow onthe body.

XI. In Boeotia by the temple of Trophonius near the river Hercynnus aretwo springs; one brings remembrance, the other forgetfulness; hence the namesthat have been given them.

XII. In Cilicia near the town Cescum flows the river Nuus. Those thatdrink of it become, saysMarcus Varro,of keener perception, but on the bland of Cea there is a spring that makes mendull, and at Zama in Africa is one that gives the drinkers a tuneful voice.

XIII. Disgust at wine, says Eudoxus,comes upon those who have drunk of Lake Clitorius, butTheopompus says that drunkenness iscaused by the springs that I have mentioned, and Mucianus that at Andros, from the springof Father Liber, on fixed seven-day festivals of this god, flows wine, but ifits water is carried out of sight of the temple the taste turns to that ofwater.

XIV.Polyclitus says that withthe river Liparis near Soli in Cilicia people are anointed,Theophrastus says this of a spring withthe same name in Ethiopia, and Lycos that among the Oratae of India is a springthe water of which keeps lamps burning bright. The same is said of one atEcbatana.Theopompus says that among thepeople of Scotussa is a lake that heals wounds.Juba says that among the Trogodytae is a lake called Insanus, so namedfrom its evil character, for three times a day and three times each night itbecomes bitter, and then again fresh, full of white serpents twenty cubits long;he also says that in Arabia is a spring that bursts forth with such violencethat it throws out everything, no matter how heavy, that is heaved intoit.

XVI.Theophrastus tells us that aspring of Marsyas in Phygia, near the town of Celaenae, casts out rocks. Not farfrom it are two springs, named Claeon and Gelon, so called from the force oftheir Greek names. A spring at Cyzicus is called Cupid's Spring; those who drinkof it,Mucianus believes, lose theiramorous desires.

XVII. In Crannon is a hot spring which just falls short of boiling, thewater of which with wine added remains in vessels a hot drink for three days.There are also in Germany across the Rhine the hot springs of Mattiaeum, adraught from which is boiling hot for three days; around the borders indeed thewater forms pumice.

XVIII. But if anybody thinks that some of these statements areincredible, he has to learn that in no sphere does Nature show greater marvels,although in the early parts of my work I have mentioned plenty of examples. Ctesias tells us that there is in Indiastanding water called Silasp in which nothing floats but everything sinks to thebottom;Coelius says in our Avernus evenleaves sink, andVarro that the birdsthat fly to it die. On the other hand, in the African lake Apuscidamuseverything floats and nothing sinks; similarly in the Sicilian spring Phinthia,as Apion tells us, and among the Medes in the lake and well of Saturn. Again,the source of the river Limyra often crosses to neighbouring districts,indicating some portent, and a wonderful thing is that the fish cross with it.The inhabitants seek responses from them, offering food. To give a favourableanswer the fish snap it up; but for an unfavourable one, they knock it away withtheir tails. The river Alcas in Bithynia flows by Bryazusthis is the name bothof a god and of his templethe current of which perjured persons are said to beunable to endure, as it burns like a flame. In Cantabria the springs of theTamaris are supposed to be prophetic. Three in number they are eight feet apart,uniting in one channel to form a vast river. Each one dries up for periods oftwelve, occasionally of twenty days, without the slightest trace of water,although there is a copious spring near them that never dries up. It is an evilportent if those wishing to look at them find them not flowing, as recentlyLarcius Licinius, a legate pro-praetorediscovered after seven days. In Judea is a stream that dries up every Sabbath.

XIX. On the other hand some other marvels are deadly. Ctesias writes that in Armenia is aspring in which are dark fish that, eaten as food, bring instant death,as I have heard do the fish also from the water around the rising of the Danube,until a spring is reached close to the main channel, where the fish of this sortgo no further. At this point, therefore, report says is the real source of thatriver. They tell us that this same phenomenon occurs in Lydia in the marsh ofthe Nymphs. In Arcadia near the Pheneus there flows from the rocks a streamcalled Styx, which I have said proves instantly fatal to life, butTheophrastus tells us that in it aresmall fish equally deadly; no other kind of poisonous spring is like this.Theopompus also says that near Cychri inThrace are deadly waters, Lycos that at Leontini is water that kills on thethird day after drinking, andVarro thaton Soracte is poisonous water in a spring four feet wide. At sunrise, he adds,this bubbles out as though it boiled, and birds that have tasted it lie deadclose by. For certain waters have also this insidious property, that the veryprospect is attractive; as at Nonacris in Arcadia, which has nothing at allabout it to serve as a warning. They think that this water harms by itsexcessive cold, seeing that as it flows it itself turns to stone. It isotherwise around Tempe in Thessaly, for its poison is a terror to everyone, andthey tell us that by the water there even bronze and iron are corroded. Itflows, as I have pointed out, for only a short distance, and amarvellous thing is related of this spring: it is embraced by the roots of awild carob always bearing purple blossom. And a unique kind of herb flourisheson the margins of the spring. In Macedonia, not far from the tomb of the poetEuripides, two streams join, one verywholesome to drink, the other a deadly poison.

XX. At Perperena is a spring that turns to stone whatever land itirrigates, as do also the hot waters at Aedepsus in Euboea, for, whatever rocksthe stream reaches increase in height. At Eurymenae chaplets, thrown into aspring, turn to stone. At Colossae is a river, and bricks when cast into it areof stone when taken out. In Scyros in the mine all the trees watered by theriver are turned to rock, branches and all. Drops too dripping from the stoneharden in certain caves, and hence these are concave in shape. But at Mieza inMacedonia the drops actually hang from the arched roofs, while in the Corinthiancave they petrify after falling; in certain caverns the stone forms in both waysand makes pillars, as at Phausia in the Chersonesus opposite to Rhodes in a hugecave, where the pillars are actually of different colours to look at. Theseexamples must be enough for the present.

XXI. It is a question debated by the physicians what kinds of water aremost beneficial. They rightly condemn stagnant and sluggish waters, holding thatrunning water is more beneficial, as it is made finer and more healthy by themere agitation of the current. For this reason I am surprised that somephysicians recommend highly water from cisterns. But these physicians putforward a reason; the lightest water, they say, is rainwater, seeing that ithas been able to rise and to be suspended in the atmosphere. Therefore they alsoprefer snow and ice even more than snow, as though its texture were rarefied tothe utmost; for, they say, snow and ice are lighter than water, and ice muchlighter. To refute this view is a matter that is important to all men. For firstof all, this lightness of water can be discovered with difficulty except bysensation, as the kinds of water differ practically nothing in weight. Nor is itproof of the lightness of rain water that it rose to the sky, since even stonesare seen to do the same, and as it falls it is infected with exhalations fromthe earth. Hence it comes about that rainwater is found to be full of dirt, forwhich reason this water becomes hot very quickly. That snow indeed and iceshould be considered the finest form of that element makes me wonder, when Ihave before me the evidence of hailstones, to drink the water of which it isagreed is most unwholesome. Not a few physicians however themselves maintainthat hail and snow on the contrary make very unhealthy drink, since there hasbeen taken from it what was its thinnest part. Certainly it is found that everyliquid becomes smaller when frozen, that too much dew brings blight, and hoarfrost blast, effects caused by snow also being akin. Rainwater, it is agreed,becomes putrid very quickly, and it is the worst water to stand a voyage. Epigenes, however, says that water whichhas become putrid and been purified seven times becomes putrid no more. Butcistern water even physicians admit is harmful to the bowels and throat becauseof its hardness, and no other water contains more slime or disgusting insects.Yet it must be admitted, they hold, that river water is notipso factothe most wholesome, nor yet that of any torrent whatsoever, while there are verymany lakes that are wholesome. What water then, and of what kind, is the best?It varies with the locality. The kings of Parthia drink only of the Choaspes andthe Eulaeus; water from these rivers is taken with them even into distantregions. But it is clear that the water of these rivers does not find favourjust because they are rivers, for the kings do not drink from the Tigris,Euphrates, or many other rivers.

XXII. Slime in water is bad. If however the same river is full of eels,it is held to be a sign of wholesomeness, as it is of coldness for worms tobreed in a spring. But before all are condemned bitter waters, and those thatgive a full feeling immediately after drinking, as does the water at Troezen. But the nitrous and salty-acid streams that in the desert flow to the Red Sea are made sweet within two hours if pearl barley is added, and the barley itself they eat. Especially are condemned waters that have mud at their source, and those that give a bad colour to those who drink of them. It also makes a difference if water stains bronze vessels, or if it cooks greens slowly, if when gently filtered out it leaves a sediment of earth, or when boiled thickly encrusts the vessel. Not only too is fetid water bad, but also that whichtastes of anything at all, though the taste may be pleasant and agreeable, or,as often happens, approaching that of milk. Wholesome water ought to be verylike air. In the whole world one spring of water only is said to have a pleasantsmell, and that is at Chabura in Mesopotamia; a reason is sought in the legendthat with it Juno was bathed. Apart from this wholesome water should have nosort of taste or smell.

XXIII. Some judge the wholesomeness of water by means of the balance.This is wasted carefulness, for it is very rare for one water to be lighter thananother. A more reliable and a delicate test is that, other things being equal,a water is better that becomes warm and cool more quickly. Moreover we are toldthat if drawn in vessels [without being weighed, or without being warmed by thehand] and placed on the ground, the better water becomes warm. From what sourcethen shall we obtain the most commendable water? From wells surely, as I seethey are generally used in towns, but they should be those the water of which byfrequent withdrawals is kept in constant motion, and those where due thinnessis obtained by filtering through the earth. For wholesomeness so much suffices;for coolness both shade is necessary and that the well should be open to theair. One point above all must be observedand this is also important for acontinuous flowwell water should issue from the bottom, not the sides. Butcoolness to the touch can also be obtained artificially, if the water is forcedaloft or let fall from a height, beating and absorbing the air. In swimmingindeed the same water is felt to be cooler by those who hold their breath. Itwas a discovery of the EmperorNero toboil water and cool it in a glass vessel by thrusting it into snow. Inthis way is obtained a pleasant coolness without the injurious qualities ofsnow. At any rate it is agreed that all water is more serviceable whenboiled, and that water which has been heated can be cooled to a greater degreeamost clever discovery. It purifies bad water to boil it down to one half. Coldwater taken internally checks bleeding, and to hold it in the mouth preventsoverheating in the bath. Water that is very cold to swallow is not always so tothe touch; this good quality alternates as many find out by personal experience.

XXIV. The first prize for the coolest and most wholesome water in thewhole world has been awarded by the voice of Rome to the Aqua Marcia, one of thegods' gifts to our city. This was once called the Aqua Aufeia, and the sourceitself Aqua Pitonia. It rises at the extreme end of the Paelignian range,crosses the country of the Marsi and the Fucine lake, plainly making straightfor Rome. Next it sinks into the underground caves near Tibur, reappearing andcompleting its journey of nine more miles along an aqueduct. The first to beginthe bringing of this water to Rome was one of the kings,Ancus Marcius; later, repairs werecarried out byQuintus Marcius Rex inhis praetorship, and again byMarcus Agrippa.

XXV. The sameAgrippa alsobrought the Virgin Water to Rome from the byroad, eight miles away, thatextends two miles along the road to Praeneste. Nearby is the stream of Hercules,and because the Virgin Water runs away from this it was so named. Acomparison of these rivers illustrates the difference mentioned above; for theAqua Marcia is as much superior to swallow as the Virgin is cool to touch. Andyet Rome has long since lost the delights of each, for love of display and greedhave diverted these means of public health to country seats and suburbs.

XXVI. It would be pertinent to add the method of searching for water. Itis found mostly in enclosed valleys, and what may be called the hinge ofconverging slopes, or at the foot of mountains. Many have thought thateverywhere the northern are the watery slopes. On this matter it would bewell to point out the variableness of Nature. In the Hyrcanian mountains it doesnot rain on the southern slope, and so only on the north side are there woods.But Olympus, Ossa, Parnassus, the Apennines, and the Alps, are everywherecovered with trees and watered by rivers; others are so only on the southside, as are the White Mountains in Crete. So in this matter there will be nounvarying rule to follow.

XXVII. Signs of the presence of water are rushes, the plant about which Ihave spoken, and frogs squatting on their chest in great numbers forany one place. For wild willow, alder, vitex, reed, or ivy, which growspontaneously and where there is a settling of rainwater flowing from higherregions to one lower down, are deceptive indications; one much more reliable isa misty steam, visible from a distance before sunrise, for which somewater-finders watch from a height, lying prone with their chin touching theearth. There is also a special sign, known only to experts, which they look forin the hottest season and in the most blazing heat of the day, the nature of thereflection that shines from each locality. For if one spot looks moister whilethe earth around is parching, that is an infallible sign. But so great isthe necessary strain on the eyes that pain results. To avoid this strain theyhave recourse to other tests. They dig a hole to the depth of five feet,covering it with jars of unbaked potters' clay, or else with a well-oiled bronzebasin, and also a burning lamp arched over with foliage and earth on top; if theclay is found to be wet or broken, or if moisture covers the bronze, or the lampgoes out without any failure of oil, or perchance a flock of wool is wet,then the finding of water is assured. Some also light a fire first and drythe hole, making yet more conclusive the evidence of the vessels.

XXVIII. The earth however itself guarantees water by white spots or bybeing green all over. For in black earth the springs are generally notpermanent. Potters clay always dashes hopes of water, and further well-diggingceases when it is observed that the earth's strata begin with black andgo down in the order given above. Water in clay is always sweet, but cooler in tufa. For tufa too is commended, for it makes water sweet and very light; actingas a strainer it keeps back any dirt. Loam indicates scanty trickles with shine,gravel intermittent springs but of a good flavour, male loam orcarbunculus-sand; continuous streams, steady and wholesome; red rock points tothe certain presence of excellent water; the rocky bases of mountains, or flint,point to the same kind of water, with great coolness in addition. But as thediggers go deeper, the clods should prove continually moister, and the spadescut down more easily. When wells have been sunk deep, the well-diggers arekilled if they meet with sulphurous or aluminous fumes. A test for this dangeris to let down a lighted lamp and see if it goes out. If it does, vent-holes aresunk at the side of the well, on the right and on the left, to take off theoppressive gas. Apart from these injurious substances, mere depth makes the airoppressive; it is dissipated by continuous fanning with linen cloths. When waterhas been reached, walls are built from the bottom no cement being used lest thesprings be dammed up. Some water, the source of which is not at a height, iscooler right from the beginning of springfor it is made up of winter rainsomeis cooler after the rising of the Dog-star; in Macedonia at Pella areboth kinds. For before the town there is a marsh stream that is cold at thebeginning of summer; then in the higher parts of the town the water is very coldeven in the height of summer. A similar phenomenon occurs in Chios also, therelative position of harbour and town being the same. At Athens, Enneacrunos ina cloudy summer is cooler than the well in the Garden of Juppiter, while thislatter is very cold during summer droughts. Wells however generally run dryabout Arcturus, not in the actual summer, and all sink low duringthe four days of its rising. Moreover many wells fail throughout the winter, asthose around Olynthus, the water returning first in the spring. In Sicilyindeed, in the region of Messana and Mylae, springs in winter dry up altogether,but in the actual summer overflow and form rivers. At Apollonia in Pontus aspring near the sea is flooded only in summer, and especially about the risingof the Dog-star, but less so if the summer is colder than usual. Certainlands become drier in rainy weather, as the region of Narnia;Marcus Cicero included this in hisMarvels, saying that drought bringsmud, and rain dust.

XXIX. All water is sweeter in winter, in summer less so, in autumn least,and less during droughts. The taste of rivers is usually variable, owingto the great difference in river beds. For waters vary with the land over whichthey flow, and with the juices of the plants they wash. Therefore the samerivers are found in some parts to be unwholesome. Tributaries too alter theflavour of a river, as do those of the Borysthenes, and being absorbed arediluted. Some rivers indeed are also changed by rain. Three times it hashappened in the Bosphorus that salt rains fell and ruined the crops, and threetimes rains have made bitter the inundations of the Nile, a great plague forEgypt.

XXX. Springs arise often when woods have been cut down, being used upbefore as sustenance for the trees; this happened when Cassander was besieging the Gauls afterthe woods on Mount Haemus had been felled by them to make a rampart. Oftenindeed devastating torrents unite when from hills has been cut away the woodthat used to hold the rains and absorbs them. It also improves the water supplyfor the earth to he dug and tilled, and for the hard surface crust to be brokenup. It is at any rate reported that in Crete, when a town called Arcadia hadbeen stormed, the many springs and rivers of that region went dry, and six yearsafterwards, when the town was rebuilt, they reappeared, as each piece of landcame under cultivation. Earthquakes too make water break out or swallow it up,for example, as is well known, around Pheneus in Arcadia this hashappened five times. Thus too on Mount Coryeus a river burst out, but afterwardscame to be tilled ground. Any change is startling when no obvious reason for itis to be seen. In Magnesia for instance hot water became cold but itssalty flavour remained unaltered; while in Caria, where the temple of Neptuneis, a river which before had been sweet was changed to salt. The followingphenomena too are very wonderful: the Arethusa at Syracuse smells of dung duringthe Olympian games, a likely thing, for the Alpheus crosses tothat island under the bed of the seas. A spring in the RhodianChersonesus pours out refuse every ninth year. The colour too of water changes,for example at Babylon a lake in summer has red water for elevendays, and the Borysthenes at fixed intervals flows with a blue colour,although of all waters it is the thinnest, and for that reason flows abovethe Hypanis. Wherein is another marvel: when south winds blow the Hypanisgoes above. But other evidence for the thinness of the Borysthenes isthat it gives out no exhalation, not to say no mist. Those whowish to be thought careful enquirers into these matters saythat water becomes heavier after the winter solstice.

XXXI. For the rest, the best way for water to be brought from a spring isin earthenware pipes two fingersthick, the joints boxed together so that the upper pipe fits into the lower, andsmoothed with quicklime and oil. The gradient of the water should be at least aquarter of an inch every hundred feet; should it come in a tunnel, there must bevent holes every two actus. When water is required to form a jet,it should come in lead pipes. Water rises as high as its source. If it comesfrom a long distance, the pipe should frequently go up and down, so that nomomentum may be lost. The usual length for a piece of piping is ten feet;five-finger lengths should weigh 60 pounds, eight-finger lengths 100 pounds,ten-finger lengths 120 pounds, and so on in proportion. A ten-finger pipe is socalled when the breadth of the strip before bending is ten fingers, and one halfas large a five-finger pipe. At every bend of a hill where the momentum must becontrolled, it is necessary to use a five-finger pipe; reservoirs must be madeaccording as circumstances require.

XXXII. I wonder thatHomer madeno mention of hot springs, and that though he frequently speaks of hot baths,the reason being that modern hydropathie treatment was not then a part ofmedicine. Sulphur waters, however, are good for the sinews, alum waters forparalysis and similar cases of collapse, waters containing bitumen and soda,such as that of Cutilia, are good for drinking and as a purge. Many people makea matter of boasting the great number of hours they can endure the heat of thesesulphur watersa very injurious practice, for one should remain in them a littlelonger than in the bath, afterwards rinse in cool, fresh water, and not go awaywithout a rubbing with oil. The common people find these details irksome, and sothere is no greater risk to health than this treatment, because an overpoweringsmell goes to the head, which sweats and is seized with chill, while the rest ofthe body is immersed. Those make a like mistake who boast of the great quantitythey can drink. I have seen some already swollen with drinking to such an extentthat their rings were covered by skin, since they could not void the vast amountof water they had swallowed. So it is not good to drink these waters without afrequent taste of salt. The mud too of medicinal springs is used with advantage,but the application should be dried in the sun. We must not think, however,that all hot waters are medicinal; for there are those at Segesta in Sicily, atLarisa in the Troad, at Magnesia, in Melos and Lipara. Nor is the discolorationof bronze or silver a proof, as many have thought, of medicinal properties,since there are none in the springs of Patavium. Between medicinal and otherwater there is not even a difference of smell to be detected.

XXXIII. The same method of treatment will also apply to sea water, whichis used hot for pains in the sinews, for joining fractured bones, and forbruised bones; also for drying the body, in which treatment cold sea water isalso employed. There are besides many other uses, the chief however being a seavoyage for those attacked by consumption, as I have said, and for haemoptysis,such as quite recently within our memory was taken by Annaeus Gallio after his consulship.Egypt is not chosen for its own sake, but because of the length of the voyage.Moreover the mere seasickness caused by rolling and pitching are good for verymany ailments of the head, eyes, and chest, as well as for all complaints forwhich hellebore is given. Sea water indeed by itself physicians think to be moreefficacious for dispersing tumours, if with it a decoction is made of barleymeal for parotid swellings. It is also an ingredient of plasters, especiallywhite plasters and poultices. It is beneficially used too when poured over infrequent douches. It is also drunk, though not without harm to the stomach, forpurging the body and for getting rid of black bile or clotted blood by vomit orstool. Some have also given it to be drunk in quartan agues, in tenesmus, andfor diseased joints, keeping it for this purpose, for age takes away itsinjurious qualities. Some boil it; all draw it up out at sea, use it unspoiledby any addition of fresh water, and in using this remedy prefer that an emeticshould precede the draught. Then also they mix with the water vinegar or wine.Those who have given it pure, recommend to eat afterwards radishes with oxymelto provoke further vomiting. Sea water warmed is also injected as an enema.Nothing is preferred to it for fomenting swollen testicles, or for badchilblains before ulceration; similarly for itching, psoriasis, and thetreatment of lichen. Nits too and foul vermin on the head are treated with seawater. It also restores the natural colour to livid patches. In this treatmentit is of very great advantage to foment with hot vinegar after the sea water. Itis moreover known to be healing for poisonous stings, as of spiders andscorpions, and for persons wetted by the spittle of the asp, but forthese purposes it is employed hot. Steam from sea water and vinegar isbeneficial for headaches. Colic too and cholera are relieved by warm enemas ofseawater. Things warmed by it are harder to cool thoroughly. Swollen breasts,the viscera, and emaciation, are rectified by sea baths, deafness and headacheby the vapour of boiling sea water and vinegar. Sea water removes very quicklyrust from iron, heals too scab on sheep, and softens wool.

XXXIV. I am well aware that to inland dwellers these remarks may appearsuperfluous, but research has provided for this also by discovering a methodwhereby every man may make sea water for himself. In this method there is onestrange feature: if more than a sextarius of salt is dropped into four sextariiof water, the water is overpowered, and the salt does not dissolve. However, asextarius of salt and four sextarii of water give the strength and properties ofthe saltest sea. But it is thought that the most reasonable proportion is tocompound the measure of water given above with eight cyathi of salt. Thismixture warms the sinews without chafing the skin.

XXXV. What is calledthalassomeli is a mixture, kept till old, ofsea water, honey, and rain water in equal proportions. For this purposetoo the water is brought from out at sea, and the mixture is stored in anearthenware vessel lined with pitch. It is good especially for purges, does notdisturb the stomach, and has a pleasant flavour and smell.

XXXVI. Hydromel too is a mixture once prepared from pure rainwaterand honey, to be given as a less injurious drink to patients who craved forwine. It has been condemned now for many years a as having all the faults ofwine with none of its advantages.

XXXVII. Because those at sea often suffer from the failure of freshwater, I shall describe ways meeting this difficulty. If spread around aship, fleeces become moist by absorption of evaporated sea water, and from themcan be squeezed water which is fresh. Again, hollow wax balls, let down into thesea in nets, or empty vessels with their mouth sealed, collect fresh waterinside. But on land sea water is made fresh by filtering through clay.Dislocated limbs of both man and quadrupeds are very easily reset by swimmingin any kind of water. Travellers too are sometimes afraid lest unknown watershould endanger their health. A precaution against this danger is to drink thesuspected water cold immediately on leaving the bath.

XXXVIII. An application of moss that has grown in water is good forgout, and mixed with oil for painful and swollen ankles. Rubbing with foam ofwater removes warts, as does also sand of the sea shores, especially fine sandwhitened by the sun; it is used in medicine as a covering for drying the bodiesof patients suffering from dropsy or catarrhs. So much for waters; nowfor the products of water. I shall begin, as elsewhere, with the chief of them,that is, with salts and sponge.

XXXIX. All salt is artificial or native; each is formed in severalways, but there are two agencies, condensation or drying up of water. It isdried out of the Tarentine lake by summer sun, when the whole pool turns intosalt, although it is always shallow, never exceeding knee height, likewise inSicily from a lake, called Cocanicus, and from another near Gela. Of these theedges only dry up; in Phrygia, Cappadocia, and at Aspendus, the evaporation iswider, in fact right to the centre. There is yet another wonderful thing aboutit: the same amount is restored during the night as is taken away during theday. All salt from pools is fine powder, and not in blocks. Another kindproduced from sea water spontaneously is foam left on the edge of the shore andon rocks. All this is condensation from drift, and that found on rocks has thesharper taste. There are also three different kinds of native salt; for inBactra are two vast lakes, one facing the Scythians, the other the Arii, whichexude salt, while at Citium in Cyprus and around Memphis salt is taken out of alake and then dried in the sun. But the surface too of rivers may condense intosalt, the rest of the stream flowing as it were under ice, as near the CaspianGates are what are called 'rivers of salt,' also around the Mardi and theArmenians. Moreover, in Bactria too the rivers Ochus and Oxus bring downscrapings of salt from nearby mountains. There are also lakes in Africa, andthat muddy ones, which carry salt. Indeed hot springs too carry it, suchas those at Pagasae. So much for the different kinds of salt which come, asnatural products, from waters. There are also mountains of natural salt, salt.such as Oromenus in India, where it is cut out like blocks of stone from aquarry, and ever replaces itself, bringing greater revenues to the rajahs thanthose from gold and pearls. It is also dug out of the earth in Cappadocia, beingevidently formed by condensation of moisture. Here indeed it is split intosheets like mica; the blocks are very heavy, nicknamed by the people 'grains.'At Gerra, a town of Arabia, the walls and houses are made of blocks of saltcemented with water. Near Pelusium too KingPtolemy found salt when he was making a camp. This led afterwards to thediscovery of salt by digging away the sand even in the rough tracts betweenEgypt and Arabia, as it is also found as far as the oracle of Hammon through theparched deserts of Africa, where at night it increases as the moon waxes. Butthe region of Cyrenaica too is famous for Hammoniac salt, itself so calledbecause it is found under the sand. It is in colour like the alum calledschiston, consisting of long opaque slabs, of an unpleasant flavour, butuseful in medicine. That is most valued which is most transparent and splitsinto straight flakes. A remarkable feature is reported of it: of very littleweight in its underground pits, when brought into the light of day it becomesincredibly heavy. The reason is obvious; the damp breath of the pits helps theworkers by supporting the weight as does water. It is adulterated by theSicilian salt I have said comes from the lake Cocanicus, as well as by Cypriansalt, which is wonderfully like it. In Hither Spain too at Egelesta salt is cutinto almost transparent blocks; to this for some time past most physicians havegiven the first place among all kinds of salt. Every region in which salt isfound is barren, and nothing will grow there. To speak generally, these remarksabout the various kinds of native salt are comprehensive. Of artificial saltthere are various kinds. The usual one, and the most plentiful, is made in saltpools by running into them sea water not without streams of fresh water, butrain helps very much, and above all much warm sunshine, without which it doesnot dry out. In Africa around Utica are formed heaps of salt like hills; whenthey have hardened under sun and moon, they are not melted by any moisture, andeven iron cuts them with difficulty. It is also however made in Crete withoutfresh water by letting the sea flow into the pools, and around Egypt by the seaitself, which penetrates the soil, soaked as I believe it is, by the Nile. Saltis also made by pouring water from wells into salt pools. At Babylon the firstcondensation solidifies into a liquid bitumen like oil, which is also used inlamps. When this is taken away, salt is underneath. In Cappadocia too they bringwater into salt pools from wells and a spring. In Chaonia there is a spring,from which they boil water, and on cooling obtain a salt that is insipid and notwhite. In the provinces of Gaul and Germany they pour salt water on burninglogs.

XL. (In one part of the provinces of Spain they draw the brine from wellsand call itmaria.) The former indeed think that the wood used also makesa difference. The best is oak, for its pure ash by itself has the properties ofsalt; in some places hazel finds favour. So when brine is poured on it even woodturns into salt. Whenever wood is used in its making salt is dark. I find inTheophrastus that the Umbrians were wontto boil down in water the ash of reeds and rushes, until only a very littleliquid remained. Moreover, from the liquor of salted foods salt is recovered byreboiling, and when evaporation is complete its saline character is regained. Itis generally thought that the salt obtained from sardine brine is the mostpleasant.

XLI. Of sea salt the most in favour comes from Salamis in Cyprus, of poolsalt that from Tarentum and that from Phrygia which is called Tattaean.The last two are useful for the eyes. The salt imported from Cappadocia inlittle bricks is said to impart a gloss to the skin. But the salt I have saidcomes from Citium a smoothes the skin better, and so after childbirth it isapplied with melanthium to the abdomen. The saltest salt is the driest, the mostagreeable and whitest of all is the Tarentine; for the rest, it is the whitestthat is the most friable. All salt is made sweet by rainwater, more agreeable,however, by dew, but plentiful by gusts of north wind. It does not form under asouth wind. Flower of salt forms only with north winds. Tragasaean salt andAcanthian, so named after towns, neither crackles nor sputters in a fire, nordoes froth of any salt, or scrapings, or powder. Salt of Agrigentum submits tofire and sputters in water. The colour too of salt varies: blushing red atMemphis, tawny red near the Oxus, purple at Centuripae, it is of such brightnessnear Gela (also in Sicily) that it reflects an image. In Cappadoeia salt isquarried of a saffron colour, transparent, and very fragrant. For medicinalpurposes the ancients used to favour most highly Tarentine salt, next, all kindsof sea salt, and of these especially that from foam, while for the eyes ofdraught animals and cattle salt of Tragasa and Baetica. To season meats andfoods the most useful otter one melts easily and is rather moist, for it is lessbitter, such as that of Attica and Euboea. For preserving meat the moresuitable salt is sharp and dry, like that of Megara. A conserve too is made withfragrant additions, which is used as a relish, creating and sharpening anappetite for every kind of food, so that in innumerable seasonings it is thetaste of salt that predominates, and it is looked for when we eat garum.Moreover sheep, cattle, and draught animals are encouraged to pasture inparticular by salt; the supply of milk is much more copious, and there is even afar more pleasing quality in the cheese. Therefore, Heaven knows, a civilizedlife is impossible without salt, and so necessary is this basic substance thatits name is applied metaphorically even to intense mental pleasures. We callthem sales (wit); all the humour of life, its supreme joyousness, andrelaxation after toil, are expressed by this word more than by any other. It hasa place in magistracies also and on service abroad, from which comes the term'salary' (salt money); it had great importance among the men of old, as is clearfrom the name of the Salarian Way, since by it, according to agreement, salt wasimported to the Sabines. KingAncus Marciusgave a largess to the people of 6,000 bushels of salt, and was the first toconstruct salt pools.Varro too is ourauthority that the men of old used salt as a relish, and that they ate salt withtheir bread is clear from a proverb! But the clearest proof of its importancelies in the fact that no sacrifice is carried out without themola salsa(salted meal).

XLII. Salt-pools have reached their highest degree of purity in what maybe called embers of salt, which is the lightest and whitest of its kind. 'Flowerof salt' is also a name given to an entirely different thing, with a moisternature and a saffron or red colour, a kind of salt rust; it has an unpleasantsmell, like that of garum, and is different from salt, not only from foam salt.Egypt discovered it, and it appears to be brought down by the Nile. It alsohowever floats on the surface of certain springs. The best kind of it yields asort of oily fat, for there is, surprising as it may seem, a fat even in salt.It is adulterated too and coloured by red ochre, or usually by ground crockery;this sham is detected by water, which washes out the artificial colour, whilethe genuine is only removed by oil, and perfumers use it very commonly becauseof its colour. In vessels the whiteness is seen on the surface, but the innerpart, as I have said, is moister. The nature of flower of salt is acrid,heating, bad for the stomach, sudorific, aperient when taken in wine and water,and useful for anodynes and detergents. It also removes hair from eyelids. Thesediment is shaken up in order to restore the saffron colour. Besides these salines there is also what is called at the salt-poolssalpugo, orsometimessalsilago. It is entirely liquid, differing from sea brine byits more salty character.

XLIII. There is yet another kind of choice liquor, calledgarum,consisting of the guts of fish and the other parts that would otherwise beconsidered refuse; these are soaked in salt, so that garum is really liquor fromthe putrefaction of these matters. Once this used to be made from a fish thatthe Greeks calledgaros; they showed that by fumigation with its burninghead the afterbirth was brought away. Today the most popular garum is made fromthe scomber in the fisheries of Carthago Spartariait is calledgarum of thealliesone thousand sesterces being exchanged for about two congii of the fish.Scarcely any other liquid except unguents has come to be more highly valued,bringing fame even to the nations that make it. The scomber is caught also inMauretania and at Carteia in Baetica; the scomber enters the Mediterranean fromthe Atlantic, but it is used only for making garum. Clazomenae too is famous forgarum, and so are Pompeii and Leptis, just as Antipolis and Thurii are formuria, and today too also Delmatia.

XLIV. Allex is sediment of garum, the dregs, neither whole norstrained. It has, however, also begun to be made separately from a tiny fish,otherwise of no use. The Romans call itapua, the Greeksaphye,because this tiny fish is bred out of rain. The people of Forum Julii calllupus (wolf) the fish from which they make garum. Then allex became aluxury, and its various kinds have come to be innumerable; garum for instancehas been blended to the colour of old honey wine, and to a taste so pleasantthat it can be drunk. But another kind of garum is devoted to superstitioussex-abstinence and Jewish rites, and is made from fish without scales. Thus allex has come to be made from oysters, sea urchins, sea anemones, and mullet'sliver, and salt to be corrupted in numberless ways so as to suit all palates.These incidental remarks must suffice for the luxurious tastes of civilizedman. Allen however itself is of some use in healing. For allex both cures itchin sheep, being poured into an incision in the skin, and is a good antidote forthe bites of dog or sea draco; it is applied on pieces of lint. By garum too arefresh burns healed, if it is poured over them without mentioning garum. It isalso good for dog-bites and especially those of the crocodile, and for spreadingor foul ulcers. For ulcers too or pains in mouth or ears it is wonderfully good.Muria too or the salsugo I spoke of is astringent, biting, reducing and drying,useful for dysentery, even if there is ulceration of the bowels. It is injectedfor sciatica and chronic coeliac disease. Among inland peoples it also takes theplace of sea water for fomentations.

XLV. The nature of salt is of itself fiery, and yet it is hostile tofires, fleeing from them, corroding all things, but astringent to the body,drying it and binding, preserving corpses also from corruption so that they lastfor ages; in medicine however it is mordent, caustic, cleansing, reducing, and resolvent, injurious only to the stomach except in so far as it stimulates theappetite. For the bites of serpents it is used with origanum, honey, and hyssop,for the cerastes with origanum and cedar resin, or pitch, or honey. It ishelpful for bite of the scolopendra if taken internally with vinegar, forscorpion stings if applied in oil or vinegar with a fourth part of linseed, butfor hornets, wasps, and similar creatures, in vinegar only, for migraine, ulcerson the head, blisters, pimples, and incipient warts, with veal suet. It is alsoused in eye remedies, for excrescences of flesh there, and for pterygiaanywhere on the body, but especially on the eyes, and so it is an ingredient ofeye salves and plasters; for these purposes Tattaean salt or that of Cannus isthe most approved. For eyes bloodshot from a blow, however, and for bruisedeyes, it is used with an equal weight of myrrh and with honey, or with hyssop inwarm water, and the eyes should be fomented with salsugo. For these purposesSpanish salt is chosen. For cataract it is ground in a little stone mortar withmilk; for bruises a specific is salt wrapped in linen, dipped frequently inboiling water, and applied; for running ulcers in the mouth it is applied inlint; it is rubbed on swollen gums, and for roughness of the tongue it is brokenand ground up fine. They say that teeth neither rot nor decay if one daily whilefasting in the morning keeps a piece of salt under the tongue until it melts. Italso cures leprous sores, boils, lichen and psoriasis, used with stoned raisons,beef suet origanum, and leaven or bread; for these purposes and for pruritusTheban salt is mostly chosen. For diseased tonsils and uvula salt with honey isbeneficial. For quinsy any salt is good, but all the more when oil and vinegarare added, while at the same time salt and liquid pitch are applied externallyto the throat. Mixed with wine salt also softens the belly, and taken in winedrives out harmlessly the various kinds of worms. Placed under the tongue saltenables convalescents to endure the heat of the bath. Pains of the sinews,especially in the region of the shoulders and kidneys, are relieved by salt inbags, kept hot by frequent dipping into boiling water; colitis, griping andsciatica by taking salt in drink and by hot applications in the same kind ofbags; gout by salt pounded with flour, honey, and oil. Herein is especiallyapplicable the saying that for the whole body nothing is more beneficial thansalt and sun. Accordingly we see that the bodies of fishermen are horny, but theabove remark should be applied especially to gout. It also removes corns on thefeet and chilblains. It is applied to burns in oil or chewed. It cheeksblisters, but for erysipelas and for creeping ulcers vinegar or hyssop is added,for carcinomata taminian grapes, while for phagedaenic ulcers it is roasted withbarley meal, a linen cloth being placed on top, soaked in wine. Sufferersfrom jaundice are helped by rubbing with salt, oil, and vinegar before a fireuntil they sweat; this relieves the itching caused by this disease. Oil shouldbe used in cases of fatigue. Many have treated dropsy too with salt, rubbed withsalt and oil hot feverish patients, stayed a chronic cough by licking it,injected salt enemas into sufferers from sciatica, applied it to swollen orfestering ulcers, and treated crocodile bites by salt and vinegar in lintcloths, taking care first to flog `the sores with them. Salt is taken in oxymelfor poisoning by poppy-juice, with flour and honey it is applied todislocations, and also to tumours. Fomenting with salt and vinegar, or anapplication of salt and resin, is good for toothache. But for all purposes foamof salt is more pleasant and more beneficial. Salt however of any kind is addedto anodynes for a warming effect, also to detergents for stretching andsmoothing the skin. An application of salt removes itch-scab in sheep and oxen;salt is also given to be licked, and it is spit into the eyes of draughtanimals. This must suffice for my account of salt.

XLVI. I must not put off describing the character of soda, whichis very similar to salt; a more careful account must be given because it isplain that the physicians who have written about it were ignorant of itscharacter, and that nobody has given a more careful description thanTheophrastus. A little is formed in Media in valleys that are white throughdrought; they call ithalmyrax. It is also found in Thrace near Philippi,but in less quantities and contaminated with earth; it is calledagrium. But soda from burnt oak-wood was never made in large quantities, and themethod has long been altogether abandoned. Alkaline water, however, is found invery many places, but the soda is not concentrated enough to solidify. At Clitaein Macedonia is found in abundance the best, called soda of Chalestra, white andpure, very like salt. There is an alkaline lake there with a little spring offresh water rising up in the centre. Soda forms in it about the rising of theDog-star for nine days, ceases for nine days, comes to the top again and thenceases. This shows that it is the character of the soil that produces soda,since it has been discovered that, when it ceases, neither sunshine is of anyhelp at all nor yet rain. Another wonderful thing about the lake is thatalthough the spring is always bubbling up it neither gets larger nor overflows.But if, on those days on which soda forms, has been rain, it makes the soda moresalty, while north winds on those days, by stirring up the mud too vigorously,makes it inferior. This soda is natural, but in Egypt it is made artificially,in much greater abundance but of inferior quality, for it is dark and stony. Itis made in almost the same manner as is salt, except that they pour seawaterinto the salt-beds but the Nile into the soda-beds. The latter as the Nile risesbecome dry; as it falls they are moist with liquid soda for forty days on end,and not as in Macedonia during fixed periods. If rain also has fallen, they addless river water, and gather at once the soda that has begun to solidify, lestit should melt back into the soda-bed. Thus too oily matter forms amongthe soda, useful for itch-scab on animals. Soda however, stored in heaps, lastsa long time. A wonder of Lake Ascanius and of certain springs around Chalcis isthat the surface water is sweet and drinkable but underneath is alkaline. Ofsoda the best is the finest, and therefore froth of soda is superior, but forsome purposes the impure is good, for example colouring purple cloths and allkinds of dyeing. Soda is of great use in the making of glass, as will bedescribed in its proper place. The soda-beds of Egypt used to be confined to theregions around Naucratis and Memphis, the beds around Memphis being inferior.For the soda becomes stone-like in heaps there, and many of the soda piles thereare for the same reason quite rocky. From these they make vessels, andfrequently by baking melted soda with sulphur. For the bodies too that they wishto embalm this is the soda they use. In this region are soda-beds from which redsoda also is taken owing to the colour of the earth. Foam of soda, which is veryhighly prized, the ancients said was formed only when dew had fallen on bedsteeming with soda but not yet bringing it forth; accordingly, even if dew fell,soda did not form on beds in agitated action. Others have thought that foam isproduced by fermentation of the heaps. The last generation of physicians saidthat in Asia was gathered aphronitrum oozing in soft cavesthey are calledcolligaeand then dried in the sun. The best is thought to be Lydian. Thetests are that it should be the least heavy and the most friable, and of analmost purple colour. The last kind is imported in lozenges, but the Egyptian invessels lined with pitch, lest it melt. These vessels too are finished off bybeing dried in the sun. The tests of soda are that it should be very fine and asspongy and full of holes as possible. In Egypt it is adulterated with lime,which is detected by the taste; for pure soda melts at once, but adulteratedsoda stings because of the lime, and gives out a strong odour. It is burnt in anearthen jar with a lid, lest it should crackle out; otherwise soda does notcrackle in fire; it produces nothing and nourishes nothing, whereas in salt-pitsgrow plants, and in the sea so many animals and so much seaweed. But that thepungency of soda is greater is shown not only by this evidence but also by thefact that soda-beds at once consume shoes, but are otherwise healthful and goodfor clearness of vision. In the soda-beds nobody has ophthalmia; sores broughtthere heal very quickly, but those that form there heal slowly. Soda and oilalso make to sweat those who are rubbed with the mixture, which softens theflesh. They use Chalestran soda for bread instead of salt, Egyptian soda forradishes; it makes them more tender, but meats white and inferior and vegetablesgreener. In medicine soda warms, alleviates, stings, braces, dries, and clearsaway ulcers, and is useful for conditions where there must be withdrawal,dispersal, and gentle stinging and alleviation, as with pimples and blisters.Some for this purpose set it on fire and put it out with a dry wine, and use itso prepared and ground in the bath without oil. Excessive sweats are checked bysoda with dried iris and the addition of green oil; it also improves scars onthe eyes and roughness of the lids if applied with fig, or boiled down to onehalf in raisin wine, a preparation too which is used for white ulcers andinflamed swellings on the eyes. Boiled down with raisin wine in a pomegranaterind, and applied with honey, it improves vision. Soda is good for toothache ifa mouthwash is made by adding pepper and wine. Boiled down too with leek, andburnt to make a dentifrice, it restores the colour of blackening teeth. Insectsand nits on the head it kills if applied in oil with Samian earth. Dissolved inwine it is poured into purulent ears; wax in the same organ it eats away invinegar; noises and singing it stops if added dry. Applied in sunshine withvinegar and an equal weight of Cimolian chalk it cures the white kinds ofpsoriasis. It brings to a head boils, either mixed with resin or with whiteraisins, the pips being ground up with them. With axle-grease it combatsinflammation of the testicles, and also outbursts of phlegm on the whole body;it is applied with vinegar, resin being added, to dog-bites. This preparation isused for snake bites; for phagedaenic, creeping, or festering ulcers, with limeand vinegar; for dropsy it is pounded with figs and administered by the mouthand externally. Griping pains too it allays if there is taken adrachma by weight boiled down with rue or dill or cummin. The pains of fatigueare removed by rubbing all over with soda, oil, and vinegar, while for chillsand shivers it is of advantage to rub the hands and feet thoroughly with sodaand oil. It also checks the itch of jaundice, especially when administered withvinegar while the patient is sweating. Taken in vinegar and water soda isbeneficial against the poisons of fungi; if a buprestris has been swallowed itis taken in water; it is also a good emetic. It is given in laser to those whohave drunk bull's blood. Ulcerations also on the face it heals with honey andcow's milk. It is applied to burns roasted until it turns black and crushed topowder. It is injected for pain in the and kidneys, or for rigors of the body,or for pains of the sinews. For paralysis of the tongue it is applied there withbread, and for asthma it is taken in barley gruel. Chronic cough is cured byflower of soda with galbanum mixed with terebrinth resin, all equal in weight,but the piece to be swallowed must be of the size of a bean. Soda, boiled andthen combined with liquid pitch, is given to be swallowed by patients withquinsy. Flower of soda with oil of cyprus is also soothing if applied in the sunfor pains in the joints. Jaundice also it alleviates taken in a draught of wine;this remedy relieves flatulence. It checks epistaxis if inhaled in the steamfrom boiling water. By soda mixed with alum is removed scurf, rank smell of thearmpits by daily fomentation with soda and water, sores due to noserunning bysoda mixed with waxa mixture also good for the sinewsand it is injected forthe coeliac affection. Many have prescribed complete rubbing with soda and oilbefore the chills of fever come on, and so to use it for leprons sores andfreckles; and they prescribe its use in the bath for gouty people. Soda bathsare good for consnmptives, and for the victims of opisthotonus and other formsof tetanns. Salt and soda, when heated with sulphur, turn to stone.

XLVII. Of the kinds of sponges I have spoken when describing the nature of marine creatures. Certain authorities classify them thus: some sponges, the males, have little holes, and are more compact and very absorbent; they are also dyed for the luxurious, sometimes even with purple; others, the females, have larger and uninterrupted holes; others, harder than the males, calledtragi, have very small holes that are very close together. Sponges are whitened artificially. Fresh sponges, of the softest kind, are soaked in foam of salt throughout the summer, and then laid open to the moon and hoar-frosts upside down, that is, with the side uppermost that adhered to the rocks, so that they may drink in whiteness. I have said that sponges are animal, being even lined with a coating of blood. Some also declare that they are guided by a sense of hearing, and contract at a noise, sending out a great quantity of moisture; that they cannot be torn from the rocks, and therefore are cut off, bleeding sanies. Moreover, those growing exposed to the north-east they prefer to others, and physicians declare that nowhere else does their breath last for a longer time. Such too, they say, are beneficial to the human body, because they mix their breath with ours; therefore fresh sponges are the more beneficial, as are also the moist, but less beneficial are those soaked in hot water, or those that are oily, or laid on oily bodies, while compact sponges are less adhesive. The softest kind of sponge is that used for bandage-rolls. Applied in honey wine these relieve swollen eyes. They are also good for wiping away the rheum of ophthalmia, which they do most efficiently with water. They should be very fine and very soft. Sponges themselves are applied in vinegar and water for eye-fluxes, and in warm vinegar for headaches. For the rest, fresh sponges are dispersive, soothing, and emollient; old sponges do not close wounds. The uses of sponges are to be detergent, to foment, and after fomentation to cover until something else is applied. Applied also to wet ulcers of senile persons, sponges dry them, and they foment with the greatest benefit fractures and wounds. In surgery sponges quickly absorb the blood, so that treatment can easily be observed. Sponges themselves are applied to inflamed wounds, sometimes dry, at other times moistened with vinegar, or wine, or cold water; applied indeed in rainwater to fresh incisions they prevent their swelling. They are also laid on parts that are whole, but suffering from a hidden flux that has to be dispersed, and also on what are calledapostemata, after rubbing them with boiled honey; on joints also, sometimes moistened with salted vinegar, sometimes with vinegar and water; should the complaint be attended with fever, water alone is to be used. With salt and water sponges are also applied to callosities, but with vinegar to scorpion stings. In the treatment of wounds sponges with salt and water also act as a substitute for greasy wool; the difference is that wools soften, but sponges are astringent and absorb quickly the diseased humours of ulcers. They are also bound round dropsical parts, either dry or with warm water or vinegar and water, whenever there is need to soothe, or cover a the skin, or dry it. They are applied also for such diseases as need a steamy heat, steeped in boiling water, and pressed between two boards. So applied they are also good for the stomach, and for the excessive burnings of fever; but for the spleen with vinegar and water, while for erysipelas they are with vinegar more efficacious than anything; they should be so placed that there is ample covering for the healthy parts. With vinegar or cold water they arrest haemorrhage, with hot salt and water, often changed, they remove fresh bruises caused by a blow, and with vinegar and water they cure swollen and painful testicles. For dog-bite are applied beneficially with vinegar, cold water, or honey, cut-off pieces of sponge, which must be thoroughly moistened every now and then. The ash of the African sponge, swallowed with the juice of cut-leek, is good for spitting of blood; for other complaints it should be taken in cold water. This ash also, applied to the forehead with oil or vinegar, cures tertian agues. African sponges are specific with vinegar and water for reducing swellings, and the ash of all sponges burnt with pitch arrest haemorrhage from wounds; for this purpose some burn with pitch only sponges of loose texture. For eye remedies sponges are burnt in an unbaked earthenware pot, this ash being very efficacious indeed for roughness or excrescences of the eyelids, and for any complaint in the region of the eyes that needs a remedy detergent, astringent, or expletive, but for this treatment it is better to rinse the ash. They also furnish a substitute for scrapers and towels when the body is diseased. Sponges protect also efficiently the head against the sun. In their ignorance physicians have reduced sponges to two classes: the African, which are firmer and harder, and the Ithodian, which are softer for fomentations. Today however a very soft sponges are found around the walls of Antiphellus. Trogus informs us that around Lycia very soft tent-sponges grow out at sea, in places where sponges have been taken away; Polybius that hung over a sick man these give more peaceful nights. Now I shall turn my attention to the creatures of the sea.

I. THE course of my subject has brought me to the greatest of Nature'sworks, and I am actually met by such an unsought and overwhelming proof ofhidden power that inquiry should really be pursued no further, and nothing equalor similar can be found, Nature surpassing herself, and that in numberless ways.For what is more violent than sea, winds, whirlwinds, and storms? By whatgreater skill of man has Nature been aided in any part of herself than by milsand oars? Let there be added to these the indescribable force of tidal ebb andflow, the whole sea being turned into a river. All these, however, althoughacting in the same direction, are checked by a single specimen of the suckingfish, a very small fish. Bales may blow and storms may rage; this fish rulestheir fury, restrains their mighty strength, and brings vessels to a stop, athing no cables can do, nor yet anchors of unmanageable weight that have beencast. It cheeks their attacks and tames the madness of the Universe with no toilof its own, not by resistance, or in any way except by adhesion. This littlecreature suffices in the face of all these forces to prevent vessels frommoving. But armoured fleets bear aloft on their decks a rampart of towers, sothat fighting may like place even at sea as from the walls of a fortress. Howfutile a creature is man, seeing that those rams, armed for striking with bronzeand iron, can be checked and held fast by a little fish six inches long! It issaid that at the battle of Actium the fish stopped the flagship of Antonius, whowas hastening to go round and encourage his men, until he changed his ship foranother one, and so the fleet ofCaesarat once made a more violent attack. Within our memory the fish stayed the shipof the EmperorGaius as he was sailingback from Astura to Antium. As it turned out, the little fish also provedominous, because very soon after that Emperor's return to Rome on this occasionhe was stabbed by his own men. This delay caused no long surprise, for thereason was immediately discovered; of the whole fleet the quinquereme alonemaking no progress, men at once dived and swam round the ship to trace thecause. They found this fish sticking to the rudder and showed it toGaius, who was furious that it had beensuch a thing that was keeping him back and vetoing the obedience to himself offour hundred rowers. It was agreed that what astonished him in particular washow the fish had stopped him by sticking to the outside, yet when inside theship it had not the same power. Those who saw the fish then or afterwards saythat it is like a large slug. I have given the views of the majority in myaccount of water creatures, where I discussed the fish, and I do not doubt allthis kind of fish have the same power, since there is a famous and even divinelysanctioned example in the temple of the Cnidian Venus, where snails too, we areforced to believe, have the same potency. Of the Roman authorities some havegiven this fish the Latin name ofmora, and a marvel is told by someGreeks, who have related, as I have said, that worn as an amulet it arrestsmiscarriage, and by reducing procidence of the uterus allows the foetus toreach maturity; others say that preserved in salt and worn as an amulet itdelivers pregnant women, this being the reason why another name, odiaolytes,is given to it. However these things may be, would anybody after thisinstance of staying a ship's course entertain doubts about any power, force, andefficacy of nature, to be found in remedies from things that grow spontaneously?

II. But surely, even without this example, evidence enough by itselfcould be found in the electric-ray, which also is a sea creature. Even at adistance, and that a long distance, or if it is touched with a spear or rod, tothink that the strongest arms are numbed, feet as swift in racing as you likeare paralysed. But if this example forces us to confess that there is a forcewhich by smell alone, and by what I may call the breath from the creature'sbody, so affects our limbs, what limits are there to our hopes based on thepotency of all remedies?

III. No less wonderful things are related of the sea-hare. To some it ispoison if given in drink or food, to others if merely seen, since pregnantwomen, if they have but looked at one, the female, that is, of the species, atonce feel nausea, show by regurgitation signs of a disordered stomach, and thenmiscarry. The remedy is a male specimen, specially hardened for this purposewith salt, to be worn in a bracelet. In the sea, however, it does not hurt, evenby touch. There feeds on it without being killed one creature only, red mullet,which merely becomes flabby, more insipid, and coarser. Struck by it a humanbeing smells of fish; this is the first symptom by which such poisoning isdetected. Furthermore, the victims die in the same number of days as the harehas lived, and Licinius Macer is authority for saying that this poison hasvariable periods for its action. They say that in India a the sea-hare is nevercaught alive; and that inversely man is there poisonous to the hare that even amere touch of a human finger in the sea is fatal to it; but that like all otheranimals the Indian variety is far larger.

IV. In those volumes about Arabia which he dedicated to Gaius Caesar, the son ofAugustus,Juba related that there are musselsthere with shells holding three heminae; that a whale 600 feet long and 360 feetbroad entered a river of Arabia; that merchants did a trade with its blubber;and that camels in that district are rubbed all over with the fat of any fish,so that gadflies may be kept away by the smell.

V. Wonderful too appear to me the characters of fishes given byOvid in his book entitled Halieuticon: how the scarus,caught in a weel, does not burst out to the front, or thrust his head throughthe osiers that imprison him, but turns round, widens the gaps with repeatedblows of his tail, and so creeps backwards. If by chance his struggles are seenby another scarus outside, he seizing the other's tail with his teeth helps theefforts to burst out. The basse, he says, when surrounded by a net, ploughs ahole in the sand with his tail, and so is buried until the net passes over him.He says too that the murena, knowing that his back is rounded and slippery,attacks the meshes themselves, and then by involved wriggling widens them untilhe escapes; that the polypus attacks the hook, grips it with his tentacles, notteeth, and does not let it go before he has nibbled round the bait, or beenlifted out of the water by the rod. The mugil too knows that in the bait is ahook, and is quite aware of the trap; his greed however is so great that bylashing with his tail he knocks off the food. The basse has less cunninginsight, but great strength when he realizes his mistake. For when caught on thehook he dashes about wildly, widening the wounds until the snare is torn out.The murena swallows more than the hook, applies the line to his teeth, and sognaws it through.Ovid also relates thatthe anthias, when the hook catches, turns over, since on his back is a spinewith a knife-edge, with which he cuts through the line.

Licinius Macer relates that the murenais female only, and conceives out of serpents, as I have said, and thattherefore fishermen whistle in imitation of a serpent's call, and so catch thefish, and ... grow fat; that a club hurled at them does not kill, butfennel-giant kills at once. It is certain that the seat of life is in theirtail, for if this is struck they very quickly die, but it is difficult to killthem by blows on the head. Those touched by the razor-fish smell of iron. It isa well-known fact that the hardest fish is the orbis, which is round,without scales, and all head?

VI.Trebius Niger tells us that the xiphias, that is the swordfish, has apointed beak, by which ships are pierced and sunk; in the open sea, off theplace in Mauretania called Cottae, not far from the river Lixus, the sameauthority tells us that the lolligo flies out of the water in such numbers as tosink a vessel. Whenever the lolligo, he says, is seen flying out of the water achange of weather occurs.

VII. In several country seats indeed of the Emperor fish eat out of thehand, butwhat our old writers have recorded with wonder as occurring in naturalpools, not fishpondsat Helorus, a fortress of Sicily not far from Syracuse,and likewise in the spring of Jupiter of Lahraynda, the eels even wearearrings, as do the fishes in Chios near the Shrine of the Old Men, and in thespring Chabura also in Mesopotamia, about which I have spoken.

VIII. But at Myra in Lycia in the spring of Apollo called Curium, whensummoned three times by the pipe the fishes come to give oracular responses. Forthe fish to snap at the meat thrown to them is a happy augury for enquirers, tocast it aside with their tails an augury of disaster. At Hieropolis in Syria thefish in the pond of Venus obey the voice of the temple ministers; they come attheir call adorned with gold, fawning to be scratched, and offer gaping mouthsto receive their hands. At Stabiae in Campania at the Rock of Hercules themelanuri in the sea seize the bread thrown to them, but they will not gonear any food in which is a hook.

IX. Nor are these the last among the marvels we know of fishes: that theyare bitter near the island of Pele and near Clazomenae, over against the rock ofSicily, Leptis in Africa, Euboea, and Dyrrhachium; and again, so salt that theymight be thought pickled, off Cephallania, Ampelos, Paros and the rocks ofDelos; while in the harbour of Delos they are sweet. These differences dependwithout a doubt on the food.Apion tellsus that the largest a of the fishes is the pig-fish, which the Lacedaemonianscallonhagoriscus, saying that it grunts when it is caught. Thatthis accident of nature, however (to increase our wonder), is also met with incertain localities, is suggested by a ready example, seeing that salted foodsof every kind, as is well known, at Beneventum in Italy have to be resalted.

X. That sea fish were commonly eaten immediately after the foundation ofRome is told us byCassius Hemina, whosevery words on the subject I will quote here.Numa ordained that scaleless fish should not be provided at sacrificialmeals, being induced by reasons of economy, so that provision could be moreeasily made for public and private banquets and for feasts of the gods, toprevent caterers on those sacred occasions from being extravagant and buying upthe market.

XI. Coral is as valuable among the Indians as Indian pearls, about whichI have spoken in their proper place, are among the Romans, for cost varies withthe demand of any particular people. Coral is also found in the Red Sea, butthis is of a darker colour; also in the Persian Gulfthis is called lacethemost valued is in the Gallic Gulf around the Stoechades Islands, in the SicilianGulf around the Aeolian Islands, and around Drepana. Coral also grows atGraviseae and before Naples in Campania; but that at Erythrae, which is very redindeed, is soft and therefore thought worthless.

In shape coral is like a shrub, and its colour is green. Its berries are whiteunder the water and soft; when taken out they immediately harden and grow red,being like, in appearance and size, to those of cultivated cornel. It is saidthat at a touch it immediately petrifies, if it lives; and that therefore it isquickly seized and pulled away in nets or cut off by a sharp iron instrument. Inthis way they explain its name 'coral.' The most valued coral is the reddest andmost branchy, without being rough or stony, or again empty and hollow. Coralberries are no less valued by Indian men than are large Indian pearls by Romanwomen. Indian soothsayers and seers think that coral is a very powerful amuletfor warding off dangers. Accordingly they take pleasure in it both as a thing ofbeauty and as a thing of religious power. Before the Indian love of coral becameknown, the Gauls used to ornament with coral their swords, shields, and helmets.At the present day it has become so scarce because of the price it will fetchthat it is very rarely to be seen in the countries where it grows. Branches ofcoral, worn as an amulet by babies, are believed to be protective, and reducedto powder by fire and taken with water are helpful in gripings, bladder troubleand stone; similarly, taken in wine, or, if fever is present, in water, coral issoporific. Coral resists fire for a long time, but they say also thattaken in drink repeatedly as medicine it consumes the spleen. The ash of coralbranches is good treatment for bringing up or spitting of blood. It is acomponent of eye salves, for it is astringent and cooling, fills up the hollowsof ulcers, and smoothes out scars.

XII. As to the hostility between things, which the Greeks callantipathia, there is nowhere anythingmore venomous than the stingray in the sea, since we have said that byits ray trees are killed. The galeos however chases the stingray, andalso indeed other fishes, but the sting-ray in particular, just as on land theweasel chases serpents, so great is its greed for the very poison itself. Thosehowever stung by the sting-ray find good treatment in the galeos, as wellas in red mullet and laser.

XIII. Equally remarkable is the might of Nature in those creatures alsowhich are amphibious, such as the beaver, which they call castor and itstestes castoreum.Sextius, a verycareful inquirer into medical subjects, denies that the beaver himself bites offhis own testes when it is being captured; he says that on the contrary these aresmall, tightly knit, attached to the spine, and not to be taken away withoutdestroying the creature's life. Castoreum (beaver-oil) he says is howeveradulterated by beaver's kidneys, which are large, while the real testes arefound to be very small. Moreover, they cannot even be the creature's bladders,for they are twin, and no animal has two bladders. In these pouches (he goes on)is found a liquid, which is preserved in salt. Accordingly one of the tests offraud is whether two pouches hang down from one connection, while the liquiditself is adulterated by adding to it cummin and beaver blood or ammoniacum,because the testes ought to be of the colour of ammoniacum, coated with a liquidlike waxy honey, with a strong smell, a bitter taste, and friable. The mostefficacious castoreum comes from Pontus and Galatia, the next best from Africa.Doctors cause sneezing by its smell. It is soporific if the head is rubbed allover with beaver oil, rose oil, and peucedanum, or if by itself it is taken inwater, for which reason it is useful in brain fever. It also arouses, by thesmell of fumigation, sufferers from coma and hysterical, fainting women, thelatter also by a pessary; it is an emmenagogue and brings away the afterbirthif two drachmae are taken in water with pennyroyal. It is also a remedy forvertigo, opisthotonus, palsied tremors, cramps, sinew pains, sciatica, stomachtroubles, and paralysis; in all cases by rubbing all over, or ground to theconsistency of honey with seed of vitex in vinegar and rose oil. In this form itis taken for epilepsy, but in drink for flatulence, griping and poisons. Theonly difference in its use for the various poisons lies in the ingredients withwhich it is mixed. For scorpion bites it is taken in wine; for the phalangiumand other spiders in honey wine if it is to be vomited back or with rue if it isto be retained; for the chalcis a with myrtle wine; for the homed asp andprester with panaces or rue in wine; for the bites of other serpents with wine.Two drachmae are a sufficient dose, of the other ingredients one drachma. It isspecific in vinegar for mistletoe poisoning, in milk or water for poisoning byaconite, for white hellebore in oxymel and soda. It also cures toothache ifpounded with oil; it is poured into the ear on the side of the pain; forearache it is better mixed with poppy juice. Added to Attic honey and used asan ointment it improves the vision. In vinegar it checks hiccoughs. Beaverurine, too, counteracts poisons, and therefore is added to antidotes. It ishowever best preserved, as some think, in the beaver's bladder.

XIV. Like the beaver the tortoise is amphibious, and of the same medicalproperties, distinguished by the high price given for its use, and by itspeculiar shape. So there are various kinds: tortoises that live on land, in thesea, in muddy water, and in fresh water. The last are called by some Greeksemydes.

The flesh of the land tortoise is reported to be especially useful forfumigations, to keep off magical tricks, and to counteract poisons. It is mostcommon in Africa. There the flesh of this tortoise, with its head and feet cutoff, is said to be given as an antidote, and taken in its broth as food todisperse scrofulous sores, to reduce the spleen, and to cure epilepsy. The bloodclarifies the vision and arrests cataract. For the poisons of all serpents,spiders and similar creatures, and of frogs, it is of service; the blood ispreserved in flour, made up into pills, and given in wine when necessary. It isbeneficial to use the gall of tortoises with Attic honey as an eyewash foropaqueness of the lens, and to drop it into the wounds made by scorpions. Theshell, reduced to ash and kneaded with wine and oil, heals chaps and sores onthe feet. Shavings from the top of the shell and given in drink are antaphrodisiac. This is all the more surprising because the whole shell, reducedto powder, is said to incite to lust. The urine of this tortoise, I believe, isfound only in the bladder of dissected animals, and this is one of thesubstances to which the Magi give supernatural virtues as being specific for thebites of asps; a more efficacious one, however, they say, if bugs are added. Theeggs are applied hard boiled to scrofulous sores, frost bites and burns. Theyare swallowed for pains in the stomach.

The flesh of sea tortoises mixed with that of frogs is an excellent remedy forsalamander bites, and nothing is more opposed to the salamander than thetortoise. Its blood is good treatment for the bare patches of mange, fordandruff, and for all sores on the head; it should be allowed to dry and thengently washed off. With woman's milk it is poured by drops into aching ears. Forepilepsy it is taken with wheaten flour, but three heminae of blood are dilutedwith one hemina of vinegar. It is also given for asthma, but with a hemina ofwine added; for this purpose also with barley flour, vinegar too being added, sothat the dose to be swallowed is the size of a bean. One of these doses is givenmorning and evening; then after a few days a double dose is given in theevening. The mouths of epileptics are opened and the blood poured by drops intothem; to those seized with a slight convulsion is given an enema of the bloodand beaver oil. If teeth are rinsed with tortoise blood three times a year athey will become immune to toothache. It is a remedy too for shortness ofbreath and for what is called orthopnoea; when so used it is administered inpearl barley. Tortoise gall gives clearness of vision, effaces sears, relievessore tonsils, quinsy, and all diseases of the mouth, being specific formalignant sores there and on the testicles. If the nostrils are smeared with it,epileptics are roused and made to stand up. The gall too with snakes' slough andvinegar is also a sovereign remedy for pus in the ears. Some mix ox gall withthe broth of boiled tortoise-flesh, adding the same amount of snakes' slough,but they boil the tortoise in wine. An application of the gall with honey curesespecially all affections of the eyes; cataract is also cured by the gall of seatortoise with the blood of river tortoise and milk. Woman's hair is dyed by thegall. For salamander bites it is enough merely to drink the broth of adecoction.

A third kind of tortoise lives in mud and marshes. These have a level width,like that across the breast, over the back also; this is not rounded into acup-like convexityindeed an unpleasant sight. Yet from this creature also a fewremedies are obtained. For three are together thrown on burning brushwood, andwhen the shells separate they are at once taken off; the flesh is then torn awayand boiled in a congius of water with a little salt added. The broth is boileddown to one third and taken for paralysis and diseases of the joints. The gallof this creature carries off phlegms and vitiated blood. This remedy taken incold water acts astringently on the bowels.

There is a fourth kind of tortoise, which lives in rivers. The shells being tornoff, the fats are beaten up with houseleek mixed with unguent and lily seed. Ifof a patient all the body except the head is rubbed with this preparation beforethe paroxysms come on, and he is then wrapped up and drinks hot water, he iscured, it is said, of quartan ague. This tortoise, they say, should be killed onthe fifteenth of the moon, so that more fats may be obtained from it, but thepatient should be rubbed on the sixteenth. The blood too of this kind oftortoise, poured in drops on the skull, relieves headache as well as scrofulous sores. There are some a who recommend tortoises to be laid on their backs, their heads chopped off with a bronze knife, and the blood caught in new earthenware;this blood is to be used as embrocation for all kinds of erysipelas, runningsores on the head, and warts. The same authorities assure us that the dung ofall tortoises disperses superficial abscesses; and others tell us (an incredibleremark) that vessels travel more slowly if the right foot of a tortoise is onboard.

XV. From now on I will arrange water creatures according todiseases, not that I do not know that a complete account of each living thingis more attractive and more wonderful, but it is more useful to mankind to haveremedies grouped into classes, since they vary with individuals, and are moreeasily found in one place than in another.

XVI. I have already said where poisonous honey is found. A remedy is thegilthead fish taken in food. But if pure honey should cause nausea, orindigestion that becomes very acute, an antidote is, according to Pelops, thedecoction of a tortoise with the feet, head, and tail cut off; according toApelles, a similar decoction of ascincus; I have said what a scincus is. Several times moreover I have said howpoisonous is the menstrual fluid of women; against all forms of it, as I havesaid, the red mullet is a help, as it is against the stingray, land- andsea-scorpions, the weever fish, and poisonous spiders. It may be applied locallyor taken in food. A fresh red mullet's head, reduced to ash, is an antidote toall poisons, being specific against poisonous fungi. They say that noxiouscharms cannot enter, or at least cannot harm, homes where a starfish, smearedwith the blood of a fox, has been fastened to the upper lintel or to the doorwith a bronze nail.

XVII. By an application of tortoise flesh are healed the stings of weeverfish, of scorpions, and also the bites of spiders. To sum up: the gravy oftortoise meat., that is, the broth obtained by boiling it down, is considered tobe a most efficacious antidote for all poisons, whether conveyed in drink, bysting, or by bite. There are also remedies from preserved fish; to eat saltedfish is good for the bites of snakes and of other venomous creatures, but nowand then should be drunk enough neat wine to bring back by vomiting even thefood whole; a the remedy is specially good for those bitten by the chalcislizard, horned viper, what is calledseps,elops, ordipsas. For scorpion stingsa bigger dose of salted fish is beneficial, but not enough to cause thevomiting, or intolerable thirst; it is also good to lay salted fish on thewounds. Against the bites of crocodiles nothing else is considered to be a moresovereign remedy. The sarda is specific against the bite of the prester. Saltedfish is also applied to the bite of a mad dog; even if the wound has not beencauterised with a hot iron, and the bowels emptied with a clyster, the fish byitself is enough. Salted fish is also applied with vinegar to the wound given bythe weever fish. The tunny too has the same property. The weever fish indeed, ifitself, or the whole of its brain, if applied to the poisoned wound caused by ablow of his own spine, makes a good remedy.

XVIII. A decoction of sea frogs boiled downin wine and vinegar is drunk to counteract poisons, also that of the brambletoad and salamander; if the flesh of river frogs is eaten, or the broth drunkafter boiling them down, it counteracts the poison of the sea-hare, of thesnakes mentioned above, and of scorpions if wine is used in the preparation.Democritus indeed tells us that if thetongue, with no other flesh adhering, is extracted from a living frog, and afterthe frog has been set free into water, placed over the beating heart of asleeping woman, she will give true answers to all questions.

The Magi add also other details, and if there is any truth in them, frogs shouldbe considered more beneficial than laws to the life of mankind. They say that iffrogs are pierced with a reed from the genitals through the mouth, and if thehusband plants a shoot in his wife's menstrual discharge she conceives anaversion to adulterous lovers. It is certain that frogs' flesh placed in wedsor on a hook makes excellent bait for the purple-fish. It is said that theliver of a frog is double, and should be thrown in the way of ants; that thepart the ants attack is an antidote for all poisons. Some frogs there are thatlive only in brambles, and so they are called bramble-toads, as I have said, andby the Greeks φρύνοι. These are the largest of all frogs, have as it werea pair of horns, and are full of poison. Our authorities vie with one another inrelating marvellous stories about the toad: that when brought into a meeting ofthe people silence reigns; that if the little bone found in its right side islet fall into boiling water, the vessel cools, and does not afterwards boilunless the bone is taken out; that it is found when a frog has been thrown toants and the flesh gnawed away; that one at a time these bones are put into oil;that there is in a frog's left side a bone called 'dog's bane,' which droppedinto oil gives the appearance of boiling; by it the attacks of dogs arerepelled, and if it is put in drink love and quarrels brought about; that wornas an amulet it acts as an aphrodisiac; that the bone again on the right sidecools boiling liquids; cures quartan and other fevers, but love is hat worn infresh lamb's skin as an amulet this bone restrained. The spleen of these frogsis also a remedy for the poisons that come from them, while their liveris even more efficacious.

XIX. There is a snake, a colubra, thatlives in the water. It is said that, if they have its fat or gall on theirpersons, crocodile hunters are helped wonderfully, as the brute dares notattack it at all; it is still more efficacious when combined with the plant potamogiton. Fresh river-crabs pounded and taken in water, their ash preserved,are good for all poisons, being specific for scorpion stings, if taken withasses milk, or failing that with goat's or any other milk; wine too should beadded. Pounded with basil and applied to scorpions, river-crabs kill them. Theirproperty avails also against the bites of all venomous creatures, being specificagainst the scytale, snakes, sea-hare, and bramble toad. Their ash preserved isgood for those threatened with hydrophobia from the bite of a mad dog. Some addgentian and administer in wine, and if hydrophobia has already set in,prescribe lozenges made with the ash and wine to be swallowed. The Magi indeedassert that if ten crabs with a handful of basil are tied together, all thescorpions of the district will collect to the spot, and to those wounded byscorpions they apply with basil either crabs themselves or else their ash. Forall these purposes sea crabs are less efficacious. Thrasyllus avows that no antidote forsnakebite is as good as crabs; that pigs, when bitten, cure themselves bytaking crabs as food; and that when the sun is in Cancer snakes are in torture.The stings of scorpions are counteracted also by the flesh of river snails, rawor cooked. Some too keep them for this purpose preserved in salt. They alsoapply them to the wounds themselves. Though the fish calledcoracini arepeculiar to the Nile, I am giving this information for the benefit of all lands.Application of their flesh is good for scorpion stings. Among poisonous partsof fishes are the prickles on the back of the sea-pig, a wound from which causessevere torture. A remedy is the slime from the liquid part of the body of thesefishes.

XX. When the bite of a mad dog causes adread of drink they rub the face with the fat of a seal, with more effect ifthere are mixed with it the marrow of a hyena, mastic oil, and wax. The bitesof the murry are healed by the head of the murry itself, reduced to ash. For thewound of the stingray a remedy is the ash, of the same ray itself or of anyother specimen, applied locally in vinegar. When the fish is used as food thereshould be taken from its back whatever is like saffron, and the whole headremoved, while the ray, and all shell fish, when used as food, should not beover-washed, as to do so spoils the flavour. The poison of the sea-hare iscounteracted by the seahorse taken in drink. Sea-urchins are very good as anantidote to dorycnium, as they are also for those who have drunk juice ofcarpathium, especially if they are taken in their broth. Effective againstdorycnium is also considered a decoction of sea-crab, and indeed specific forthe poison of the seahare.

XXI. The same poisons are counteracted also by oysters. About these itcannot appear that enough has been said, seeing that they have long beenconsidered the prize delicacy of our tables. Oysters love fresh water,and where there is an inflow from many rivers; wherefore deep-sea oystersare small and far between. They also breed, however, in rocky districts andplaces where no fresh water in comes, such as around Grynium and Myrina. Theirgrowth corresponds very closely to the increase of the moon, as I said a whendealing with water-creatures, but they grow most about the beginning of summer,and where sunshine makes its way into shallows, for then they swell withcopious, milky, juice. This appears to be the reason why oysters found in deepwater are rather small; darkness hinders their growth, and their gloom robs themof appetite.

Oysters vary in colour; red in Spain they are tawny in Illyricum, and black,both flesh and shell, in Circeii. In every country, however, those are mostprized that are compact, not greasy with their own slime, remarkable forthickness rather than breadth, taken from water neither muddy nor sandy, butfrom that with a hard bottom, those whose meat is short and not fleshy, thosewithout fringed edges, and lying wholly in the hollow of the shell.

Experts add a mark of distinction: if a purple line encircle the beard, theyconsider such oysters to be of a nobler type, and call them 'beautifully eyebrowed.' Oysters like to travel and be moved into strange waters. And sooysters of Brundisium that have fed in Lake Avernus are believed to retain theirown flavour as well as acquire that of the oysters of Lake Lucrinus.

So much for their bodies. I will now speak of thecountries that breed oysters, lest the shores should be cheated of their properfame; but I shall do so in the words of another, one who was the greatestconnoisseur of such matters in our time. These then are the words ofMucianus, which I will quote. Oysters of Cyzicus are larger than those of Lake Lucrinus, fresher than the British,sweeter than those of Medullae, sharper than the Ephesian, fuller than those ofIlici, less slimy than those of Coryphas, softer than those of Histria, whiterthan those of Circeii.

It is agreed, however, that none are fresher or softer than the last. Thewriters ofAlexander's expedition tellus that in the Indian sea are found oysters a foot long, and among ourselves aspendthrift has invented the nicknametridacna, wishing it to be used ofoysters so large that they require three bites.

I shall give all their medical virtues at this point. Oysters are specific forsettling the stomach, they restore lost appetite, and luxury has added coolnessby burying them in snow, thus wedding the tops of the mountains to the bottom ofthe sea. They are a gentle laxative. They also, if boiled with honey wine, curetenesmus if there is no ulceration. They also clean an ulcerated bladder.Boiled, unopened as gathered, in their shells, they are wonderfully good forstreaming colds. Reduced to ash and mixed with honey oyster shells relievetroubles of the uvula and tonsils, similarly parotid swellings, superficialabscesses and indurations of the breasts. Applied with water the ash cures soreson the head and smoothes the skin of women. It is sprinkled on burns and ispopular as a dentifrice. Applied also with vinegar it cures itch and eruptionsof phlegm. The purple-fish too is a good antidote to poisons. Beaten up raw,oysters cure scrofulous sores and chilblains on the feet.

XXII. Seaweed too is said by Nicanderto be an antidote. There are many kinds of it, as I have one with a long, redleaf, another with a broader leaf, and a third with a curly one. The most prizedis the one growing near the ground in the island of Crete among the rocks, forthis dyes even wool with a colour so fixed that it cannot be washed outafterwards.Nicander recommends it tobe given in wine.

XXIII. Hair lost through mange is restoredby ashes of the sea-horse, either mixed with soda and pig's lard, or else byitself in vinegar; the skin however must be prepared for medicaments by therind of the sepia cuttlefish ground to powder. It is restored also by the ashof the sea-mouse with oil, by that of the sea-urchin burnt with its flesh, bythe gall of the sea-scorpion, also by the ash of three frogs with honey, betterwith liquid pitch, but the frogs must be burnt together alive in a jar. Leechesblacken the hair if they have rotted for forty days in a red wine. Othersrecommend that for the same number of days a sextarius of leeches be allowed torot in a leaden vessel containing two sextarii of vinegar, and that then theyshould be applied in the sun.Sornatiustells us that they have such power that unless those who are going to dye keepoil in the mouth, the extract from the leeches blackens the teeth as well. Tosores on the head are applied with honey beneficially shells of murex orpurple-fish, reduced to ash; those of any shell-fish, ground to powder if notburned, and applied in water, are also beneficial. For headache use beaver-oilwith pencedanum and rose-oil.

XXIV. Of all fish, river or sea, the fats, melted in the sun andmixed with honey, are very good for clearness of vision, and so is beaver oiland honey. The gall of the star-gazer heals scars, and removes superfluous fleshabout the eyes. No other fish has a greater abundance of gall; this opinion, Menander too expresses in his comedies.This fish is also calleduranoscopos, from the eye which it has inits head. The gall of the coracinus too improves vision, and that of the redsea-scorpion with old oil and Attic honey disperses incipient cataract; itshould be applied as ointment three times, once every other day. The sametreatment removes albugo from the eyes. A diet of mullet is said to dull theeyesight. Though the sea-hare itself is poisonous, yet reduced to ash itprevents from growing again superfluous hair on the eyelids that has beenplucked out. For this purpose the most useful specimens are the smallest; alsosmall scallops, salted and pounded with cedar resin, frogs calleddiopetaeorcalamitae; their blood, with vine tear-gum, should be rubbed on thelids after plucking out the hair. Swellings and redness of the eyes are soothedby an application of sepia bone with woman's milk, and by itself it is good forroughness of the lids. In this cure they turn up the lids, taking off theointment after a little time, treat the part with rose-oil and soothe with abread-poultice. The bone is also good treatment for night-blindness, if groundto powder and applied in vinegar. Reduced to ash it brings away scales; withhoney it heals scars on the eyes; with salt and cadmia, a drachma of each, itheals inflammatory swellings, and also albugo in cattle. They say that eyelids,if rubbed by its small bone, are healed. Urchins in vinegar remove night rashes.The Magi recommend the same to be burnt with vipers' skins and frogs, and theash to be sprinkled into drinks; they assure us that clearer vision will result.Ichthyocolla is the name of a fish that has a sticky skin; the same name isgiven to the glue of the fish; this disperses night rashes. Some say thatichthyocolla is made from the belly and not from the skin, just as is bull glue.Pontic ichthyocolla is popular, being white, free from veins and scales, andmelting very quickly. It ought, however, to be cut up and soaked in water orvinegar for a night and a day, and then to be pounded by sea-pebbles, to make itmelt more readily. They assure us that it is useful both for headache and forall tetanus. The right eye of a frog hung round the neck in a piece ofundyed cloth cures ophthalniia in the right eye; the left eve similarly tiedcures ophthalmia in the left. But if the frog's eyes are gouged out when themoon is in conjunction, and worn similarly by the patient, enclosed in anegg-shell, it will also cure albugo. The rest of the flesh, if applied, quicklytakes away bruises. An amulet of crabs' eyes also, worn on the neck, are said tocure ophthalniia. There is a small frog, found living especially in reed-bedsand grasses, deaf, without a croak, and green, which, if it by chance isswallowed, swells up the bellies of oxen. They say that the fluid of its body,scraped off with a spatula and applied to the eyes, improves vision. The fleshby itself is placed over painful eyes. Some put together into a new earthen jarfifteen frogs, piercing them with rushes; to the fluid that thus exudes they addthe gum of the white vine, and so treat eyelids; superfluous hairs are pluckedout, and the mixture dropped with a needle into the holes made by theplucked-out hairs.Meges used to make adepilatory for the eyelids by killing frogs in vinegar and letting them putrefy;for this purpose he used the many spotted frogs that breed in the autumn rains.The same effect is thought to be produced by leeches reduced to ash and appliedin vinegar; they must be burnt in a new vessel. The same effects too by thedried liver of a tunny, in doses of four denarii added to cedar oil and appliedto the hairs for nine months.

XXV. Most beneficial to the ears is the fresh gall of the skate, but alsowhen preserved in wine, the gall of grey mullet, which some callmizyene, andalso that of the star-gazer with rose-oil poured into the ears, or beaver oilpoured into the ears with poppy juice. There is a creature called the sea-louse,and they recommend sea-lice to be crushed and dropped into the ears in vinegar.Wool, both by itself and dyed with the purple fish, is very good for eartroubles; some moisten it with vinegar and soda. Some there are who recommend asa sovereign remedy for all ear troubles a cyathus of first-grade gamin, half asmuch again honey, with a cyathus of vinegar, to be boiled down in a new cup overa slow fire, every now and then wiping away the froth with feathers, and whenthe mixture has ceased to froth, to pour it into the ears when tepid. Should theears be swollen, the same authorities prescribe that the swellings should befirst reduced with juice of coriander. Frog fat dropped into the earsimmediately takes away pains. The juice of river crabs with barley flour is mostbeneficial for wounds of the ears. The ash of murex shell with honey, or that ofother shell-fish in honey wine, is good treatment for parotid swellings.

XXVI. Toothache is relieved by scraping the gums with the bones of the weever fish, or by the brain of a dog-fish boiled down in oil and kept, so thatthe teeth may be washed with it once every year. To scrape the gums too with theray of the stingray is very beneficial for toothache. This ray if pounded andapplied with white hellebore brings out teeth without any distress. Salted fishalso, reduced to ash in an earthen vessel and mixed with powdered marble, isanother remedy. Old slices of tunny rinsed in a new vessel and then beaten up,are good for toothaches. Equally good are said to be the backbones of any saltedfish, burnt, pounded, and applied. A single frog is boiled down in one hemina ofvinegar, so that the teeth may be rinsed with the juice, which should be held inthe mouth. Should the nasty taste be an objection,Sallustius Dionysius used to hang frogsby their hind legs so that the fluid from their mouths might drop into boilingvinegar, and that from several flogs. For stronger stomachs he prescribed thefrogs themselves, to be eaten with their broth. It is thought that double teethyield best to this treatment, when loose indeed the vinegar spoken of above isthought to make them firm. For the purpose some cut off the feet of two frogsand soak the bodies in a hemina of wine, and recommend loose teeth to be rinsedwith the liquid. Some tie whole frogs on the jaws as an amulet; others haveboiled down ten frogs in three sextarii of vinegar to one third the volume, inorder to strengthen loose teeth. Furthermore they have boiled the hearts of 46frogs under a copper vessel in one sextarius of old oil, to be poured into theear on the side of the aching jaw. Others have boiled the liver of a frog,beaten it up with honey, and placed it on the teeth. All the above prescriptionsare more efficacious if the sea frog is used. If the teeth are decayed and foul,they recommend whale's flesh to be dried for a night in a furnace, and then thesame amount of salt to be added and the whole to be used as a dentifrice. Theenhydris is a snake so-called by the Greeks and living in water. With four upperteeth of this creature they scrape the upper gums, when there is aching of theupper teeth, and with four lower teeth the lower gums when there is aching inthe lower teeth. Some are content to use the canine tooth only of thesecreatures. They also use the ash of crabs, but the ash of the murex makes adentifrice.

XXVII. Lichens and leprous sores are removed by the fat of the seal, theash of menae with three oboli of honey, the liver of the stingray boiledin oil, or the ash of the seahorse or dolphin applied with water. Ulcerationshould be followed by treatment, which results in a scar. Some roast dolphin fata in an earthen jar until it flows like oil; this they use as ointment. Theshell of murex or other shell-fish reduced to ash clears spots from the faces ofwomen, remove wrinkles, and fill out the skin, if applied with honey for sevendays, but on the eighth day there should be fomentation with white of egg. Tothe class murex belong the shell-fish called by the Greekscoluthia, byotherscoryphia, equally conical but smaller and much more efficacious,and they also keep the breath sweet. Fish-glue removes wrinkles and fills outthe skin; prepared by boiling down in water for four hours and then kneadinguntil liquid like honey. After being thus prepared it is stored away in a newvessel, and when used four drachmae of it, two of sulphur, two of alkanet, eightof litharge, are mixed, sprinkled with water, and pounded together. Applied tothe face this mixture is washed off after four hours. Freckles too and the otherfacial affections are treated by the calcined bones of cuttlefish; they alsoremove excrescences of flesh and running sores. Itch-scab is removed by thedecoction of a frog in five heminae of seawater: the boiling should continueuntil the consistency is that of honey. In the sea is found a substance calledalcyoneum, some think out of the nests of the alcyon and the ceyx, others out ofclotted sea-foam, others from the slime of the sea or from what might be calledits down. There are four kinds of it: the first is ash-coloured, compact, and ofa pungent smell; the second is milder in smell, which is almost that ofseaweed; the third is in shape like a whitish grub; the fourth is rather likepumice, resembling rotten sponge. The best is almost purple, and is also called Milesian. The whiter alcyoneum is the less valuable it is. The property ofalcyoneum is to ulcerate a and to cleanse. When used it is parched, and appliedwithout oil. With lupins and two oboli of sulphur it removes wonderfully wellleprous sores, lichens, and freckles. It is also used for scars on the eyes.Andreas used for leprous sores crabs reduced to ash and applied with oil,Attalus the fresh fat of the tunny.

XXVIII. Ulcers in the mouth are healed by the brine of menae, and bytheir heads reduced to ash and applied with honey. For scrofulous sores it isgood to prick them, but not causing a wound, with the little bone from the tailof the fish called the seafrog. This should be done daily, until the cure iscomplete. The same property is possessed by the sting of the stingray and bythe sea-hare, but the application must be quickly removed, with the shells ofthe urchin crushed and applied in vinegar, by the sea-scolopendra too applied inhoney, and by river-crabs, crushed or burnt and applied in honey. Wonderfullygood too are the bones of cuttlefish crushed with old axle-grease and applied.The same prescription is used for parotid swellings as well, as is the liver ofthe horse-mackerel, and even the crushed pieces of a jar in which fish have beensalted, applied with old axle-grease; the ash of the murex is applied with oilfor parotid swellings and scrofulous sores.

A stiff neck is softened by what are called sea-lice, the dose being a drachmataken in drink, by beaver oil mixed with pepper and taken in honey-wine, and byfrogs boiled down in oil and salt for the liquor to be swallowed. Thisprescription is treatment for opisthotonus and tetanus. For spasms, however,pepper is added. Quinsy is cured by an application in honey of the heads ofsalted menae, and by the liquor of frogs boiled down in vinegar, which last isalso good for diseased tonsils. River crabs pounded one by one in a hemina ofwater make a healing gargle for quinsy, or they may be taken in wine and warmwater. Garum, placed beneath the uvula with a spoon, is good treatment for it.Fresh or salted silurus taken as food improve the voice.

XXIX. Red mullet, preserved, crushed andtaken in drink, is an emetic. For asthma is very beneficial beaver oil takenfasting in oxymel with a small quantity of sal ammoniac. This draught alsocalms stomach spasms when taken in warm oxymel. A cough is said to be cured byfrogs boiled down in a pan as are fish in their own liquor. A prescription is:the frogs to be hung up by the feet, their saliva allowed to drip into a pan,and then, after being gutted, they are preserved after the entrails have beencast aside. There is a small frog that climbs trees and croaks loudly out ofthem. If a person with a cough spits into the mouth of one of these and lets itgo, he is said to be cured of the complaint. For a cough with spitting of bloodis prescribed the raw flesh of a snail beaten up and taken in warm water.

XXX. For liver pains are good: ... a sea scorpion drowned in wine, sothat the liquor may be drunk, or the flesh of the long mussel taken in honeywine with an equal quantity of water, or if there is fever in hydromel. Pains inthe side are relieved by eating the flesh of the sea-horse roasted, or the tethea, which resembles the oyster, taken in the food; sciatica is relieved bythe brine of the silurus, injected as an enema. Mussels too are given forfifteen days in doses of three oboli soaked in two sextarii of wine.

XXXI. The bowels are relaxed by the silurus, taken with its broth, by thetorpedo, taken in food, by the sea-cabbage, which is like the cultivated kinditis bad for the stomach but readily purges the bowels, and owing to its pungencyis boiled with fat meatand by the liquor of any boiled fish; the last is alsodiuretic, especially when taken in wine. The best is from the sea-scorpion, thewrasse, and the rock-fish, which are neither of a rank taste nor fatty. Theyshould be boiled with dill, parsley, coriander, leeks, and with oil added andsalt. Purgative too is stale tunny sliced, and it is specific for bringing awayundigested food, phlegm and bile.

The myax also is purgative, and in this place shall be set forth all itscharacteristics. These animals form clusters, as does the murex, and live whereseaweed lies thick, for which reason they are most delicious in autumn, andfrom regions where much fresh water mingles with salt, for which reason it is inEgypt that they are most esteemed. As the winter advances, they contract abitter taste, and a red colour. Their liquor is said to be a thorough purge ofbelly and bladder, cleanses the intestines, is a universal aperient, purges thekidneys, and reduces blood and fat. Hence these shell-fish are very beneficialfor dropsy, menstruation, jaundice, diseases of the joints, flatulence, obesityalso, bilious phlegm, affections of lungs, liver, and spleen, and for catarrhs,Their only drawback is that they harm the throat and obstruct the voice. Ulcersthat are creeping or need cleansing they heal, and also, if burnt as is themurex, malignant growths. With honey added they heal the bites of dogs and men,leprous sores, and freckles. Their ash, washed, is good for dim vision,roughness and white ulcers of the eyes, affections of the gums and teeth andoutbursts of phlegm. Against dorycnium and opocarpathum they serve as anantidote. There are two inferior kinds: the mitulus, with a salty, strong taste;the myisca, different in its roundness, rather smaller and hairy, with thinnershell and sweeter flesh. The mitulus too like the murex has a caustic ash goodfor leprous sores, freckles, and spots. They are washed a also as is lead forthick eyelids, white ulcers, dim vision, dirty ulcers in other parts andpustules on the head. Their flesh makes an application for dog bites.

But clams relax the bowels, as does beaver oil in hydromel, the dose being twodrachmae. Those who wish to use a more drastic laxative add a drachma of driedroot of cultivated cucumber and two drachmae of saltpetre. Tethea cures gripingand flatulence. It is found as a parasite on sea plants, more a kind of fungusrather than a fish. They also cure tenesmus and affections of the kidneys. Therealso grows in the sea apsinthium, which some call seriphum, found chiefly aroundTaposiris in Egypt, and is more slender than the land variety, it relaxes thebowels and brings away harmful creatures from the intestines. The cuttlefishtoo is a laxative. The apsinthium is given in food, being boiled with oil, salt,and flour. Salted menae applied to the navel with bull's gall relax the bowels.The liquor of fish boiled in a pan with lettuce cures tenesmus. River crabsbeaten up and taken in water are constipating but diuretic in a white wine. Iftheir legs are taken off they bring away stone, the dose being three oboli witha drachma each of myrrh and iris; iliac colic and flatulence are cured by beaveroil with daucus seed and of rock parsley as much as can be picked up in threefingers, taken in four cyathi of warm honey-wine; while for griping it should betaken with a mixture of dill and wine. The erythinus taken in food isconstipating. Dysentery can be treated by frogs boiled with squills tomake lozenges, or by their heart beaten up with honey, asNiceratus prescribes, jaundice by saltedfish with pepper, but the patient must abstain from all other meat.

XXXII. Splenic trouble is treated by theapplication of the fish sole, of the torpedo, or of the turbot, but the fish isthen put back living into the sea. Bladder troubles and stone are cured by thesea scorpion killed in wine, by the stone which is found in the tail of thesea-scorpion, the dose being an obolus, taken in drink, by the liver of theenhydris, and by the ash of the blenny with rue. There are found too in the headof the fish bacchus as it were pebbles; these taken in water are excellenttreatment for stone. It is said that the sea-nettle taken in wine is also goodfor it, and likewise thepulmo marinus boiled down in water. The eggs of thecuttlefish are diuretic and bring away phlegms from the kidneys. Ruptures andsprains are healed by river-crabs beaten up in milk, by preference asses' stone,however by sea-urchins, spines and all, crushed in wine and taken in doses of ahemina to each urchin, this amount being drunk until benefit is apparent;urchins are also beneficial generally for stone when taken as food. The bladderis cleansed by a diet of scallops. The male scallops are called by some σόνακες(reeds), by others αύλοί (pipes); the female they call όνυχες (nails). The malesare diuretic; the females are sweeter and of a uniform colour. [The eggs of thecuttlefish also are diuretic and cleanse the kidneys.]

XXXIII. For intestinal hernia is appliedsea-hare beaten up with honey. The liver of the watercoluber, likewise that ofthe water-snake, beaten up and taken in drink, is good for stone. Sciatica iscured by the brine of pickled silurus, injected as an enema, after previousthorough cleansing of the bowels; chafing of the seat by the head of grey or redmullet reduced to ash. The fish are burnt in an earthen vessel and should beapplied with honey. The heads too of menae, reduced to ash, are useful for chapsand condylomata, just as the heads of salted pelatnids, or sliced tunny, reducedto ash and applied with honey. An application of the torpedo to the intestinalregion reduces a morbid procidence there. The ash of river-crabs in oil and waxheals cracks in that part; sea-crabs too have the same healing property.

XXXIV. The pickle of the coracinus disperses superficial abscesses, asdo the burnt intestines and scales of the sciaena, or the sea-scorpion boileddown in wine for fomentation with that decoction. But the shells of sea-urchinscrushed and applied with water are a remedy for these abscesses when incipient;the murex or purple-fish reduced to ash is beneficial for either purpose,whether it is necessary to disperse incipient abscesses or to mature them andmake them discharge. Some make up the following prescription: wax andfrankincense twenty drachmae, litharge forty drachmae, ash of the murex tendrachmae, old oil one hemina. By themselves are beneficial boiled salted-fish,and pounded river-crabs. For a pustules on the pudenda, ash of the head ofmenae, likewise their flesh boiled down and applied, similarly the ash of thehead of salted perch, with honey added, ash of pelamids' heads, or the skin ofburnt squatina. This skin is the one used, as I have said, to polish wood, forfrom the sea too come useful things for our craftsmen. Zmarides also arebeneficial when applied, likewise with honey the shells of the murex orpurple-fish reduced to ash, more effectively if burnt with their flesh. Boiledsalted fish are specific for reducing carbuncles on the pudenda. It isrecommended, if a testicle hangs down, that the froth of snails be applied.

XXXV. Incontinence of urine is remedied bythe sea-horse, roasted and taken often as food, by the ophidion, a little fishlike the couger, with lily-root added, and by the tiny fish in the belly of thefish that has swallowed them, taken out and burnt for their ash to be taken inwater. They also recommend African snails to be burnt with their flesh, and theash to be given in Signian wine.

XXXVI. For gouty pains and for diseases of the joints oil is useful inwhich the intestines of frogs have been boiled down, and also the ash ofbramble-toads mixed with stale grease. There are some who add to these alsobarley ash, taking equal weights of three ingredients. They recommend too agouty foot to be rubbed with a fresh sea-hare, and the patient also to be shodwith beaver skin, by preference that of the Pontic beaver, or else with sealskin, seal fat also being good for gout. Good also is bryon, about which I havespoken, a plant like the lettuce, but with more wrinkled leaves andwithout a stem. Its nature is styptic, and applied to the painful part itsoothes the paroxysms of gout. Seaweed too is good, about which by itself alsoI have spoken. Care is taken with seaweed, not to apply it dry. An applicationof pulmo marinus is a cure for chilblains, and so is the ash of a sea-crab inoil, river-crabs too pounded and burnt, the ash also being kneaded with oil, andthe fat of the silurus. In diseases of the joints paroxysms are soothed byapplying fresh frogs every now and then; some recommend them to be cut up beforebeing applied. Flesh is put on by the liquid of mussels and of shell-fishgenerally.

XXXVII. Epilepsy, as I have said, istreated by doses of seals' rennet with mares' or asses' milk, or withpomegranate juice; some prescribe it in oxymel. Some too swallow the rennet byitself, made up into pills. Beaver oil in three cyathi of oxymel is given on anempty stomach; those however frequently attacked are benefited wonderfully by aclyster; of the beaver oil there should be two drachmae, of honey and oil asextarius, and the same quantity of water. If indeed persons have a momentaryseizure it is beneficial to give the patients beaver oil and vinegar to smell.There is also given the liver of the sea-weasel, or of the sea-mouse, or theblood of tortoises.

XXXVIII. Recurrent fevers are cured by a dolphin's liver, taken beforethe paroxysms. Seahorses are killed in rose-oil, to make ointment for thosesick of chill fevers, and seahorses themselves are worn as an amulet by thepatients. The little stones also that at a full moon are found in the head ofthe fish asellus, are tied on the patient in a linen cloth. Quartans are curedby the longest tooth of the river fish phagrus, tied with a hair on the patientas an amulet, but the patient must not discern the person who attached it forfive days; also by rubbing with the grease of frogs boiled in oil at a placewhere three roads meet, the flesh being first thrown away. Some drownfrogs in oil, attach secretly as an amulet, and rub the patient thoroughly withthe oil. The heart of frogs attached as an amulet, and the oil in which theirentrails have been boiled, relieve the chills of fevers. The best cure forquartans, however, is a frog, worn as an amulet with its claws taken off, or abramble-toad, if its liver or heart is worn as an amulet in a piece ofash-coloured cloth. Rivercrabs, pounded in oil and water and thoroughly rubbedover the patient before the paroxysms, are beneficial in fevers; some add pepperalso. Others prescribe them for quartans boiled down to a quarter in wine, to betaken after leaving the bath; some, however, the left eye to be swallowed. TheMagi assure us that tertian fevers are driven away by crabs' eyes, attached asan amulet before sunrise to the patient, but the blinded crabs must be set freeinto water. The Magi also teach that crabs' eyes, tied on with the flesh of anightingale in deer skin, drive away sleep and cause watchfulness. For thosesinking into lethargus they prescribe that the patient smell the rennet of thewhale or that of the seal. Others use as embrocation for lethargus the blood ofa tortoise? It is also said that tertians are treated successfully by thevertebra of a perch worn as an amulet; quartans by fresh river snails taken asfood. Some preserve them in salt for this purpose, to administer them, beatenup, in a draught.

XXXIX. Strombi rotted in vinegar rouse by the smell the victims oflethargus. They are also good for those with stomach complaints. Those in adecline, with a body seriously wasting away, find beneficial tethea with rue andhoney. Dropsy is treated with melted dolphin fat taken with wine. The nauseatingtaste is neutralised by touching the nostrils with unguent or scents, orplugging them in any suitable way. The flesh of the strombus also, pounded andgiven in three heminae of honey wine and an equal measure of water, or shouldthere be fever, in hydromel, benefit the dropsical; likewise the juice of rivercrabs with honey; water frogs too are boiled down in old wine and emmer wheat,and then taken as food but out of the same vessel as cooked; a tortoise a withfeet, head, tail, and entrails taken out, the remaining flesh being so seasonedthat it can be taken without nausea. River crabs taken in their juice are alsoreported to be beneficial to consumptives.

XL. Burns are healed by the ash in oil of a sea crab or river crab; byfish glue, or by the ash of frogs, the scalds caused by boiling water; thistreatment also restores the lost hair. They think that the ash of river crabsshould be used with wax and bear's grease. Beneficial also is the ash of beaverpelts. Erysipelas disappears under the application of the bellies of live frogs;they recommend the frogs to be tied on upside down by their hind legs, so thattheir rapid breathing may be of benefit. They also use the ash in vinegar of theheads of salted siluri. Pruritus and itch-scab in quadrupeds as well as in manare relieved with great efficacy by the liver of the stingray boiled down inoil.

XLI. The hard operculum, with which the purple-fish shuts its body fromview, when beaten up, unites cut sinews even when severed. Patients with tetanusare relieved by an obolus by weight of seal's rennet taken in wine; also byfish glue. The palsied obtain benefit from beaver oil, if they are thoroughlyrubbed with it and olive oil. I find that red mullet as a food is injurious tothe sinews.

XLII. They think that to eat fish causesbleeding, but that haemorrhage is stopped by crushing and applying the polypus,about which are current the following reports. It of itself gives out of itselfbrine, and therefore none should be added in cooking; it should be cut with areed, for iron spoils it and leaves a taint, as the natures of the two quarrel.To stop bleeding they also apply the ash of frogs or their dried blood. Somerecommend the blood or ash to come from the frog called by the Greeks calamites,because it lives among reeds and shrubs, the smallest and greenest of all frogs;some that the ash of frogs at their birth in water, while still tadpoles with atail, and calcined in a new earthen vessel, should be stuffed into the nostrilsof those with epistaxis. Opposite is the use of leeches, calledsanguisugae,which are employed to extract blood. For these are supposed to have the samepurpose as that of cupping-glasses, to relieve the body of blood and to open thepores of the skin; but an objection is that once applied they create a cravingfor the same treatment every year at about the same time. Many have been ofopinion that leeches should be applied also for gout. When gorged leeches falloff, detached by the mere weight. of blood or by a sprinkle of salt; sometimeshowever they leave their heads stuck fast in the flesh, thus causing incurablewounds that have often proved fatal. An instance isMessalinus, a patrician of consularrank, who applied leeches to his knee, and the remedy turned to a virulentpoison. It is especially red leeches that are so dreaded; so they cut them offwith scissors while they are sucking, and the blood runs down as it were throughtubes; as they die their heads little by little contract, and are not left inthe bite. The nature of leeches is adverse to that of bugs, which are killed iffumigated with leeches. Beaver skins, burnt with liquid pitch and softened withleek juice, arrest discharges from the nostrils.

XLIII. Weapons sticking in the flesh aredrawn out by the ash in water of the shell of the cuttlefish, also of the shellof the purple-fish, by the flesh of salted fish, by river-crabs beaten up, by anapplication of the flesh of the river silurus (which is found in other riversbesides the Nile), whether fresh or preserved in salt. The ash of the same fishdraws out sharp bodies; its fat and the ash of its backbone take the place of spodium.

XLIV. Creeping ulcers and the excrescences that form in them are checkedby ash of menae or of the silurus, carcinomata by heads of salted perch, withmore effect if with their ash are mixed salt and headed cunila, and the wholekneaded with oil. The ash of a sea crab that has been burnt with lead checkscarcinomata. For this purpose river crab too suffices with honey and fine lint.Some prefer to mix alum and honey with the ash. Phagedaenic ulcers are healed bysilurus kept till stale and beaten up with sandarach; malignant ulcers,corrosive ulcers, and festering sores by old tunny sliced; the maggots thatbreed in them are removed by frogs' gall. Fistulas are opened and driedup by salted fish inserted with lint; within two days such fish remove allcallus, festering sores, and creeping ulcers, if kneaded up as for a plaster andapplied. Allex also applied in strips of lint cleans sores; likewise the shellof sea-urchins, reduced to ash. Carbuncles are dispersed if treated with saltedcoracinus. likewise with the ash of salted red mulletsome use the head onlywith honeyor with the flesh of coracinus. Ash of murex with oil removesswellings, and the gall of the sea scorpion sears.

XLV. Warts are removed by an application of the liver of the glanus, ofmenae ash beaten up with garlicfor thymion warts they use the materialsrawby the gall of the red sea scorpion, by zmarides beaten up and applied, andby allex thoroughly boiled. Rough nails are smoothed by the ash of menae heads.

XLVI. Milk in women is made plentiful by glauciscus taken with itsliquor, by zmarides taken with barley water or boiled down with fennel. Thebreasts themselves are treated efficaciously by shells of murex or purple fishreduced to ash and combined with honey; by crabs too, river or sea, appliedlocally. The flesh of the murex if applied removes hair growing on the breasts.Squatinae applied prevent their swelling. Lint, smeared withdolphin's fat and then set alight, arouse women suffering from hystericalsuffocations; likewise strombi rotted in vinegar. The ash of the heads of perchor menae, mixed with salt, cunsla, and oil, is healing to the uterus; byfumigation also it brings away the afterbirth. The fat of the seal melted inthe fire is inserted into the nostrils of women swooning from hystericalsuffocation, or else seal's rennet used as a pessary in a piece of fleece. The pulmo marinus, tied on, is an excellent promoter of menstruation,which is checked by living sea urchins pounded up and taken in a sweet wine orby river crabs beaten up and so taken. Siluri also, especially the African, aresaid to make easier the birth of children, crabs taken in water to arrestmenstruation, taken in hyssop to promote it. If birth causes choking, the samemedicament taken in drink is a help. Crabs, fresh or dried, are taken in drinkto prevent miscarriage.Hippocrates auses them to promote menstruation and to withdraw a dead foetus; five crabs,root of lapathum and of rue, with some soot, are beaten up, and given to drinkin honey wine. Crabs, boiled in their liquor with lapathum and celery, hasten onthe monthly flow and produce a plentiful supply of milk; in fever accompanied bypains in the head and palpitation of the eyes, are said to be good for womenwhen given in a dry wine. Beaver oil taken in honey wine is good formenstruation, as also for troubles of the uterus if given to smell with vinegarand pitch, or made into tablets for a pessary. To bring away the afterbirth itis also useful to use beaver oil with panaces in four cyathi of wine, andthree-obol doses for those suffering from chill. If, however, a pregnant womansteps over beaver oil or a beaver, it is said to cause a miscarriage, and adangerous confinement if it is carried over her. What I find about the torpedois also wonderful: that, if it is caught when the moon is in Libra and kept forthree days in the open, it makes parturition easy every time afterwards that itis brought into the room. It is thought to be helpful too if the sting of thestingray is worn as an amulet on the navel, but it must be taken from a livingfish, which itself must be cast into the sea. I find in some writers that thereis a substance calledostraceum, called by someonyx that this by fumigationwonderfully counteracts severe pains of the uterus; that it has the smell ofbeaver oil, and is more efficacious if burnt with it; that the ash also of thesame substance cures chronic or malignant ulcers. But carbuncles and canceroussores on a woman's privates have, they say, a sovereign remedy in a female crabcrushed up with flower of salt a after a full moon and applied in water.

XLVII. Superfluous hair is removed by blood, gall, and liver of the tunny, whether fresh or preserved, by the liver too when beaten up, mixed withcedar oil, and stored in a leaden box. In this way slave boys were prepared formarket by Salpe the midwife. The same property is found in the pulmo marinus, inthe blood and gall of the sea hare, or this hare itself killed in oil. There isalso used the ash of the crab or of the sea scolopendra with oil, the seaanemone beaten up in squill vinegar, or the brain of the torpedo applied withalum on the sixteenth day of the moon. The blood-like matter (sanies) given outby the small frog, that we have spoken of in the treatment of the eyes, is amost efficacious depilatory if applied fresh; and so is the frog itself, driedand pounded up, and then boiled down to one third in three heminae, or boileddown in oil in brazen vessels. Others make a depilatory out of fifteen frogstreated with the same proportions of liquid, as we mentioned when treating ofthe eyes. Leeches also, roasted in an earthen vessel and applied with vinegar,have the same effect in extracting hair. The fumes that come from those burningthe leeches kill bugs. There are also found those who have used for several daysas a depilatory rubbing with beaver oil and honey. Before using however anydepilatory the hairs must first be pulled out.

XLVIII. The gums and the teething of infants are helped very much by adolphin's teeth reduced to ash and added to honey, and also if the gumsare touched with a tooth itself. As an amulet a dolphin's tooth removes achild's sudden terrors. The same also is the effect of a tooth of the canicula.The sores however that form in the ears or on any part of the body are cured bythe juice of river crabs with barley meal. The other diseases too are relievedif the patients are thoroughly rubbed with river crabs pounded in oil. For siriasis in babies a very efficacious cure is a frog tied as an amulet back tofront on the infant's skull moistened with a cold sponge. The sponge is said tobe found dry afterwards.

XLIX. Red mullet killed in wine, or thefish rubellio, or two eels, also a sea grape rotted in wine, brings a distastefor wine to those who have drunk of the liquor.

XL. Antaphrodisiac are the echeneis, hide from the left side of theforehead of a hippopotamus attached as an amulet in lamb skin, or the gall ofthe torpedo, while it is still alive, applied to the genitals. Aphrodisiac isthe flesh of river snails preserved in salt and given to drink in wine, erythinitaken as food, the liver of the frog diopetes or calamites, attached as anamulet in a little piece of crane's skin, or the maxillary tooth of a crocodiletied to the forearm, or the hippocampus, or the sinews of a bramble toad wornas an amulet on the right upper arm. Love is killed by a bramble toad worn as anamulet in a fresh piece of sheep's skin.

LI. Itch scab in horses is relieved by frogs boiled down in water untilthey can he used as ointment. It is said that a horse so treated is neverattacked again afterwards. Saipe says that dogs do not bark a if a live frog hasbeen put into their mess.

LII. Among water creatures ought also to be mentioned calamochnus, theLatin name of which isadarca. It collects around thin reeds from the foamforming where fresh and sea water mingle. It has a caustic property, and istherefore useful for tonic pills and to cure cold shiverings. It also removesfreckles on the face of women. At the same time reeds should be spoken of. Theroot of phragmites, pounded fresh, cures dislocations, and applied with vinegarpains in the spine; the Cyprian reed indeed, also calleddonax, has a bark whichwhen calcined cures mange and chronic ulcers, and its leaves extract thingsembedded in the flesh, and help erysipelas. The flower of the reed paniculacauses complete deafness if it has entered the ears. The ink of the cuttlefishhas so great power that Anaxilaus reports that poured into a lamp the formerlight utterly vanishes, and people appear as black as Ethiopians. A bramble toadthoroughly boiled in water and given to drink cures pigs' diseases, as does theash of any frog or toad. If wood is thoroughly rubbed with pulmo marinus itseems to be on fire, so much so that a walking-stick, so treated, throws a lightforward.

LIII. Now that I have completed my account of the natural qualities ofaquatic plants and animals, it seems to me not foreign to my purpose to pointout that, throughout all the seas which are so numerous and spacious and comeflooding into the landmass over so many miles and surround it outside to anextent which might be thought of as almost equal to that of the worlditselfthere are one hundred and forty-four species in all; and that they can beincluded each under its own name, a thing which, in the case of creatures of theland and those which fly, cannot be done. For in fact we do not know all thewild animals and flying creatures of India and Ethiopia and Syria; while even ofmankind itself the varieties which we have been able to discover are thegreatest in number by far. Add to this Ceylon and various other islands of theocean about which fabulous tales are told. Surely it will be agreed that not allthe species can be brought under one general view for our consideration. On theother hand, upon my solemn word, in the sea, vast though it is, and in theocean, the number of animals produced is known; andwe may well wonder atthiswe are better acquainted with the things which nature has sunk down in thedeep.

To begin with large beasts, there are 'sea-trees,' blower-whales, other whales,saw-fish, Tritons, Nereids, walruses (?) so-called 'men of the sea,' 'wheels,'grampuses, 'sea-rams,' whalebone whales, and others having the shape of fishes, dolphins, and seals well known to Homer, tortoises on the other hand well known to luxury, beavers to medical people (of the class of beavers we have never found record, speaking as we are of marine animals, that otters anywhere frequent the sea); also sharks, 'drinones,' hornedrays (?), sword-fish, saw-fish; hippopotamuses and crocodiles common to land,sea, and river; and, common to river and sea only, tunnies, other tunnies,'shun,' `coracini,' and perches.

Belonging to the sea only are sturgeon, gilt-head, 'asellus,' 'acharne,' smallfry, thresher-shark, eel, weever-fish, bogue, skate, grey mullet, angler-fish,garfish?fish which we call thorny, sea-acorn, 'sea-crow,' 'cithari' the worst esteemed of the turbot kind, shad (?), goby, 'callarias' of the 'aselli' kindwere it not smaller, Spanish mackerel also known as the Parian and as Sexitanfrom its nativeland Baetica, the smallest of the mackerels, cybium (this is the name given,when it has been sliced, to the young tunny which returns from the Black Seainto Lake Maeotis after forty days), 'cordyla' (this too is a very small youngtunny; it has this name when it goes out from Lake Maeotis into the Black Sea), black bream, the 'callionymus' or 'uranoscopus,' 'cinaedi'wrassethe only fishes which are yellow, sea-anemone, which we call nettle, species of crab, furrowed clams, smooth clams, clams of the kind 'peloris,' differing in variety of roundness of their shells, 'glycymarides'-clams, which are larger than 'pelorides,' 'coluthia" or 'coryphia,' species of bivalves amongst which are also the pearl-bearers, 'cochloe' (to the class of these belong the'five-fingered,' also 'helices' called by others 'actinophorae'), whose rays give a singing sound (outside these there are round shells used in dealing with oil), sea-cucumber, 'cynops,' shrimps, 'dog's right-hand,' weever-fish; (certainpeople want the 'little weever' to be regarded as a different animal; in fact it is like a large 'gerricula,' and has on its gills prickles which look towards the tail; and when it is lifted in the hand, it inflicts a wound like a scorpion), 'erythrinus,' sucking-fish, sea-urchin, black 'elephants' of the lobster kind, having four forked legs (they also have two arms, each with double joints and a single pair of pincers having a toothed edge), 'fabri' or 'zaei,' 'glauciseus,' catfish, conger eel, 'girres,' dogfish, 'garos,' runner-crab(?)'horsetail,' flying-fish, jellyfish, seahorse, 'hepar,' flying gurnard(?),rainbow-wrasse(?) species of mackerel, fluttering squid, crawfishes,'lantern-fish,' 'lelepris,' 'lamirns,' sea-hare, 'lion'-lobsters, whose arms arelike crabs' and the rest is like the crawfish, red mullet, a wrasse highlypraised amongst rock-fish, grey mullet, 'black-tail,' 'mena,' 'maeotes,' murry, 'mys'-mussel, mussel, bearded mussel(?), purple-mollusc, 'eyed' fish,eel(?), species of bivalves, sea-ear, large tunny (this is the largest of thepelamys kind and it never comes back to Lake Macotis; it is like the 'tritomum' and is best in its old age), globe-fish, 'orthagoriscus' 'phager,' 'phycis' one of the rock-fish, 'pelamys'-tunny, of which kind the largest is called 'choice piece,' tougher than the 'tritomus,' 'pig'-fish, sea-louse, plaice (?),stingray, species of octopus, scallops (the very large ones, and, among these,those which are very black in summer time, being the most highly esteemed;moreover, these are found at Mytilene, Tyndaris, Salonae, Altinum, the island ofChios, and Alexandria in Egypt), small scallops, purple-molluscs, 'pegrides'(?),pinna, hermit crab (or pinas-guard crab), angel-fish which we call 'squatus,' turbot, parrot-wrasse, which is of first rank today, sole, sargue, prawn (or shrimp), 'sarda' (this is the name given to an elongatedpelamy-tunny which comes from the Ocean), mackerel, saupe, 'sorus,' two kindsof sculpin, two kinds of maigre, scolopendra-worm, 'smyrus,' cuttlefish, spiral molluscs, razor-shells variously called 'solen,' 'aulos', 'donax,' 'onyx,' and 'dactylus'; thorny oysters, picarels, starflshes, sponges, 'turdus'-wrassefamous amongst rock-fish, tunny, thranis which others call swordfish, 'thrissa,' electric ray, sea-squirt, 'tritomum' ('three-cut') belong to alarge kind of tunny, from each of which three 'cybia' can be cut, 'veneria,' cuttle-egg (?) swordfish.

LIV. We will add to these some animals mentioned by Ovid, which are found in no other writer but which are perhaps native to the Black Sea where he began that unfinished book in the last days of his life: horned ray, 'cercyrus' which lives amongst rocks, 'orphus,' and red 'errthinus,' 'iulus,' tinted sea-breams and gilt-head of golden colour; and, besides these, perch, 'tragus,' black-tail with pretty tail, 'epodes' of the flat kind. Besides these remarkable kinds of fishes he records: that the sea-perch conceives of herself, that the 'glaucus' never appears in summer; and he mentions the pilot-fish as always accompanying ships on their course, and the 'chronlis' which makes its nest in the waves. He says that the 'helops' isunknown to our waters: from which it is clear that those who havebelieved that acipenser (sturgeoa) is the same are in error. Many peoplehave given the first prize for taste to the helops among all fish.

Moreover, there are some fish named by no author. There is one barracuda called 'sudis' in Latin, 'sphyraena' in Greek, in its muzzle resembling its name ('stake'); it is in sizeamongst the largest; it is uncommon, and does not. degenerate by interbreeding.There are also shells (pinnas) of a kind for which the name 'perna' is given; they are abundant round the Pontiac islands.. They stand like pigs' hams fixed bolt upright in the sand; and, gaping not less than a foot wide where there is broad enough space, they lie in wait for food. They have, all round the edges of the shells, teeth set thick like those of a comb; inside is a large fleshy muscle. I once saw also a 'hyena'-fish (puntarzo)which was taken in the island Aenaria.

Besides all these creatures, certain off-scourings also come out of the sea; they are not worth a description and are to be counted amongst seaweeds and not amongst living creatures.

I. OUR topic now will be metals, and the actual resources employedto pay for commoditiesresources diligently sought for in the bowels of theearth in a variety of ways. For in some places the earth is dug into for riches,when life demands gold, silver, silver-gold and copper, and in otherplaces for luxury, when gems and colours for tinting walls and beams aredemanded, and in other places for rash valour, when the demand is for iron,which amid warfare and slaughter is even more prized than gold. We trace out allthe fibres of the earth, and live above the hollows we have made in her,marvelling that occasionally she gapes open or begins to trembleas if forsoothit were not possible that this may be an expression of the indignation of ourholy parent. We penetrate her inner parts and seek for riches in the abode ofthe spirits of the departed, as though the part where we tread upon her were notsufficiently bounteous and fertile. And amid all this the smallest object of oursearching is for the sake of remedies for illness, for with what fraction ofmankind is medicine the object of this delving? Although medicines also earthbestows upon us on her surface, as she bestows corn, bountiful and generous asshe is in all things for our benefit! The things that she has concealed andhidden underground, those that do not quickly come to birth, are the thingsthat destroy us and drive us to the depths below; so that suddenly the mindsoars aloft into the void and ponders what finally will be the end of drainingher dry in all the ages, what will be the point to which avarice will penetrate.How innocent, how blissful, nay even how luxurious life might be, if it covetednothing from any source but the surface of the earth, and, to speak briefly,nothing but what lies ready to her hand!

II. Gold is dug out of the earth and in proximity to it gold-solder,which still retains in Greek a name derived from gold, so as to make it appearmore precious. It was not enough to have discovered one bane to plague life,without setting value even on the corrupt humours of gold! Avarice was seekingfor silver, but counted it a gain to have discovered cinnabar by the way, anddevised a use to make of red earth. Alas for the prodigality of ourinventiveness! In how many ways have we raised the prices of objects! The artof painting has come in addition, and we have made gold and silver dearer bymeans of engraving! Man has learnt to challenge nature in competition! Theenticements of the vices have augmented even art: it has pleased us to engravescenes of licence upon our goblets, and to drink through the midst ofobscenities. Afterwards these were flung aside and began to be held of noaccount, when there was an excess of gold and silver. Out of the same earth wedug supplies of fluorspar and crystal, things which their mere fragilityrendered costly. It came to be deemed the proof of wealth, the true glory ofluxury, to possess something that might be absolutely destroyed in a moment.Nor was this enough: we drink out of a crowd of precious stones, and set ourcups with emeralds, we take delight in holding India for the purpose oftippling, and gold is now a mere accessory.

III. And would that it could be entirely banished from life, reviled andabused as it is by all the worthiest people, and only discovered for the ruin ofhuman lifehow far happier was the period when goods themselves wereinterchanged by barter, as it is agreed we must take it from Homer to have beenthe custom even in the days of Troy. That in my view was the way in which tradewas discovered, to procure the necessities of life.Homer relates how some people used tomake their purchases with ox-hides, others with iron and captives, andconsequently, although evenHomerhimself was already an admirer of gold, he reckoned the value of goods incattle, saying that Glaucus exchangedgold armour worth 100 beeves with that ofDiomede worth 9 beeves. And as a result of this custom even at Rome afine under the old laws is priced in cattle.

IV. The worst crime against man's life was committed by theperson who first put gold on his fingers, though it is not recorded who didthis, for I deem the whole story of Prometheus mythical, although antiquityassigned to him also an iron ring, and intended this to be understood as afetter, not an ornament. As for the story of Midas's ring, which when turnedround made its wearer invisible, who would not admit this to be more mythicalstill? It was the hand and what is more the left a hand, that first wonfor gold such high esteem; not indeed a Roman hand, whose custom it was to wearan iron ring as an emblem of warlike valour.

As to the Roman kings I find it hard to make a statement. The statue of Romulusin the Capitol has nothing, nor has any other king's statue excepting those ofNuma andServius Tullius, and not even that ofLucius Brutus. I am especially surprisedat this in the case of theTarquins, whocame originally from Greece, the country from which this fashion in rings came,although an iron ring is worn in Sparta even at the present day. But of all,Tarquinius Priscus, it is well known,first presented his son with a golden amulet when while still of an age to wearthe bordered robe he had killed an enemy in battle; and from that time on thecustom of the amulet has continued as a distinction to be worn by the sons ofthose who have served in the cavalry, the sons of all others only wearing aleather strap. Owing to this I am surprised that the statue of thatTarquin has no ring. All the same, Inotice that there is a difference of opinion even about the actual word for aring. The Greek name for it is derived from the word meaning afinger; with ourselves, in early days it was called 'ungulus,' but afterwards both our people and the Greeks give it the name of 'symbolum.' For a long periodindeed, it is quite clear, not even members of the Roman senate had gold rings,inasmuch as rings were bestowed officially on men about to go as envoys toforeign nations, and on them only, the reason no doubt being that the mosthighly honoured foreigners were recognized in this way. Nor was it the customfor any others to wear a gold ring than those on whom one had been officiallybestowed for the reason stated; and customarily Roman generals went in triumphwithout one, and although a Tuscan crown of gold was held over the victor'shead from behind, nevertheless he wore an iron ring on his finger when going intriumph, just the same as the slave holding the crown in front of himself. Thiswas the way in which Gaius Mariuscelebrated his triumph overJugurtha,and it is recorded that he did not assume Jan.1, a gold ring till his thirdtenure of the consulship. Those moreover who had been given gold rings becausethey were going on an embassy only wore them in public, but in their homes woreiron rings; this is the reason why even now an iron ring and what is more a ringwithout any stone in it is sent a as a gift to a woman when betrothed. Indeed Ido not find that any rings were worn in the Trojan period; at all eventsHomer nowhere mentions them, although heshows that tablets used to be sent to and fro in place of letters, and thatclothes and gold and silver vessels were stored away in chests and were tied upwith signet-knots, not sealed with signet-rings. Also he records the chiefs ascasting lots about meeting a challenge from the enemy without usingsignet-rings; and he also says that the god of handicraft in theoriginal period frequently made brooches and other articles of feminine finerylike earringswithout mentioning finger-rings. And whoever first introduced themdid so with hesitation, and put them on the left hand, which is generally hiddenby the clothes, whereas it would have been shown off on the right hand if it hadbeen an assured distinction. And if this might possibly have been thought toinvolve some interference with the use of the right hand, there is the proof ofmore modern custom; it would have also been more inconvenient to wear it on theleft hand, which holds the shield. Indeed it is also stated, byHomer again, that men wore gold plaitedin their hair and consequently I cannot say whether the use of gold originatedfrom women.

V. At Rome for a long time gold was actually not to be found at allexcept in very small amounts. At all events when peace had to be purchased afterthe capture of the City by the Gauls, not more than [390 B.C.] a thousandpounds' weight of gold could be produced. I am aware of the fact that inPompey's third consulship [52 BC] therewas lost from the throne of Jupiter of the Capitol two thousand pounds' weightof gold that had been stored there byCamillus, which led to a general belief that 2000 pounds was the amount that hadbeen accumulated. But really the additional sum was part of the booty takenfrom the Gauls, and it had been stripped by them from the temples in the part ofthe city which they had capturedthe case of Torquatus shows that the Gauls were in the habit of wearing goldornaments in battle; therefore it appears that the gold belonging to the Gaulsand that belonging to the temples did not amount to more than that total; andthis in fact was taken to be the meaning contained in the augury, when Jupiterthe God of the Capitol had repaid twofold.

Also, as we began on this topic from the subject of rings, it is suitableincidentally to point out that the official in charge of the temple of Jupiterof the Capitol when he was arrested broke the stone of his ring between histeeth and at once expired, so putting an end to any possibility of proving thetheft. It follows that there was only 2,000 lbs. weight of gold at the outsidewhen Rome was captured in its 364th year, although the census showedthere were already 152,573 free citizens. From the same city 307 years later thegold thatGaius Marius [82 BC] theyounger had conveyed to Palestrina from the conflagration of the temple of theCapitol and from all the other shrines amounted to 14,000 lbs., which with aplacard above it to that effect was carried along in his triumphal procession bySulla, as well as [81BC] 6,000 lbs.weight of silver.Sulla had likewise onthe previous day carried in procession 15,000 lbs. of gold and 115,000 lbs. ofsilver as the proceeds of all the rest of his victories.

VI. It does not appear that rings were in more common use before the timeof Gnaeus Flavius son ofAnnius. It was he who first publishedthe dates for legal proceedings, which it had been customary for tbegeneral public to ascertain by daily enquiry from a few of the leading citizens;and this won him such great popularity with the common peoplehe was also theson of a liberated slave and himself a clerk to Appius Caecus, at whose request he had by dint of natural shrewdnessthrough continual observation picked out those days and published themthat hewas appointed acurule aedile as a colleague ofQuintus Anicius of Palestrina, who a few years previously had been anenemy at war with Rome, whileGaius PoetiliusandDomitius, whose fathers had beenconsuls, were passed over.Flavius hadthe additional advantage of being tribune of the plebs at the same time. Thiscaused such an outburst of blazing indignation that we find in the oldest annals'rings were laid aside.' The common belief that the Order of Knighthood also didthe same on this occasion is erroneous, inasmuch as the following words werealso added: 'but also harness-bosses were put aside as well'; and it is becauseof this clause that the name of the Knights has been added; and the entry in theannals is that the rings were laid aside by the nobility, not by the entireSenate. This occurrence took place in the consulship of Publius Sempronius [305 BC] andLucius Sulpicius.Flavius made a vow to erect a temple toConcord if he succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between the privilegedorders and the people; and as money was not allotted for this purpose frompublic funds, he drew on the fine-money collected from persons convicted ofpractising usury to erect a small shrine made of bronze on the Graecostasiswhich at that date stood above the Assembly-place, and put on it an inscriptionengraved on a bronze tablet that the shrine had been constructed 204 yearsafter the consecration of the Capitoline temple. This event took place in the449th year from the foundation of the city, and [305 B.C.] is theearliest evidence to be found of the use of rings. There is however a secondpiece of evidence for their being commonly worn at the time of the Second PunicWar, as had this not been the ease it would not have been possible for the threepeeks of rings as recorded to have been sent byHannibal to Carthage. Also it was from a ring put up for sale by auctionthat the quarrel betweenCaepio andDrusus began which was the primary causeof the war with the allies and the disasters that sprang from it. Not even atthat period did all members of the senate possess gold rings, seeing that in thememory of our grandfathers many men who had even held the office of prietor worean iron ring to the end of their livesfor instance, as recorded by Fenestella, Calpurnius and Manilius, thelatter having been lieutenant-general underGaius Marius in the war [112-106 BC] withJugurtha, and, according to manyauthorities, theLucius Fufidius to whomScaurus dedicated hisAutobiographywhile another piece of evidence is that in the family of the Quintii it was not even customary for the women to have a gold ring, and thatthe greater part of the races of mankind, and even of the people who live underour empire and at the present day, possess no gold rings at all. The East andEgypt do not seal documents even now, but are content with a written signature.

This fashion like everything else luxury has diversified in numerous ways, byadding to rings gems of exquisite brilliance, and by loading the fingers with awealthy revenue (as we shall mention in our book on gems) and then by engravingon them a variety of devices, so that in one case the craftsmanship andin another the material constitutes the value. Then again with other gems luxuryhas deemed it sacrilege for them to undergo violation, and has caused them to beworn whole, to prevent anybody's imagining that people's finger-rings wereintended for sealing documents! Some gems indeed luxury has left showing inthe gold even of the side of the ring that is hidden by the finger, and hascheapened the gold with collars of little pebbles. But on the contrary manypeople do not allow any gems in a signet-ring, and seal with the gold itself;this was a fashion invented whenClaudiusCaesar was emperor. [AD. 41-5] Moreover even slaves nowadays encircle theiron of their rings with gold (other articles all over them they decorate withpure gold), an extravagance the origin of which is shown by its actual name tohave been instituted in Samothrace.

It had originally been the custom to wear rings on one finger only, the one nextthe little finger; that is how we see them on the statues ofNuma andServius Tullius. Afterwards people putthem on the finger next the thumb, even in the case of statues of the gods, andnext it pleased them to give the little finger also a ring. The Gallic Provincesand the British Islands are said to have used the middle finger. At the presentday this is the only finger exempted, while all the others bear the burden, andeven each finger-joint has another smaller ring of its own. Some people put alltheir rings on their little finger only, while others wear only one ring even onthat finger, and use it to seal up their signet ring, which is kept stored awayas a rarity not deserving the insult of common use, and is brought out from itscabinet as from a sanctuary; thus even wearing a single ring on the littlefinger may advertise the possession of a costlier piece of apparatus put away instore. Some again show off the weight of their rings; others count it hard workto wear more than one; and others consider that filling the gold tinsel of thecircle with a lighter material, in case of their dropping, is a safer precautionfor their anxiety about their gems; others enclose poisons underneath the stonesin their rings, as didDemosthenes, thegreatest orator of Greece, and they wear their rings as a means of taking theirown lives. Finally, a very great number of the crimes connected with money arecarried out by means of rings. To think what life was in the days of old, andwhat innocence existed when nothing was sealed! Whereas nowadays even articlesof food and drink have to be protected against theft by means of a ring: this isthe progress achieved by our legions of slavesa foreign rabble in one's home,so that an attendant to tell people's names now has to be employed even in thecase of one's slaves! This was not the way with bygone generations, when asingle servant for each master, a member of his master's clan, Marcius's boy orLucius's boy, took all his meals withthe family in common, nor was there any need of precautions in the home to keepwatch on the domestics. Nowadays we acquire sumptuous viands only to be pilferedand at the same time acquire people to pilfer them, and it is not enough to keepour keys themselves under seal: while we are fast asleep or on our death-beds,our rings are slipped off our fingers; and the prevailing system of our liveshas begun to centre round that portable chattel, though when this began isdoubtful. Still it seems we can realize the importance this article possessesabroad in the case of the tyrant of Samos,Polycrates, who flung his favourite ring into the sea and had it broughtback to him inside a fish which had been caught:Polycrates himself was put to deathabout the 230th year of the city of Rome. Still the [523 BC] employment of asignet-ring must have begun to be much more frequent with the introduction ofusury. This is proved by the custom of the lower classes, among whom even at thepresent day a ring is whipped out when a contract is being made; the habit comesdown from the time when there was as yet no speedier method of guaranteeing abargain, so we can safely assert that with us money began first and signet-ringscame in afterwards. About money we shall speak rather later.

VII. As soon as rings began to be commonly worn, they distinguished thesecond order from the commons, just as a tunic distinguished the senatefrom those who wore the ring, although this distinction also was onlyintroduced at a late date, and we find that a wider purple stripe on the tunicwas commonly worn even by heralds, for instance the father of Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconiuus, whoreceived his surname from his father's office. But wearing rings clearlyintroduced a third order, intermediate between the commons and the senate, andthe title that had previously been conferred by the possession of a war-horseis now assigned by money rates. This however is only a recent introduction: whenhis late lamented MajestyAugustus maderegulations for the judicial panels the majority of the judges belonged to theiron ring class, and these used to be designated not Knights but Justices; thetitle of Knights remained with the cavalry squadrons mounted at the publiccharge. Of the Justices also there were at the first only four panels, and ineach panel scarcely a thousand names were to be found, as the provinces had notyet been admitted to this duty; and the regulation has survived to the presentday that nobody newly admitted to citizenship shall serve as a justice on one ofthe panels. The panels themselves also were distinguished by variousdesignations, as consisting of Tribunes of the Money, Selected Members andJustices. Moreover beside these there were those styled the Nine Hundred,selected from the whole body as keepers of the ballot-boxes at elections. Andthe proud adoption of titles had made divisions in this order also, one personstyling himself a member of the Nine Hundred, another one of the Select, anothera Tribune.

VIII. Finally in the ninth year in office of the EmperorTiberius the Order of Knights was united[AD. 14-37] into a single body; and in the Consulship of Gaius [AD. 22].Asinius Pollio andGaius Antistius Vetus, in the 775th yearsince the foundation of Rome, a regulation was established authorizing whoshould wear rings; the motive for this, a thing that may surprise us, wasvirtually the futile reason thatGaiusSulpicius Galba had made a youthful effort to curry favour with theemperor by enacting penalties for keeping eating-houses and had made a complaintin the senate that peddling tradesmen when charged with that offence commonlyprotected themselves by means of their rings. Consequently a rule was made thatnobody should have this right except one who was himself a free-born man whosefather and father's father had been free-born also, and who had been rated asthe owner of 400,000 sesterces and had been entitled under the Julian law as tothe theatre to sit in the fourteen front rows of seats. Subsequently peoplebegan to apply in crowds for this mark of rank; and in consequence of thedisputes thus occasioned the Emperor GaiusCaligula added [AD. 37-41] a fifth panel, and so much conceit has thisoccasioned that the panels which under his late lamented MajestyAugustus it had not been possible casesof men who are actually liberated slaves making to fill will not hold thatorder, and there are frequent a leap over to these distinctions, a thing thatpreviously never occurred, since the iron ring was the distinguishing mark evenof knights and judges.

And the thing began to be so common that during the censorship of theEmperorClaudius a member [AD 48] of theOrder of Knighthood namedFlavius Proculuslaid before him information against 400 persons on this ground, so that an orderintended to distinguish the holder from other men of free birth has been sharedwith slaves. It was theGracchi who first instituted the name of Justices or Judges as the distinguishing name of that order of knightsseditiously currying favour with the people in order tohumiliate the senate; but subsequently the importance of the title of Knight wasswamped by the shifting currents of faction, and came down to be attached to thefarmers of public revenues, and for some time these revenue officers constitutedthe third rank in the state. FinallyMarcusCicero, thanks to the Catilinarian affair, during his consulship [63 BC]put the title of knighthood on a firm footing, boasting that he himself sprangfrom that order, and winning its powerful support by methods of securingpopularity that were entirely his own. From that time onward the Knighthooddefinitely became a third element in the state, and the name of the EquestrianOrder came to be added to the formula 'The Senate and People of Rome.' This isthe reason why it is even now written after 'People,' because it was thelatest addition introduced.

IX. Indeed the very name of the Knights has itself frequently beenaltered, even in the case of those who derived the title from the fact of theirserving as cavalry. Under Romulus and the Kings they were called the Celeres,then the Flexuntes and afterwards the Trossuli, because of their having withoutany assistance from infantry captured a town of that name in Tuscany nine milesthis side of Volsinii; and the name survived till after the time ofGaius Gracehus. At all events in thewritings left byJunius, who owing tohis friendship withGaius Gracchus wascalledGracehanus, these words occur:'So far as concerns the Equestrian Order they were previously called the Trossuli, but are now simply designated the Cavalry, because people do not knowwhat the word Trossuli means and many of them are ashamed of being called bythat name.' He goes on to explain the reason above indicated, and says that theywere even in his time still called Trossuli, though they did not wish to be.

X. There are some additional particulars in regard to gold whichmust not be omitted. For instance our authorities actually bestowed goldnecklaces on foreign soldiers, but only awarded silver ones to Roman citizens,and what is more they gave bracelets to citizens, which it was not their customto give to foreigners.

XI. But at the same time, as is even more surprising, they gave crowns ofgold even to citizens. Who was the first person to receive one I have not myselfbeen able to ascertain, but Lucius Pisorecords who was the first person to bestow one, namely the dictatorAulus Postumius, who when the camp ofthe Latins at Lake Regillus had been [497 BC] taken by storm awarded agold crown to the soldier who had been chiefly responsible for taking the place.In this case the crown which he bestowed was made of gold taken from the bootycaptured, and weighed two pounds. Also Lucius Lentulus as consul awarded a goldcrown toServius Cornelius Merenda afterthe taking of a town belonging to the Samnites, butServius's crown weighed five pounds;whilePiso Frugi bestowed on his son oneweighing three pounds out of his personal resources, leaving it to him by willas a specific legacy.

XII. As a mark of honour to the gods at sacrifices no other means hasbeen devised but to gild the horns of the victims to be immolated, at all eventsof full-grown animals. But in military service also this form of luxury hasgrown to such dimensions that we find a letter ofMarcus Brutus sent from the Plains ofPhilippi expressing his indignation at the brooches made of gold that were wornby the tribunes. Really I must protest! Why, even you,Brutus, did not mention the gold worn ontheir feet by women, and we accuse of crime the man who first conferred dignityon gold by using gold rings! Let even men nowadays wear gold braceletscalled 'Dardania' because the fashion came from the Dardanithe Celtic name for them is 'viriolae' and the Celtiberian 'viriae'; let women have gold in their braceletsand covering their fingers and on their neck, ears and tresses, let gold chainsrun at random round their waists; and let little bags of pearls hang invisiblesuspended by gold chains from their lady owners' neck, so that even in theirsleep they may retain the consciousness of possessing gems: but are even theirfeet to be shod with gold, and shall gold create this female Order ofKnighthood, intermediate between the matron's robe and the common people? Muchmore becomingly do we men bestow this on our page-boys, and the wealthy showthese lads make has quite transformed the public baths! But nowadays even menare beginning to wear on their fingers a representation of Harpocrates andfigures of Egyptian deities. In the time of the EmperorClaudius there was also [AD 41-54]another unusual distinction, belonging to those whose rights of free accessto the presence had given them the privilege of wearing a gold likeness of theemperor on a ring, this affording a great opportunity for informations; but allof this was however entirely abolished by the opportune rise to power of theEmperorVespasian, by making the [AD69-79] emperor equally accessible to all. Let this suffice for adiscussion of the subject of gold rings and their employment.

XIII. Next in degree was the crime committed by the person who firstcoined a gold denarius, a crime which itself also is hidden and its authorunknown. The Roman nation did not even use a stamped silver coinage before theconquest of King [275 BC] Pyrrhus.The as weighed one poundhence the term still in use, 'little pound' and'two pounder'; this is the reason why a fine is specified in 'heavybronze,' and why in book-keeping outlay is still designated as 'sums weighedout,' and likewise interest as 'weighed on account' and paying as 'weighingdown,' and moreover it explains the terms 'soldiers' stipend,' which means'weights of heaped money,' and the words for accountants and paymasters that mean 'weighers' and 'poundweighers,' and owing to this custom in purchases thatdeal with all larger personal property, even at the present day, an actual pairof 'pound'-scales is introduced. KingServiuswas the first to stamp a design on bronze; previously, according toTimaeus, at Rome they used raw metal.The design stamped on the metal was an ox or a sheep, pecus, which is the origin of the term 'pecunia.' The highest assessment of one man'sproperty in the reign of Servius was 120,000 as-pieces, and consequentlythat amount of property was the standard of the first class of citizens.

Silver was first coined in the 485th year of the city. [269-8 BC] in theconsulship ofQuintus Ogulnius andGaius Fabius, five years before thefirst Punic War. It was decided that the value of a denarius should be tenpounds of bronze, that of a half-denarius five pounds, that of a sesterce twopounds and a half. The weight of a standard pound of bronze was howeverreduced during the first Punic War, when the state could not meet itsexpenditure, and it was enacted that the as should be struck weighing twoounces. This effected a saving of five sixths, and the national debt wasliquidated. The design of this bronze coin was on one side a Janus facing bothways and on the other the ram of a battleship; the third of an as and thequarter as had a ship. The had previously been called ateruncius,as weighing three ounces. Subsequently when the presence ofHannibal was being felt, in the dictator[217 BC] ship ofQuintus Fabius Maximus,asses of one ounce weight were coined, and it was enacted that theexchange-value of the denarius should be sixteen asses, of thehalf-denarius eight and of the quarter-denarius four; by this measure the statemade a clear gain of one half. But nevertheless in the pay of soldiers onedenarius has always been given for ten asses. The designs on silver were atwo-horse and a four-horse chariot, and consequently the coins were called apair of horses and a four-in-hand.

Next according to a law ofPapiriusasses [89 B.C.] weighing half an ounce were struck.Livius Drusus when holding the office oftribune of the plebs alloyed the silver with one-eighth part of bronze. The coinnow named the victory coin was struck under the law ofClodius; previously a coin [c.104 B.C.] of this name was imported from Illyria and was looked on as anarticle of trade. The design on it was a figure of Victory, which gives it itsname. The first gold coin was struck 51 years later than [217 B.C.] thesilver coinage, a scruple of gold having the value of twenty sesterces; this wasdone at 400 to the pound of silver, at the then rating of the sesterce. It wasafterwards decided to coin denarii at the rate [49 B.C.] of 40 from a pound ofgold, and the emperors gradually reduced the weight of the gold denarius, andmost recentlyNero brought it down to 45denarii to [AD 54-68] the pound.

XIV. But from the invention of money camethe original source of avarice when usury was devised, and a profitable life ofidleness; by rapid stages what was no longer mere avarice but a positive hungerfor gold flared up with a sort of frenzy, inasmuch as the friend of Gaius Graechus,Septumuleius, a price having been setonGracchus's head to the amount of itsweight in gold, whenGracchus's head hadbeen cut off, brought it to Opimius, after adding to his unnatural murder byputting lead in the mouth of the corpse, and so cheated the state in addition.Nor was it now some Roman citizen, but KingMithridates who disgraced the whole name of Roman when he poured moltengold into the mouth of the General Aquiliuswhom he had taken prisoner? These are the things that the lust for possessionsengenders! One is ashamed to see the new-fangled names that are invented everynow and then from the Greek to denote silver vessels filigreed or inlaid withgold, niceties which make gilded plate fetch a higher price than gold plate,when we know thatSpartacus issued anorder to his camp forbidding anybody to possess gold or silver: so much morespirit was there then in our runaway slaves! The orator Messala has told us that the triumvirAntony used vessels of gold insatisfying all the indecent necessities, an enormity that evenCleopatra would have been so ashamed of.Till then the record in extravagance had lain with foreignersKingPhilip sleeping with a gold goblet underhis pillows andAlexander the Great'sprefectHagnon of Tees having hissandals soled with gold nails; butAntonyalone cheapened gold by this contumely of nature. How he deserved to beproscribed! but proscribed bySpartacus!

XV. It does indeed surprise me that the Roman nation always imposed atribute of silver, not of gold, on races that it conquered, for instance onCarthage when conquered together withHannibal,800,000 [202 BC] pounds weight of silver in yearly instalments of 16,000 poundsspread over 50 years, but no gold. Nor can it be considered that this was due tothe world's poverty.Midas andCroesus had already possessed wealthwithout limit, andCyrus had already onconquering Asia Minor found booty consisting of 24,000 [546-5 BC] pounds weightof gold, besides vessels and articles made of gold, including a throne, aplane-tree and a vine. And by this victory he carried off 500,000 talents ofsilver and the wine-bowl ofSemiramisthe weight of which came to 15 talents. The Egyptian talent according toMarcus Varro amounts to 80 pounds ofgold. Sadaces the descendant ofAectes had already reigned in Colchis,who is said to have come on a tract of virgin soil in the country of the Suaniand elsewhere and to have dug up from it a great quantity of gold and silver,his realm being moreover famous for golden fleeces. We are also toldof his gold-vaulted ceilings and silver beams and columns and pilasters,belonging toSesostris King of EgyptwhomSaulaces conquered, so proud amonarch that he is reported to have been in the habit every year of harnessingto his chariot individual kings selected by lot from among his vassals and sogoing in triumphal procession.

XVI. We too have done things to be deemed mythical by those who comeafter us.Caesar, the future dictator,was the first person in the office of aedile to use nothing but silver for theappointments of the arenait was at the funeral games presented in honour of hisfather; and this was the first occasion on which criminals made to fightwith wild animals had all their equipment made of silver, a practice nowadaysrivalled even in our municipal towns. GaiusAntonius gave plays on a silver stage, and so didLucius Murena; and the emperorGaius Caligula brought on a scaffoldingis in the [AD. 37-41] circus which had on it 124,000 pounds weight ofsilver. His successorClaudius whencelebrating a triumph after the conquest of Britain, advertised by placards[AD. 43] that among the gold coronets there was one having a weight of7000 pounds contributed by Hither Spain and one of 9000 from Gallia Comata. His immediate successorNerocovered the theatre of [AD. 54-68]Pompey with gold for one day's purpose, when he was to display it toTiridates King of Armenia. Yet how smallwas the theatre in comparison withNero'sGolden Palace which goes all round the city!

XVII. The gold contained in the national treasury of Rome in theconsulship of Sextus Julius andLucius Aurelius, seven years before thethird Punic War, amounted to 17,410 lbs., the silver to 22,070 lbs., and inspecie there was 6,135,400 sesterces; in the consulship ofSextus Julius andLucius Marcius, that is to say, at thebeginning of the war with the allies, there was ... lbs. of gold and 1,620,831lbs. of silver. Gaius Julius Caesar, onfirst entering Rome during the civil war that bears [49 BC] his name, drew fromthe treasury 15,000 gold ingots, 30,000 silver ingots, and 30,000,000 sestercesin coin; at no other periods was the state more wealthy.Aemilius Paulus also after the defeat ofKingPerseus paid in to the treasuryfrom the booty won in Macedonia 300 million sesterces; and from that date onwardthe Roman nation left off paying the citizens' property-tax.

XVIII. At the present day we see ceilings covered with gold even inprivate houses, but they were first gilded in the Capitol during the censorshipof Lucius Mummius after the fall ofCarthage. [146 B.C.] From ceilings the use of gilding passed over also tovaulted roofs and walls, these too being now gilded like pieces of plate,whereas a variety of judgements were passed onCatulus by his contemporaries for having gilded the brass tilings of theCapitol.

XIX. We have already said inBook VII [97] who were the people who firstdiscovered gold, and almost all of the metals likewise. I think that thechief popularity of this substance has been won not by its colour, that ofsilver being brighter and more like daylight, which is the reason why it is inmore common use for military ensigns because its brilliance is visible at agreater distance; those persons who think that it is the colour of starlight ingold that has won it favour being clearly mistaken because in the case of gemsand other things with the same tint it does not hold an outstanding place. Noris it its weight or its malleability that has led to its being preferred to allthe rest of the metals, since in both qualities it yields the first place tolead, but because gold is the only thing that loses no substance by the actionof fire, but even in conflagrations and on funeral pyres receives no damage.Indeed as a matter of fact it improves in quality the more often it is fired,and fire serves as a test of itgoodness, making it assume a similarred hue and itself becomes the colour of fire; this process is called assaying.The first proof of quality in gold is however its being affected by fire withextreme difficulty; beside that, it is remarkable that though invincible to livecoal made of the hardest wood it is very quickly made red hot by a fire ofchaff, and that for the purpose of purifying it it is roasted with lead.

Another more important reason for its value is that it gets extremely littleworn by use; whereas, with silver, copper and lead, lines may be drawn, andstuff that comes off them dirties the hand. Nor is any other material moremalleable or able to be divided into more portions, seeing that an ounce of goldcan be beaten out into 750 or more leaves 4 inches square. The thickest kind ofgold leaf is called Palestrina leaf, still bearing the name taken from thefaithfully gilded statue of Fortune in that place. The foil next in thickness isstyled Quaestorian leaf. In Spain tiny pieces of gold are called scrapers. Goldmore than all other metals is found unalloyed in nuggets or in the form ofdetritus. Whereas all other metals when found in the mines are brought into afinished condition by means of fire, gold is gold straight away and has itssubstance in a perfect state at once, when it is obtained by mining. This is thenatural way of getting it, while another which we shall describe is artificial.More than any other substance gold is immune from rust or verdigris or anythingelse emanating from it that wastes its goodness or reduces its weight. Moreoverin steady resistance to the overpowering effect of the juices of salt andvinegar it surpasses all things, and over and above that it can be spun intothread and woven into a fabric like wool, even without an addition of wool.Verrius informs us thatTarquinius Priscus celebrated a triumphwearing a golden tunic. We have in our own times seen the EmperorClaudius's wifeAgrippina, at a show at which he wasexhibiting a naval battle, seated at his side wearing a military cloak madeentirely of cloth of gold. For a long period gold has been woven into the fabriccalled cloth of Attalus, an invention of Kings of Asia.

XX. On marble and other materials incapable of being raised to a whiteheat gold is laid with white of egg; on wood it is laid with glue according to aformula; it is calledleucophorum, white-bearing; what this is and how it ismade we will explain in its proper place. The regular way to gild copperwould be to use natural or at all events artificial quicksilver,concerning which a method of adulteration has been devised, as we shall relatein describing the nature of those substances. The copper is firstsubjected to the violence of fire; then, when it is red hot, it is quenched witha mixture of brine, vinegar, and alum, and afterwards put to a test, itsbrilliance of colour showing whether it has been sufficiently heated; then it isagain dried in the fire, so that, after a thorough polishing with a mixture ofpumice and alum, it is able to take the gold-leaf laid on with quicksilver. Alumhas the same cleansing property here that we said is found in lead.

XXI. Gold in our part of the worldnot to speak of the Indian goldobtained from ants or the gold dug up by griffins in Scythia obtained in threeways: in the detritus of rivers, for instance in the Tagus in Spain, the Po inItaly, the Maritza in Thrace, the Sarabat in Asia Minor and the Ganges in India;and there is no gold that is in a more perfect state, as it is thoroughlypolished by the mere friction of the current. Another method is by sinkingshafts; or it is sought for in the fallen debris of mountains. Each of thesemethods must be described.

People seeking for gold begin by getting up segellumthat is the name forearth that indicates the presence of gold. This is a pocket of sand, which iswashed, and from the sediment left an estimate of the vein is made. Sometimes bya rare piece of luck a pocket is found immediately, on the surface of the earth,as occurred recently in Dalmatia whenNerowas emperor, one yielding fifty pounds [AD 54-68] weight of gold a day. Goldfound in this way in the surface crust is calledtalutium if there isalso auriferous earth underneath. The otherwise dry, barren mountains of theSpanish provinces which produce nothing else whatever are forced into fertilityin regard to this commodity.

Gold dug up from shafts is called 'channelled' or 'trenched' gold; it is found sticking to the grit of marble, not in the way in which it gleams in the lapis lazuli of the East and the stone of Thebes and in other precious stones, but sparkling in the folds of the marble. These channels of veins wander to and fro along the sides of the shafts, which gives the gold its name; and the earth is held up by wooden props. The substance dug out is crushed, washed, fired and pound to a soft powder. The powder from the mortar is called the 'scudes'and the silver that comes out from the furnace the 'sweat'; the dirtthrown out of the smelting-furnace in the case of every metal is called 'scoria,'slag. In the case of gold the scoria is pounded and fired a second time; thecrucibles for this are made of tasconium, which is a white earth resemblingclay. No other earth can stand the blast of air, the fire, or the intensely hotmaterial.

The third method will have outdone the achievements of the Giants. By means ofgalleries driven for long distances the mountains are mined by the light oflampsthe spells of work are also measured by lamps, and the miners do not seedaylight for many months.

The name for this class of mines isarrugiae; also cracks give waysuddenly and crush the men who have been at work, so that it actually seems lessventuresome to try to get pearls and purple-fishes out of the depth of the sea:so much more dangerous have we made the earth! Consequently arches are left atfrequent intervals to support the weight of the mountain above. In both kinds ofmining masses of flint are encountered, which are burst asunder by means of fireand vinegar, though more often, as this method makes the tunnels suffocatingthrough heat and smoke, they are broken to pieces with crushing-machinescarrying 150 lbs. of iron, and the men carry the stuff out on their shoulders,working night and day, each man passing them on to the next man in the dark,while only those at the end of the hue see daylight. If the bed of flint seemstoo long, the miner follows along the side of it and goes round it. And yetflint is considered to involve comparatively easy work, as there is a kind ofearth consisting of a sort of potter's clay mixed with gravel, calledgangadict, which it is almost impossible to overcome. They attack it withiron wedges and the hammer-machines mentioned above; and it is thought to be thehardest thing that exists, except greed for gold, which is the most stubborn ofall things. When the work is completely finished, beginning with the last, theycut through, at the tops, the supports of the arched roofs. A crack giveswarning of a crash, and the only person who notices it is the sentinel on apinnacle of the mountain. He by shout and gesture gives the order for theworkmen to be called out and himself at the same moment flies down from hispinnacle. The fractured mountain falls asunder in a wide gap, with a crashwhich it is impossible for human imagination to conceive, and likewise with anincredibly violent blast of air. The miners gaze as conquerors upon the collapseof Nature. And nevertheless even now there is no gold so far, nor did theypositively know there was any when they began to dig; the mere hope of obtainingtheir coveted object was a sufficient inducement for encountering such greatdangers and expenses.

Another equally laborious task involving even greater expense is the incidentaloperation of previously bringing streams along mountain-heights frequently adistance of 100 miles for the purpose of washing away the debris of thiscollapse; the channels made for this purpose are calledcorrugi, a termderived I believe fromcoarivatio, a uniting of streams of water. Thisalso involves a thousand tasks; the dip of the fall must be steep, to cause arush rather than a flow of water, and consequently it is brought from very highaltitudes. Gorges and crevasses are bridged by aqueducts carried on masonry; atother places impassable rocks are hewn away and compelled to provide a positionfor hollowed troughs of timber. The workman hewing the rock hangs suspended withropes, so that spectators viewing the operations from a distance seem to see notso much a swarm of strange animals as a flight of birds. In the majority ofcases they hang suspended in this way while taking the levels and marking outthe lines for the route, and rivers are led by man's agency to run where thereis no place for a man to plant his footsteps. It spoils the operation of washingif the current of the stream carries mud along with it: an earthy sediment ofthis kind is calledurium. Consequently they guide the flow overflint stones and pebbles, and avoid urium. At the head of thewaterfall on the brow of the mountains reservoirs are excavated measuring 200ft. each way and 10 ft. deep. In these there are left five sluices withapertures measuring about a yard each way, in order that when the reservoir isfull the stopping-barriers may be struck away and the torrent may burst out withsuch violence as to sweep forward the broken rock? There is also yet anothertask to perform on the level ground. Trenches are excavated for the water toflow throughthe Greek name for them means 'leads'; and these,which descend by steps, are floored with gorsethis is a plant resemblingrosemary, which is rough and holds back the gold. The sides are closed in withplanks, and the channels are carried on arches over steep pitches. Thus theearth carried along in the stream slides down into the sea and the shatteredmountain is washed away; and by this time the land of Spain owing tothese causes has encroached a long way into the sea. The material drawn out atsuch enormous labour in the former kind of mining is in this latter processwashed out, so as not to fill up the shafts. The gold obtained by means of an arrugia does not have to be melted, but is pure gold straight away. Inthis process nuggets are found and also in the shafts, even weighing more thanten pounds. They are calledpalagae or elsepalacurnae, and also the gold invery small grainsbaluce. The gorse is dried and burnt and its ash is washed ona bed of grassy turf so that the gold is deposited on it. According to someaccounts Asturia and Callaecia and Lusitania produce in this way 20,000 lbs.weight of gold a year, Asturia supplying the largest amount. Nor has there beenin any other part of the world such a continuous production of gold for so manycenturies. We have stated that by an old prohibiting decree of the senate Italyis protected from exploitation; otherwise no country would have been moreproductive in metals, as well as in crops. There is extant a ruling of thecensors relating to the gold mines of Victumulae in the territory of Vercellaewhich prohibited the farmers of public revenues from having more than 5000 menengaged in the work.

XXII. There is moreover one method of making gold out of orpiment whichis dug up in Syria for use by painters; it is found on the surface of the earth,and is of a gold colour, but is easily broken, like looking-glass stone. Hopesinspired by it had attracted the Emperor GaiusCaligula, who was [AD. 37-41] extremely covetous for gold, and whoconsequently gave orders for a great weight of it to be smelted; and as a matterof fact it did produce excellent gold, but so small a weight of it that he foundhimself a loser by his experiment that was prompted by avarice, althoughorpiment sold for 4 denarii a pound; and no one afterwards has repeated theexperiment.

XXIII. All gold contains silver in various proportions, a tenth part insome cases, an eighth in others. In one mine only, that of Callaecia called theAlbnerara mine, the proportion of silver found is one thirty-sixth, andconsequently this one is more valuable than all the others. Wherever theproportion of silver is one-fifth, the ore is called electrum; grains ofthis are found in 'channelled' gold. An artificial electrum is also made byadding silver to gold. If the proportion of silver exceeds one-fifth, the metalproduced offers no resistance on the anvil. Electrum also held a high positionin old times, as is evidenced byHomerwho represents the palace of Menelaus as resplendent with gold, electrum, silverand ivory. There is a temple of Athena at Lindus of the island of Rhodes inwhich there is a goblet made of electrum, dedicated byHelen; history further relates that ithas the same measurement as her breast. A quality of electrum is that it shinesmore brightly than silver in lamplight. Natural electrum also has the propertyof detecting poisons; for semicircles resembling rainbows run over the surfacein poisoned goblets and emit a crackling noise like fire, and so advertise thepresence of poison in a twofold manner.

XXIV. The first gold statue of all that was made of solid metal and evenbefore any was made of bronze, of the kind called 'made of solid beatenmetal,' is said to have been erected in the temple of Anaitis, in the region ofthe earth where we have designated this name, that goddess' deity being held inthe highest reverence by those races. This statue was taken as booty during thecampaigns of [c. 36 B.C.]Antoniusin Parthia, and a story is told of a witty saying of one of the veterans of ourarmy who was being entertained as a guest at dinner by his late lamented MajestyAugustus at Bologna. He was askedwhether it was true that the man who was the first to commit this sacrilegeagainst that deity was struck blind and paralysed and so expired. His answer wasthat the emperor was at that very moment eating his dinner off one of thegoddess's legs, and that he himself was the perpetrator of the sacrilege andowed his entire fortune to that piece of plunder. The first solid gold statue ofa human being was one of himself set up byGorgias of Leontini in the temple at Delphi about the 70th Olympiad. Sogreat were the profits to be made by teaching the art of oratory!

XXV. Gold is efficacious as a remedy in a variety of ways, and is used asan amulet for wounded people and for infants to render less harmful poisonouscharms that may be directed against them. Gold has itself however a maleficenteffect if carried over the head, in the case of chickens and the young of cattleas well as human beings. As a remedy it is smeared on, then washed offand sprinkled on the persons you wish to cure. Gold is also heated with twiceits weight of salt and three times its weight of copper pyrites, and again withtwo portions of salt and one of the stone calledsplittable. Treated in this wayit draws poison out, when the other substances have been burnt up with it in anearthenware crucible while it remains pure and uncorrupted itself. The ashremaining is kept in an earthenware jar, and eruptions on the face may well becleansed away by being smeared with this lotion from the jar. It alsocures fistulas and what are called haemorrhoids. With the addition of groundpumice-stone it relieves putrid and foul-smelling ulcers, while boiled down inhoney and git, and applied as a liniment to the navel it acts as a gentleaperient. According toMarcus Varro goldis a cure for warts.

XXVI. Gold-solder is a liquid found in the shafts we spoke of, flowingdown along a vein of gold, solder. with a slime that is solidified by the coldof winter even to the hardness of pumice-stone. A more highly spoken of varietyof the same metal has been ascertained to be formed in copper mines, and thenext best in silver-mines. A less valuable sort also with an element of gold isalso found in lead mines. In all these mines however an artificial variety isproduced that is much inferior to the natural kind referred to; the method is tointroduce a gentle flow of water into the vein all winter and go on till thebeginning of June and then to dry it off in June and July, clearly showing thatgold-solder is nothing else than the putrefaction of a vein of metal. Naturalgold-solder, known as 'grape,' differs very greatly from the artificial inhardness, and nevertheless it also takes a dye from the plant calledyellow-weed. It is of a substance that absorbs moisture, like flax or wool. Itis pounded in a mortar and then passed through a fine sieve, and afterwardsmilled and then sifted again with a finer sieve, everything that does not passthrough the sieve being again treated in the mortar and then milled again. Thepowder is all along separated off into bowls and steeped in vinegar so as todissolve all hardness, and then is pounded again and then rinsed in shells andleft to dry. Then it is dyed by means of splittable alum and the plant abovementioned and so given a colour before it serves as a colour itself. It isimportant how absorbent it is and ready to take the dye; for if it does not atonce catch the colour, scytanum and turbistum must be added as wellthose beingthe names of two drugs producing absorption.

XXVII. When painters have dyed gold-solder, they call itorobitis,vetch-like, and distinguish two kinds, the purified which is kept for acosmetic, and the liquid, in which the little balls are made into a paste with aliquid. Both of these kinds are made in Cyprus, but the most highly valued is inArmenia and the second best in Macedonia, while the greatest quantity isproduced in Spain, the highest recommendation in the latter being the quality ofreproducing as closely as possible the colour in a bright green blade of corn.We have before now seen at the shows given by the emperorNero the sand of the circus sprinkledwith gold-solder when the emperor in person was going to give an exhibition ofchariot-driving wearing a coat of that colour. The unlearned multitude ofartisans distinguish three varieties of the substance, the rough, which isvalued at 7 denarii a pound, the middling, which is 5 denarii, and the crushed,also called the grass-green kind, 3 denarii. Before applying the sandy varietythey put on a preliminary coating of black dye and pure white chalk: these serveto hold the gold-solder and give a softness of colour. As the pure chalk is of avery unctuous consistency and extremely tenacious owing to its smoothness, it issprinkled with a coat of black, to prevent the extreme whiteness of the chalkfrom imparting a pale hue to the gold-solder. The yellow gold-solder is thoughtto derive its name from the plant yellow-weed, which is itself often pounded upwith steel-blue and applied for painting instead of' gold-solder, making a veryinferior and counterfeit kind of colour.

XXVIII. Gold-solder is also used in medicine, mixed with wax and oliveoil, for cleansing wounds; likewise applied dry by itself it dries wounds anddraws them together. It is also given in cases of quinsy or asthma, to be takenas an electuary with honey. It acts as an emetic, and also is used as aningredient in salves for sores in the eyes and in green plasters for relievingpains, and drawing together scars. This kind of gold-solder is called by medicalmen remedial solder, and is not the same as orobitis.

XXIX. The goldsmiths also use a special gold-solder of their own forsoldering gold, and according to them it is from this that all the othersubstances with a similar green colour take the name. The mixture is made withCyprian copper verdigris and the urine of a boy who has not reached puberty withthe addition of soda; this is ground with a pestle made of Cvprian copper inmortars of the same metal, and the Latin name for the mixture is santerna. It isin this way used in soldering the gold called silvery-gold; a sign of its havingbeen so treated is if the application of borax gives it brilliance. On the otherhand coppery gold shrinks in size and becomes dull, and is difficult to solder;for this purpose a solder is made by adding some gold and one seventh as muchsilver to the materials above specified, and grinding them up together.

XXX. While speaking of this it will be well to annex the remainingparticulars, so as to occasion all-round admiration for Nature. The propersolder for gold is the one described; for iron, potter's clay; for copper inmasses, cadmea; for copper in sheets, alum; for lead and marble,resin. Black lead, however, is joined by means of white lead, andwhite lead to white lead by using oil; stagnum likewise with copper filings, andsilver with stagnnm. For smelting copper and iron pine-wood makes the best fuel,though Egyptian papyrus can also be used; gold is best smelted with a fire madeof chaff. Water sets fire to quicklime and Thracian stone, andolive-oil puts it out; fire however is most readily quenched by vinegar,mistletoe and eggs. Earth it is quite impossible to ignite, but charcoal gives amore powerful heat if it is burned till it goes out and then catches fire again.

XXXI. After these details let us speak about the varieties ofsilver ore, the next madness of mankind. Silver is only found in deep shafts,and raises no hopes of its existence by any signs, giving off no shiningsparkles such as are seen in the case of gold.

The ore is sometimes red, sometimes ash-coloured.It cannot be smelted except when combined with lead or with the vein of lead,called galena, lead ore, which is usually found running near veins of silverore. Also when submitted to the same process of firing, part of the oreprecipitates as lead while the silver floats on the surface, like oil on water.

Silver is found in almost all the provinces, but the finest is in Spain, whereit, as well as gold, occurs in sterile ground and even in the mountains; andwherever one vein is found another is afterwards found not far away. This indeedalso occurs in the ease of almost every metal, and accounts it seems for theword metals used by the Greeks. It is a remarkable fact that theshafts initiated byHannibal all overthe Spanish provinces are still in existence; they are named from the personswho discovered them; one of these mines, now called after Baebcio, furnishedHannibal with 300 pounds weight ofsilver a day, the tunnelling having been carried a mile and a half into themountain. Along the whole of this distance watermen are posted who all night andday in spells measured by lanterns bale out the water and make a stream. Thevein of silver nearest the surface is called the 'raw.' In early days theexcavations used to stop when they found alum, and no further search made; butrecently the discovery of a vein of copper under the alum has removed all limitto men's hopes. The exhalations from silver mines are dangerous to all animals,but specially to dogs. Gold and silver are more beautiful the softer they are.It surprises most people that silver traces black lines.

XXXII. There is also a mineral found in these veins of silver which containsa humour, in round drops, that is always liquid, and is called quicksilver. Itacts as a poison on everything, and breaks vessels by penetrating them withmalignant corruption. All substances float on its surface except gold, which isthe only thing that it attracts to itself; consequently it is also excellentfor refining gold, as if it is briskly shaken in earthen vessels it rejects allthe impurities contained in it. When these blemishes have been thus expelled, toseparate the quicksilver itself from the gold it is poured out on to hides thathave been well dressed, and exudes through them like a kind of perspiration andleaves the gold behind in a pure state. Consequently when also things made ofcopper are gilded, a coat of quicksilver is applied underneath the gold leaf andkeeps it in its place with the greatest tenacity: hut if the gold-leaf is put onin one layer or is very thin it reveals the quicksilver by its pale colour.Consequently persons intending this fraud adulterated the quicksilver used forthis purpose with white of egg; and later they falsified also hydrargyrum orartificial quicksilver, which we shall speak about in its proper place.Otherwise quicksilver is not to be found in any large quantity.

XXXIII. In the same mines as silver there is found what is properly to bedescribed as a stone, made of white and shiny but not transparent froth; severalnames are used for it,stirni, stibi, alabastrum and sometimeslarbasis. It isof two kinds, male and female. The female variety is preferred, the male beingmore uneven and rougher to the touch, as well as lighter in weight, not sobrilliant, and more gritty; the female on the contrary is bright and friable andsplits in thin layers and not in globules.

XXXIV. Antimony has astringent and cooling properties, but it is chieflyused for the eyes, since this is why even a majority of people have givenit a Greek name meaning 'wide-eye,' because in beauty-washes for women'seyebrows it has the property of magnifying the eyes. Made into a powder withpowdered frankincense and an admixture of gum it checks fluxes andulcerations of the eyes. It also arrests discharge of blood from the brain, andis also extremely effective with a sprinkling of its powder against new woundsand old dog-bites and against burns if mixed with fat and litharge of silver, orlead acetate and wax. It is prepared by being smeared round with lumps of ox and burnt in ovens, and then cooled down with women's milk and mixedwith rain water and pounded in mortars. And next the turbid part is poured offinto a copper vessel after being purified with soda. The lees are recognized bybeing full of lead, and they settle to the bottom of the mortars and art thrownaway. Then the vessel into which the turbid part was poured off is covered witha cloth and left for a night, and the next day anything floating on the surfaceis poured off or removed with a sponge. The sediment on the bottom isconsidered the choicest part and is covered with a linen cloth and put to dryin the sun but not allowed to become very dry, and is ground up a second time inthe mortar and divided into small tablets. But it is above all essentialto limit the amount of heat applied to it, so that it may not be turned intolead. Some people do not employ dung in boiling it but fat. Others pound it inwater and strain it through three thicknesses of linen cloth and throw away thedregs, and pour off the liquor that comes through, collecting all the deposit atthe bottom, and this they use as an ingredient in plasters and eyewashes.

XXXV. The slag in silver is called by the Greeks the 'draw-off.' It hasan astringent and cooling effect on the body, and like sulphuret of lead, of which we shall speak in dealing with lead, it has healing properties as an ingredient in plasters, being extremely effective in causing wounds to close-up, and when injected by means of syringes, together with myrtle-oil, as a remedy for straining of the bowels and dysentery. It is also used as an ingredient in the remedies called emollient plasters used for proud flesh of gathering sores, or sores caused by chafing or running ulcers on the head.

The same mines also produce the mineral called scum of silver. Of thisthere are three kinds, with Greek names meaning respectively golden, silvery andleaden; and for the most part all these colours are found in the same ingots.The Attic kind is the most approved, next the Spanish. The golden scum isobtained from the actual vein, the silvery from silver, and the leaden fromsmelting the actual lead, which is done at Pozzuoli, from which place it takesits name. Each kind however is made by heating its raw material tillit melts, when it flows down from an upper vessel into a lower one and is liftedout of that with small iron spits and then twisted round on a spit in the actualflame, in order to make it of moderate weight. Really, as may be inferredfrom its name, it is the scum of a substance in a state of fusion and in process of production. It differs from dross in the way in which the scum of a liquid may differ from the lees, one being a blemish excreted by the material when purifying itself and the other a blemish in the metal when purified. Some people make two classes of scum of silver which they call 'scirerytis' and 'peumene,' and a third, leaden scum which we shall speak of under the head oflead.

XXXIV. To make the scum available for use it is boiled a second timeafter the ingots have been broken up into pieces the size offinger-rings. Thus after being heated up with the bellows to separate thecinders and ashes from it it is washed with vinegar or wine, and cooled down inthe process. In the case of the silvery kind, in order to give it brilliance theinstructions are to break it into pieces the size of a bean and boil it in waterin an earthenware pot with the addition of wheat and barley wrapped in newlinen cloths, until the silvery scum is cleaned of impurities. Afterwards theygrind it in mortars for six days, three times daily washing it with cold waterand, when they have ceased operations, with hot, and adding salt from asalt-mine, an obol weight to a pound of scum. Then on the last day they store itin a lead vessel. Some boil it with white beans and pearl-barley and dry it inthe sun, and others boil it with beans in a white woollen cloth till it ceasesto discolour the wool; and then they add salt from a salt-mine, changing thewater from time to time, and put it out to dry on the 40 hottest days of summer.They also boil it in a sow's paunch in water, and when they take it out rub itwith soda, and grind it in mortars with salt as above. In some cases people donot boil it but grind it up with salt and then add water and rinse it. Itis used to make an eyewash and for women's skins to remove ugly scars and spotsand as a hair-wash. Its effect is to dry, to soften, to cool, to act as a gentlepurge, to fill up cavities caused by ulcers, and to soften tumours; it is usedas an ingredient in plasters serving these purposes, and for the emollientplasters mentioned above. Mixed with rue and myrtle and vinegar, it also removeserysipelas, and likewise chilblains if mixed with myrtle and wax.

XXXVI. Minium or cinnabar also is found in silver mines; itis of great importance among pigments at the present day, and also in old timesit not only had the highest importance but even sacred associations among theRomans.Verrius gives a list of writersof unquestionable authority who say that on holidays it was the custom for theface of the statue of Jupiter himself to be coloured with cinnabar. as well asthe bodies of persons going in a triumphal procession, and thatCamillus was so coloured in his triumph,and that under the same ritual it was usual even in their day for cinnabar to beadded to the unguents used at a banquet in honour of a triumph, and that one ofthe first duties of the Censors was to place a contract for painting Jupiterwith cinnabar. For my own part I am quite at a loss to explain the origin ofthis custom, although at the present day the pigment in question is known to bein demand among the nations of Ethiopia whose chiefs colour themselves all overwith it, and with whom the statues of the gods are of that colour. On thataccount we will investigate all the facts concerning it more carefully.

XXXVII.Theophrastus states thatcinnabar was discovered by an Athenian named Callias, 90 years before the archonship ofPraxibulus at [405 B.C.] Athensthisdate works out at the 349th year of our city, and that Callias was hoping that gold could byfiring be extracted from the red sand found in silver mines; and that this wasthe origin of cinnabar, although cinnabar was being found even at that time inSpain, but a hard and sandy kind, and likewise in the country of the Colchi on acertain inaccessible rock from which the natives dislodged it by shootingjavelins, but that this is cinnabar of an impure quality whereas the best isfound in the Cilbian territory beyond Ephesus, where the sand is of the scarletcolour of the kermes-insect; and that this is ground up and then the powder iswashed and the sediment that sinks to the bottom is washed again; and that thereis a difference of skill, some people producing cinnabar at the first washingwhile with others this is rather weak and the product of the second washing isthe best.

XXXVIII. I am not surprised that the colour had an important rank, for as far back as Trojan times red ochre was highly valued, as evidenced by Homer, who speaks of it as a distinguished colour for ships, although otherwise he rarely alludes to colours and paintings. The Greek name for it is 'miltos,' and they call minium 'cinnabar.' This gave rise to a mistake owing to the name 'Indian cinnabar,' forthat is the name the Greeks give to the gore of a snake crushed by theweight of dying elephants, when the blood of each animal gets mixed together, aswe have said; and there is no other colour that properly represents blood in apicture. That kind of cinnabar is extremely useful for antidotes andmedicaments. But our doctors, I swear, because they give the name of cinnabar to minium also, employ this minium, which as we shall soon show is apoison.

XXXIX. In old times 'dragon's-blood' cinnabar was used for painting thepictures that are still called monochromes, 'in one colour.' Cinnabar from Ephesus was also used for painting, but this has been given up because pictures in that colour were a great amount of trouble to preserve. Moreover bothcolours were thought excessively harsh; consequently painters have gone over tored-ochre and Sinopic ochre, pigments about which I shall speak in the properplaces. Cinnabar is adulterated with goat's blood or with crushedservice-berries. The price of genuine cinnabar is 50 sesterces a pound.

XL.Juba reports that cinnabar isalso produced in Carmania, andTimagenessays it is found in Ethiopia as well, but from neither place is it exported tous, and from hardly any other either except from Spain, the most famous cinnabarmine for the revenues of the Roman nation being that of Almaden in the Baeticregion, no item being more carefully safeguarded: it is not allowed to smelt andrefine the ore upon the spot, but as much as about 2000 lbs. per annum isdelivered to Rome in the crude state under seal, and is purified at Rome, theprice in selling it being fixed by law established at 70 sesterces a pound, toprevent its going beyond limit. But it is adulterated in many ways, which is asource of plunder for the company. For there is in fact another kind a ofminium, found in almost all silver-mines, and likewise lead-mines, which ismade by smelting a stone that has veins of metal running through it, and notobtained from the stone the round drops of which we have designatedquicksilverfor that stone also if fired yields quicksilverbut from otherstones found at the same time. These have no quicksilver and are detected onlyby their leaden colour, and only when they turn red in the furnaces, and afterbeing thoroughly smelted they are pulverized by hammering. This gives a minium of second rate quality, which is known to very few people, and ismuch inferior to the natural sands we have mentioned. It is this then that isused for adulterating real minium in the factories of the company, but acheaper kind is adulterated with Syrian: the preparation of the latter will bedescribed in the proper place; but the process of giving cinnabar and red-lead atreatment of Syrian is detected by calculation when the one is weighed againstthe other. Cinnabar also, with red-lead, affords an opportunity for pilfering bypainters in another way, if they wash out their brushes immediately when fullof paint; the cinnabar or the red-lead settles at the bottom of the water andstays there for the pilferers. Pure cinnabar ought to have the brilliant colourof the scarlet kermes-insect, while the shine of that of the second quality whenused on wall-paintings is affected by rust, although this is itself a sort ofmetallic rust. In the cinnabar mines of Almaden the vein of sand is pure,without silver. It is melted like gold; it is assayed by means of gold made redhot, as if it has been adulterated it turns black, but if genuine it keeps itscolour. I find that it is also adulterated with lime, and this can be detectedin a similar way with a sheet of red-hot iron if there is no gold available. Asurface painted with cinnabar is damaged by the action of sunlight andmoonlight. The way to prevent this is to let the wall dry and then to coat itwith Punic wax melted with olive oil and applied by means of brushes of bristleswhile it is still hot, and then this wax coating must be again heated bybringing near to it burning charcoal made of plant-galls, till it exudes dropsof perspiration, and afterwards smoothed down with waxed rollers and then withclean linen cloths, in the way in which marble is given a shine. Personspolishing cinnabar in workshops tie on their face loose masks of bladder-skin,to prevent their inhaling the dust in breathing, which is very pernicious, andnevertheless to allow them to see over the bladders. Cinnabar is also used inwriting books, and it makes a brighter lettering for inscriptions on a wall oron marble even in tombs.

XLI. Of secondary importance a is the fact that experience has alsodiscovered a way of getting hydrargyrum or artificial quicksilver as asubstitute for real quicksilver; we postponed the description of this a littlepreviously. It is made in two ways, not by pounding red-lead in vinegarwith a copper pestle in a copper mortar, or it is put in an iron shell in flatearthenware pans, and covered with a convex lid smeared on with clay, and then afire is lit under the pans and kept constantly burning by means of bellows, andso the surface moisture (with the colour of silver and the fluidity of water)which forms on the lid is wiped off it. This moisture is also easily dividedinto drops and rains down freely with slippery fluidity. And as cinnabar andred-lead are admitted to be poisons, all the current instructions on the subjectof its employment for medicinal purposes are in my opinion decidedly risky,except perhaps that its application to the head or stomach arrests haemorrhage,provided that it does not find access to the vital organs or come in contactwith a lesion. In any other way for my own part I would not recommend itsemployment.

XLII. At the present time silver is almost the only substance that isgilded with artificial quicksilver, though really a similar method ought to beused in coating copper. But the same fraudulence which is so extremely ingeniousin every department of life has devised an inferior material, as we have shown.

XLIII. With the mention of gold and silver goes a description ofthe stone called the touch stone, formerly according toTheophrastus not usually found anywherebut in the river Tmolus, but now found in various places. Some people call itHeraclian stone and others Lydian. The pieces are of a moderate size, notexceeding four inches in length and two in breadth. The part of these piecesthat has been exposed to the sun is better than the part on the ground. Whenexperts using this touchstone, like a file, have taken with it a scraping froman ore, they can say at once how much gold it contains and how much silver orcopper, to a difference of a scruple, their marvellous calculation not leadingthem astray.

XLIV. There are two points in which silvershows a variation. A shaving that remains perfectly white when placed onwhite-hot iron shovels is passed as good, while if it turns red it is of thenext quality, and if black it has no value at all. But fraud has found its wayeven into this test; if the shovels are kept in men's urine the silver shavingis stained by it during the process of being burnt, and counterfeits whiteness. There is also one way of testing polished silver in a man's breathif it at onceforms surface moisture and dissipates the vapour.

XLV. It has been believed that only the best silver is capable ofbeing beaten out into plates and producing an image. This was formerly a soundtest, but nowadays this too is spoiled by fraud. Still, the property ofreflecting images is marvellous; it is generally agreed that it takes place owingto the repercussion of the air which is thrown back into the eyes. In a similarway, owing to the same force, in employing a mirror if the thickness of themetal has been polished and beaten out into a slightly concave shape the size ofthe objects reflected is enormously magnified: such a difference does it makewhether the surface welcomes the air in question or flings it back.Moreover bowls can be made of such a shape, with a number oflooking-glasses so to speak beaten outward inside them, that if only a singleperson is looking into them a crowd of images is formed of the same number asthe facets in question. Ingenuity even devises vessels that do conjuring tricks,for instance those deposited as votive offerings in the temple at Smyrna: thisis brought about by the shape of the material, and it makes a very greatdifference whether the vessels are concave and shaped like a bowl or convex likea Thracian shield, whether their centre is recessed or projecting, whether theoval is horizontal or oblique, laid flat or placed upright, as the quality ofthe shape receiving the shadows twists them as they come: for in fact the imagein a mirror is merely the shadow arranged by the brilliance of the materialreceiving it. And in order to complete the whole subject of mirrors in thisplace, the best of those known in old days were those made at Brindisi of amixture of stagnum and copper. Silver mirrors have come to be preferred; theywere first made byPasiteles in theperiod ofPompey the Great. But it hasrecently come to be believed that a more reliable reflection is given byapplying a layer of gold to the back of glass.

XLVI. The people of Egypt stain their silver so as to see portraits oftheir god Anubis in their vessels; and they do not engrave but paint theirsilver. The use of that material thence passed over even to our triumphalstatues, and, wonderful to relate, its price rises with the dimming of itsbrilliance. The method adopted is as follows: with the silver is mixed one thirdits amount of the very line Cyprus copper called chaplet-copper and thesame amount of live sulphur as of silver, and then they are melted in anearthenware vessel smeared round with potter's clay; the heating goes on tillthe lids of the vessels open of theft own accord. Silver is also turned black bymeans of the yolk of a hardboiled egg, although the black can be rubbed offwith vinegar and chalk.

The triumvirAntony alloyed the silverdenarius with iron, and forgers put an alloy of copper in silver coins, whileothers also reduce the weight, the proper coinage being 84 denarii from a poundof silver. Consequently a method was devised of assaying the denarius, under alaw that was so popular that the common people unanimously district by districtvoted statues toMarius Gratidianus. Andit is a remarkable thing that in this alone among arts spurious methods areobjects of study, and a sample of a forged denarius is carefully examined andthe adulterated coin is bought for more than genuine ones.

XLVII. In old days there was no number standing for more than 100,000,and accordingly even today we reckon by multiples of that number, using theexpression times 'ten times one hundred thousand' or larger multiples. Thiswas due to usury and to the introduction of coined money, and also on the samelines we still speak of money owed as 'somebody else's copper.' Afterwards'Dives,' 'Rich,' became a family surname, though it must be stated that the manwho first received this name ran through his creditors' money and went bankrupt.AfterwardsMarcus Crassus, who was amember of the Rich family, used to say that nobody was a wealthy man except onewho could maintain a legion of troops on his yearly income. He owned landedproperty worth two hundred million sesterces, being the richest Roman citizenafterSulla. Nor was he satisfiedwithout getting possession of the whole of the Parthians' gold as well; andalthough it is true he was the first to win lasting reputation for wealthit isa pleasant task to stigmatize insatiable covetousness of that sortwe have knownsubsequently of many liberated slaves who have been wealthier, and three at thesame time not long before our own days in the period of the emperorClaudius, namely Callistus, Pallas and Narcissus. And toomit these persons, as if they were still in sovereign power, there is GaiusCaecilius Isidorus, the freedman ofGaius Caecilius who in the consulship ofGaiusAsinius Gallus and GaiusMarcius Censorinus executed a will datedJanuary 27 in which he declared that in spite of heavy losses in the civil warhe nevertheless left 4116 slaves, 3600 pairs of oxen, 257,000 head of othercattle, and 60 million sesterces in cash, and he gave instructions for 1,100,000to be spent on his funeral. But let them amass uncountable riches, yet whatfraction will they be of the riches of thePtolemy who is recorded byVarro,at the time whenPompey was campaigningin the regions adjoining Judea, to have maintained 6000 horse at his owncharges, to have given a lavish feast to a thousand guests, with 1,000 goldgoblets, which were changed at every course; and then what fraction would hisown estate have been (for I am not speaking about kings) of that of theBithynian Pythes, who presented the famous gold plane tree and vine to KingDarius, and gave a banquet to the forcesofXerxes, that is 788,000 men, with apromise of five months' pay and corn on condition that one at least of his fivechildren when drawn for service should be left to cheer his old age? Also letanyone compare even Pythes himself withKingCroesus! What madness it is (damnit all!), to covet a thing in our lifetime that has either fallen to the loteven of slaves or has reached no limit even in the desires of Kings!

XLVIII. The Roman nation began lavishingdonations in the consulship of SpuriusPostumius andQuintus Marcius: soabundant was money at that date that they contributed funds forLucius Scipio to defray the cost ofgames which he celebrated. As for the national contribution of one-sixth ofanits per head for the funeral of MeneniusAgrippa, I should consider this as a mark of respect and also a measurerendered necessary byAgrippa's poverty,and not a matter of lavish generosity.

XLIX. Fashions in silver plate undergo marvellous variations owing to thevagaries of human taste, no kind of workmanship remaining long in favour.At one time Furnian plate is in demand, at another Clodian, at anotherGratianfor we make even the factories feel at home at our tablesat anothertime the demand is for embossed plate and rough surfaces, where the metal hasbeen cut out along the painted lines of the designs, while now we even fitremovable shelves on our sideboards to carry the viands, and other pieces ofplate we decorate with filigree, so that the file may have wasted as much silveras possible. The orator Calvuscomplainingly cries that cooking-pots are made of silver; but it is we whoinvented decorating carriages with chased silver, and it was in our day that theemperorNero's wifePoppaea had the idea of even having herfavourite mules shod with gold.

L. The younger Africanus left his heir thirty-two pounds weight ofsilver, and the same person paraded 4370 pounds of silver in his triumphalprocession after the conquest of Carthage. This was the amount of silver ownedby the whole of Carthage, Rome's rival for the empire of the world, yetsubsequently beaten in the show of plate on how many dinner-tables! Indeed aftertotally destroying Numantia the sameAfricanusat his triumph gave a largess of seven denarii a head to his troopswarriorsnot unworthy of such a general who were satisfied with that amount! His brother Allobrogicus was the first person whoever owned 1000 lbs. weight of silver, whereasLivius Drusus when tribune of the people had 10,000 lbs. For that an oldwarrior, honoured with a triumphal procession, incurred the notice ofthe censors for possessing ten pounds weight of silverthat nowadaysseems legendary, and the same as to CatusAelius's not accepting the silver plate presented to him by the envoysfrom Aetolia who during his consulship had found him eating his lunch offearthenware, and as to his never till the last day of his life having owned anyother silver but the two bowls given to him by his wife's fatherLucius Paulus in recognition of hisvalour at the time when KingPerseus wasconquered. We read that the Carthaginian ambassadors declared that no race ofmankind lived on more amicable terms with one another than the Romans, inasmuchas in a round of banquets they had found the same service of plate in use atevery house! But, good heavens,PompeiusPaulinus the son of a Knight of Rome at Aries and descended on hisfather's side from a tribe that went about clad in skins, to our knowledge had12,000 lbs. weight of silver plate with him when on service with an armyconfronted by tribes of the greatest ferocity;

LI. while we know that ladies' bedsteads have for a long time now beenentirely covered with silver plating, and so for long have banqueting-couchesalso. It is recorded that Carvilius Pollio, Knight of Rome, was the first person who had silver put on these latter, though not so as to plate them all over or make them to the Delos pattern, but in the Carthaginian style. In this latter style he also had bedsteads made of gold, and not long afterwards silver bedsteads were made, in imitation of those of Delos.All this extravagance however was expiated by the civil war ofSulla.

LII. In fact it was shortly before this period that silver dishes weremade weighing a hundred pounds, and it is well-known that there were atthat date over 150 of those at Rome, and that many people were sentenced tooutlawry a because of them, by the intrigues of people who coveted them.History which has held vices such as these to be responsible for that civil warmay blush with shame, but our generation has gone one better. Under the EmperorClaudius his slaveDrusillanus, who bore [AD. 41-54]the name ofRotundus, the Emperor'ssteward of Nearer Spain, possessed a silver dish weighing 500 lbs., for themanufacture of which a workshop had first been specially built, and eight othersof 250 lbs. went with it as side-dishes, so that how many of his fellow-slaves,I ask, were to bring them in or who were to dine off them?Cornelius Nepos records that before thevictory won bySulla there wereonly two silver dinner-couches at Rome, and that silver began to be used fordecorating sideboards within his own recollection. AndFenestella who died towards the end ofthe principate ofTiberius says thattortoiseshell sideboards also came into fashion at that time, but a littlebefore his day they had been solid round structures of wood, and not much largerthan tables; but that even in his boyhood they began to be made square and ofplanks mortised together and veneered either with maple or citrus wood, whilelater silver was laid on at the corners and along the lines marking the joins,and when he was a young man they were called 'drums,' and then also the dishesfor which the old name had beenmagides came to be called basins from theirresemblance to the scales of a balance.

LIII. Yet it is not only for quantities of silver that there is such arage among mankind but there is an almost more violent passion for works of finehandicraft; and this goes back a long time, so that we of today may excuseourselves from blame.

Gaius Gracchus had some figures ofdolphins for which he paid 5000 sesterees per pound, while the oratorLucius Crassus had a pair of chasedgoblets, [140-91 BC] the work of the artistMentor, that cost 100,000; yet admittedly he was too ashamed ever to usethem. It is known to us that he likewise owned some vessels that he bought for6000 sesterces per pound. It was the conquest of Asia that first introducedluxury into Italy, inasmuch asLucius Scipiocarried in procession at his triumph 1400 lbs. of chased silverware and vesselsof gold weighing 1500 lbs.: this was in the 565th year from the foundation ofthe city of Rome. But receiving Asia also as a gift [189 BC] dealt a muchmore serious blow to our morals, and the bequest of it that came to us on thedeath of KingAttaius was moredisadvantageous than the victory ofScipio.For on that occasion all scruples entirely disappeared in regard to buying thesearticles at the auctions of the king's effects at Romethe date was the 622ndyear of the city, and in the interval of 57 years our community had learnt notmerely to admire but also to covet foreign opulence; an impetus having also beengiven to manners by the enormous shock of the conquest of Achaia, that victoryitself also having during this interval of time introduced the statues andpictures won in the 608th year of the city. That nothing might be lacking,luxury came into being simultaneously, with the downfall of Carthage, a fatalcoincidence that gave us at one and the same time a taste for the vices and anopportunity for indulging in them. Some of the older generation also sought togain esteem from these sources. It is recorded that Gaius Marius after his victory over theCimbrians drank from Bacchic tankards, in imitation of Father Liberhe, theploughman of Arpino who rose to the position of general from the ranks!

LIV. The view is held that the extension of the use of silver to statueswas made in the case of statues of his late lamented MajestyAugustus, owing to the sycophancy of theperiod, but this is erroneous. We find that previously a silver statue ofPharnaces the First, King of Pontus, wascarried in the triumphal procession ofPompeythe Great, as well as one ofMithridatesEupator, and also chariots of gold and silver were used. Likewisesilver has at some periods even supplanted gold, female luxury among theplebeians having its shoe buckles made of silver, as wearing gold buckles wouldbe prohibited by the more common fashion. We have ourselves seenArellius Fuscus (who was expelled fromthe Equestrian order on a singularly grave charge) wearing silver rings when hesought to acquire celebrity for his school for youths. But what is the point ofcollecting these instances, when our soldiers' sword hilts are made of chasedsilver, even ivory not being thought good enough; and when their scabbardsjingle with little silver chains and their belts with silver tabs, naynowadays our schools for pages lust at the point of adolescence wear silverbadges as a safeguard, and women use silver to wash in and scorn sitting-bathsnot made of silver, and the same substance does service both for our viands andfor our baser needs? If onlyFabriciuscould see these displays of luxurywomen's bathrooms with floors of silver,leaving nowhere to set your feetand the women bathing in company with menifonly Fabricius, who forbade gallant generals to possess more than a dish and a saltcellar of silver, could see how nowadays the rewards of valour are made from the utensils of luxury, or else are broken up to make them! Alas for our present mannersFabriciusmakes us blush!

LV. It is a remarkable fact that the art of chasing gold has not broughtcelebrity to anyone, whereas persons celebrated for chasing silver are numerous.The most famous however isMentor ofwhom we spoke above. Four pairs of goblets were all that he ever made, but it issaid that none of them now survive, owing to the burning of the Temple ofArtemis of Ephesus and of the Capitol.Varrosays in his writings that he also possessed a bronze statue by this sculptor.Next toMentor the artists most admiredwereAcragas,Boethus andMys. Works by all of these exist at thepresent day in the island of Rhodesone by Boethus in the temple of Athena at Lindus, some goblets engraved withCentaurs and Bacchants byAcragas in thetemple of Father Liber or Dionysus in Rhodes itself, goblets with Sileni andCupids byMys in the same temple.Hunting scenes byAcragas on gobletsalso had a great reputation. After these in celebrity isCalamis, andDiodorus who was said to have placed ina condition of heavy sleep rather than engraved on a bowl a Slumbering Satyr forAntipater. Next praise is awarded toStratonicus of Cyxicus,Tauriscus,alsoAriston andEunicus of Mitylene, andHecataeus, and, around the period ofPompey the Great,Pasiteles,Posidonius of Ephesus,Hedys,Thracides who engraved battle scenes and men in armour, andZopyrus who engraved the AthenianCouncil of Areopagus and the Trial of Orestes on two goblets valued at 12,000sesterees. There was alsoPytheas, oneof whose works sold at the price of 10,000 denarii for two ounces: it consistedof an embossed base of a bowl representing Odysseus and Diomede in the act ofstealing the Palladium. The same artist also carved some very small drinkingcups in the shape of cooks known as 'The Chefs in Miniature,' which it was notallowed even to reproduce by casts, so liable to damage was the fineness of thework. Also Teucer the artist in embossedwork attained celebrity, and all of a sudden this art so declined that it is nowonly valued in old specimens, and authority attaches to engravings worn with useeven if the very design is invisible.

Silver becomes tarnished by contact with water from springs containing mineralsand by the salt breezes, as happens also even in the interior regions of Spain.

LVI. In gold and silver mines also are formed the pigments yellow ochreand blue. Yellow ochre is strictly speaking a slime. The best kind comes fromwhat is called Attic slime; its price is two denarii a pound. The next best ismarbled ochre, which costs half the price of Attic. The third kind is darkochre, which other people call Scyric ochre, as it comes from the island ofScyros, and nowadays also from Achaia, which they use for the shadows of apainting, price two sesterces a pound, while that called clear ochre, comingfrom Gaul, costs two asses less. This and the Attic kind they use for paintingdifferent kinds of light, but only marbled ochre for squared panel designs,because the marble in it resists the acridity of the lime. This ochre is also dugup in the mountains 20 miles from Rome. It is afterwards burnt, and by somepeople it is adulterated and passed off as dark ochre; but the fact that it isnot genuine and has been burnt is shown by its acridity and by its crumblinginto dust.

The custom of using yellow ochre for painting was first introduced byPolygnotus andMicon, but they only used the kind fromAttica. The following period employed this for representing lights but ochrefrom Scyros and Lydia for shadows. Lydian ochre used to be sold at Sardis, butnow it has quite gone out.

LVII. The blue pigment is a sand. In old days there werethree varieties: the Egyptian is thought most highly of; next the Scythian mixeseasily with water, and changes into four colours when ground, lighter or darkerand coarser or finer; to this blue the Cyprian is now preferred. To these wereadded the Pozzuoli blue, and the Spanish blue, when blue sand-deposits began to be worked in those places. Every kind however undergoes a dyeing process, being boiled with a special plant and absorbing its juice; but the remainder of the process of manufacture is the same as with gold-solder.

From blue is made the substance called blue wash, which is produced by washingand grinding it. Blue wash is of a paler colour than blue, and it costs 10denarii per pound, while blue costs 5 denarii. Blue is used on a surface ofclay, as it will not stand lime. A recent addition has been Vestorian blue,called after the manVestorius whoinvented it; it is made from the finest part of Egyptian blue, and costs 11denarii per pound. Pozzuoli blue is employed in the same way, and also nearwindows; it is calledcyanos. Not long ago Indian blue or indigo began to beimported, its price being 7 denarii; painters use it for dividing-lines, thatis, for separating shadows from light. There is also a blue wash of a veryinferior kind, called ground blue, valued at 5 asses.

The test of genuine Indian blue is that when laid on burning coal it shouldblaze; it is adulterated by boiling dried violets in water and straining theliquor through linen on to Eretrian earth. Its use as a medicament isto clean out ulcers; consequently it is employed as an ingredient in plasters,and also in cauteries, but it is extremely difficult to pound up. Yellow ochreused as a drug has a gently mordant and astringent effect, and fills up ulcers.To make it beneficial it is burnt in earthenware vessels.

We are not unaware that the prices of articles which we have stated at various points differ in different places and alter nearly every year, according to the shipping costs or the terms on which a particular merchant has bought them, or as some dealer dominating the market may whip up the selling price; we have not forgotten that, under the emperor Nero, Demetrius was prosecuted before the [AD. 54-68] Consuls by the entire Seplasia. Nevertheless I have found it necessary to state the prices usual at Rome, in order to give an idea of a standard value of commodities.

I. LET our next subject be ores,etc., of copper and bronze themetals which in point of utility have the next value; in fact Corinthian bronzeis valued before silver and almost even before gold; and bronze isalso the standard of payments in money as we have said: hence it isembodied in the terms denoting the pay of soldiers, the treasury paymasters andthe public treasury, persons held in debt, and soldiers whose pay is stopped. Wehave pointed out for what a long time the Roman nation used no coinageexcept bronze; and by another fact antiquity shows that the importance of bronzeis as old as the citythe fact that the third corporation establishedby King Numa was the Guild ofCoppersmiths.

II. The method followed in mining deposits of copper and purifying theore by firing is that which has been stated. The metal is also got from acoppery stone called by a Greek namecadmea, a kind in high repute comingfrom overseas and also formerly found in Campania and at the present day in theterritory of Bergamo on the farthest confines of Italy; and it is also reportedto have been recently found in the province of Germany. In Cyprus, where copperwas first discovered, it is also obtained from another stone also, calledchalcitis, copper ore; this was however afterwards of exceptionally low valuewhen a better copper was found in other countries, and especially goldcopper,which long maintained an outstanding quality and popularity, but which for along time now has not been found, the ground being exhausted. The next inquality was the Sallustius copper, occurring in the Alpine region of HauteSavoic, though this also only lasted a short time; and after it came the Liviacopper in Gaul: each was named from the owners of the mines, the former from thefriend ofAugustus and the latter fromhis wife. Livia copper also quickly gave out: at all events it is found in verysmall quantity. The highest reputation has now gone to the Marius copper, alsocalled Cordova copper; next to the Livia variety this kind most readily absorbscadmea and reproduces the excellence of gold-copper in making sestercesand double-as pieces, the single as having to be content with its properCyprus copper. That is the extent of the high quality contained in naturalbronze and copper.

III. The remaining kinds are made artificially, and will be described intheir proper places, the most distinguished sorts being indicated first of all.Formerly copper used to be blended with a mixture of gold and silver, andnevertheless artistry was valued more highly than the metal; but nowadays it isa doubtful point whether the workmanship or the material is worse, and it is asurprising thing that, though the prices paid for these works of art have grownbeyond all limit, the importance attached to this craftsmanship of working inmetals has quite disappeared. For this, which formerly used to be practised forthe sake of gloryconsequently it was even attributed to the workmanship ofgods, and the leading men of all the nations used to seek for reputation by thismethod alsohas now, like everything else, begun to be practisedfor the sake of gain; and the method of casting costly works of art in bronzehas so gone out that for a long time now not even luck in this matter has hadthe privilege of producing art.

Of the bronze which was renowned in early days, the Corinthian is the mosthighly praised. This is a compound that was produced by accident, whenCorinth was burned at the time of its capture; and there has been a wonderfulmania among many people for possessing this metalin fact it is recorded that Verres, whose convictionMarcus Cicero had procured, was,together withCicero, proscribed byAntony for no other reason than because he had refused to give up to Antony somepieces of Corinthian ware; and to me the majority of these collectors seem onlyto make a pretence of being connoisseurs, so as to separate themselves from themultitude, rather than to have any exceptionally refined insight in thismatter; and this I will briefly show. Corinth was taken in the third year ofthe 158th Olympiad, which was the 608th year [146 BC] of our city, when for agesthere had no longer been any famous artists in metalwork; yet these personsdesignate all the specimens of their work as Corinthian bronzes. In ordertherefore to refute them we will state the periods to which these artistsbelong; of course it will be easy to turn the Olympiads into the years since the foundation of our city by referring to the two corresponding dates given above. The only genuine Corinthian vessels are then those which your connoisseurs sometimes convert into dishes for food and sometimes into lamps or even washing basins, without nice regard for decency. There are three kinds of this sort of bronze: a white variety, coming very near to silver in brilliance, in which the alloy of silver predominates; a second kind, in which the yellow quality of gold predominates, and a third kind in which all the metals were blended in equal proportions. Besides these there is another mixture the formula for which cannot be given, although it is man's handiwork; but the bronze valued in portrait statues and others for its peculiar colour, approaching the appearance of liver and consequently called by a Greek name 'hepatizon' meaning 'liverish,' is a blend produced by luck; it is far behindthe Corinthian blend, yet a long way in front of the bronze of Acgina and thatof Delos which long held the first rank.

IV. The Delian bronze was the earliest to become famous, the whole worldthronging the markets in Delos; and hence the attention paid to theprocesses of making it. It was at Delos that bronze first came into prominenceas a material used for the feet and framework of dining-couches, and later itcame to be employed also for images of the gods and statues of men and otherliving things.

V. The next most famous bronze was the Aeginetan; and the island ofAegina itself became celebrated for it, though not because the metal copper wasmined there but because of the compounding done in the workshops. A bronze oxlooted from Aegina stands in the cattle-market at Rome, and will serve as aspecimen of Aegina bronze, while that of Delos is seen in the Zeus or Jupiter inthe temple a of Jupiter the Thunderer on the Capitol. Aegina bronze was used byMyron and that from Delos byPolyclitus, who were contemporaries andfellow-pupils; thus there was rivalry between them even in their choice ofmaterials.

VI. Aegina specialized in producing only the upper parts of chandeliers,and similarlyTaranto made only thestems, and consequently credit for manufacture is, in the matter of thesearticles, shared between these two localities. Nor are people ashamed to buythese at a price equal to the pay of a military tribune, although they clearlytake even their name from the lighted candles they carry. At the sale of achandelier of this sort by the instructions of the auctioneer (namedTheon) selling it there was thrown in aspart of the bargain the fullerClesippusa humpback and also of a hideous appearance in other respects besides, the lotbeing bought by a woman named Geganiafor 50,000 sesterces. This woman gave a party to show off her purchases, and forthe mockery of the guests the man appeared with no clothes on: his mistressconceiving an outrageous passion for him admitted him to her bed and later gavehim a place in her will. Thus becoming excessively rich he worshipped thelamp-stand in question as a divinity and so caused this story to be attached toCorinthian lampstands in general, though the claims of morality were vindicatedby his erecting a noble tombstone to perpetuate throughout the living world forall time the memory of Gegania's shame.But although it is admitted that there are no lampstands made of Corintlnanmetal, yet this name specially is commonly attached to them, because althoughMummius's victory destroyed Corinth, it caused the dispersal of bronzes from anumber of the towns of Achaia at the same time.

VII. In early times the lintels and folding doors of temples as well werecommonly made of bronze. I find that also Gnaeus Octavius, who was granted a triumph after a sea-fight against KingPerseus, constructed the doublecolonnade at the Flaminian circus which owing to the bronze capitals of itscolumns has received the name of the Corinthian portico, and that a resolutionwas passed that even the temple of Vests should have its roof covered with anouter coating of Syracusan metal. The capitals of the pillars in the Pantheonwhich were put up byMarcus [21B.C.]Agrippa are of Syracusan metal.Moreover even private opulence has been employed in similar uses: one of thecharges brought againstCamillus [391B.C.] by the quaestorSpurius Carviliuswas that in his house he had doors covered with bronze.

VIII. Again, according to Lucius Pisodinner-couches and panelled sideboards and one-leg tables decorated with bronzewere first introduced byGnaeus Manliusat the triumph which he celebrated [187 B.C.] in the 567th year of thecity after the conquest of Asia; and as a matter of factAntias states that the heirs ofLucius Crassus the orator also sold anumber of dinner couches decorated with bronze. It was even customary for bronzeto be used for making the cauldrons on tripods called Delphic cauldrons becausethey used to be chiefly dedicated as gifts to Apollo of Delphi; alsolamp-holders were popular suspended from the ceiling, in temples or with theirlights arranged to look like apples hanging on trees, like the specimen in thetemple of Apollo of the Palatine which had been part of the booty taken byAlexander the Great at the storming ofThebes and dedicated by him to the same deity at Cyme.

IX. But after a time this art in all places came to be usually devoted tostatues of gods. I find that the first image of a god made of bronze at Rome wasthat dedicated to Ceres and paid for out of the property of Spurius Cassius who was put to death[485 BC] by his own father when trying to make himself king. The practice passedover from the gods to statues and representations of human beings also, invarious forms. In early days people used to stain statues with bitumen,which makes it the more remarkable that they afterwards became fond ofcovering them with gold. This was perhaps a Roman invention, but it certainlyhas a name of no long standing at Rome. It was not customary to make effigies ofhuman beings unless they deserved lasting commemoration for some distinguishedreason, in the first case victory in the sacred contests and particularly thoseat Olympia, where it was the custom to dedicate statues of all who had won acompetition; these statues, in the case of those who had been victorious therethree times, were modelled as exact personal likenesses of the winnerswhat arecallediconicae, portrait statues. I rather believe that the first portraitstatues officially erected at Athens were those of the tyrannicidesHarmodius andAristogeiton. This happened in the sameyear [510 BC] as that in which the Kings were also driven out at Rome. Thepractice of erecting statues from a most civilized sense of rivalry wasafterwards taken up by the whole of the world, and the custom proceeded to ariseof having statues adorning the public places of all municipal towns and ofperpetuating the memory of human beings and of inscribing lists of honours onthe bases to be read for all time, so that such records should not be read ontheir tombs only. Soon after a publicity centre was established even inprivate houses and in our own halls: the respect felt by clients inauguratedthis method of doing honour to their patrons.

X. In old days the statues dedicated were simply clad in the toga. Alsonaked figures holding spears, made from models of Greek young men fromthe gymnasiumswhat are called figures of Achillesbecame popular. The Greekpractice is to leave the figure entirely nude, whereas Roman and militarystatuary adds a breastplate: indeed the dictatorCaesar gave permission for a statuewearing a cuirass to be erected in his honour in his Forum. As for the statuesin the garb of the Luperci, they are modern innovations, lust as much as theportrait-statues dressed in cloaks that have recently appeared. Mancinus set upa statue of himself in the dress that he had worn when surrendered to the enemy.It has been remarked by writers that the poetLucius Accius also set up a very tall statue of himself in the shrine ofthe Latin Muses, although he was a very short man. Assuredly equestrian statuesare popular at Rome, the fashion for them having no doubt been derived fromGreece; but the Greeks used only to erect statues of winners of races onhorseback at their sacred contests, although subsequently they also erectedstatues of winners with two-horse or four-horse chariots; and this isthe origin of our chariot-groups in honour of those who have celebrated atriumphal procession. But this belongs to a late date, and among those monumentsit was not till the time of his late lamented MajestyAugustus that chariots with six horsesoccurred, and likewise elephants.

XI. The custom of erecting memorial chariots with two horses in the caseof those who held the office of praetor and had ridden round the Circus in achariot is not an old one; that of statues on pillars is of earlier date, forinstance the statue of honour of Gaius Maeniuswho had vanquished the Old Latins to whom the Roman nation gave by treaty athird part of the booty won from them. It was in the same consulship that thenation, after defeating the people of Antium, had fixed on the platform thebeaked prows of ships taken in the victory over the people of Antium, in the416th year of the city of Rome; and similarly the statue toGaius Duillius, who was the first toobtain a naval triumph over the [260 BC] Carthaginiansthis statue still standsin the forum and likewise that in honour of the prefect of marketsLucius Minucius outside the TripletsGate, defrayed by a tax of one-twelfth of an as per head. I rather thinkthis was the first time that an honour of this nature came from the wholepeople; previously it had been bestowed by the senate: it would be a verydistinguished honour had it not originated on such unimportant occasions. Infact also the statue ofAttus Naviusstood in front of the senate-housewhen the senate-house was set on fire at thefuneral of Publius Clodius the base ofthe statue was burnt with it; and the statue ofHermodorus of Ephesus the interpreter ofthe laws drafted by the decemvirs, [451-450 BC] dedicated at the public cost,stood in the Assembly-place of Rome. There was different motive and anotherreasonan important onefor the statue ofMarcus Horatius Codes, which has survived even to the present day; it waserected because he had single-handed barred the enemy's passage of the Bridge onPiles. Also, it does not at all surprise me that statues of the Sibyl stand nearthe Beaked Platform though there are three of themone restored by Sextus Pacuvius Taurus, aedile of theplebs, and two byMarcus Messalla. Ishould think these statues and that ofAttusNavius, all erected in the period ofTarquinius Priscus, were the first, [616-579 BC] if it were not for thestatues on the Capitol of the kings who reigned before him, among them thefigures of Romulus and Tatius without the tunic, as also that ofCamillus on the Beaked Platform. Alsothere was in front of the temple of the Castors an equestrian statue ofQuintus Marcius Tremulus, wearing atoga; he had twice vanquished the Samnites, and by taking Anagni delivered thenation from payment of war-tax. Among the very old statues are also those at thePlatform ofTullus Cloelius, Lucius Roscius,Spurius Nautius, andGaius Pulcinius,all assassinated by the people of Fidenae when on an embassy to them. It was thecustom for the state to confer this honour on those who had been wrongfully putto death, as among othersPublius JuniusandTitus Coruncanius, who had beenkilled by Teuta the Queen of the Illyrians. It would seem not to be proper toomit the fact noted by the annals that the statues of these persons, erected inthe forum, were three feet in height, showing that this was the scale of thesemarks of honour in those days. I will not pass over the case ofGnaeus Oetavius also, because of asingle word that occurs in a Decree of the Senate. When KingAntiochus IV said he intended to answerhim,Octavius with the stick he happenedto be holding in his hand drew a line all round him and compelled him to givehis answer before he stepped out of the circle. And asOctavius was killed while on thisembassy, the senate ordered a statue to be erected to him 'in thespot most eyed' and that statue stands on the Platform. We also find that adecree was passed to erect a statue to a Vestal Virgin named Taracia Gaia orFufetia 'to be placed where she wished,'an addition that is as great a compliment as the fact that a statue was decreedin honour of a woman. For the Vestal's merits I will quote the actual words ofthe Annals: 'because she had made a gratuitous present to the nation of thefield by the Tiber.'

XII. I also find that statues were erected toPythagoras and toAlcibiades, in the corners of thePlace of Assembly, when during one of our Samnite Wars Pythian Apollo hadcommanded the erection in some conspicuous position of an effigy of the bravestman of the Greek race, and likewise, one of the wisest man; these remained untilSulla the dictator made the Senate-houseon the site. It is surprising that those illustrious senators of ours ratedPythagoras aboveSocrates, whom the same deity had putabove all the rest of mankind in respect of wisdom, or ratedAlcibiades above so many other men inmanly virtue, or anybody aboveThemistoclesfor wisdom and manly virtue combined.

The purport of placing statues of men on columns was to elevate them above allother mortals; which is also the meaning conveyed by the new invention ofarches. Nevertheless the honour originally began with the Greeks, and I do notthink that any person ever had more statues erected to him thanDemetrius of Phalerum had at Athens,inasmuch as they set up 360, at a period when the year did not yet exceed thatnumber of days, statues however the Athenians soon shattered in pieces. At Romealso the tribes in all the districts set up statues toMariusGratidianus, as we havestated, and likewise threw them down again at the entrance ofSulla.

XIII. Statues of persons on foot undoubtedly held the field at Rome for along time; equestrian statues also however are of considerable antiquity, andthis distinction was actually extended to women with the equestrian statue of Cloelia, as if it were not enough forher to be clad in a toga, although statues were not voted toLucretia andBrutus, who had driven out the kingsowing to whomCloelia had been handedover with others as a hostage should have held the view that her statue and thatofCodes were the first erected at thepublic expensefor it is probable that the monuments to Attus and the Sibyl wereerected byTarquin and those of thekings by themselveswere it not for the statement of Piso that the statue ofCloelia also was erected by the personswho had been hostages with her, when they were given back byPorsena, as a mark of honour to her;whereas on the other handAnnius Fetialisstates that an equestrian figure which once stood opposite the temple of JupiterStator in the forecourt ofTarqniniusSuperbus's palace was the statue ofValeria, daughter ofPublicola,the consul, and that she alone had escaped and had swum across the Tiber, theother hostages who were being sent to Porsena having been made away with by astratagem ofTarquin.

XIV.Lucius Piso has recordedthat, in the second consulship ofMarcusAemilius andGaius Popilius, thecensorsPublius Cornelius Scipio andMarcus Popilius caused all the statuesround the forum of men who had held office as magistrates to be removedexcepting those that had been set up by a resolution of the people or theSenate, while the statue whichSpurius Cassius,who had aspired to monarchy, had erected in his own honour before thetemple of the Earth was actually melted down by cesisors: obviously the men ofthose days took precautions against ambition in the matter of statues also. Somedeclamatory utterances made byCatoduring his censorship are extant protesting against the erection in the Romanprovinces of statues to women; yet all the same he was powerless to prevent thisbeing done at Rome also: for instance there is the statue ofCornelia the mother of the Graechi anddaughter of the elderScipio Africanus.This represents her in a sitting position and is remarkable because there are nostraps to the shoes; it stood in the public colonnade ofMetellus, but is now in Octavia'sBuildings.

XV. The first statue publicly erected at Rome by foreigners was that inhonour of the tribune of the people GaiusAelius, for having introduced a law againstSthennius Stallius the Lucanian who hadtwice made an attack upon Thuril; for this the inhabitants of that placepresentedAelius with a statue and acrown of gold. The same people afterwards presented Fabricius with a statue for havingrescued them from a state of siege; and various races successively in some suchway placed themselves under Roman patronage, and all discrimination was socompletely abrogated that even a statue ofHannibal may be seen in three places in the city within the walls ofwhich he alone of its national foes had hurled a spear.

XVI. That the art of statuary was familiar to Italian Italy also and oflong standing there is indicated by the statue of Hercules in the Cattle Marketsaid to have been dedicated by Evander,which is called 'Hercules Triumphant,' and on the occasion of triumphalprocessions is arrayed in triumphal vestments; and also by the two-faced Janus,dedicated by King Numa, which isworshipped as indicating war and peace, the fingers of the statue being soarranged as to indicate the 355 days of the year, and to betoken that Janus isthe god of the duration of time. Also there is no doubt that the so-calledTuscanic images scattered all over the world were regularly made in Etruria. Ishould have supposed these to have been statues of deities only, were it notthatMetrodorus of Scepsis, who receivedhis surname from his hatred of the very name of Rome, reproached us with havingtaken by storm the city of Volsinii for the sake of the 2000 statues which itcontained. And it seems to me surprising that although the initiation ofstatuary in Italy dates so far back, the images of the gods dedicated in theshrines should have been more usually of wood or terracotta right down to theconquest of Asia which introduced luxury here. What was the first origin ofrepresenting likenesses in the round will be more suitably discussed when weare dealing with the art for which the Greek term is plastic, asthat was earlier than the art of bronze statuary. But the latter has flourishedto an extent passing all limit and offers a subject that would occupy manyvolumes if one wanted to give a rather extensive account of itfor as for acompletely exhaustive account, who could achieve that?

XVII. In the aedileship ofMarcusScaurus there were 3000 statues on the stage in what was only a temporarytheatre.Mummius after conquering Achaiafilled the city with statues, though destined not to leave enough at hisdeath to provide a dowry for his daughterfor why not mention this as well asthe fact that excuses it? A great many were also imported by the Luculli.Yet it is stated byMucianus whowas three times consul that there are still 3000 statues at Rhodes, andno smaller number are believed still to exist at Athens, Olympia and Delphi.What mortal man could recapitulate them all, or what value can be felt in suchinformation? Still it may give pleasure just to allude to the most remarkableand to name the artists of celebrity, though it would be impossible to enumeratethe total number of the works of each, inasmuch as Lysippus is said tohave executed 1500 works of art, all of them so skilful that each of them byitself might have made him famous; the number is said to have been discoveredafter his decease, when his heir broke open his coffers, it having been hispractice to put aside a coin of the value of one gold denarius out ofwhat he got as reward for his handicraft for each statue.

The art rose to incredible heights in success and afterwards in boldness ofdesign. To prove its success I will adduce one instance, and that not of arepresentation of either a god or a man: our own generation saw on the Capitol,before it last went up in flames burnt at the hands of the adherents ofVitellius, in the shrine of Juno, abronze figure of a hound licking its wound, the miraculous excellence andabsolute truth to life of which is shown not only by the fact of its dedicationin that place but also by the method taken for insuring it; for as no sum ofmoney seemed to equal its value, the government enacted that its custodiansshould be answerable for its safety with their lives.

XVIII. Of boldness of design the examples are innumerable. We seeenormously huge statues devised, what are called Colossi, as large as towers.Such is the Apollo on the Capitol, brought over byMarcus Lucullus from Apollonia, a cityof Pontus, 45 ft. high, which cost 500 talents to make; or the Jupiter which theEmperorClaudius dedicated in the CampusMartius, which is dwarfed by the proximity of the theatre of Pompey; or the 60ft. high statue at Taranto made byLysippus.The remarkable thing in the case of the last is that though it can be moved bythe hand, it is so nicely balanced, so it is said, that it is not dislodged fromits place by any storms. This indeed, it is said, the artist himself providedagainst by erecting a column a short distance from it to shelter it on the sidewhere it was most necessary to break the force of the wind. Accordingly, becauseof its size, and the difficulty of moving it with great labour,Fabius Verrucosus left it alone when hetransferred the Heracles from that place to the Capitol where it now stands. Butcalling for admiration before all others was the colossal Statue of theSun at Rhodes made byChares of Lindus,the pupil ofLysippus mentioned above.This statue was 105 ft. high; and, 66 years after its erection, wasoverthrown by an earthquake, but even lying on the ground it is a marvel. Fewpeople can make their arms meet round the thumb of the figure, and the fingersare larger than most statues; and where the limbs have been broken off enormouscavities yawn, while inside are seen great masses of rock with the weight ofwhich the artist steadied it when he erected it. It is recorded that it tooktwelve years to complete and cost 300 talents, money realized from the enginesof war belonging to KingDemetrius whichhe had abandoned when he got tired of the protracted siege of Rhodes. There area hundred other colossal statues in the same city, which though smaller thanthis one would have each of them brought fame to any place where it might havestood alone; and besides these there were five colossal statues of gods, made byBryaxis.

Italy also was fond of making colossal statues. At all events we see theTuscanic Apollo in the library of the Temple of Augustus, 50 ft. in heightmeasuring from the toe; and it is a question whether it is more remarkable forthe quality of the bronze a or for the beauty of the work.Spurius Carvilius also made the Jupiterthat stands in the Capitol, after defeating the Samnites in the war which theyfought under a most solemn oath; the metal was obtained from theirbreastplates, greaves and helmets, and the size of the figure is so great thatit can be seen from the temple of Jupiter Latiaris. Out of the bronze filingsleft overCarvilius made the statue ofhimself that stands at the feet of the statue of Jupiter. The Capitol alsocontains two much admired heads dedicated by the consulPublius Lentulus, one made byChares above-mentioned and the other byProdicus, who is so outdone bycomparison as to seem the poorest of artists. But all the gigantic statues ofthis class have been beaten in our period byZenodorus with the Hermes or Mercury which he made in the community ofthe Arverni in Gaul; it took him ten years and the sum paid for its making was40,000,000 sesterces. Having given sufficient proof of his artistic skill inGaul he was summoned to Rome byNero,and there made the colossal statue, 106½ ft. high, intended to represent thatemperor but now, dedicated to the sun after the condemnation of that emperor'scrimes, it is an object of awe. In his studio we used not only to admire theremarkable likeness of the clay model but also to marvel at the frame of quitesmall timbers which constituted the first stage of the work put in hand. Thisstatue has shown that skill in bronze-founding has perished, sinceNero was quite ready to provide gold andsilver, and also Zenodorus was countedinferior to none of the artists of old in his knowledge of modelling andchasing. When he was making the statue for the Arverni, when the governor of theprovince wasDubius Avitus, he producedfacsimiles of two chased cups, the handiwork ofCalamis, whichGermanicus Caesarhad prized highly and had presented to his tutorCassius Salanus,Avitus's uncle; the copies were soskilfully made that there was scarcely any difference in artistry between themand the originals. The greater was the eminence of Zenodorus, the more we realize how theart of working bronze has deteriorated.

Owners of the figurines called Corinthian are usually so enamouredof them that they carry them about with them; for instance the oratorHortensius was never parted from thesphinx which he had got out of Verres when on trial; this explainsCicero's retort whenHortensius in the course of analtercation at the trial in question said he was not good at riddles. 'You oughtto be,' saidCicero, 'as you keep afigurine in your pocket.' The emperorNeroalso used to carry about with him an Amazon which we shall describe later, and alittle beforeNero, the ex-consul Gaius Cestius used to go about with asphinx, which he had with him even on the battlefield. It is also said that thetent ofAlexander the Great wasregularly erected with four statues as tent-poles, two of which have now beendedicated to stand in front of the temple of Mars the Avenger and two in frontof the Royal Palace.

XIX. An almost innumerable multitude of artists have been rendered famousby statues and figures of smaller size; but before them all stands the Athenian Pheidias, celebrated for the statue ofOlympian Zeus, which in fact was made of ivory and gold, although he also madefigures of bronze. He flourished in the 83rd Olympiad, about the 300th year ofour city, at which same period his rivals wereAlcamenes,Critias, Nesiotes and Hegias; and later,in the 87th Olympiad there wereHagelades,Callon and the SpartanGorgias,and again in the 90th OlympiadPolycleitus,Phradmon, Myron, Pythagoras, Scopas andPerellus. Of thesePolycleitushad as pupilsArgius, Asopodorus, Alexis,Aristides, Phryno, Dino, Athenodorus, andDemeas of Clitor; andMyron hadLycius. In the 95th OlympiadflourishedNaucydes, Dinomenes, CanachusandPatroclus; and in the 102ndPolycles, Cephisodotus, Leochares andHypatodorus; in the 104th.Praxiteles andEuphranor; in the 107thAetion andTherimachus.Lysippus was in the 113th, the period ofAlexander the Great, and likewise hisbrotherLysistratus, Sthennis, Euphron,Sophocles, Sostratus, Ion and Silaniona remarkable fact in the case ofthe last named being that he became famous without having had any teacher; hehimself had Zeuxiades as his pupilandin the 121st Eutychides, Euthycrates, Laippus,Cephisodotus, Timarchus and Pyromachus.After that the art languished, and it revived again in the 156th Olympiad, whenthere were the following, far inferior it is true to those mentioned above, but nevertheless artists ofrepute:Antaeus, Callistratus, Polycles ofAthens, Callixenus, Pythocles, Pythias and Timocles.

After thus defining the periods of the most famous artists, I will hastily runthrough those of outstanding distinction, throwing in the rest of the thronghere and there under various heads. The most celebrated have also come intocompetition with each other, although born at different periods, because theyhad made statues of Amazons; when these were dedicated in the Temple of Artemisof Ephesus, it was agreed that the best one should be selected by the vote ofthe artists themselves who were present; and it then became evident that thebest was the one which all the artists judged to be the next best after theirown: this is the Amazon by Polycleitus,while next to it came that ofPheidias,thirdCresilas's, fourthCydon's and fifthPhradmon's.

Pheidias, besides the Olympian Zeus,which nobody has ever rivalled, executed in ivory and gold the statue ofAthene that stands erect in the Parthenon at Athens, and in bronze, besides theAmazon mentioned above, an Athene of such exquisite beauty that it has beensurnamed the 'Fair.' He also made the Lady with the Keys, and another AthenewhichAemilius Paulus dedicated in Romeat the temple of Today's Fortune, and likewise a work consisting of two statueswearing cloaks whichCatulus erected inthe same temple, and another work, a colossal statue undraped; andPheidias is deservedly deemed to havefirst revealed the capabilities and indicated the methods of statuary.

Polycleitus of Sicyon, a pupil ofHagelades, made a statue of the 'Diadumenos' or Binding his Haira youth, but soft-lookingfamous for having cost 100 talents, and also the 'Doryphoros' or Carrying a Speara boy, butmanly-looking. He also made what artists call a 'Canon' or Model Statue,as they draw their artistic outlines from it as from a sort of standard; and he alone of mankind is deemed by means of one work of art to have created the art itself! He also made the statue of the Man using a Body-scraper ('Apoxyomenos') and, in the nude, the Man Attacking with Spear, and theTwo Boys Playing Dice, likewise in the nude, known by the Greek name ofAstragalizontes and now standing in the forecourt of the EmperorTitusthis is generally considered to bethe most perfect work of art in existenceand likewise the Hermes that was onceat Lysimachea; Heracles; the Leader Donning his Armour, which is at Rome; andArtemon, called the Man in the Litter.Polycleitus is deemed to have perfectedthis science of statuary and to have refined the art of carving sculpture, justasPheidias is considered to haverevealed it. A discovery that was entirely his own is the art of making statuesthrowing their weight on one leg, althoughVarro says these figures are of a square build and almost all made on onemodel.

Myron, who was born at Eleutherae, washimself also a pupil ofHagelades; hewas specially famous for his statue of a heifer, celebrated in some well-knownsets of versesinasmuch as most men owe their reputation more to someone else's talent than to their own. His other works include Ladas and a 'Diseobolos' or Man Throwing a Discus, and Perseus, and The Sawyers,and The Satyr Marvelling at the Flute and Athene, Competitors in the Five Boutsat Delphi, the All-round Fighters, the Heracles now in the house ofPompey the Great at the Circus Maximus.Erinna in her poems indicates that heeven made a memorial statue of a tree-cricket and a locust. He also made anApollo which was taken from the people of Ephesus byAntonius the Triumvir but restored tothem by his late lamented MajestyAugustusin obedience to a warning given him in a dream.Myron is the first sculptor who appears to have enlarged the scope ofrealism, having more rhythms in his art thanPolycleitus and being more careful in his proportions. Yet he himself sofar as surface configuration goes attained great finish, but he does not seemto have given expression to the feelings of the mind, and moreover he has nottreated the hair and the pubes with any more accuracy than had been achieved bythe rude work of olden days.

Myron was defeated by the ItalianPythagoras of Reggio with his All-roundFighter which stands at Delphi, with which he also defeatedLeontiscus;Pythagoras also did the runnerAstylos which is on show at Olympia;and, in the same place, the Libyan as a boy holding a tablet; and the nude ManHolding Apples, while at Syracuse there is his Lame Man, which actually makespeople looking at it feel a pain from his ulcer in their own leg, and alsoApollo shooting the Python with his Arrows, a Man a playing the Harp, that hasthe Greek name of The Honest Man given it because whenAlexander took Thebes a fugitivesuccessfully hid in its bosom a sum of gold.Pythagoras of Reggio was the first sculptor to show the sinews and veins,and to represent the hair more carefully.

There was also anotherPythagoras, aSamian, who began as a painter; his seven nude statues now at the templeof Today's Fortune and one of an old man are highly spoken of. He is recorded tohave resembled the above mentionedPythagorasso closely that even their features were indistinguishable; but we are toldthat Sostratus was a pupil ofPythagoras of Reggio and a son of thisPythagoras' sister.

Lysippus of Sicyon is said byDuris not to have been the pupilof anybody, but to have been originally a copper-smith and to have first gotthe idea of venturing on sculpture from the reply given by the painter Eupompus when asked which of hispredecessors he took for his model; he pointed to a crowd of people and saidthat it was Nature herself, not an artist, whom one ought to imitate.Lysippus as we have said was a mostprolific artist and made more statues than any other sculptor, among them theMan using a Body-scraper whichMarcus Agrippa gave to be set up in front of his Warm Baths and of whichthe emperorTiberius was remarkablyfond.Tiberius, although at thebeginning of his principate he kept some control of himself, in this case couldnot resist the temptation, and had the statue removed to his bedchamber,putting another one in its place at the baths; but the public were soobstinately opposed to this that they raised an outcry at the theatre, shouting'Give us back the Apoxyomenos'Man using a Body-scraperand the Emperor,although he had fallen quite in love with the statue, had to restore it. Lysippus is also famous for his TipsyGirl playing the Flute, and his Hounds and Huntsmen in Pursuit of Game, but mostof all for his Chariot with the Sun belonging to Rhodes. He also executed aseries of statues ofAlexander the Great,beginning with one in [356-323 BC]Alexander'sboyhood. The emperorNero was sodelighted by this statue of the youngAlexanderthat he ordered it to be gilt; but this addition to its money value sodiminished its artistic attraction that afterwards the gold was removed, and inthat condition the statue was considered yet more valuable, even though stillretaining scars from the work done on it and incisions in which the gold hadbeen fastened. The same sculptor didAlexanderthe Great's friendHephaestio, astatue which some people ascribe toPolycleitus,although his date is about a hundred years earlier; and also Alexander's Hunt,dedicated at Delphi, a Satyr now at Atheus, and Alexander's Squadron of Horse,in which the sculptor introduced portraits of Alexander's friends consummatelylifelike in every ease. After the conquest of Macedonia this was removed toRome byMetellus; he also executedFour-horse Chariots of various kinds.Lysippusis said to have contributed greatly to the art of bronze statuary byrepresenting the details of the hair and by making his heads smaller than theold sculptors used to do, and his bodies more slender and firm, to give hisstatues the appearance of greater height. He scrupulously preserved the qualityof `symmetry' (for which there is no word in Latin) by the new and hithertountried method of modifying the squareness of the figure of the old sculptors,and he used commonly to say that whereas his predecessors had made men as theyreally were, he made them as they appeared to be. A peculiarity of thissculptor's work seems to be the minute finish maintained in even the smallestdetails.

Lysippus left three sons who were hispupils, the celebrated artistsLaippus,Boddas andEuthycrates, the last pre-eminent,although he copied the harmony rather than the elegance of his father,preferring to win favour in the severely correct more than in the agreeablestyle. Accordingly his Heracles, at Delphi, and his Alexander Hunting, atThespiae, his group of Thespiades, and his Cavalry in Action are works ofextreme finish, and so are his statue ofTrophonius at the oracular shrine of that deity, a number of Four-horseChariots, a Horse with Baskets and a Pack of Hounds. MoreoverTisicrates, another native ofSicyon, was a pupil ofEuthycrates, butcloser to the school ofLysippusindeedmany of his statues cannot be distinguished from Lysippus's work, for instance his OldMan of Thebes, his KingDemetrius(Pohorcetes), and hisPeucestes, the manwho saved the life ofAlexander the Great andso deserved the honour of this commemoration.

Artists who have composed treatises recording these matters speak withmarvellously high praise ofTelephanesof Phocis, who is otherwise unknown, since he lived at ... in Thessaly wherehis works have remained in concealment, although these writers' own testimonyputs him on a level with Polycleitus,Myron andPythagoras. They praise his Larisa, hisSpintharus the Five-bout Champion, and his Apollo. Others however are of opinionthat the cause of his lack of celebrity is not the reason mentioned but hishaving devoted himself entirely to the studios established by KingXerxes and KingDarius.

Praxiteles although more successful andtherefore more celebrated in marble, nevertheless also made some very beautifulworks in bronze: the Rape of Persephone, also The Girl Spinning and a FatherLiber or Dionysus, with a figure of Drunkenness and also the famous Satyr, knownby the Greek title Peribostos meaning 'Celebrated,' and the statues that used tobe in front of the Temple of Happiness, and the Aphrodite, which was destroyedby fire when the temple of that goddess was burnt down in the reign ofClaudius, and which rivalled the famousAphrodite, in marble, that is known all over the world; also A Woman Bestowing aWreath, A Woman Putting a Bracelet on her Arm, Autumn, Harmodius andAristogeiton who slew the tyrant the last piece carried off byXerxes King of the Persians but restoredto the Athenians byAlexander [331 BC]the Great after his conquest of Persia.Praxiteles also made a youthful Apollo called in Greek the Lizard-Slayer because he is waiting with an arrow for a lizard creeping towards him. Also twoof his statues expressing opposite emotions are admired, his Matron Weeping andhis Merry Courtesan. The latter is believed to have been Phryne and connoisseursdetect in the figure the artist's love of her and the reward promised him by theexpression on the courtesan's face. The kindness also ofPraxiteles is represented in sculpture,as in the Chariot and Four of Calamis he contributed the charioteer, inorder that the sculptor might not be thought to have failed in the human figurealthough more successful in representing horses. Calamis himself also made otherchariots, some with four horses and some with two, and in executing the horseshe is invariably unrivalled: butthat it may not be supposed that he wasinferior in his human figureshis Alcmena is as famous as that of any othersculptor.

Alcamenes a pupil ofPheidias made marble figures, andalso in bronze a Winner of the Five Bouts, known by the Greek term meaningHighly Commended, but Polycleitus'spupilAristides made four-horse andpair-horse chariots.Amphicrates ispraised for hisLeaena; she was aharlot, admitted to the friendship ofHarmodiusandAristogeiton because of her skill asa harpist, who though put to the torture by the tyrants till she died refused tobetray their plot to assassinate them. Consequently the Athenians wishing to doher honour and yet unwilling to have made a harlot famous, had a statue made ofa lioness, as that was her name, and to indicate the reason for the honour paidher instructed the artist to represent the animal as having no tongue.

Bryaxis made statues ofAsclepius andSeleucus, Boedas a Man Praying, Baton anApollo and a Hera, both now in the Temple of Concord at Rome.Cresilas did a Man Fainting fromWounds, the expression of which indicates how little life remains, and theOlympian Pericles, a figure worthy of its title; indeed it is a marvellous thingabout the art of sculpture that it has added celebrity to men alreadycelebrated.Cephisodorus made thewonderful Athene at the harbour of Athens and the almost unrivalled altar atthe temple of Zeus the Deliverer at the same harbour,Canachus the naked Apollo, surnamedPhilesius, at Didyma, made of bronzecompounded at Aegina; and with it he made a stag so lightly poised in itsfootprints as to allow of a thread being passed underneath its feet, the 'heel'and the 'toes' holding to the base with alternate contacts, the whole hoof beingso jointed in either part that it springs back from the impact. He also made aBoys Riding on Racehorses. Chaereas didAlexander the Great and his fatherPhilip,Ctesilaus a Man with a Spear and a Wounded Amazon,DemetriusLysimache who was a priestess of Athenefor 64 years, and also the Athene called the Murmuring Athenethe dragons on her Gorgon's head sound with a tinkling note when a harp is struck; he likewise didthe mounted statue ofSimon who wrotethe first treatise on horsemanship.Daedalus(also famous as a modeller in clay) made Two Boys using a Body-Scraper, andDinomenes did a Protesilaus and thewrestlerPythodemus. The statue of AlexanderParis is byEuphranor; it ispraised because it conveys all the characteristics of Paris in combinationthejudge of the goddesses, the lover ofHelenand yet the slayer of Achilles. The Athene, called at Rome the Catuliana, whichstands below the Capitol and was dedicated byQuintusLutatius Catulus, isEuphranor's, and so is the figure ofSuccess, holding a dish in the right hand and in the left an ear of corn andsome poppies, and also in the temple of Concord a Leto as Nursing Mother, withthe infants Apollo and Artemis in her arms. He also made four-horse andtwo-horse chariots, and an exceptionally beautiful Lady with the Keys,and two colossal statues, one of Virtue and one of Greece, a WomanWondering and Worshipping, and also anAlexander and aPhilip infour-horse chariots.Eutychides did aEurotas, in which it has frequently been said that the work of the artist seemsclearer than the water of the real river. The Athene and the KingPyrrhus of Hegias are praised, and hisBoys Riding on Racehorses, and his Castor and Pollux that stand before thetemple of Jupiter the Thunderer; and so areHagesias's Heracles in our colony of Parium, andIsidotus's Man Sacrificing an Ox.Lycius who was a pupil ofMyron did a Boy Blowing a Dying Firethat is worthy of his instructor, also a group of the Argonauts;Leochares an Eagle carrying off Ganymedein which the bird is aware of what his burden is and for whom he is carrying it,and is careful not to let his claws hurt the boy even through his clothes, andAutolycus Winner of the All-round Bout,being also the athlete in whose honourXenophonwrote hisBanquet and the famousZeus the Thunderer now on the Capitol, of quite unrivalled merit, also an Apollocrowned with a Diadem; alsoLyciscus,the Slave-dealer, and a Boy, with the crafty cringing look of a householdslave. Lycius also did a Boy BurningPerfumes. There is a Bull-calf byMenaechmus,on which a man is pressing his knee as he bends its neck back;Menaechmus has written a treatise abouthis own work. The reputation ofNaucydesrests on his Hermes and Man throwing a Disc and Man Sacrificing a Ram, that of Naucerus on his Wrestler Winded, that ofNiceratus on his Asclepius and hisGoddess of Health, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome.Pyromachus has anAlcibiades Driving a Chariot and Four;Polycles made a famous Hermaphrodite,Pyrrhus, a Goddess of Health and Athene,Phanis, who was a pupil ofLysippus, a Woman Sacrificing.Styppax of Cyprus is known for a singlestatue, his Man Cooking Tripe, which represented a domestic slave of theOlympianPericles roasting inwards andpuffing out his cheeks as he kindles the fire with his breath;Silanion cast a metal figure ofApollodorus, who was himself a modeller,and indeed one of quite unrivalled devotion to the art and a severe critic ofhis own work, who often broke his statues in pieces after he had finished them,his intense passion for his art making him unable to be satisfied, andconsequently he was given the surname of the Madmanthis quality he brought outin his statue, the Madman, which represented in bronze not a human being butanger personified. Silanion also made afamous Achilles, and also a Superintendent Exercising Athletes;Strongylion made an Amazon, which fromthe remarkable beauty of the legs is called theEucnemon, and which consequently the emperorNero caused to be carried in his retinueon his journeys. The same sculptor made the figure rendered famous byBrutus under the name of Brutus's Boybecause it represented a favourite of the hero of the battles at Philippi.Theodorus, who constructed the Labyrinthat Samos, cast a statue of himself in bronze. Besides its remarkable celebrityas a likeness, it is famous for its very minute workmanship; the right handholds a file, and three fingers of the left hand originally held a little modelof a chariot and four, but this has been taken away to Palestrina as a marvel ofsmallness: if the team were reproduced in a picture with the chariot and thecharioteer, the model of a fly, which was made by the artist at the same time,would cover it with its wings.Xenocrates,who was a pupil ofTisicrates, or byother accounts ofEuthycrates, surpassedboth of the last mentioned in the number of his statues; and he also wrote booksabout his art.

Several artists have represented the battles ofAttalus andEumenes against theGauls,Isigonus, Pyromachus, Stratonicus andAntigonus, who wrote books about his art.Boethus did a Child Strangling a Gooseby hugging it, although he is better in silver. And among the list of works Ihave referred to all the most celebrated have now been dedicated by the emperorVespasian in the Temple of Peace and his[AD. 75] other public buildings; they had been looted byNero, who conveyed them all to Rome andarranged them in the sitting-rooms of his Golden Mansion.

Besides these, artists on the same level of merit but of no outstandingexcellence in any of their works are:Ariston,who often also practised chasing silver,Callides,Ctesias, Cantharus ofSicyon,Dionysius, Diodorus the pupil ofCritias,Deliades, Euphorion, Eunicus and Hecataeusthe silver chasers,Lesbocles, Prodorus,Pythodieus, Polygnotus, who was also one of the most famous amongpainters, similarlyStratonicus amongchasers, andCritias's pupilScymnus.

I will now run through the artists who have made works of the same class, suchasApollodorus, Androbulus andAsclepiodorus,Aleuas, who have done philosophers, andApellas also women donning theirornaments, andAntignotus also Man usinga Body-scraper and the Men that Slew the Tyrant, above-mentioned,Antimachus,Athenodorus who made splendid figures ofwomen,Aristodemus who also didWrestlers, and Chariot and Pair with Driver, figures of philosophers, of oldwomen, and KingSeleucus;Aristodemus's Man holding Spear is alsopopular. There were two artists namedCephisodotus; the Hermes Nursing Father Liber or Dionysos when an Infantbelongs to the elder, who also did a Man Haranguing with Hand Upliftedwhom itrepresents is uncertain. The later Cephisodotusdid philosophers.Colotes who hadco-operated withPheidias in theOlympian Zeus made statues of philosophers, as also didCleon andCenchramis andCailicles andCepis;Chalcosthenes also did actors in comedy and athletes;Daippus a Man using a Scraper;Daiphron,Damocritus andDaemon statues of philosophers.Epigonus, who copied others in almostall the subjects already mentioned, took the lead with his Trumpet-player andhis Weeping Infant pitifully caressing its Murdered Mother. Praise is given toEubulus's Woman in Admiration and toEubulide's Person Counting on theFingers. Micon is noticed for hisathletes andMenogenes for his chariotsand four.Niceratus, who likewiseattempted all the subjects employed by any other sculptor, did a statue ofAlcibiades and one of his motherDemarate, represented as performing asacrifice by torch-light. Tisicrates dida pair-horse chariot in whichPistonafterwards placed a woman; the latter also made an Ares and a Hermes now in theTemple of Concord at Rome. No one should praisePerillus, who was more cruel than the tyrantPhalaris, for whom he made a bull,guaranteeing that if a man were shut up inside it and a fire lit underneath theman would do the bellowing; and he was himself the first to experience thistorturea cruelty more just than the one he proposed. Such were the depths towhich the sculptor had diverted this most humane of arts from images of gods andmen! All the founders of the art had only toiled so that it should be employedfor making implements of torture! Consequently this sculptor's works arepreserved for one purpose only, so that whoever sees them may hate the handsthat made them. Sthennis did a Demeter,a Zeus and an Athene that are in the Temple of Concord at Rome, and also WeepingMatrons and Matrons at Prayer and Offering a Sacrifice.Simon made a Dog and an Archer, thefamous engraver Stratonicus somephilosophers and each of these artists made figures of hostesses of inns. Thefollowing have made figures of athletes, armed men, hunters and men offeringsacrifice:Baton, Euchir, Glaucides,Heliodorus, Hicanus, Jophon, Lyson, Leon, Menodorus, Myagrus, Polycrates,Polyidus, Pythocritus, Protogenes (who was also, as we shall say later,one of the most famous painters),Patrocles,Pollis and Posidonius (the last also a distinguished silver chaser,native of Ephesus),Periclymenus, Philo,Symenus, Timotheus, Theomnestus, Tiniarchides, Timon, Tisias, Thraso.

But of allCallimachus is the mostremarkable, because of the surname attached to him: he was always unfairlycritical of his own work, and was an artist of never-ending assiduity, andconsequently he was called the Niggler, and is a notable warning ofthe duty of observing moderation even in taking pains. To him belongs theLaconian Women Dancing, a very finished work but one in which assiduity hasdestroyed all charm.Callimachus isreported to have also been a painter.Catoin his expedition to Cyprus sold all the statues found there except one ofZeno; it was not the value of the bronzenor the artistic merit that attracted him, but its being the statue of aphilosopher: I mention this by the way, to introduce this distinguished instancealso.

In mentioning statuesthere is also one we must not pass over in spite of thesculptor's not being knownthe figure, next to the Beaked Platform, of Heraclesin the Tunic, the only one in Rome that shows him in that dress; the countenanceis stern and the statue expresses the feeling of the final agony of the tunic.On this statue there are three inscriptions, one stating that it had been partof the booty taken by the general LuciusLucullus, and another saying that it was dedicated, in pursuance of adecree of the Senate, byLucullus's sonwhile still a ward, and the third, thatTitusSeptimius Sabinus ascurule sedile had caused it to be restored to thepublic from private ownership. So many were the rivalries connected with thisstatue and so highly was it valued.

XX. But we will now turn our attention particularly to the various formsof copper, and its blends. In the case of the copper of Cyprus 'chaplet copper'is made into thin leaves, and when dyed with ox-gall gives the appearance ofgilding on theatrical property coronets; and the same material mixed with goldin the proportion of six scruples of gold to the ounce makes a very thin platecalled pyropus, 'fire-coloured' and acquires the colour of fire. Bar copper alsois produced in other mines, and likewise fused copper. The difference betweenthem is that the latter can only be fused, as it breaks under the hammer,whereas bar copper, otherwise called ductile copper, is malleable, which is thecase with all Cyprus copper. But also in the other mines, this difference of barcopper from fused copper is produced by treatment; for all copper afterimpurities have been rather carefully removed by fire and melted out of itbecomes bar copper. Among the remaining kinds of copper the palm goes to bronzeof Campania, which is most esteemed for utensils. There are several ways ofpreparing it. At Capua it is smelted in a fire of wood, not of charcoal, andthen poured into cold water and cleaned in a sieve made of oak, and this processof smelting is repeated several times, at the last stage Spanish silver leadbeing added to it in the proportion of ten pounds to one hundred pounds ofcopper: this treatment renders it pliable and gives it an agreeable colour of akind imparted to other sorts of copper and bronze by means of oil and salt.Bronze resembling the Gampanian is produced in many parts of Italy and theprovinces, but there they add only eight pounds of lead, and do additionalsmelting with charcoal because of their shortage of wood. The differenceproduced by this is noticed specially in Gaul, where the metal is smeltedbetween stones heated red hot, as this roasting scorches it and renders it blackand friable. Moreover they only smelt it again once whereas to repeat thisseveral times contributes a great deal to the quality. It is also not out ofplace to notice that all copper and bronze fuses better in very cold weather.

The proper blend for making statues is as follows, and the same for tablets: atthe outset the ore is melted, and then there is added to the melted metal athird part of scrap copper, that is copper or bronze that has been bought upafter use. This contains a peculiar seasoned quality of brilliance that has beensubdued by friction and so to speak tamed by habitual use. Silver-lead is alsomixed with it in the proportion of twelve and a half pounds to every hundredpounds of the fused metal. There is also in addition what is called themould-blend of bronze of a very delicate consistency, because a tenthpart of black lead is added and a twentieth of silver-lead; and this is the bestway to give it the colour called Grircanic after the Greek. The last kind isthat called pot-bronze, taking its name from the vessels made of it; it is ablend of three or four pounds of silver-lead with every hundred pounds ofcopper. The addition of lead to Cyprus copper produces the purple colourseen in the bordered robes of statues.

XXI. Things made of copper or bronze getcovered with copper-rust more quickly when they are kept rubbed clean than whenthey are neglected, unless they are well greased with oil. It is said that thebest way of preserving them is to give them a coating of liquid vegetable pitch.The employment of bronze was a long time ago applied to securing the perpetuityof monuments, by means of bronze tablets on which records of official enactmentsare made.

XXII. Copper ores and mines supply medicaments in a variety of ways:inasmuch as in their neighbourhood all kinds of ulcers are healed with thegreatest rapidity; yet the most beneficial is cadmea. This is certainlyalso produced in furnaces where silver is smelted, this kind being whiter andnot so heavy, but it is by no means to be compared with that from copper. Thereare however several varieties; for while the mineral itself fromwhich the metal is made is calledcadmea, which is necessary for thefusing process but is of no use for medicine, so again another kind is found infurnaces, which is given a name indicating its origin. It is produced by thethinnest part of the substance being separated out by the flames and the blastand becoming attached in proportion to its degree of lightness to theroof-chambers and side-walls of the furnaces, the thinnest being at the verymouth of the furnace, which the flames have belched out; it is called 'smoky cadmea' from its burnt appearance and because it resembles hot whiteash in its extreme lightness. The part inside is best, hanging from the vaultsof the roof-chamber, and this consequently is designated 'grape-cluster cadmea,' this is heavier than the preceding kind but lighter than those thatfollowit is of two colours, the inferior kind being the colour of ash and thebetter the colour of pumiceand it is friable, and extremely useful for making medicaments for the eyes. A third sort is deposited on the sides of furnaces, not having been able to reach the vaults because of its weight; this is called in Greek 'plaeitis,' 'caked residue,' in this case by reason of its flatness, asit is more of a crust than pumice, and is mottled inside; it is more useful foritch-scabs and for making wounds draw together into a scar. Of this kind areformed two other varieties, onychitis which is almost blue outside but insidelike the spots of an onyx or layered quartz, and ostracitis shell-like residuewhich is all black and the dirtiest of any of the kinds; this is extremelyuseful for wounds. All kinds of cadmea (the best coming from the furnacesof Cyprus) for use in medicine are heated again on a fire of pure charcoal and,when it has been reduced to ash, if being prepared for plasters it is quenchedwith Amminean wine, but if intended for itch-scabs with vinegar. Some peoplepound it and then burn it in earthenware pots, wash it in mortars and afterwardsdry it.Nymphodorus's process is to burnon hot coals the most heavy dense piece of cadmea that can be obtained,and when it is thoroughly burnt to quench it with Chian wine, and pound it, andthen to sift it through a linen cloth and grind it in a mortar, and thenmacerate it in rainwater and again grind the sediment that sinks to the bottomtill it becomes like white lead and offers no grittiness to the teeth. Iollas' method is the same, but heselects the purest specimens of native cadmea.

XXIII. The effect of cadmea is to dry moisture, to heal lesions,to stop discharges, to cleanse inflamed swellings and foul sores in the eyes, toremove eruptions, and to do everything that we shall specify in dealing with theeffect of lead.

Copper itself is roasted to use for all the samepurposes and for white-spots and scars in the eyes besides, and mixed with milkit also heals ulcers in the eyes; and consequently people in Egypt make a kindof eye-salve by grinding it in small mortars. Taken with honey it also acts asan emetic, but for this Cyprian copper with an equal weight of sulphur isroasted in pots of unbaked earthenware, the mouth of the vessels being smearedround with oil; and then left in the furnace till the vessels themselves arecompletely baked. Certain persons also add salt, and some use alum instead ofsulphur, while others add nothing at all, but only sprinkle the copper withvinegar. When burnt it is pounded in a mortar of Theban stone, washed withrainwater, and then again pounded with the addition of a larger quantity ofwater, and left till it settles, and this process is repeated several times,till it is reduced to the appearance of cinnabar; then it is dried in the sunand put to keep in a copper box.

XXIV. The slag of copper is also washed in the same way, but it is lessefficacious than copper itself. The flower of copper also is useful as amedicine. It is made by fusing copper and then transferring it to otherfurnaces, where a faster use of the bellows makes the metal give off layers likescales of millet, which are called the flower. Also when the sheets of copperare cooled off in water they shed off other scales of copper of a similar redhuethis scale is called by the Greek word meaning husk and by this process theflower is adulterated, so that the scale is sold as a substitute for itthegenuine flower is a scale of copper forcibly knocked off with bolts into whichare welded cakes of the metal, specially in the factories of Cyprus. Thewhole difference is that the scale is detached from the cakes by successivehammerings, whereas the flower falls off of its own accord. This another finerkind of scale, the one knocked off from the down-like surface of the metal, the name for which is 'stomoma.'

XXV. But of all these facts the doctors, ifthey will permit me to say so, are ignorantthey are governed by names: sodetached they are from the process of making up drugs, which used to be thespecial business of the medical profession. Nowadays whenever they come onbooks of prescriptions, wanting to make up some medicines out of them, whichmeans to make trial of the ingredients in the prescriptions at the expense oftheir unhappy patients, they rely on the fashionable druggists' shops whichspoil everything with fraudulent adulterations, and for a long time they havebeen buying plasters and eye-salves ready made; and thus is deteriorated rubbishof commodities and the fraud of the druggists' trade put on show.

Both scale however and flower of copper are burnt in earthenware or copper pansand then washed, as described above, to be applied to the same purposes; thescale also in addition removes fleshy troubles in the nostrils and also in theanus and dullness of hearing if forcibly blown into the ears through a tube,and, when applied in the form of powder, removes swellings of the uvula, and,mixed with honey, swellings of the tonsils. There is a scale from white copperthat is far less efficacious than the scale from Cyprus; and moreover somepeople steep the bolts and cakes of copper beforehand in a boy's urine when theyare going to detach the scale, and pound them and wash them with rainwater. Itis also given to dropsical patients in doses of two drains in half a sextariusof honey-wine; and mixed with fine flour it is applied as a liniment.

XXVI. Great use is also made of verdigris. There are several waysof making it; it is scraped off the stone from which copper is smelted, or bydrilling holes in white copper and hanging it up in casks over strongvinegar which is stopped with a lid; the verdigris is of much better quality ifthe same process is performed with scales of copper. Some people put the actualvessels, made of white copper, into vinegar in earthenware jars, and nine dayslater scrape them. Others cover the vessels with grape-skins and scrape themafter the same interval, others sprinkle copper filings with vinegar and severaltimes a day turn them over with spattles till the copper is completelydissolved. Others prefer to grind copper filings mixed with vinegar in coppermortars. But the quickest result is obtained by adding to the vinegar shavingsof coronet copper. Rhodian verdigris is adulterated chiefly with pounded marble,though others use pumice-stone or gum. But the adulteration of verdigris that isthe most difficult to detect is done with shoemakers' black, the otheradulterations being detected by the teeth as they crackle when chewed. Verdigriscan be tested on a hot fire-shovel, as a specimen that is pure keeps its colour,but what is mixed with shoemakers' black turns red. It is also detected by meansof papyrus previously steeped in an infusion of plant-gall, as this when smearedwith genuine verdigris at once turns black. It can also be detected by the eye,as it has an evil green colour. But whether pure or adulterated, the best way isto wash it and when it is dry to burn it on a new pan and keep turning it overtill it becomes glowing ashes; and afterwards it is crushed and put away instore. Some people burn it in raw earthenware vessels till the earthenware isbaked through; some mix in also some male frankincense. Verdigris is washed inthe same way as cadmea. Its powerfulness is very well suited foreye-salves and its mordant action makes it able to produce watering at the eyes;but it is essential to wash it off with swabs and hot water till its bite ceasesto be felt.

XXVII. Hierax's Salve is the name given to an eye-salve chiefly composedof verdigris. It is made by mixing together four ounces of gum of Hammon, two ofGyprian verdigris, two of the copperas called flower of copper, one of misyand six of saffron; all these ingredients are pounded in Thasian vinegar andmade up into pills, that are an outstanding specific against incipient glaucomaand cataract, and also against films on the eyes or roughnesses and whiteulcerations in the eye and affections of the eyelids. Verdigris in a crude stateis used as an ingredient in plasters for wounds also. In combination with oilit is a marvellous cure for ulcerations of the mouth and gums and for sore lips,and if wax is also added to the mixture it cleanses them and makes themform a cicatrix. Verdigris also eats away the callosity of fistulas and of soresround the anus, either applied by itself or with gum of Ilammon, orinserted into the fistula in the manner of a salve. Verdigris kneaded up with athird part of turpentine also removes leprosy.

XXVIII. There is also another kind of verdigris called from the Greekworm-like verdigris, made by grinding up in a mortar of true cyprian copper witha pestle of the same metal equal weights of alum and salt or soda with the verystrongest white vinegar. This preparation is only made on the very hottest daysof the year, about the rising of the Dog-star. The mixture is ground up until itbecomes of a green colour and shrivels into what looks like a cluster of smallworms, whence its name. To remedy any that is blemished, the urine of a youngboy to twice the quantity of vinegar that was used is added to the mixture. Usedas a drug, worm-verdigris has the same effect as santerna which we spoke of asused for soldering gold; both of them have the same properties as verdigris.Native worm-verdigris is also obtained by scraping a copper ore of which weshall now speak.

XXIX. Chalcitis, copper-stone, is the name of an ore, that from which copper also, besides cadmea, is obtained by smelting. It differsfrom cadmea because the latter is quarried above ground, from rocksexposed to the air, whereas chalcitis is obtained from underground beds, andalso because chalcitis becomes immediately friable, being of a soft nature, soas to have the appearance of congealed down. There is also another difference inthat chalcitis contains three kinds of mineral, copper, and sori, each ofwhich we shall describe in its place; and the veins of copper in it areof an oblong shape.

The approved variety of chalcitis is honey coloured, and streaked with fineveins, and is friable and not stony. It is also thought to be more useful whenfresh, as when old it turns into sori. It is used for growths in ulcers,for arresting haemorrhage and, in the form of a powder, for acting as anastringent on the gums, uvula and tonsils. and, applied in wool, as a pessaryfor affections of the uterus, while with leek juice it is employed in plastersfor the genitals. It is steeped for forty days in vinegar in an earthenwarejar, covered with dung, and then assumes the colour of saffron; then an equalweight of cadmea is mixed with it and this produces the drug calledpsoricon or cure for itch. If two parts of chalcitis are mixed with one ofcadmea this makes a stronger form of the same drug, and moreover it is moreviolent if it is mixed in vinegar than if in wine; and when roasted it becomesmore effective for all the same purposes.

XXX. Egyptian sori is most highly commended, being farsuperior to that of Cyprus and Spain and Africa, although some people think thatCyprus son is more useful for treatment of the eyes; but whatever its provenancethe best is that which has the most pungent odour, and which when ground uptakes a greasy, black colour and becomes spongy. It is a substance that goesagainst the stomach so violently that with some people the mere smell of itcauses vomiting. This is a description of the sori of Egypt. That fromother sources when ground up turns a bright colour like adsy, and it is harder;however, if it is held in the cavities and used plentifully as a mouthwash itis good for toothache and for serious and creeping ulcers of the mouth. It isburnt on charcoal, like chalcitis.

XXXI. Some people have reported that misy is made by burningmineral in trenches, its fine yellow powder mixing itself with the ash of thepine wood burnt; but as a matter of fact though got from the mineral abovementioned, it is part of its substance and separated from it by force, the bestkind being obtained in the copper-factories of Cyprus, its marks being that whenbroken it sparkles like gold and when it is ground it has a sandy appearance,without earth, unlike chalcitis. A mixture of misy is employed in themagical purification of gold. Mixed with oil of roses it makes a useful infusionfor suppurating ears and applied on wool a serviceable plaster for ulcers of thehead. It also reduces chronic roughness of the eyelids, and is especially usefulfor the tonsils and against quinsy and suppurations. The method is to boil 16drains of it in a twelfth of a pint of vinegar with honey added till it becomesof a viscous consistency: this makes a useful preparation for the purposes abovementioned. When it is necessary to make it softer, honey is sprinkled on it. Italso removes the callosity of fistulous ulcers when the patients use it withvinegar as a fomentation; and it is used as an ingredient in eye-salves, arrestshaemorrhage and creeping or putrid ulcers, and reduces fleshy excrescences. Itis particularly useful for troubles in the sexual organs in the male, and itchecks menstruation.

XXXII. The Greeks by their name for shoemakers'-black have made out anaffinity between it and copper: they call it chalcanthon, 'flower ofcopper'; and there is no substance that has an equally remarkable nature. Itoccurs in Spain in wells or pools that contain that sort of water. This water isboiled with an equal quantity of pure water and poured into wooden tanks. Overthese are firmly fixed cross-beams from which hang cords held taut by stones,and the kind clinging to the cords in a cluster of glassy drops has somewhat theappearance of a bunch of grapes. It is taken off and then left for thirty daysto dry. Its colour is an extremely brilliant blue, and it is often taken forglass; when dissolved it makes a black dye used for colouring leather. It isalso made in several other ways: earth of the kind indicated is hollowed intotrenches, droppings from the sides of which form icicles in a winter frost whichare called drop-flower of copper, and this is the purest kind. Bat some of it,violet with a touch of white, is called lonchotoa, 'lance-headed.' It is alsomade in pans hollowed in the rocks, into which the slime is carried byrainwater and freezes, and it also forms in the same way as salt when very hotsunshine evaporates the fresh water let in with it. Consequently some peopledistinguish in twofold fashion between the mined flower of copper and themanufactured, the latter paler than the former and as much inferior in qualityas in colour. That which comes from Cyprus is most highly approved for medicalemployment. It is taken to remove intestinal worms, the dose being one drammixed with honey. Diluted and injected as drops into the nostrils it clears thehead, and likewise taken with honey or honey-water it purges the stomach. It isgiven as a medicine for roughness of the eyes, pain and mistiness in the eyes,and ulceration of the mouth. It stops bleeding from the nostrils, and alsohaemorrhoidal bleeding. Mixed with henbane seed it draws out splinters of brokenbones; applied to the forehead with a swab it arrests running of the eyes; alsoused in plasters it is efficacious for cleansing wounds and gatherings ofulcers. A mere touch of a decoction of it removes swellings of the uvula, and itis laid with linseed on plasters used for relieving pains. The whitish part ofit is preferred to the violet kinds for one purpose, that of being blown throughtubes into the ears to relieve ear-trouble. Applied by itself as a liniment itheals wounds, but it leaves a discoloration in the scats. There has lately beendiscovered a plan of sprinkling it on the mouths of bears and lions in thearena, and its astringent action is so powerful that they are unable to bite.

XXXIII. The substances called by Greek names meaning 'bubble'and 'ash' are also found in the furnaces of copper works. The differencebetween them is that bubble is disengaged by washing but ash is not washed out.Some people have given the name of 'bubble' to the substance that is white andvery light in weight, and have said that it is the ashes of copper and cadmea, but that ash is darker and heavier, being scraped off the walls offurnaces, mixed with sparks from the ore and sometimes also with charcoal. Thismaterial when vinegar is applied to it gives off a smell of copper, and iftouched with the tongue has a horrible taste. It is a suitable ingredient foreye medicines, remedying all troubles whatever, and for all the purposes forwhich 'ash' is used; its only difference is that its action is less violent. Itis also used as an ingredient for plasters employed to produce a gentle coolingand drying effect. It is more efficacious for all purposes when it is moistenedwith whie.

XXXIV. Cyprus ash is the best. It is produced when cadmea andcopper ore are melted. The ash in question is the lightest part of the wholesubstance produced by blasting, and it flies out of the furnaces and adheres tothe roof, being distinguished from soot by its white colour. Such part of it asis less white is an indication of inadequate firing; it is this that some peoplecall 'bubble.' But the redder part selected from it has a keener force, and isso corrosive that if while it is being washed it touches the eyes it causesblindness. There is also an ash of the colour of honey, which is understood toindicate that it contains a large amount of copper. But any kind is made moreserviceable by washing; it is first purified with a strainer of cloth and thengiven a more substantial washing, and the rough portions are picked out by thefingers. When it is washed with wine it is particularly powerful. There is alsosome difference in the kind of wine used, as when it is washed with weak wine itis thought to be less serviceable for eye-salves, and at the same time moreefficacious for running ulcers or for ulcers of the mouth that are always wetand more useful for all the antidotes for gangrene. An ash called Lanriotis isalso produced in furnaces in which silver is smelted; but the kind said to bemost serviceable for the eyes is that which is formed in smelting gold. Nor isthere any other department in which the ingenuities of life are more to beadmired, inasmuch as to avoid the need of searching for metals experience hasdevised the same utilities by means of the commonest things.

XXXV. The substance called in Greekantispodos substitute ash is the ashof the leaves of the fig-tree or wild fig or myrtle together with the tenderestparts of the branches, or of the wild olive or cultivated olive or quince ormastic and also ash obtained from unripe, that is still pale, mulberries, driedin the sun, or from the foliage of the box or mock-gladiolus, or bramble orturpentine-tree or cenanthe. The same virtues have also been found in the ash ofbull-glue or of linen fabrics. All of these are burnt in a pot of raw earthheated in a furnace until the earthenware is thoroughly baked.

XXXVI. Also 'smegma' is made in copper forges by adding additionalcharcoal when the copper has already been melted, and thoroughly fused, andgradually kindling it; and suddenly when a stronger blast is applied a sort ofchaff of copper spurts out. The floor on which it is received ought to be strewnwith charcoal-dust.

XXXVII. Distinguished from smegma is the substance in the sameforges called by the Greeks diphryx, from its being twice roasted. It comes fromthree different sources. It is said to be obtained from a mineral pyrites whichis heated in furnaces till it is smelted into a red earth. It is also made inCyprus from mud obtained from a certain cavern, which is first dried and thengradually has burning brushwood put round it. A third way of producing it isfrom the residue that falls to the bottom in copper furnaces; the difference isthat the copper itself runs down into crucibles and the slag forms outside thefurnace and the flower floats on the top, but the supplies of diphryx remainbehind. Some people say that certain globules of stone that is being smelted inthe furnaces become soldered together and round this the copper gets red hot,but the stone itself is not fused unless it is transferred into other furnaces,and that it is a sort of kernel of the substance, and that what is calleddiphryx is the residue left from the smelting. Its use in medicine is similar tothat of the substances already described; to dry up moisture and removeexcrescent growths and act as a detergent. It can be tested by thetonguecontact with it ought immediately to have a parching effect and impart aflavour of copper.

XXXVIII. We will not omit one furtherremarkable thing about copper. The Servilian family, famous in our annals,possesses a bronze as piece which it feeds with gold and silver and whichconsumes them both. Its origin and nature are unknown to me, but I will putdown the actual words of the elder Messala on the subject. The family of theServilii has a holy coin to which every year they perform sacrifices with thegreatest devotion and splendour; and they say that this coin seems to have onsome occasions grown bigger and on other occasions smaller, and that thereby itportends either the advancement or the decadence of the family.

XXXIX. Next an account must be given of themines and ores of iron. Iron serves as the best and the worst part of theapparatus of life, inasmuch as with it we plough the ground, plant trees, trimthe trees that prop our vines, force the vines to renew their youth yearly byridding them of decrepit growth; with it we build houses and quarry rocks, andwe employ it for all other useful purposes, but we likewise use it for wars andslaughter and brigandage, and not only in hand-to-hand encounters but as awinged missile, now projected from catapults, now hurled by the arm, and nowactually equipped with feathery wings, which I deem the most criminal artificeof man's genius, inasmuch as to enable death to reach human beings more quicklywe have taught iron how to fly and have given wings to it. Let us thereforedebit the blame not to Nature, but to man. A number of attempts have been madeto enable iron to be innocent. We find it an express provision included in thetreaty granted by Porsena to the Romannation after the expulsion of the kings that they should only use iron forpurposes of agriculture; and our oldest authors have recorded that in those daysit was customary to write with a bone pen. There is extent an edict ofPompey the Great dated in his thirdconsulship at the time of the disorders accompanying the death ofClodius, prohibiting the possession ofany weapon in the city.

XL. Further, the art of former days did not fail to provide a more humanefunction even for iron. When the artist Aristonidas desired to represent the madness ofAthamas subsiding in repentance after hehad hurled his sonLearchus from therock, he made a blend of copper and iron, in order that the blush of shameshould be represented by rust of the iron shining through the brilliant surfaceof the copper; this statue is still standing at Rhodes. There is also in thesame city an iron figure of Heracles, which was made byAlcon, prompted by the endurancedisplayed by the god in his labours. We also see at Rome goblets of irondedicated in the temple of Mars the Avenger. The same benevolence of nature haslimited the power of iron itself by inflicting on it the penalty of rust, andthe same foresight by making nothing in the world more mortal than that which ismost hostile to mortality.

XLI. Deposits of iron are found almost everywhere, and they are formedeven now in the Italian island of Elba, and there is very little difficulty inrecognizing them as they are indicated by the actual colour of the earth. Themethod of melting out the veins is the same as in the case of copper. In Cappadocia alone it is merely a question whether the presence of iron is to becredited to water or to earth, as that region supplies iron from the furnaceswhen the earth has been flooded by the river Cerasus but not otherwise. Thereare numerous varieties of iron; the first difference depending on the kind ofsoil or of climatesome lands only yield a soft iron closely allied to lead,others a brittle and coppery kind that is specially to be avoided for therequirements of wheels and for nails, for which purpose the former quality issuitable; another variety of iron finds favour in short lengths and innails for soldiers' boots; another variety experiences rust more quickly. All ofthese are called stricturae, 'edging ores,' a term not used in the case of othermetals; it is, as assigned to these ores, derived fromstringereaciem,'to draw out a sharp edge.' There is also a great difference between smeltingworks, and a certain knurl of iron is smelted in them to give hardness to ablade, and by another process to giving solidity to anvils or the heads ofhammers. But the chief difference depends on the water in which at intervals thered hot metal is plunged; the water in some districts is more serviceable thanin others, and has made places famous for the celebrity of their iron, forinstance Bambola and Tarragona in Spain and Como in Italy, although there are noiron mines in those places. But of all varieties of iron the palm goes to theSeric, sent us by the Seres with their fabrics and skins. The second prize goesto Parthian iron; and indeed no other kinds of iron are forged from pore metal,as all the rest have a softer alloy welded with them. In our part of the world,in some places the lode supplies this good quality, as for instance in thecountry of the Norici, in other places it is due to the method of working, as atSulmona, and in others, as we have said, it is due to the water; inasmuch as forgiving an edge there is a great difference between oil whetstones and waterwhetstones, and a finer edge is produced by oil. It is the custom toquench smaller iron forgings with oil, for fear that water might harden them andmake them brittle. And it is remarkable that when a vein of ore is fused theiron becomes liquid like water and afterwards acquires a spongy andbrittle texture. Human blood takes its revenge from iron, as if iron has comeinto contact with it, it becomes the more quickly liable to rust.

XLII. We will speak in the appropriate place about the lodestoneand the sympathy which it has with iron. Iron is the only substance that catchesthe infection of that stone and retains it for a long period, taking hold ofother iron, so that we may sometimes see a chain of rings; the ignorant lowerclasses call this 'live iron,' and wounds inflicted with it are more severe.This sort of stone forms in Biscaya also not in a continuous rocky stratum likethe genuine lodestone alluded to but in a scattered pebbly formation or'bubbling'that is what they call it. I do not know whether it is equally usefulfor glass founding, as no one has hitherto tested it, but it certainly impartsthe same magnetic property to iron. The architect Timochares had begun to use lodestonefor constructing the vaulting in the Temple of Arsinoe at Alexandria, so thatthe iron statue contained in it might have the appearance of being suspended inmid air; but the project was interrupted by his own death and that ofKing Ptolemy who had ordered the work tobe done in honour of his sister.

XLIII. Iron ore is found in the greatest abundance of all metals. In thecoastal part of Biscaya washed by the Atlantic there is a very high mountainwhich, marvellous to relate, consists entirely of that mineral, as we stated inour account of the lands bordering on the Ocean.

Iron that has been heated by fire is spoiled unless it is hardened by blows ofthe hammer. It is not suitable for hammering while it is red hot, nor before itbegins to turn pale. If vinegar or alum is sprinkled on it it assumes theappearance of copper. It can be protected from rust by means of lead acetate, gypsum and vegetable pitch; rust is called by the Greeks 'antipathia,' naturalopposite to iron. It is indeed said that the same result may also be producedby a religious ceremony, and that in the city called Zeugma on the riverEuphrates there is an iron chain that was used byAlexander the Great in making the bridgeat that place, the links of which [331 BC] that are new replacements areattacked by rust although the original links are free from it.

XLIV. Iron supplies another medicinal service besides its use in surgery.It is beneficial both for adults and infants against noxious drugsfor a circle to be drawn round them with iron or for a pointed iron weapon to becarried round them; and to have a fence of nails that have been extracted fromtombs driven in in front of the threshold is a protection against attacks ofnightmare, and a light prick made with the point of a weapon with which a manhas been wounded is beneficial against sudden pains which bring a prickingsensation in the side and chest. Some maladies are cured by cauterization, butparticularly the bite of a mad dog, inasmuch as even when the disease is gettingthe upper hand and when the patients show symptoms of hydrophobia they arerelieved at once if the wound is cauterized. In many disorders, but especiallyin dysenteric cases, drinking water is heated with red-hot iron.

XLV. The list of remedies even includes rust itself, and this is the wayin which Achilles is stated to have cured Telephus, whether he did it by means ofa copper javelin or an iron one; at all events Achilles is so represented inpainting, knocking the rust off a javelin with his sword. Rust of iron isobtained by scraping it off old nails with an iron tool dipped in water. Theeffect of rust is to unite wounds and dry them and staunch them, and applied asa liniment it relieves fox-mange. They also use it with wax and oil of myrtlefor scabbiness of the eyelids and pimples in all parts of the body, but dippedin vinegar for erysipelas and also for scab, and, applied on pieces of cloth,for hangnails on the fingers and whitlows. Applied on wool it arrests women'sdischarges and for recent wounds it is useful diluted with wine and kneaded withmyrrh, and for swellings round the anus dipped in vinegar. Used as a liniment italso relieves gout.

XLVI. Scale of iron, obtained from a sharpedge or point, is also employed, and has an effect extremely like that of rustonly more active, for which reason it is employed even for running at the eyes.It arrests haemorrhage, though it is with iron that wounds are chiefly made! Andit also arrests female discharges. It is also applied against troubles of thespleen, and it cheeks haemorrhoidal swellings and creeping ulcers. Applied for abrief period in the form of a powder it is good for the eyelids. But its chiefrecommendation is its use in a wet plaster for cleaning wounds and fistulas andfor eating out every kind of callosity and making new flesh on bones that havebeen denuded. The following are the ingredients: six obols of bee-glue, sixdrains of Cimolo earth, two drams of pounded copper, two of scale of iron, tenof wax and a pint of oil. When it is desired to cleanse or fill up wounds, waxplaster is added to these ingredients.

XLVII. The next topic is the nature of lead, of which there are twokinds, black and white. White lead (tin) is the most valuable; the Greeksapplied to it the namecassheros, and there was a legendary story oftheir going to islands of the Atlantic ocean to fetch it and importing it inplatted vessels made of osiers and covered with stitched hides. It is now knownthat it is a product of Lusitania and Gallaecia found in the surface-strata of the ground which is sandy and of a black colour. It is only detected by its weight, and also tiny pebbles of it occasionally appear, especially in dry beds of torrents. The miners wash this sand and heat the deposit in furnaces. It is also found in the goldmines called 'alutiae,' through which a stream of water ispassed that washes out black pebbles of tin mottled with small white spots, andof the same weight as gold, and consequently they remain with the gold inthe bowls in which it is collected, and afterwards are separated in thefurnaces, and fused and melted into white lead. Black lead does not occur inGallaecia, although the neighbouring country of Biscaya has large quantities ofblack lead only; and white lead yields no silver, although it is obtained fromblack lead. Black lead cannot be soldered with black without a layer of whitelead, nor can white be soldered to black without oil, nor can even white leadbe soldered with white without some black lead.Homer testifies that white lead or tin had a high position even in theTrojan period, he giving it the name of cassiteros. There are twodifferent sources of black lead, as it is either found in a vein of its own andproduces no other substance mixed with it, or it forms together with silver, andis smelted with the two veins mixed together. Of this substance the liquid thatmelts first in the furnaces is called stagnum; the second liquid isargentiferous lead, and the residue left in the furnaces is impure lead whichforms a third part of the vein originally put in; when this is again fused itgives black lead, having lost two-ninths in bulk.

XLVIII. When copper vessels are coated with stagnum the contentshave a more agreeable taste and the formation of destructive verdigris isprevented, and, what is remarkable, the weight is not increased. Also, as wehave said, it used to be employed at Brindisi as a material for making mirrorswhich were very celebrated, until even servant-maids began to use silver ones.At the present day a counterfeit stagnum is made by adding one part ofwhite copper to two parts of white lead; and it is also made in another way bymixing together equal weights of white and black lead: the latter compound somepeople now call 'silver mixture.' The same people also give the name of tertiaryto a compound containing two portions of black lead and one of white; its priceis 20 denarii a pound. It is used for soldering pipes. More dishonest makers addto tertiary an equal amount of white lead and call it 'silver mixture,' and useit melted for plating by immersion any articles they wish. They put the price ofthis last at 70 denarii for 1 lb.: the price of pure white lead without alloy is80 denarii, and of black lead 7 denarii.

The substance of white lead has more dryness,whereas that of black lead is entirely moist. Consequently white lead cannot be used for anything without an admixture of another metal, nor can it be employed for soldering silver, because the silver melts before the white lead. And it is asserted that if a smaller quantity of black lead than is necessary is mixed with the white, it corrodes the silver. A method discovered in the Gallic provinces is to plate bronze articles with white lead so as to make them almost indistinguishable from silver; articles thus treated are called 'incoctilia.'Later they also proceeded in the town Alesia to plate with silver in a similarmanner, particularly ornaments for horses and pack animals and yokes of oxen;the distinction of developing this method belongs to Bordeaux. Then theyproceeded to decorate two-wheeled war-chariots, chaises and four-wheeledcarriages in a similar manner, a luxurious practice that has now got to usingnot only silver but even gold statuettes, and it is now called good taste tosubject to wear and tear on carriages ornaments that it was once thoughtextravagant to see on a goblet!

It is a test of white lead when melted and poured on papyrus to seem to haveburst the paper by its weight and not by its heat. India possesses neithercopper nor lead, and procures them in exchange for her precious stones andpearls.

XLIX. Black lead which we use to make pipes and sheets is excavated withconsiderable labour in Spain and through the whole of the Gallic provinces, butin Britain it is found in the surface-stratum of the earth in such abundancethat there is a law prohibiting the production of more than a certain amount.The various kinds of black lead have the following namesOviedolead, Capraria lead, Oleastrum lead, though there is no difference between themprovided the slag has been carefully smelted away. It is a remarkable fact inthe case of these mines only that when they have been abandoned they replenishthemselves and become more productive. This seems to be due to the air infusingitself to saturation through the open orifices, just as a miscarriage seems tomake some women more prolific. This was recently observed in the Salutariensianmine in Baetica, which used to be let at a rent of 200,000 denarii a year, butwhich was then abandoned, and subsequently let for 255,000. Likewise theAntonian mine in the same province from the same rent has reached a return of400,000 sesterces. It is also remarkable that vessels made of lead will not meltif they have water put in them, but if to the water a pebble or quarter-as coinis added, the fire burns through the vessel.

L. In medicine lead is used by itself to remove scars, and leaden platesare applied to the region of the loins and kidneys for their comparativechilly nature to check the attacks of venereal passions, and the libidinousdreams that cause spontaneous emissions to the extent of constituting a kind ofdisease. It is recorded that the pleader Calvusused these plates to control himself and to preserve his bodily strength forlaborious study.Nero, whom heaven waspleased to make emperor, used to have a plate of lead on his chest when singingsongs fartissimo, thus showing a method for preserving the voice. Formedical purposes lead is melted in earthen vessels, a layer of finely powderedsulphur being put underneath it; on this thin plates are laid and covered withsulphur and stirred up with an iron spit. While it is being melted, thebreathing passages should be protected during the operation, otherwise thenoxious and deadly vapour of the lead furnace is inhaled: it is hurtful to dogswith special rapidity, but the vapour of all metals is so to flies and gnats,owing to which those annoyances are not found in mines.

Some people during the process of smelting mix lead-filings with the sulphur,and others use lead acetate in preference to sulphur. Another use of lead is tomake a washit is employed in medicinepieces of lead with rainwater added beingground against themselves in leaden mortars till the whole assumes a thickconsistency, and then water floating on the top is removed with sponges and thevery thick sediment left when dry is divided into tablets. Some people grind uplead filings in this way and some also mix in some lead ore; but others usevinegar, others wine, others grease, others oil of roses. Some prefer to grindthe lead with a stone pestle in a stone mortar, and especially one made ofThebes stone, and this process produces a drug of a whiter colour. Calcined leadis washed like antimony and cadmea. It has the property of acting as anastringent and arresting haemorrhage and of promoting cicatrisation. It is ofthe same utility also in medicines for the eyes, especially as preventing theirprocidence, and for the cavities or excrescences left by ulcers and for fissuresof the anus or haemorrhoids and swellings of the anus. For these purposes leadlotion is extremely efficient, while for creeping or foul ulcers ash of calcinedlead is useful; and the benefit they produce is on the same lines as in the caseof sheets of papyrus. The lead is burnt in small sheets mixed with sulphur, inshallow vessels, being stirred with iron rods or fennel stalks till the moltenmetal is reduced to ashes; then after being cooled off it is ground into powder.Another process is to boil lead filings in a vessel of raw earth in furnacestill the earthenware is completely baked. Some mix with it an equalamount of lead acetate or of barley and grind this mixture, in the waystated in the case of raw lead, and prefer the lead treated in this way to theCyprus slag.

LI. The dross of lead is also utilized. The best is that whichapproximates in colour most closely to yellow, containing no remnants of lead orsulphur, and does not look earthy. This is broken up into small fragments andwashed in mortars till the water assumes a yellow colour, and poured off into aclean vessel, and the process is repeated several times till the most valuablepart settles as a sediment at the bottom. Lead dross has the same effects aslead, but to a more active degree. This suggests a remark on the marvellousefficacy of human experiment, which has not left even the dregs of substancesand the foulest refuse untested in such numerous ways!

LII. Slag is also made from lead in the same way as from Cyprus copper;it is washed with rain water in linen sheets of fine texture and theearthy particles are got rid of by rinsing, and the residue is sifted and thenground. Some prefer to separate the powder with a feather, and to grind it upwith aromatic wine.

LIII. There is alsomolybdaeaa (which in another place we havecalled galena); it is a mineral compound of silver and lead. It isbetter the more golden its colour and the less leaden: it is friable andof moderate weight. When boiled with oil it acquires the colour of liver. It isalso found adhering to furnaces in which gold and silver are smelted; in thiscase it is called metallic sulphide of lead. The kind most highly esteemed isproduced at Zephyrium. Varieties with the smallest admixture of earth and ofstone are approved of; they are melted and washed like dross. It is used inpreparing a particular emollient plaster for soothing and cooling ulcers and inplasters which are not applied with bandages but which they use as a liniment topromote cicatrisation on the bodies of delicate persons and on the more tenderparts. It is a composition of three pounds of sulphide of lead and one of waxwith half a pint of oil, which is added with solid lees of olives in the case ofan elderly patient. Also combined with scum of silver and dross of lead it isapplied warm for fomenting dysentery and constipation.

LIV. 'Psimithium' also, that iscerussa or lead of acetate,is produced at lead-works. The most highly spoken of is in Rhodes.It is made from very fine shavings of lead placed over a vessel of very sourvinegar and so made to drip down. What falls from the lead into the actualvinegar is dried and then ground and sifted, and then again mixed with vinegarand divided into tablets and dried in the sun, in summertime. There is alsoanother way of making it, by putting the lead into jars of vinegar kept sealedup for ten days and then scraping off the sort of decayed metal on it andputting it back in the vinegar, till the whole of it is used up. The stuffscraped off is ground up and sifted and heated in shallow vessels and stirredwith small rods till it turns red and becomes like sandarach, realgar.Then it is washed with fresh water till all the cloudy impurities have beenremoved. Afterwards it is dried in a similar way and divided into tablets. Itsproperties are the same as those of the substances mentioned above, only it isthe mildest of them all, and beside that, it is useful for giving women a faircomplexion; but like scum of silver, it is a deadly poison. The lead acetateitself if afterwards melted becomes red.

LV. Of realgar also the properties have been almost completelydescribed. It is found both in goldmines and silver-mines; the redder it is andthe more it gives off a poisonous scent of sulphur and the purer and morefriable it is, the better it is. It acts as a cleanser, as a check to bleeding,as a calorific and a caustic, being most remarkable for its corrosive property;used as a liniment with vinegar it removes fox-mange; it forms an ingredient ineyewashes, and taken with honey it cleans out the throat. It also produces aclear and melodious voice, and mixed with turpentine and taken in the food, isan agreeable remedy for asthma and cough; its vapour also remedies the samecomplaints if merely used as a fumigation with cedar wood.

LVI. Orpiment also is obtained from the same substance. The best is of a colour of even the finest-coloured gold, but the paler sort or what resembles sandarach is judged inferior. There is also a third class which combines the colours of gold and of sandarach. Both of the latter are scaly, but the other is dry and pure, and divided in a delicate tracery of veins. Its properties are the same as mentioned above, but more active. Accordingly it is used as an ingredient in cauteries and depilatories. It also removes overgrowths of flesh on to the nails, and pimples in the nostrils and swellings of the anus and all excrescences. To increase its efficacy it is heated in a new earthenware pot till it changes its colour.

I. WE have now practically indicated the nature of metals, in whichwealth consists, and of the substances related to them, connecting the facts insuch a way as to indicate at the same time the enormous topic of medicine andthe mysteries of the manufactories and the fastidious subtlety of the processesof carving and modelling and dyeing. There remain the various kinds of earth andof stones, forming an even more extensive series, each of which has been treatedin many whole volumes, especially by Greeks. For our part in these topics weshall adhere to the brevity suitable to our plan, yet omitting nothing that isnecessary or follows a law of Nature. And first we shall say what remainsto be said about painting, an art that was formerly illustrious, at the timewhen it was in high demand with kings and nations and when it ennobled otherswhom it deigned to transmit to posterity. But at the present time it hasbeen entirely ousted by marbles, and indeed finally also by gold, and not onlyto the point that whole party-walls are coveredwe have also marble engravedwith designs and embossed marble slabs carved in wriggling lines to representobjects and animals. We are no longer content with panels nor with surfacesdisplaying broadly a range of mountains in a bedchamber; we have begun even topaint on the masonry. This was invented in the principate ofClaudius, while in the time ofNero a plan was discovered to givevariety to uniformity by inserting markings that were not present in theembossed marble surface, so that Numidian stone might show oval lines andSynnadic marble be picked out with purple, just as fastidious luxury would haveliked them to be by nature. These are our resources to supplement the mountainswhen they fail us, and luxury is always busy in the effort to secure that if afire occurs it may lose as much as possible.

II. The painting of portraits, used to transmit through the agesextremely correct likenesses of persons, has entirely gone out. Bronze shieldsare now set up as monuments with a design in silver, with a dim outline of men'sfigures; heads of statues are exchanged for others about which before nowactually sarcastic epigrams have been current: so universally is a display ofmaterial preferred to a recognizable likeness of one's own self. And in themidst of all this, people tapestry the walls of their picture-galleries with oldpictures, and they prize likenesses of strangers, while as for themselves theyimagine that the honour only consists in the price, for their heir to break upthe statue and haul it out of the house with a noose. Consequently nobody'slikeness lives and they leave behind them portraits that represent their money,not themselves. The same people decorate even their own anointing-rooms withportraits of athletes of the wrestling-ring, and display all round theirbedrooms and carry about with them likenesses of Epicurus; they offer sacrificeson his birthday, and keep his festival, which they call theeikas on the20th day of every monththese of all people, whose desire it is not to be knowneven when alive! That is exactly how things are: indolence has destroyed thearts, and since our minds cannot be portrayed, our bodily features are alsoneglected. In the halls of our ancestors it was otherwise; portraits were theobjects displayed to be looked at, not statues by foreign artists, nor bronzesnor marbles, but wax models of faces were set out each on a separate sideboard,to furnish likenesses to be carded in procession at a funeral in the clan, andalways when some member of it passed away the entire company of his house thathad ever existed was present. The pedigrees too were traced in a spread of linesrunning near the several painted portraits. The archive-rooms were kept filledwith books of records and with written memorials of official careers. Outsidethe houses and round the doorways there were other presentations of those mightyspirits, with spoils taken from the enemy fastened to them, which even one whobought the house was not permitted to unfasten, and the mansions eternallycelebrated a triumph even though they changed their masters. This acted as amighty incentive, when every day the very walls reproached an unwarlike ownerwith intruding on the triumphs of another! There is extant an indignant speechby the pleader Messala protestingagainst the insertion among the likenesses of his family of a bust not belongingto them but to the family of theLaevini. similar reason extracted from oldMessalathe volumes he composed 'On Families,' because when passing through the hall ofScipio Pomponianus he had observed theSalvittones that was their former surnamein consequence of an act of adoptionby will creeping into others' preserves, to the discredit of the Scipios calledAfricanus. But the Messala family mustexcuse me if I say that even to lay a false claim to the portraits of famous menshowed some love for their virtues, and was much more honourable than to entailby one's conduct that nobody should seek to obtain one's own portraits!

We must not pass over a novelty that has also been invented, in thatlikenesses made, if not of gold or statues in silver, yet at all events ofbronze are set up in the libraries in honour of those whose immortalspirits speak to us in the same places, nay more, even imaginary likenesses aremodelled and our affection gives birth to countenances that have not been handeddown to us, as occurs in the case ofHomer.At any rate in my view at all events there is no greater kind of happiness thanthat all people for all time should desire to know what kind of a man a personwas. At Rome this practice originated with Asinius Pollio, who first by founding a library made works ofgenius the property of the public.

Whether this practice began earlier, with the Kings of Alexandria and ofPergamum, between whom there had been such a keen competition infounding libraries, I cannot readily say. The existence of a strong passion forportraits in former days is evidenced by Atticus the friend ofCicero in the volume he published on thesubject and by the most benevolent invention ofMarcus Varro, who actually by some means inserted in a prolific output ofvolumes portraits of seven hundred famous people, not allowing their likenessesto disappear or the lapse of ages to prevail against immortality in men. HereinVarro was the inventor of a benefit thateven the gods might envy, since he not only bestowed immortality but despatchedit all over the world, enabling his subjects to be ubiquitous, like the gods.This was a serviceVarro rendered tostrangers.

III. But the first person to institute the custom of privately dedicatingthe shields with portraits in a temple or public place, I find, was Appius Claudius, the consul withPublius Servilius in the 259th year ofthe city. He set up his ancestors in the shrine of the Goddess of War, anddesired them to be in full view on an elevated spot, and the inscriptionsstating their honours to be read. This is a seemly device, especially ifminiature likenesses of a swarm of children at the sides display a sort of broodof nestlings; shields of this description everybody views with pleasure andapproval.

IV. After himMarcus Aemilius,Quintus Lutatius's colleague in theconsulship, set up portrait-shields not only in the Basilica Aemilia but also inhis own home, and in doing this he was following a truly warlike example; forthe shields which contained the likenesses resembled those employed in thefighting at Troy; and this indeed gave them their name ofclupet which isnot derived from the word meaning 'to be celebrated,' as the misguided ingenuityof scholars has made out. It is a copious inspiration of valour for there to bea representation on a shield of the countenance of him who once used it. TheCarthaginians habitually made both shields and statues of gold, and carriedthese with them: at all events Marcius,who took vengeance for the Scipios in Spain, found a shield of this kind thatbelonged toHasdrubal, in that general'scamp when he captured it, and this shield was hung above the portals of thetemple on the Capitol till the first fire. Indeed it is [83 B.C.] noticedthat our ancestors felt so little anxiety about this matter that in the 575thyear of the city, when the consuls wereLuciusMaulius andQuintus Fulvius, theperson who contracted for the safety of the Capitol,Marcus Aufidius, informed the Senatethat the shields which for a good many censorship periods past had beenscheduled as made of bronze were really silver.

V. The question as to the origin of the art of painting is uncertain andit does not belong to the plan of this work. The Egyptians declare that it wasinvented among themselves six thousand years ago before it passed over intoGreecewhich is clearly an idle assertion. As to the Greeks, some of them say itwas discovered at Sicyon, others in Corinth, but all agree that it began withtracing an outline round a man's shadow and consequently that pictureswere originally done in this wax, but the second stage when a more elaboratemethod had been invented was done in a single colour and called monochrome, amethod still in use at the present day. Line-drawing was invented by theEgyptianPhilocles or by the CorinthianCleanthes, but it was first practised bythe CorinthianAridices and theSicyonianTelephanesthese were at thatstage not using any colour, yet already adding lines here and there to theinterior of the outlines; hence it became their custom to write on the picturesthe names of the persons represented. Ecphantusof Corinth is said to have been the first to daub these drawings with a pigmentmade of powdered earthenware. We shall show below that this was another person,bearing the same name, not the one recorded byCornelius Nepos to have followed into ItalyDemaratus the father of the Roman kingTarquinius Priscus when he fled fromCorinth to escape the violence of the tyrantCypselus.

VI. For the art of painting had already been brought to perfection evenin Italy. At all events there survive even today in the temples at Ardeapaintings that are older than the city of Rome, which to me at all events areincomparably remarkable, surviving for so long a period as though freshlypainted, although unprotected by a roof. Similarly at Lanuvium, where there arean Atalanta and a Helena close together, nude figures, painted by the sameartist, each of outstanding beauty (the former shown as a virgin), and notdamaged even by the collapse of the temple. The EmperorCaligula from lustful motives attemptedto remove them, but the consistency of the plaster would not allow this to bedone. There are pictures surviving at Caere that are even older. And whoevercarefully judges these works will admit that none of the arts reached fullperfection more quickly, inasmuch as it is clear that painting did not exist inthe Trojan period.

VII. In Rome also honour was fully attained by this art at an early date,inasmuch as a very distinguished clan of the Fabii derived from it theirsurname ofPictor, 'Painter,' and thefirst holder of the name himself painted the Temple of Health in the year 450from the foundation of the City: the work survived down to our own period, whenthe temple was destroyed by fire in the principate ofClaudius. Next in celebrity was apainting by the poetPacuvius in thetemple of Hercules in the Cattle Market.Pacuvius was the son of a sister ofEnnius, and he added distinction to the art ofpainting at Rome by reason of his fame as a playwright. After Pacuvius, painting was not esteemed ashandiwork for persons of station, unless one chooses to recall a knight of RomenamedTurpilius, from Venetia, in ourown generation, because of his beautiful works still surviving at Verona.Turpilius painted with his left hand, athing recorded of no preceding artist.TitediusLabeo, a man of praetorian rank who had actually held the office ofProconsul of the Province of Narbonne, and who died lately in extreme old age,used to be proud of his miniatures, but this was laughed at and actually damagedhis reputation. There was also a celebrated debate on the subject of paintingheld between some men of eminence which must not be omitted, when the formerconsul and winner of a triumphQuintus Pedius,who was appointed by the DictatorCaesaras his joint heir withAugustus, had agrandsonQuintus Pedius who was borndumb; in this debate the oratorMessala,of whose family the boy's grandmother had been a member, gave the advice thatthe boy should have lessons in painting, and his late lamented MajestyAugustus also approved of the plan. Thechild made great progress in the art, but died before he grew up. But paintingchiefly derived its rise to esteem at Rome, in my judgement, fromManius Valerius Maximus Messala, who inthe year 490 after the foundation of the city first showed a picture in publicon a side wall of the Curia Hostilia: the subject being the battle in Sicily inwhich he had defeated the Carthaginians and hero. The same thing was also donebyLucius Scipio, who put up in theCapitol a picture of his Asiatic victory; this is said to have annoyedhis brotherAfricanus, not withoutreason, as his son had been taken prisoner in that battle. AlsoLucius Hostilius Mancinus who had beenthe first to force an entrance into Carthage incurred a very similar offencewithAemilianus by displaying in theforum a picture of the plan of the city and of the attacks upon it and byhimself standing by it and describing to the public looking on the details ofthe siege, a piece of popularity-hunting which won him the consulship at thenext election. Also the stage erected for the shows given byClaudius Pulcher won great admirationfor its painting, as crows were seen trying to alight on the roof tilesrepresented on the scenery, quite taken in by its realism.

VIII. The high esteem attached officially to foreign paintings at Romeoriginated from Lucius Mummius who fromhis victory received the surname ofAchaicus.At the sale of booty captured KingAttaiusbought for 600,000 denarii a picture of Father Liber or Dionysus byAristides, but the price surprisedMummius, who suspecting there must besome merit in the picture of which he was himself unaware had the picture calledback, in spite ofAttaius's strongprotests, and placed it in the Shrine of Ceres: the first instance, I believe,of a foreign picture becoming state-property at Rome. After this I see that theywere commonly placed even in the forum: to this is due the famous witticism dfthe pleaderCrassus, when appearing in acase Below The Old Shops; a witness called kept asking him: 'Now tell me, Crassus, what sort of a person do youtake me to be?' 'That sort of a person,' said Crassus, pointing to a picture of a Gaul putting out his tongue in a veryunbecoming fashion. It was also in the forum that there was the picture of theOld Shepherd with his Staff, about which the Teuton envoy when asked what hethought was the value of it said that he would rather not have even the livingoriginal as a gift!

IX. But it was the DictatorCaesarwho gave outstanding public importance to pictures by dedicatingpaintings of Ajax and Medea in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix; and afterhimMarcus Agrippa, a man who stoodnearer to rustic simplicity than to refinements. At all events there ispreserved a speech ofAgrippa, lofty intone and worthy of the greatest of the citizens, on the question of making allpictures and statues national property, a procedure which would have beenpreferable to banishing them to country houses. However, that same severe spiritpaid the city of Cyzieus 1,200,000 sesterces for two pictures, an Ajax and anAphrodite; he had also had small paintings let into the marble even in thewarmest part of his Hot Baths; which were removed a short time ago when theBaths were being repaired.

X. His late lamented MajestyAugustuswent beyond all others, in placing two pictures in the most frequentedpart of his forum, one with alikeness of War and Triumph, and one with theCastors and Victory. He also erected in the Temple of his fatherCaesar pictures we shall specify ingiving the names of artists. He likewise let into a wall in the curia which hewas dedicating in the comitium: a Nemea seated on a lion, holding a palm-branchin her hand, and standing at her side an old man leaning on a stick and with apicture of a two-horse chariot hung up over his head, on which there was aninscription saying that it was an encaustic designsuch is the term which heemployedby Nicias. The second pictureis remarkable for displaying the close family likeness between a son in theprime of life and an elderly father, allowing for the difference of age: abovethem soars an eagle with a snake in its claws; Philochares has stated this work to be by him showing the immeasurablepower exercised by art if one merely considers this picture alone, inasmuch asthanks to Philochares two otherwisequite obscure personsGlaucio and hissonAristippus after all these centurieshave passed still stand in the view of the senate of the Roman nation! The mostungracious emperorTiberius also placedpictures in the temple ofAugustushimself which we shall soon mention. Thus much for the dignity of this nowexpiring art.

XI. We stated what were the various single colours used by the firstpainters when we were discussing while on the subject of metals the pigmentscalled monochromes from the class of painting for which they are used.Subsequent a inventions and their authors and dates we shall specify inenumerating the artists, because a prior motive for the work now in hand is toindicate the nature of colours. Eventually art differentiated itself, anddiscovered light and shade, contrast of colours heightening their effectreciprocally. Then came the final adjunct of shine, quite a different thing fromlight. The opposition between shine and light on the one hand and shade on theother was called contrast, while the juxtaposition of colours and their passageone into another was termed attunement.

XII. Some colours are sombre and some brilliant, the difference being dueto the nature of the substances or to their mixture. The brilliant colours,which the patron supplies at his own expense to the painter, are cinnabar, Armenium, dragon's blood, gold-solder, indigo, bright purple; the rest aresombre. Of the whole list some are natural colours and some artificial. Naturalcolours are sinopis, ruddle, Paraetonium, Melinum, Eretrian earth andorpiment; all the rest are artificial, and first of all those which we specifiedamong minerals, and moreover among the commoner kinds yellow ochre, burnt leadacetate, realgar, sandyx, Syrian colour m and black.

XIII. Sinopis was first discovered in Pontus, and hence takes itsname from the city of Sinope. It is also produced in Egypt, the Balearic Islandsand Africa, but the best is what is extracted from the caverns of Lemnos andCappadocia, the part found adhering to the rock being rated highest. The lumpsof it are self-coloured, but speckled on the outside. It was employed in oldtimes to give a glow. There are three kinds of Sinopis, the red, the faintly redand the intermediate. The price of the best is 2 denarii a pound: this is usedfor painting with a brush or else for colouring wood; the kind imported fromAfrica costs 8as-pieces a pound, and is called chick-pea colour; it is ofa deeper red than the other kinds, and more useful for panels. The same price ischarged for the kind called 'low toned' which is of a very dusky colour. It isemployed for the lower parts of panelling; but used as a drug it has a soothingeffect in lozenges and plasters and poultices, mixing easily either dry ormoistened, as a remedy for ulcers in the humid parts of the body such as themouth and the anus. Used in an enema it arrests diarrhoea, and taken through themouth in doses of one denarius weight it checks menstruation. Applied in aburnt state, particularly with wine, it dries roughnesses of the eyes.

XIV. Some persons have wished to make out that Sinopis only consists in akind of red-ochre of inferior quality, as they gave the palm to the red ochre ofLemnos. This last approximates very closely to cinnabar and it was veryfamous in old days, together with the island that produces it; it used only tobe sold in sealed packages, from which it got the name of 'seal red-ochre.' Itis used to supply an undercoating to cinnabar and also for adulteratingcinnabar. In medicine it is a substance ranked very highly. Used as a linimentround the eyes it relieves defluxions and pains, and checks the discharge fromeye-tumours; it is given in vinegar as a draught in cases of vomiting orspitting blood. It is also taken as a draught for troubles of the spleen andkidneys and for excessive menstruation; and likewise as a remedy for poisons andsnake bites and the sting of sea serpents; hence it is in common use for allantidotes.

XV. Among the remaining kinds of red ochre the most useful for buildersare the Egyptian and the African varieties, as they are most thoroughly absorbedby plaster. Red ochre is also found in a native state in iron mines.

XVI. It is also manufactured by burning ochre in new earthen pots linedwith clay. The more completely it is calcined in the furnaces the better itsquality. All kinds of red ochre have a drying property, and consequently will befound suitable in plasters even for erysipelas.

XVII. Half a pound of sinopis from Pontus, ten pounds of bright yellowochre and two pounds of Greek earth of Melos mixed together and pounded up for twelve successive days make 'leucophorum,' a cement used in applying gold-leafto wood.

XVIII. Paraetonium is called after the place pig of that name in Egypt.It is said to be sea-foam hardened with mud, and this is why tiny shellsare found in it. It also occurs in the island of Crete and in Cyrene. At Rome itis adulterated with Cimolian clay which has been boiled and thickened. The priceof the best quality is 50 denarii per 6 lbs. It is the most greasy of all thewhite colours and makes the most tenacious for plasters because of itssmoothness.

XIX. Melinum also is a white colour, the best occurring in the island ofMelos. It is found in Samos also, but the Samian is not used by painters,because it is excessively greasy. It is dug up in Samos by people lying on theground and searching for a vein among the rocks. It has the same use in medicineas earth of Eretria; it also dries the tongue by contact, and acts as adepilatory, with a cleansing effect. It costs a sesterce a pound.

The third of the white pigments is ceruse or lead acetate, the nature of whichwe have stated in speaking of the ores of lead. There was also once a nativeceruse found on the estate ofTheodotusat Smyrna, which was employed in old days for painting ships. At the presenttime all ceruse is manufactured from lead and vinegar, as we said.

XX. Burnt ceruse was discovered by accident, when some was burnt up injars in a fire at Piraeiis. It was first employed byNicias above mentioned. Asiatic ceruseis now thought the best; it is also called purple ceruse and it costs 6 denariiper lb. It is also made at Rome by calcining yellow ochre which is as hard asmarble and quenching it with vinegar. Burnt ceruse is indispensable forrepresenting shadows.

XXI. Eretrian earth is named from the country that produces it. It wasemployed byNicomachus andParrhasius. It has cooling and emollienteffects and fills lip wounds; if boiled it is prescribed as adesiccative, and is useful for pains in the head and for detecting internalsuppurations, as these are shown to be present if whenit is applied with water it immediately dries up.

XXII. According toJuba sandarachor realgar and ochre are products of the island of Topazus in the Red Sea, butthey are not imported from those parts to us. We have stated the methodof making sandarach. An adulterated sandarach is also made from ceruse boiled ina furnace. It ought to be flame-coloured. Its price is 5 asses per lb.

XXIII. If ceruse is mixed with red ochre in equal quantities and burnt,it produces sandyx or vermilionthough it is true that I observeVirgil held the view that sandyx is aplant, from the line:

Its cost per lb. is half that of sandarach. No other colours weigh heavier thanthese.

XXIV. Among the artificial colours is also Syrian colour, which as wesaid is used as an undercoating for cinnabar and red lead. It is made by mixing sinopis and sandyx together.

XXV. Black pigment will also be classed among the artificial colours,although it is also derived from earth in two ways; it either exudes fromthe earth like the brine in salt pits, or actual earth of a sulphur colour isapproved for the purpose. Painters have been known to dig up charred remainsfrom graves thus violated to supply it. All these plans are troublesome andnew-fangled; for black paint can he made in a variety of ways from the sootproduced by burning resin or pitch, owing to which factories have actually beenbuilt with no exit for the smoke produced by this process. The most esteemedblack paint is obtained in the same way from the wood of the pitch-pine. It isadulterated by mixing it with the soot of furnaces and baths, which is used as amaterial for writing. Some people calcine dried wine-lees, and declare that ifthe lees from a good wine are used this ink has the appearance of Indian ink.The very celebrated paintersPolygnotusandMicon at Athens made black paintfrom the skins of grapes, and called it grape-lees ink.Apelles invented the method of makingblack from burnt ivory; the Greek name for this is elephantinon.

There is also an Indian black, imported fromIndia, the composition of which I have not yet discovered. A black is alsoproduced with dyes from the black florescence which adheres to bronze pans. Oneis also made by burning logs of pitch-pine and pounding the charcoal in amortar. The cuttlefish has, a remarkable property in forming a black secretion,but no colour is made from this. The preparation of all black is completed byexposure to the sun, black for writing ink receiving an admixture of gum andblack for painting walls an admixture of glue. Black pigment that has beendissolved in vinegar is difficult to wash out.

XXVI. Among the remaining colours which because of their high cost, as wesaid, are supplied by patrons, dark purple holds the first place. It is producedby dipping silversmiths' earth along with purple cloth and in like manner, theearth absorbing the colour more quickly than the wool. The best is that whichbeing the first formed in the boiling cauldron becomes saturated with the dyesin their primary state, and the next best produced when white earth is added tothe same liquor after the first has been removed; and every time this is donethe quality deteriorates, the liquid becoming more diluted at each stage. Thereason why the dark purple of Pozzuoli is more highly praised than that of Tyreor Gaetulia or Laconia, places which produce the most costly purples, is that itcombines most easily with hysginum and madder which cannot helpabsorbing it. The cheapest comes from Canosa. The price is from one to thirtydenarii per lb. Painters using it put a coat of sandyx underneath and then add acoat of dark purple mixed with egg, and so produce the brilliance of cinnabar;if they wish instead to produce the glow of purple, they lay a coat of blueunderneath, and then cover this with dark purple mixed with egg.

XXVII. Of next greatest importance after this is indigo,a product of India, being a slime that adheres to the scum upon reeds.When it is sifted out it is black, but in dilution it yields a marvellousmixture of purple and blue. There is another kind of it that floats on thesurface of the pans in the purple dye-shops, and this is the 'scum of purple.'People who adulterate it stain pigeons' droppings with genuine indigo, or elsecolour earth of Selinus or ring-earth with woad. It can be tested by means of alive coal, as if genuine it gives off a brilliant purple flame and a smell ofthe sea while it smokes; on this account some people think that it is collectedfrom rocks on the coast. The price of indigo is 20 denarii per pound. Usedmedicinally it allays cramps and fits and dries up sores.

XXVIII. Armenia sends us the substance Azarite, etc. named after itArmenian. This also is a mineral that is dyed like malachite, and the best isthat which most closely approximates to that substance, the colour partakingalso of dark blue. Its price used to be rated at 300 sesterces per pound. A sandhas been found all over the Spanish provinces that admits of similarpreparation, and accordingly the price has dropped to as low as six denarii. Itdiffers from dark blue by a light white glow which renders this blue colourthinner in comparison. It is only used in medicine to give nourishment to thehair, and especially the eyelashes.

XXIX. There are also two colours of a very cheap class that have beenrecently discovered: one is the green called Appiah, which counterfeitsmalachite; just as if there were too few spurious varieties of it already! It ismade from a green earth and is valued at a sesterce per pound.

XXX. The other colour is that called 'ring-white,' which is used to givebrilliance of complexion in paintings of women. This itself also is made fromwhite earth mixed with glass stones from the rings of the lower classes, whichaccounts for the name 'ring-white.'

XXXI. Of all the colours those which love a dry surface of white clay,and refuse to be applied to a damp plaster, are purple, indigo, blue, Melian,orpiment, Appian and ceruse. Wax is stained with these same colours forencaustic paintings, a sort of process which cannot be applied to walls but iscommon for ships of the navy, and indeed nowadays also for cargo vessels, sincewe even decorate vehicles with paintings, so that no one need be surprised thateven logs for funeral pyres are painted; and we like gladiators going into thefray to ride in splendour to the scene of their death or at all events ofcarnage. Thus to contemplate all these numbers and great variety of coloursprompts us to marvel at former generations.

XXXII. Four colours only were used by the illustrious painters Apelles, Action, Melanthius andNicomachus to execute their immortalworksof whites, Melinum; of yellow ochres, Attic; of reds, Pontic Sinopis; ofblacks, atramentumalthough their pictures each sold for the wealth of a wholetown. Nowadays when purple finds its way even on to party-walls and when Indiacontributes the mud of her rivers and the gore of her snakes and elephants,there is no such thing as high-class painting. Everything in fact was superiorin the days when resources were scantier. The reason for this is that, as wesaid before, it is values of material and not of genius that people arenow on the lookout for.

XXXIII. One folly of our generation also in the matter of painting I willnot leave out. The EmperorNero hadordered his portrait to be painted on a colossal scale, on linen 120 ft. high, athing unknown hitherto; this picture when finished, in the Gardens of Maius,was struck by lightning and destroyed by fire, together with the best part ofthe Gardens. When a freedman ofNero wasgiving at Anzio a gladiatorial show, the public porticoes were covered withpaintings, so we are told, containing life-like portraits of all the gladiatorsand assistants. This portraiture of gladiators has been the highest interest inart for many generations now; but it was GaiusTerentiusLucanus who began thepractice of having pictures made of gladiatorial shows and exhibited in public;in honour of his grandfather who had adopted him he provided thirty pairs ofgladiators in the forum for three consecutive days, and exhibited a picture oftheir matches in the Grove of Diana.

XXXIV. I will now run through as briefly as possible the artists eminentin painting; and it is not consistent with the plan of this work to gointo such detail; and accordingly it will be enough just to give the names ofsome of them even in passing and in course of mentioning others, with theexception of the famous works of art which whether still extant or now lost itwill be proper to particularize.

In this department the exactitude of the Greeks is inconsistent, in placing thepainters many Olympiads after the sculptors in bronze and chasers in metal, andputting the first in the 90th Olympiad, although it is said that even Phidiashimself was a painter to begin with, and that there was a shield at Athens thathad been painted by him; and although moreover it is universally admitted thathis brotherPanaenus came in the 83rdOlympiad, who painted the inner surface of a shield of Athene at Elis made byColotes,Phidias's pupil and assistant in makingthe statue of Olympian Zeus. And then, is it not equally admitted thatCandaules, the last King of Lydia of theHeraclid line, who was also commonly known by the name ofMyrsilus, gave its weight in gold for apicture of the painterBularchusrepresenting a battle 'with the Magnetes.' So high was the value already set onthe art of painting. This must have occurred at about the time of Romulus, sinceCandaules died in the 18th Olympiad, or,according to some accounts, in the same year as Romulus, making it clear, if Iam not mistaken, and that the art had already achieved celebrity, and in fact a perfection. And if we are bound to accept this conclusion, it becomes clear at the same time that the first stages were at a much earlier date and that the painters in monochrome, whose date is not handed down to us, came considerably earlierHygiaenon, Dinias, Charmadas andEumarus of Athens, the last being the earliest artist to distinguishthe male from the female sex in painting, and venturing to reproduce everysort of figure; and Cimon of Cleonae whoimproved on the inventions of Eumarus. It wasCimon who first invented `catagrapha,' that is, images in'three-quarter,' and who varied the aspect of the features, representing them aslooking backward or upward or downward; he showed the attachments of the limbs,displayed the veins, and moreover introduced wrinkles and folds in the drapery.Indeed the brother of Phidias Panaenuseven painted the Battle at Marathon between the Athenians and Persians; sowidely established had the employment of colour now become and such perfectionof art had been attained that he is said to have introduced actualportraits of the generals who commanded in that battle,Miltiades, Callimachus and Cynaegirus onthe Athenian side andDatis and Artapherneson that of the barbarians.

XXXV. Nay more, during the time that Panaenus flourished competitions in painting were actually instituted atCorinth and at Delphi, and on the first occasion of allPanaenus competed againstTimagoras of Chalcis, being defeated byhim, at the Pythian Games, a fact clearly shown by an ancient poem ofTimagoras himself, the chroniclesundoubtedly being in error.

After those and before the 90th Olympiad there were other celebrated paintersalso, such asPolygnotus of Thasos whofirst represented women in transparent draperies and showed their heads andcovered with a parti-coloured headdress; and he first contributed manyimprovements to the art of painting, as he introduced showing the mouth wideopen and displaying the teeth and giving expression to the countenance in placeof the primitive rigidity. There is a picture by this artist in the Portico ofPompeius which formerly hung in front of the Curia which he built, in which itis doubtful whether the figure of a man with a shield is painted as going up oras coming down.Polygnotus painted thetemple at Delphi and the colonnade at Athens called Painted Portico, doing hiswork gratuitously, although a part of the work was painted by Micon who receiveda fee. IndeedPolygnotus was held inhigher esteem, as the Amphictyones, who are a General Council of Greece, votedhim entertainment at the public expense. There was also anotherMicon, distinguished from the first bythe surname of the Younger, whose daughterTimarete also painted.

XXXVI. In the 90th Olympiad lived Aglaophon,Cephisodorus, Erillus,andEvenor the father and teacher ofParrhasius, a very great painter(aboutParrhasius we shall have to speakwhen we come to his period). All these are now artists of note, yet not figuresover which our discourse should linger in its haste to arrive at the luminariesof the art; first among whom shone outApollodorus of Athens, in the 93rd Olympiad.Apollodorus was the first artist to giverealistic presentation of objects, and the first to confer glory as of rightupon the paint brush. His are the Priest at Prayer and Ajax struck by Lightning,the latter to be seen at Pergamum at the present day. There is no painting nowon view by any artist beforeApollodorusthat arrests the attention of the eyes.

The gates of art having been now thrown open byApollodorus they were entered byZeuxis of Heraclea in the 4th year ofthe 95th Olympiad, who led forward the already not unadventurous paintbrushforthis is what we are still speaking of--to great glory. Some writers erroneouslyplace Zeuxis in the 89th Olympiad, whenDemophilus of Himera andNeseus of Thasos must have been hiscontemporaries, as of one of them, it is uncertain which, he was a pupil. OfZeuxis, Apollodorus above recorded wrote an epigram in a line of poetry to the effect that 'Zeuxis robbed his mastersof their art and carried it off with him.' Also he acquired such greatwealth that he advertised it at Olympia by displaying his own name embroideredin gold lettering on the checked pattern of his robes. Afterwards he set aboutgiving away his works as presents, saying that it was impossible for them to besold at any price adequate to their value: for instance he presented his Alcmenato the city of Girgenti and his Pan to Arehelaus. He also did a Penelope inwhich the picture seems to portray morality, and an Athlete, in the latter casebeing so pleased with his own work that he wrote below it a line of verse whichhas hence become famous, to the effect that it would be easier for someone tocarp at him than to copy him. His Zeus seated on a throne with the gods standingby in attendance is also a magnificent work, and so is the Infant Heraclesthrottling two snakes in the presence of his mother Alemena, looking on inalarm, and of Amphitryon. NeverthelessZeuxisis criticized for making the heads and joints of his figures too large inproportion, albeit he was so scrupulously careful that when he was going toproduce a picture for the city of Girgenti to dedicate at the public cost in thetemple of Laeinian Hera he held an inspection of maidens of the place paradednaked and chose five, for the purpose of reproducing in the picture the mostadmirable points in the form of each. He also painted monochromes in white. Hiscontemporaries and rivals wereTimanthes,Androeydes, Eupompus and Parrhasius. This last, it is recorded, enteredinto a competition withZeuxis, whoproduced a picture of grapes so successfully represented that birds flew up tothe stage-buildings; whereupon Parrhasius himself produced such a realistic picture of a curtain thatZeuxis, proud of the verdict of thebirds, requested that the curtain should now be drawn and the picture displayed;and when he realized his mistake, with a modesty that did him honour heyielded up the prize, saying that whereas he had deceived birdsParrhasius had deceived him, an artist.It is said thatZeuxis also subsequentlypainted a Child Carrying Grapes, and when birds flew to the fruit with the samefrankness as before he strode up to the picture in anger with it and said, Ihave painted the grapes better than the child, as if I had made a success ofthat as well, the birds would inevitably have been afraid of it. He alsoexecuted works in clay, the only works of art that were left at Arnbracia whenFulvius Nobilior removed thestatues of the Muses from that place to Rome. There is at Rome a Helena byZeuxis in the Porticoes of Philippus,and a Marsyas Bound, in the Shrine of Concord.

Parrhasius also, a native of Ephesuscontributed much to painting, he was the first to give proportions to paintingand the first to give vivacity to the expression of the countenance, elegance ofthe hair and beauty of the mouth; indeed it is admitted by artists thathe won the palm in the drawing of outlines. This in painting is the high-watermark of refinement; to paint bulk and the surface within the outlines, though nodoubt a great achievement, is one in which many have won distinction, but togive the contour of the figures, and make a satisfactory boundary where thepainting within finishes, is rarely attained in successful artistry. For thecontour ought to round itself off and so terminate as to suggest the presence ofother parts behind it also, and disclose even what it hides. This is thedistinction conceded to Parrhasius byAntigonus andXenocrates who have written on the artof painting, and they do not merely admit it but actually advertise it. Andthere are many other pen-sketches a still extant among his panels andparchments, from which it is said that artists derive profit. Nevertheless heseems to fall below his own level in giving expression to the surface of thebody inside the outline. His picture of the People of Athens also showsingenuity in treating the subject, since he displayed them as fickle, choleric,unjust and variable, but also placable and merciful and compassionate, boastfuland ...., lofty and humble, fierce and timidand all these at the sametime. He also painted a Theseus which was once in the Capitol at Rome, and aNaval Commander in a Cuirass, and in a single picture now at Rhodes figures ofMeleager, Heracles and Perseus. This last picture has been three times struck bylightning at Rhodes without being effaced, a circumstance which in itselfenhances the wonder felt for it. He also painted a High Priest of Cybele, apicture for which the EmperorTiberiusconceived an affection and kept it shut up in his bedchamber, the price at whichit was valued according toDeculo being6,000,000 sesterces. He also painted a Thracian Nurse with an Infant in herArms, a Philiscus, and a Father Liber or Dionysus attended by Virtue, and TwoChildren in which the carefree simplicity of childhood is clearly displayed, andalso a Priest attended by Boy with Incense-box and Chaplet. There are also twovery famous pictures by him, a Runner in the Race in Full Armour who actuallyseems to sweat with his efforts, and the other a Runner in Full Armour Takingoff his Arms, so lifelike that he can be perceived to be panting for breath. HisAeneas, Castor and Pollux (Polydeuces), all in the same picture, are also highlypraised, and likewise his group of Telephus with Achilles, Agamemnon andOdysseus.Parrhasius was a prolificartist, but one who enjoyed the glory of his art with unparalleled arrogance,for he actually adopted certain surnames, calling himself the 'Bon Viveur,' andin some other verses 'Prince of Painters,' who had brought the art toperfection, and above all saying he was sprung from the lineage of Apollo andthat his picture of Heracles at Lindos presented the hero as he had oftenappeared to him in his dreams. Consequently when defeated by Timanthes at Samos by a large majorityof votes, the subject of the pictures being Ajax and the Award of the Arms, heused to declare in the name of his hero that he was indignant at having beendefeated a second time by an unworthy opponent. He also painted some smallerpictures of an immodest nature, taking his recreation in this sort of wantonamusement.

To return toTimantheshe had a very high degree of genius. Orators have sung thepraises of his Iphigenia, who stands at the altar awaiting her doom; the artisthas shown all present full of sorrow, and especially her uncle, and hasexhausted all the indications of grief, yet has veiled the countenance of herfather himself whom he was unable adequately to portray. There are also otherexamples of his genius, for instance a quite small panel of a Sleeping Cyclops,whose gigantic stature he aimed at representing even on that scale by paintingat his side some Satyrs measuring the size of his thumb with a wand. Indeed Timanthes is the only artist in whoseworks more is always implied than is depicted, and whose execution, thoughconsummate, is always surpassed by his genius. He painted a hero which is a workof supreme perfection, in which he has included the whole art of painting malefigures; this work is now in the Temple of Peace in Rome.

It was at this period that Euxinidas had as his pupil the famous artistAristides, thatEupompus taughtPamphilus who was the instructor ofApelles.

A work ofEupompus is a Winner in aGymnastic Contest holding a Palm branch.Eupompus's own influence was so powerful that he made a fresh division ofpainting; it had previously been divided into two schools, called the Helladicor Grecian and the Asiatic, but because ofEupompus, who was a Sicyonian, the Grecian school was subdivided intothree groups, the Ionic, Sicyonian and Attic. ToPamphilus belong Family Group, and aBattle at Phlius and a Victory of the Athenians, and also Odysseus on his Raft.He was himself a Macedonian by birth, but was brought up at Sicyon, and wasthe first painter highly educated in all branches of learning, especiallyarithmetic and geometry, without the aid of which he maintained art could notattain perfection. He took no pupils at a lower fee than a talent, at the rateof 500 drachmae per annum, and this was paid him by both Apelles andMelanthius. It was brought about by hisinfluence, first at Sicyon and then in the whole of Greece as well, thatchildren of free birth were given lessons in drawing on boxwood, which had notbeen included hitherto, and that this art was accepted into the front rank ofthe liberal sciences. And it has always consistently had the honour of beingpractised by people of free birth, and later on by persons of station, it havingalways been forbidden that slaves should be instructed in it. Hence it is thatneither in painting nor in the art of statuary a are there any famousworks that were executed by any person who was a slave.

In the 107th OlympiadAetion andTherimachus also attained outstandingdistinction. Famous paintings byAetionare a Father Liber or Dionysus, Tragedy and Comedy and Semiramis theSlave Girl Rising to a Throne; and the Old Woman carrying Torches, with a NewlyMarried Bride, remarkable for her air of modesty.

But it wasApelles of Cos who surpassedall the painters that preceded and all who were to come after him; hedates in the 112th Olympiad. He is singly contributed almost more to paintingthan all the other artists put together, also publishing volumes containing theprinciples of painting. His art was unrivalled for graceful charm, althoughother very great painters were his contemporaries. Although he admired theirworks and gave high praise to all of them, he used to say that they lacked theglamour that his work possessed, the quality denoted by the Greek wordcharis, and that although they had every other merit, in that alone no onewas his rival. He also asserted another claim to distinction when he expressedhis admiration for the immensely laborious and infinitely meticulous workofProtogenes; for he said that in allrespects his achievements and those ofProtogenes were on a level, or those ofProtogenes were superior, but that in one respect he stood higher. thathe knew when to take his hand away from a picture aa noteworthy warning of thefrequently evil effects of excessive diligence. The candour ofApelles was however equal to hisartistic skill: he used to acknowledge his inferiority toMelanthius in grouping, and toAselepiodorus in nicety of measurement,that is in the proper space to be left between one object and another.

A clever incident took place betweenProtogenes andApelles.Protogenes lived at Rhodes, andApelles made the voyage there from adesire to make himself acquainted withProtogenes's works, as that artist was hitherto only known to him byreputation. He went at once to his studio. The artist was not there but therewas a panel of considerable size on the easel prepared for painting, which wasin the charge of a single old woman. In answer to his enquiry, she told him that Protogenes was not at home, and askedwho it was she should report as having wished to see him. 'Say it was thisperson,' said Apelles, and taking up abrush he painted in colour across the panel an extremely fine line; andwhenProtogenes returned the old womanshowed him what had taken place. The story goes that the artist, after lookingclosely at the finish of this, said that the new arrival wasApelles, as so perfect a piece of worktallied with nobody else; and he himself, using another colour, drew a stillfiner line exactly on the top of the first one, and leaving the room told theattendant to show it to the visitor if he returned and add that this was theperson he was in search; and so it happened; forApelles came back, and, ashamed to bebeaten, cut a the lines with another in a third colour, leaving no room for anyfurther display of minute work. HereuponProtogenes admitted he was defeated, and flew down to the harbour to lookfor the visitor; and he decided that the panel should be handed on to posterityas it was, to be admired as a marvel by everybody, but particularly by artists.I am informed that it was burnt in the first fire which occurred inCaesar's palace on the Palatine; it hadbeen previously much admired by us, on its vast surface containing nothing elsethan the almost invisible lines, so that among the outstanding works of manyartists it looked like a blank space, and by that very fact attracted attentionand was more esteemed than every masterpiece there.

Moreover it was a regular custom withApellesnever to let a day of business to be so fully occupied that he did not practisehis art by drawing a line, which has passed from him into a proverb. Anotherhabit of his was when he had finished his works to place them in a gallery inthe view of passers by, and he himself stood out of sight behind the picture andlistened to hear what faults were noticed, rating the public as a moreobservant critic than himself. And it is said that he was found fault with by ashoemaker because in drawing a subject's sandals he had represented the loopsin them as one too few, and the next day the same critic was so proud of theartist's correcting the fault indicated by his previous objection that he foundfault with the leg, but Apellesindignantly looked out from behind the picture and rebuked him, saying that ashoemaker in his criticism must not go beyond the sandala remark that has alsopassed into a proverb. In fact he also possessed great courtesy of manners,which made him more agreeable toAlexander theGreat, who frequently visited his studiofor, as we have said,Alexander had published an edictforbidding any other artist to paint his portrait; but in the studioAlexander used to talk a great dealabout painting without any real knowledge of it, and Apelles would politely advise him todrop the subject, saying that the boys engaged in grinding the colours werelaughing at him: so much power did his authority exercise over a King who wasotherwise of an irascible temper. And yetAlexander conferred honour on him in a most conspicuous instance; he hadsuch an admiration for the beauty of his favourite mistress, namedPancaspe, that he gave orders that sheshould be painted in the nude byApelles,and then discovering that the artist while executing the commission had fallenin hive with the woman, he presented her to him, great minded as he was andstill greater owing to his control of himself, and of a greatness proved by thisaction as much as by any other victory: because he conquered himself, andpresented not only his bedmate but his affection also to the artist, and was noteven influenced by regard for the feelings of his favourite in having beenrecently the mistress of a monarch and now belonged to a painter. Some personsbelieve that she was the model from which the Aphrodite Anadyomene (Rising fromthe Sea) was painted. It wasApellesalso who, kindly among his rivals, first established the reputation ofProtogenes at Rhodes.Protogenes was held in low esteem by hisfellow-countrymen, as is usual with home products, and, whenApelles asked him what price he set onsome works he had finished, he had mentioned some small sum, but Apelles madehim an offer of fifty talents for them, and spread it about that he was buyingthem with the intention of selling them as works of his own. This device arousedthe people of Rhodes to appreciate the artist, and Apelles only parted with thepictures to them at an enhanced price.

He also painted portraits so absolutely lifelike that, incredible as it sounds,the grammarianApio has left it on record that one of those persons called 'physiognomists,' who prophesy people'sfuture by their countenance, pronounced from their portraits either the year ofthe subjects' deaths hereafter or the number of years they had already lived.Apelles had been on bad terms withPtolemy inAlexander's retinue. When thisPtolemy was King of Egypt,Apelles on a voyage had been driven by aviolent storm into Alexandria. His rivals maliciously suborned the King's jesterto convey to him an invitation to dinner, to which he came.Ptolemy was very indignant, and paradedhis hospitality-stewards forApelles tosay which of them had given him the invitation.Apelles picked up a piece of extinguished charcoal from the hearth anddrew a likeness on the wall, the King recognizing the features of the jester assoon as he began the sketch. He also painted a portrait of KingAntigonus who was blind in oneeye, and devised an original method of concealing the defect, for he did thelikeness in 'three-quarter,' so that the feature that was lacking in thesubject might be thought instead to be absent in the picture, and he only showedthe part of the face which he was able to display as unmutilated. Among hisworks there are also pictures of persons at the point of death. But it is noteasy to say which of his productions are of the highest rank. His Aphroditeemerging from the Sea was dedicated by his late lamented MajestyAugustus in the Shrine of his fatherCaesar; it is known as the Anadyomene;this like other works is eclipsed yet made famous by the Greek verseswhich sing its praises; the lower part of the picture having become damagednobody could be found to restore it, but the actual injury contributed to theglory of the artist. This picture however suffered from age and rot, andNero when emperor substituted anotherfor it, a work byDorotheus.Apelles had also begun on anotherAphrodite at Cos, which was to surpass even his famous earlier one; but deathgrudged him the work when only partly finished, nor could anybody be found tocarry on the task, in conformity with the outlines of the sketches prepared. Healso paintedAlexander the Great holdinga Thunderbolt, in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, for a fee of twenty talentsin gold. The fingers have the appearance of projecting from the surface and thethunderbolt seems to stand out from the picturereaders must remember that allthese effects were produced by four colours; the artist received the price ofthis picture in gold coin measured by weighty not counted. He also painted aProcession of the Magabyzus, the priest of Artemis of Ephesus, a Clitus withHorse hastening into battle; and an armour-bearer handing someone a helmet athis command. How many times he paintedAlexander andPhilip it would besuperfluous to recount. His Habron at Samos is much admired, as is hisMenander. King of Caria, at Rhodes,likewise his Antaeus, and at Alexandria his Gorgosthenes the Tragic Actor, andat Rome his Castor and Pollux with Victory and Alexander the Great, and also hisfigure of Ware with the Hands Tied behind, withAlexander riding in Triumph in his Chariot. Both of these pictures hislate lamented MajestyAugustus withrestrained good taste had dedicated in the most frequented parts of his forum;the emperorClaudius however thought itmore advisable to cut out the face ofAlexanderfrom both works and substitute portraits ofAugustus. The Heracles with Face Averted in the temple of Diana is alsobelieved to be by his handso drawn that the picture more truly displaysHeracles' face than merely suggests it to the imaginationa very difficultachievement. He also painted a Nude Hero, a picture with which he challengedNature herself. There is, or was, a picture of a Horse by him, painted in acompetition, by which he carried his appeal for judgement from mankind to thedumb quadrupeds; for perceiving that his rivals were getting the better of himby intrigue, he had some horses brought and showed them their pictures one byone; and the horses only began to neigh when they saw the horse painted by Apelles; and this always happenedsubsequently, showing it to be a sound. test of artistic skill. He also did aNeoptolemus on Horseback fighting against the Persians, an Archelaus with hisWife and Daughter, and an Antigonus with a Breastplate marching with his horseat his side. Connoisseurs put at the head of all his works the portrait of thesame king seated on horseback, and his Artemis in the midst of a band of Maidensoffering a Sacrifice, a work by which he may be thought to have surpassedHomer's verses describing the samesubject. He even painted things that cannot be represented in picturesthunder,lightning and thunderbolts, the pictures known respectively under the Greektitles of Bronte, Astrape and Ceraunobolia.

His inventions in the art of painting have been useful to all other painters aswell, but there was one which nobody was able to imitate: when his works werefinished he used to cover them over with a black varnish of such thinness thatits very presence, while its reflexion threw up the brilliance of all thecolours and preserved them from dust and dirt, was only visible to anyone wholooked at it close up, but also employing great calculation of lights, so thatthe brilliance of the colours should not offend the sight when people looked atthem as if through muscovy-glass and so that the same device from a distancemight invisibly give sombreness to colours that were too brilliant.

Contemporary withApelles wasAristides of Thebes. He was thefirst of all painters who depicted the mind and expressed the feelings of ahuman being, what the Greeks termethe, and also the emotions; he was alittle too hard in his colours. His works include on the capture of a town,showing an infant creeping to the breast of its mother who is dying of a wound;it is felt that the mother is aware of the child and is afraid that as her milkis exhausted by death it may suck blood; this picture had been removed byAlexander the Great to his native place,Pella. The same artist painted a Battle with the Persians, a panel that containsa hundred human figures, which he parted with toMnason the Tyrant of Elatea on the termsof ten Chariots Racing, a Suppliant, who almost appeared speak, Huntsmen withQuarry, Leontion Epicurus's mistress, and Woman At Rest through per man. He alsopainted a Four-horse of her Brother; and likewise the Dionysus the Ariadne onceon view in the Temple of Ceres at Rome, and the Tragic Actor and Boy in theTemple of Apollo, a picture of which the beauty has perished owing to the lackof skill of a painter commissioned by Marcus Junius as praetor to clean it inreadiness for the festival of the Games of Apollo. There has also been on viewin the Temple of Faith in the Capitol his picture of an Old Man with a Lyregiving lessons to a Boy. He also painted a Sick Man which has received unlimitedpraise; and he was so able an artist that King Attalus is said to have bought asingle picture of his for a hundred talents.

Protogenes also flourished at the sametime, as has been said. He was born at Caunus, in a community that was underthe dominion of Rhodes. At the outset he was extremely poor, and extremelydevoted to his art and consequently not very productive.

Who his teacher was is believed to be unrecorded. Some people say that until theage of fifty he was also a ship-painter, and that this is proved by the factthat when he was decorating with paintings, on a very famous site at Athens, thegateway of the Temple of Athene, where he depicted his famous Paralus andHammonias, which is by some people called the Nausicaa, he added some smalldrawings of battleships in what painters call the 'side-pieces,' in order toshow from what commencement his work had arrived at the pinnacle of gloriousdisplay. Among his pictures the palm is held by his Ialysus, which isconsecrated in the Temple of Peace in Rome. It is said that while painting thishe lived on soaked lupins, because he thus at the same time both sustained hishunger and thirst and avoided blunting his sensibilities by too luxurious adiet. For this picture he used four coats of paint, to serve as threeprotections against injury and old age, so that when the upper coat disappearedthe one below it would take its place. In the picture there is a dogmarvellously executed, so as to appear to have been painted by art and goodfortune jointly: the artist's own opinion was that he did not fully show in itthe foam of the panting dog, although in all the remaining details he hadsatisfied himself, which was very difficult. But the actual art displayeddispleased him, nor was he able to diminish it, and he thought it was excessiveand departed too far from realitythe foam appeared to be painted, not to be thenatural product of the animal's mouth; vexed and tormented, as he wanted hispicture to contain the truth and not merely a near-truth, he had several timesrubbed off the paint and used another brush, quite unable to satisfy himself.Finally he fell into a rage with his art because it was perceptible, anddashed a sponge against the place in the picture that offended him, and thesponge restored the colours he had removed, in the way that his anxiety hadwished them to appear, and chance produced the effect of nature in the picture!

It is said thatNealces also following this example of his achieved a similar success inrepresenting a horse's foam by dashing a sponge on the picture in a similarmanner, in a representation of a man clucking in his cheek to soothe a horse hewas holding. Thus didProtogenesindicate the possibilities of a stroke of luck also.

It was on account of thisIalysus thatKingDemetrius, in order to avoidburning a picture, abstained from setting fire to Rhodes when the city couldonly be taken from the side where the picture was stored, and throughconsideration for the safety of a picture lost the chance of a victory! Protogenes at the time was in his littlegarden on the outskirts of the city, that is in the middle of the Camp ofDemetrius, and would not be interruptedby the battles going on, or on any account suspend the works he had begun, hadhe not been summoned by the King, who asked him what gave him the assurance tocontinue outside the walls. He replied that he knew the King was waging war withthe Rhodians, not with the arts. The King, delighted to be able to safeguard thehands which he had spared, placed guardposts to protect him, and, to avoidrepeatedly calling him from his work, actually though an enemy came to pay himvisits, and quitting his aspirations for his own victory, in the thick ofbattles and the battering down of walls, looked on at the work of an artist. Andeven to this day the story is attached to a picture of that date thatProtogenes painted it with a swordhanging over him. The picture is the one of a Satyr, called the Satyr Reposing,and to give a final touch to the sense of security felt at the time, the figureholds a pair of flutes.

Other works ofProtogenes were aCydippe, Tlepolemus, a Philiscus the Tragic Poet in Meditation, an Athlete, aportrait of King Antigonus, and one of the Mother of Aristotle the philosopher. Aristotle used to advise the artist to paint the achievements of Alexander the Great, as belonging to history for all time. The impulse of his mind however and a certain artistic capriciousness led him rather to the subjects mentioned. His latest works were pictures of Alexander and of Pan. He also made bronze statues, as we have said.

In the same period there was alsoAselepiodorus,who was admired by Apelles forhis proportions. For a picture of the Twelve Gods the tyrantMnaso paid him three hundred minae pergod. The same patron paidTheomnestustwenty minae for each of the heroes in a picture.

To the list of these artists must also be addedNicomachus son and pupil ofAristides. He painted a Rape of Persephone, a picture formerly in the Shrineof Minerva on the Capitol, just above the Chapel of Youth; and there was also inthe Capitol, where it was placed by General Planeus, his Victory hurrying herChariot aloft. He was the first painter who represented Odysseus wearinga felt skull-cap. He also painted an Apollo and Artemis, and the Mother of theGods seated on a Lion, and likewise a fine picture of Bacchants with Satyrsprowling towards them, and a Scylla that is now in the Temple of Peace in Rome.No other painter was ever a more rapid worker. Indeed it is recorded that heaccepted a commission from the tyrant of Sicyon Aristratus to paint by a givendate a monument that he was erecting to the poetTelestes, and that he only arrived notlong before the date; the wrathful tyrant threatened to punish him, but in a fewdays he finished the work with a speed and an artistic skill that were bothremarkable. Among his pupils were his brotherAriston and his sonAristides andPhiloxenus of Eretria, who painted forKingCassander a picture that holds thehighest rank, containing a battle betweenAlexander andDarius. He alsopainted a picture with a wanton subject showing three Sileni at their revels.Imitating the rapidity of his master he introduced some shorthand methods ofpainting, executed with still more rapidity of technique.

With these artists is also reckonedNicophanes,an elegant and finished painter with whom few can be compared for gracefulness,but who for tragic feeling and weight of style is far fromZeuxis andApelles.Perseus, the pupil to whomApelles dedicated his volumes on the artof painting, had belonged to the same period.Aristides of Thebes also had as his pupils his sonsNiceros andAriston, the latter the painter of aSatyr Crowned with a Wreath and Holding a Goblet; and other pupils ofAristides wereAntorides andEuphranor about the latter we shall speak later on.

XXXVII. For it is proper to append the artists famous with the brush in aminor style of painting. Among these was Piraeicus, to be ranked below few painters in skill; it ispossible that he won distinction by his choice of subjects, inasmuch as althoughadopting a humble line he attained in that field the height of glory. He paintedbarbers' shops and cobblers' stalls, asses, viands and the like, consequentlyreceiving a Greek name meaning 'painter of sordid subjects'; in thesehowever he gives exquisite pleasure, and indeed they fetched bigger prices thanthe largest works of many masters. On the other hand 'a picture by Serapio,'saysVarro, 'covered the whole of the Maenian Balconies at the place Beneath the Old Shops.'Serapio was a most successfulscene-painter, but he could not paint a human being. On the contrary,Dionysius painted nothing else butpeople, and consequently has a Greek name meaning 'Painter of Human Beings.' Callicles also made small pictures, andso didCalates of subjects taken fromcomedy; both classes were painted byAntiphilus,who executed the famous picture ofHesionand anAlexander and aPhilip with Athene which are now in theschool in Octavia's Porticoes, and in Philippus' Portico a Father Liber orDionysus, a Young Alexander,Hippolytusalarmed by the Bull rushing upon him, and inPompey's Portico a Cadmus and Europa. He also painted a figure in anabsurd costume known by the joking name of Gryllus, the name consequentlyapplied to every picture of that sort. He was himself born in Egypt and a pupilofCtesidemus.

It is proper also not to pass over the painter of the temple at Ardea,especially as he was granted the citizenship of that place and honoured with aninscription on the picture, consisting in the following verses:

These lines are written in the antique Latin script. Nor mustSpurius Tadius also, of the period ofhis late lamented MajestyAugustus,be cheated of his due, who first introduced the most attractive fashion ofpainting walls with pictures of country houses and porticoes and landscapegardens, groves, woods, hills, fish-ponds, canals, rivers, coasts, and whateveranybody could desire, together with various sketches of people going for astroll or sailing in a boat or on land going to country houses riding on assesor in carriages, and also people fishing and fowling or hunting or evengathering the vintage. His works include splendid villas approached by roadsacross marshes men tottering and staggering along carrying women on theirshoulders for a bargain, and a number of humorous drawings of that sort besides,extremely wittily designed. He also introduced using pictures of seaside citiesto decorate uncovered terraces, giving a most pleasing effect and at a verysmall expense.

But among artists great fame has been confined to painters of pictures only afact which shows the wisdom of early times to be the more worthy of respect, forthey did not decorate walls, merely for owners of property, or houses, whichwould remain in one place and which could not be rescued from a fire.Protogenes was content with a cottage inhis little garden;Apelles had nowall-frescoes in his house; it was not yet the fashion to colour the whole ofthe walls. With all these artists their art was on the alert for the benefit ofcities, and a painter was the common property of the world.

A little before the period of his late lamented MajestyAugustus,Arellius also was in high esteem atRome, had he not prostituted his art by a notorious outrage, by always payingcourt to any woman he happened to fall in love with, and consequently paintinggoddesses, but in the likeness of his mistresses; and so his pictures included anumber of portraits of harlots. Another recent painter wasFamulus, a dignified and severe but alsovery florid artist; to him belonged a Minerva who faced the spectator atwhatever angle she was looked at.Famulusused to spend only a few hours a day in painting, and also took his work veryseriously, as he always wore a toga, even when in the midst of his easels. TheGolden House was the prison that contained his productions, and this is whyother examples of his work are not extant to any considerable extent. After himin esteem wereCornelius Pinus andAttius Priscus, who painted the templesof Honour and Virtue for the EmperorVespasian's restoration of them;Priscuswas nearer in style to the artists of old days.

XXXVIII. In speaking of painting one must not omit the famous story about Lepidus. During his Triumvirate, whenentertained by the magistrates of a certain place, he was given lodging in ahouse buried in trees; and the next day he complained to them in threateninglanguage that he had been robbed of sleep by the singing of the birds howeverthe authorities had a picture of a large snake made on an extremely long stripof parchment and fixed it up round the wood, and the story goes that this atonce frightened the birds into silence, and that subsequently it was possible tokeep them in check.

XXXIX. It is not agreed who was the inventor of painting in wax and ofdesigns in encaustic. Some people think it was a discovery ofAristides, subsequently brought toperfection by Praxiteles, but there wereencaustic paintings in existence at a considerably earlier date, for instancethose ofPolygnotus, andNicanor andMnasilaus of Paros. AlsoElasippus of Aegina has inscribed on apictureenekaën ('burnt in'), which he would not have done if the art ofencaustic painting-had not been invented.

XL. It is recorded also that Pamphilus,the teacher ofApelles, not onlypainted in encaustic but also taught it toPausias of Sicyon, the first artist who became famous in this style.Pausias was the son of Bryetes, andstarted as his father's pupil. He himself also did some wall-painting with thebrush at Thespiae, when some old paintings byPolygnotus were being restored, and he was deemed to come off very secondbest in comparison with the original artist, having entered intocompetition in what was not really his line.Pausias also first introduced the painting of panelled ceilings, and itwas not customary before him to decorate arched roofs in this way. He used topaint miniatures, and especially children. His rivals explained this practiceas being due to the slow pace of his work in painting; and consequently to givehis work also the reputation of speed he finished a picture in a single day, apicture of a boy which was called in Greek Henieresios, meaning One-day Boy. Inhis youth he fell in love with a fellow-townswoman named Glycera, who inventedchaplets of flowers, and by imitating her in rivalry he advanced the art ofencaustic painting so as to reproduce an extremely numerous variety of flowers.Finally he painted a portrait of the woman herself, seated and wearing a wreath,which is one of the very finest of pictures; it is called in GreekStephanoplocos, Girl making Wreaths, or by othersStephanopolis, Girl sellingWreaths, because Glycera had supported her poverty by that trade. A copy (inGreekapographoa) of this picture was bought byLucius Lucullus at Athens for twotalents; it had been made byDionysiusat Athens. But Pausias also did largepictures, for instance the Sacrifice of Oxen which formerly was to be seen inPompey's Portico. He first invented a method of painting which has afterwardsbeen copied by many people but equalled by no one; the chief point was thatalthough he wanted to show the long body of an ox he painted the animal facingthe spectator and not standing sideways, and its great size is fully conveyed.Next, whereas all painters ordinarily execute in light colour the parts theywish to appear prominent and in dark those they wish to keep less obvious, thisartist has made the whole ox of a black colour and has given substance to theshadow from the shadow itself, with quite remarkable skill that shows the shapesstanding out on a level surface and a uniform solidity on a broken ground. Pausias also passed his life at Sicyon,which was for a long period a native place of painting. But all the picturesthere had to be sold to meet a debt of the community, and were removed from theownership of the state to Rome by Scaurus as aedile.

AfterPausias,Euphranor the Isthmian distinguishedhimself far before all others, in the 104th Olympiad; he has also appeared inour account of statuaries. His works included colossal statues, works in marble,and reliefs, as he was exceptionally studious and diligent, excelling in everyfield and never falling below his own level. This artist seems to have been thefirst fully to represent the lofty qualities of heroes, and to have achievedgood proportions, but he was too slight in his structure of the whole body andtoo large in his heads and joints. He also wrote books about proportions andabout colours. Works of his are a Cavalry Battle, the Twelve Gods, and a Theseus, in respect of which he said thatParrhasius's Theseus had lived on a diet of roses, but his was abeef-eater. There is a celebrated picture by him at Ephesus, Odysseus FeigningMadness and yoking an ox with a horse, with men in cloaks reflecting, and theleader sheathing his sword.

Contemporaries ofEuphranor wereCydias, for whose picture of theArgonauts the oratorHortensius [114-50BC] paid 144,000 sesterces, and made a shrine for its reception at his villa atTusculum.Euphranor's pupil wasAntidotus. Works by the latter are aCombatant with a Shield at Athens and a Wrestler and a Trumpeter which hasbeen exceptionally praised.Antidotushimself was more careful in his work than prolific, and severe in his use ofcolours; his chief distinction was being the teacher of the AthenianNicias, who was an extremely carefulpainter of female portraits. Nicias kept a strict watch on light andshade, and took the greatest pains to make his paintings stand out from thepanels. Works of his are: a Nemea, brought to Rome from Asia by Silanus anddeposited in the Senate-house as we have said, and also the Father Liber orDionysus in the Shrine of Concord, a Hyacinthus with whichCaesar Augustus was so delighted thatwhen he took Alexandria he brought it back with himand consequentlyTiberius Caesar dedicated this picturein the Temple a of Augustusand a Danaë; while at Ephesus there is the tomb of amegabyzus or priest of Diana of Ephesus, and at Athens there is a Necyomantea ofHomer. The last the artist refused tosell to KingAttalus for 60 talents, andpreferred to present it to his native place, as he was a wealthy man. He alsoexecuted some large pictures, among them a Calypso, an Io and an Andromeda; andalso the very fineAlexander in Pompey'sPorticoes and a Seated Calypso are assigned to him.

In drawings of animals he was most successful with dogs. It is thisNicias of whomPraxiteles used to say, when asked whichof his own works in marble he placed highest, `The ones to whichNicias has set his hand'so much valuedid he assign to his colouring of surfaces. It is not quite clear whether itis another artist of the same name or this Nicias whom some people put in the 112th Olympiad. [332-329 BC].

WithNicias is comparedAthenion of Maronea, andsometimes to the disadvantage of the former.Athenion was a pupil ofGlaucionof Corinth; he is more sombre in his colour thanNicias and yet therewithal morepleasing, so that his extensive knowledge shines out in his actual painting. Hepainted a Cavalry Captain in the temple at Eleusis and at Athens the group offigures which has been called the Family Group, and also an Achilles Disguisedin Female Dress detected by Odysseus, a group of six figures in a singlepicture, and a Groom with a Horse, which has specially contributed to his fame.If he had not died in youth, there would have been nobody to compare with him.

Heraclides of Macedon is also a painterof note. He began by painting ships, and after the capture of KingPerseus he migrated to Athens, where atthe same period was the painterMetrodorus,who was also a philosopher and a great authority in both fields. AccordinglywhenLucius Paulus after conqueringPerseus requested the Athenians to sendhim their most esteemed philosopher to educate his children, and also a painterto embellish his triumphal procession, the Athenians selected Metrodorus, stating that he was mostdistinguished in both of these requirements alike, as to whichPaulus also held the same view.Timomachus of Byzantium the period ofCaesar's dictatorship painted anAjax and a Medea, placed byCaesar inthe temple of Venus Genetrix, having been bought at the price of 80 talents (MarcusVarro rates the Attic talent at 6000 denarii). Equal praise is given toTimomachus's Orestes, his Iphigeniaamong the Tauri and his Gymnastic-Master Lecythion; also his Noble Family andhis Two Men wearing the Pallium, whom he has represented as about to converse;one is a standing figure and the other seated. It is in his painting of a Gorgonhowever that his art seems to have given him most success.

Pausias's son and pupilAristolaus was one of thepainters of the very severe style; to him belong an Epaminondas, a Pericles, aMedea, a Virtue, a Theseus, a figure representing the Athenian People, and aSacrifice of Oxen. Some persons also admire Nicophanes, who was likewise a pupilofPausias, for his carefulaccuracy which only artists can appreciate, though apart from that he is hardin his colouring and lavish in his use of ochre. As forSocrates he is justly a universalfavourite popular pictures by him are his group of Asclepius with hisdaughters Health, Brightness, All-Heal and Remedy, and his Sluggard, bearing theGreek name of Ocnos, Laziness, and represented as twisting a rope of broom whichan ass is nibbling.

Having so far pointed out the chief painters in both branches, we will alsomention those of the rank next to the first:Aristoclides who decorated the Temple of Apollo at Delphi,Antiphilus who is praised for hisBoy Blowing a Fire, and for the apartment, beautiful in itself, lit by thereflection from the fire and the light thrown on the boy's face; and likewisefor his Spinning-room, in which all the women are busily plying their tasks, andhis Ptolemy Hunting, but, most famous of all, his Satyr with Leopard's Skin,called in Greek the Man Shading his Eyes.Aristophon did an Ancaeus Wounded by the Boar, with Astypale sharing hisgrief, and a picture crowded with figures, among them Priam, Helen, Credulity,Odysseus, Deiphobus, Craft.Androbiuspainted a Scyllus Cutting the Anchor-ropes of the Persian Fleet,Artemon a Danae admired by the Robbers,a Queen Stratdnice, and a Heracles and Deianira; but the finest of all hisworks, now in Octavia's Buildings, are his Heracles Ascending to Heaven with theconsent of the Gods after his mortal remains were burnt on Mount Oeta in Doris,and the story of Laomedon in the matter of Heraeles and Posidon.Alcimachus painted Dioxippus, who wonthe All-round Bout at Olympia 'without raising any dust,'akoniti as theGreek word is.Coenus painted pedigrees.

Ctesilochus a pupil ofApelles became famous for a saucyburlesque painting which showed Zeus in labour with Dionysus, wearing a womansnightcap and crying like a woman, while goddesses act as midwives;Cleon for his Cadnsus,Ctesidemus for his Storming of Oechaliaand his Laodamia.Ctesicles wonnotoriety by the insult he offered to Queen Stratonice, because asshe did not give him an honourable reception he painted a picture of her rompingwith a fisherman with whom gossip said she was in love, and put it on exhibitionat Ephesus Harbour, himself making a hurried escape on shipboard. The Queenwould not allow the picture to be removed, the likeness of the two figures beingadmirably expressed.Cratinus paintedthe Comic Actors in the Processional Building at Athens,Eutychides a Chariot and Pair driven byVictory.Eudorus is famous for ascene-paintinghe also made bronze statuesand Hippys for his Posidon and his Victory.Habron painted a Friendship and a Harmony and figures of gods,Leontiscus an Aratus with the Trophiesof Victory, and a Harpist Girl,Leon aSappho,Nearchus Aphrodite among theGraces and the Cupids, and a Heracles in Sorrow Repenting his Madness,Nealces an Aphrodite. ThisNealces was a talented and cleverartist, inasmuch as when he painted a picture of a naval battle between thePersians and the Egyptians, which he desired to be understood as taking place onthe river Nile, the water of which resembles the sea, he suggested by inferencewhat could not be shown by art: he painted an ass standing on the shoredrinking, and a crocodile lying in wait for it. Oenias has done a Family Group,Philiscus a Painter's Studio with a boy blowing the fire,Phalerion a Scylla,Simonides an Agatharchus and aMnemosyne,Simus a Young Man Reposing, aFuller's Shop Celebrating the Quinquatrus, and also a Nemesis of great merit;Theorus a Man Anointing Himself, andalso Orestes killing his Mother and Aegisthus, and the Trojan War in a series ofpictures now in Philippus' Porticoes at Rome and a Cassandra, in the Shrine ofConcord, a Leontion Epicurus a mistress in Contemplation, a King Demetrius;Theon a Madness of Orestes, a Thamyras the Harper; Tauriscus a Man throwing aQuoit, a Clytaemnestra, a Young Pan, a Polynices Claiming the Sovereignty, and aCapaneus.

Among these artists the following remarkable case is not to be left out; the manwho ground the colours for the painterNealces,Erigonus, attained such proficiency onhis own account that he actually left behind him a famous pupil,Pasias, the brother of the painterAeginetas. It is also a very unusual andmemorable fact that the last works of artists and their unfinished pictures suchas the Iris ofAristides, the Tyndarus'Children ofNicomachus, the Medea ofTimomachus and the Aphrodite ofApelles which we have mentioned, aremore admired than those which they finished, because in them are seen thepreliminary drawings left visible and the artists' actual thoughts, and in themidst of approval's beguilement we feel regret that the artist's hand whileengaged in the work was removed by death.

There are still some artists who are not undistinguished but who only need be mentioned in passingAristocydes,Anaxander, Aristobulus of Syria,Arcesilas son ofTisicrates,Coroebus the pupil ofNicomachus,Charmantides, the pupil ofEuphranor,Dionysodorus of Colophon,Dicaeogenes resident at the court ofKingDemetrius,Euthymides, the MacedonianHeraclides andMilon of Soli, pupils ofPyrornachus, the sculptor of the humanfigure,Mnasitheus of Sicyon,Mnasitimus the son and pupil ofAristonides,Nessus son ofHabron,Polemo of Alexandria, Theodorus of Samos andStadius, both pupils ofNicosthenes,Xenon of Sicyon, pupil ofNeocles.

There have also been women artistsTimaretethe daughter ofMicon who painted theextremely archaic panel picture of Artemis at Ephesus,Irene daughter and pupil of the painterCratinus who did the Maiden at Eleusis,aCalypso, an Old Man andTheodorus the Juggler, and painted also Alcisthenes the Dancer;Aristarete the daughter and pupil ofNearchus, who painted an Asclepius.

WhenMarcus Varro was a young man,Iaia of Cyzicus, who never married,painted pictures with the brush at Rome (and also drew with the cestrumor graver on ivory), chiefly portraits of women, as well as a large picture onwood of an Old Woman at Naples, and also a portrait of herself, done with alooking-glass. No one else had a quicker hand in painting, while her artisticskill was such that in the prices she obtained she far outdid the mostcelebrated portrait painters of the same period,Sopolis andDionysius, whose pictures fill thegalleries. A certainOlympias alsopainted; the only fact recorded about her is thatAutobulus was her pupil.

XLI. In early days there were two kinds of encausticpainting, with wax and on ivory with a graver or cestrum (that is a smallpointed graver); but later the practice came in of decorating battleships. Thisadded a third method, that of employing a brush, when wax has been melted byfire; this process of painting ships is not spoilt by the action of the sun norby salt water or winds.

XLII. In Egypt they also colour cloth by an exceptionally remarkable kindof process. They first thoroughly rub white fabrics and then smear themnot with colours but with chemicals that absorb colour. When this has been done,the fabrics show no sign of the treatment, but after being plunged into acauldron of boiling dye they are drawn out a moment later dyed. And theremarkable thing is that although the cauldron contains only one colour, itproduces a series of different colours in the fabric, the hue changing with thequality of the chemical employed, and it cannot afterwards be washed out.Thus the cauldron which, if dyed fabrics were put into it, would undoubtedlyblend the colours together, produces several colours out of one, and dyes thematerial in the process of being boiled; and the dress fabrics when submitted toheat become stronger for wear than they would be if not so heated.

XLIII. Enough and more than enough has now been said about painting. Itmay be suitable to append to these remarks something about the plastic art. Itwas through the service of that same earth that modelling portraits from claywas first invented by Butades, a potterof Sicyon, at Corinth. He did this owing to his daughter, who was in love with ayoung man; and she, when he was going abroad, drew in outline on the wall theshadow of his face thrown by a lamp. Her father pressed clay on this and made arelief, which he hardened by exposure to fire with the rest of his pottery; andit is said that this likeness was preserved in the Shrine of the Nymphs untilthe destruction of Corinth byMummius.Some authorities state that the plastic art was first invented byRhoecus andTheodorus at Samos, long before theexpulsion of the Bacchiadae from Corinth, but that whenDamaratus, who in Etruria became thefather ofTarquin king of the Romanpeople, was banished from the same city, [578 B.C.] he was accompanied by themodellersEuchir,Diopus andEugrammus, and they introduced modellingto Italy. The method of adding red earth to the material or else modelling outof red chalk, was an invention ofButades,and he first placed masks as fronts to the outer gutter-tiles on roofs; these atthe first stage he calledprostypa, but afterwards he likewise madeeciypa. It was from these that the ornaments on the pediments oftemples originated. Because ofButadesmodellers get their Greek name ofpiastae.

XLIV. The first person who modelled a likeness in plaster of a humanbeing from the living face itself, and established the method of pouring waxinto this plaster mould and then making final corrections on the wax cast, was Lysistratus of Sicyon, the brother ofLysippus of whom we have spoken. Indeedhe introduced the practice of giving likenesses, the object aimed at previouslyhaving been to make as handsome a face as possible. The same artist alsoinvented taking casts from statues, and this method advanced to such an extentthat no figures or statues were made without a clay model. This shows that theknowledge of modelling in clay was older than that of casting bronze.

XLV. Most highly praised modellers were Damophilus andGorgasus, who werealso painters they had decorated the Shrine of Ceres in the CircusMaxfmus at Rome with both kinds of their art, and there is an inscription on thebuilding in Greek verse in which they indicated that the decorations on theright hand side were the work of Damophilusand those on the left were byGorgasus.Varro states that before this shrine wasbuilt everything in the temples was Tuscanic work; and that when thisshrine was undergoing restoration the embossed work of the walls was cut outand enclosed in framed panels; and that the figures also were taken from thepediment and dispersed. Chalcosthenesalso executed at Athens some works in unbaked clay, at the place named theCerarnicus, Potters Quarter, after his workshop.Marcus Varro records that he knew atRome an artist namedPossis who madefruit and grapes in such a way that nobody could tell by sight from the realthings.Varro also speaks very highly ofArcesilaus, who was on terms ofintimacy withLucius Lucullus, and saysthat his sketch-models of clay used to sell for more, among artists themselves,than the finished works of others; and that this artist made the statue of VenusGenetrix in Caesar's Forum and that it was erected before it was finished asthere was a great haste to dedicate it; and that the same artist had contractedwithLucullus to make a statue ofHappiness for 1,000,000 sesterces, which was prevented by the death of bothparties; and that when a Knight of RomeOctavius desired him to make a wine-bowl he made him a model in plasterfor the price of a talent. He also praisesPasiteles, who said that modelling was the mother of chasing andof bronze statuary and sculpture, and who, although he was eminent in all thesearts, never made anything before he had made a clay model. He also states thatthis art had already been brought to perfection by Italy and especially byEtruria; thatVulca was summoned fromVeii to receive the contract fromTarquiniusPriscus for a statue of Jupiter to be consecrated in the Capitol, andthat this Jupiter was made of clay and consequently was regularly paintedwith cinnabar; and that the four-horse chariots about which we spoke above onthe pediment of the temple were modelled in clay; and that the figure ofHercules, which even today retains in the city the name of the material it ismade of, was the work of the same artist. For these were the most splendidimages of gods at that time; and we are not ashamed of those ancestors of oursfor worshipping them in that material. For they used not formerly to work upsilver and gold even for gods.

XLVI. Statues of this kind are still to be found at various places. Infact even at Rome and in the Municipal Towns there are many pediments oftemples, remarkable for their carving and artistic merit and intrinsicdurability, more deserving of respect than gold, and certainly less baneful. Atthe present day indeed, even in the midst of our present rich resources thepreliminary libation is made at sacrifices not from fluorspar or crystalvessels but with small ladles of earthenware, thanks to the ineffable kindnessof Mother Earth, if one considers her gifts in detail, even though we omit herblessings in the various kinds of corn, wine. fruit, herbs and shrubs, drugs andmetals, all the things that we have so far mentioned. Nor do our productseven in pottery satisfy our needs with their unfailing supply, with jarsinvented for our wine, and pipes for water, conduits for baths, tiles for ourroofs, baked bricks for our house-walls and foundations, or things that aremade on a wheel, because of which King Numaestablished a seventh Guild, the Potters. Indeed moreover many people havepreferred to be buried in earthenware coffins, for instanceMarcus Varro who was interred in thePythagorean style, in leaves of myrtle, olive and as black poplar; the majorityof mankind employs earthenware receptacles for this purpose. Among tableservices Samian pottery is still spoken highly of; this reputation is alsoretained byArezzo in Italy, and, merelyfor cups, Sorrento, Asti, and Pollenza, and by Saguntuni in Spain and Pergamumin Asia Minor. Also Tralles in Asia Minor and Modena in Italy have theirrespective products, since even this brings nations fame, and their productsalso, so distinguished are the workshops of the potter's wheel, are carried toand fro across land and sea. In a temple at Erythrae even today are on view twowine-jars which were dedicated on account of their fine material, owing to acompetition between a master potter and his apprentice as to which would makethinner earthenware. The pottery of Cos is most famous for this, but that ofAdria is most substantial; while there are also some instances of severity alsoin relation to pottery. We find thatQuintusCoponius was found guilty of bribery because he made a present of a jarof wine to a person who had the right to a vote. And so that luxury also maycontribute some importance to earthenware, the name of a service of threedishes, we are told byFenestella, usedto denote the most luxurious possible banquet: one dish was of lamprey, a secondof pike and a third of a mixture of fish. Clearly manners were already on thedecline, though nevertheless we can still prefer them even to those of thephilosophers of Greece, inasmuch as it is recorded that at the auction held bythe heirs ofAristotle seventyearthenware dishes were. sold. We have already stated when on the subject ofbirds that a single dish cost the tragic actorAesop 100,000 sesterces, and I have no doubt that readers felt indignant;but, good heavens,Vitellius whenemperor had a dish made that cost 1,000,000 sesterees, and to make which aspecial furnace was constructed out in open country, as luxury has reached apoint when even earthenware costs more than vessels of fluorspar. It was owingto this dish that Mucianus in his secondconsulship, in a protest [AD. 70] which he delivered, reproached thememory ofVitellius for dishes as broadas marshes, although this particular dish was not more disgraceful than thepoisoned one by whichCassius Severuswhen prosecutingAsprenas charged himwith having caused the death of 130 guests. Artistic pottery also confers fameon towns, for instance Reggio and Cumae. The priests of the Mother of the Codscalled Galli castrate themselves, if we accept the account ofMarcus Caelius, with a piece of Samianpottery, the only way of avoiding dangerous results; andCacius proposed as a penalty for anabominable offence that the guilty person should have his tongue cut out in thesame way, just as if he were already himself inveighing against the sameVitellius in anticipation. What is therethat experience cannot devise? For it employs even broken crockery, making itmore solid and durable by pounding it up and adding what is called Segni lime, akind of material used in a method which experience has also invented for makingpavements.

XLVII. But there are other inventions also that belong to Earth herself.For who could sufficiently marvel at the fact that the most inferiorportion of the earth's substance, which is in consequence designated dust,on the hills of Pozzuoli, encounters the waves of the sea and as soon asit is submerged turns into a single mass of stone that withstands the attacks ofthe waves and becomes stronger every day, especially if it mixed with brokenquarry-stone from Cumae? In the Cyzicus district also the nature of the earth isthe same, but there not dust but the earth itself is cut out in blocks of anysize wanted and plunged into the sea; and when drawn out, it is of theconsistency of stone. The same is said to take place in the neighbourhood ofCassandreae and it is stated that in a fresh water spring at Cnidus earthbecomes petrified in less than eight months. Or the coast from Oropus to Aulisall the earth that the sea touches is turned into rocks. The finest portion ofthe sand from the Nile is not very different from the dust of Pozzuoli, not tobe used for an embankment against the sea and to act as a breakwater againstwaves, but for the purpose of subduing men's bodies for the exercises of thewrestling school. At all events it used to be imported from there for Patrobius, a freedman of the emperorNero, and moreover I also find that thissand was carried with other military commodities forAlexander the Great's generalsCraterus, Leonnatus and Meleager, thoughI shall not say more about this part of the subject any more than, by heaven, Ishall mention the use of earth in making ointments, employed by our young menwhile ruining their vigour of mind by exercising their muscles.

XLVIII. Moreover, are there not in Africa and Spain walls made of earththat are called framed walls, because they are made by packing in a frameenclosed between two boards, one on each side, and so are stuffed in rather thanbuilt, and do they not last for ages, undamaged by rain, wind and fire, andstronger than any quarry-stone? Spain still sees the watchtowers ofHannibal and turrets of earth placed onthe mountain ridges. From the same source is also obtained the substantial sodsof earth suitable for the fortifications of our camps and for cmbankmentsagainst the violent flooding of rivers. At all events everybody knows thatparty-walls can be made by coating hurdles with clay, and are thus built up asif with raw bricks.

XLIX. Bricks should not be made from a sandy or gravelly soil andfar less from a stony one, but from a marly and white soil or else from a redearth; or even with the aid of sand, at all events if coarse male sand is used.The best time for making bricks is in spring, as at midsummer they tend tocrack. For buildings, only bricks two years old are recommended; moreover thematerial for them when it has been pounded should be well soaked before they aremoulded.

Three kinds of bricks are made: the 'didoron,' the one employed by us, eighteeninches long and a foot wide, second the 'tetradoron' and third the 'pentadoron,'doron being an old Greek word meaning the palm of the hand from whichcomesdoron, meaning a gift, because a gift was given by the hand.Consequently the bricks get their names from four or five palms' length as thecase may be. Their breadth is in all cases the same. In Greece the smaller kindis used for private structures and the larger in public buildings. At Pitana inAsia Minor as also in the city states of Maxima and Callet in Further Spainbricks are made which when dried will not sink in water, being made ofpumice-like earth, which is an extremely useful material when it is capable ofbeing worked. The Greeks preferred brick walls except in places permitting of astone structure, as brick walls last for ever if built exactly perpendicular.Consequently that was how they built both public works and kings' palacesthewall at Athens that faces towards Mount Hymettus, at Patrae the Shrines of Zeusand of Heracles (although the columns and architraves with which theysurrounded these were of stone), and the royal palace of Attaius at Tralles andlikewise the palace of Croesus at Sardis, which they converted into a house ofelders, and that of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, buildings still standing.Murena andVarro in their aedileship had someplaster work on brick walls at Sparta cut away, and because of the excellence ofits painting had it enclosed in wooden frames and brought to Rome to decoratethe Assembly-place. It was in itself a wonderful piece of work, yet its transfercaused even more admiration. In Italy also there is a brick wall at Arezzo andat Mevania. Structures of this sort are not erected in Rome, because an eighteeninch wall will only carry a single storey, and there is a regulation forbiddingany partition exceeding that thickness: nor does the system used for party-wallspermit of it.

L. Let this be what we say about bricks. Among the other kinds ofearth the one with the most remarkable properties is sulphur, which exercises agreat power over a great many other substances. Sulphur occurs in the AeolianIslands between Sicily and Italy, which we have said are volcanic, but the mostfamous is on the island of Melos. It is also found in Italy, in the territory ofNaples and Campania, on the hills called the Leucogaei. It is there dug out ofmineshafts and dressed with fire. There are four kinds: live sulphur, the Greekname for which means 'untouched by fire,' which alone forms as a solid massforall the other sorts consist of liquid and are prepared by boiling in oil; livesulphur is dug up, and it is translucent and of a green colour; it is the onlyone of all the kinds that is employed by doctors. The second kind is called'clod-sulphur,' and is commonly found only in fullers' workshops. The third kindalso is only employed for one purpose, for smoking woollens from beneath, as itbestows whiteness and softness; this sort is calledegula. The fourthkind is specially used for making lamp-wicks. For the rest, sulphur is so potentthat when put on the fire it detects epilepsy by its smell.Anaxilaus even made a sport with it byputting some in a cup of wine and placing a hot coal underneath and handing itround at dinner-parties, when by its reflection it threw on their faces adreadful pallor as though they were dead. Its property is calorific andconcoctive, but it also disperses abscesses on the body, and consequently isused as an ingredient in plasters and poultices for such cases. It is alsoremarkably beneficial for the kidneys and loins if in cases of pain it isapplied to them with grease. In combination with turpentine it also removeslichenous growths on the face and leprosy; so it is calledharpax,owing to the speed with which it has to be applied, which is caused by theneed for immediate removal. Used as an electuary it is good for cases of asthma,and also purulent expectoration after coughing and as a remedy for the sting ofscorpions. Live sulphur mixed with soda and pounded in vinegar and used as aliniment removes cutaneous eruptions, and also eggs of lice, and in combinationwith vinegar mixed with realgar it is useful on the eyelids. Sulphur also has aplace in religious ceremonies, for the purpose of purifying houses byfumigation. Its potency is also perceptible in hot springs of water, and noother substance is more easily ignited, showing that it contains a powerfulabundance of fire. Thunderbolts and lightning also have a smell of sulphur, andtheir actual light has a sulphurous quality.

LI. Near to the nature of sulphur is also that of bitumen. In someplaces it is a slime and others an earth, the shine being emitted, as we havesaid, from the lake of Judea and the earth being found in the neighbourhood ofthe seaside town of Sidon in Syria. Both of these varieties get thickened andsolidify into a dense consistency. But there is also a liquid sort of bitumen,for instance that of Zacynthus and the kind imported from Babylon; at the latterplace indeed it also occurs with a white colour. The bitumen from Apollonia alsois liquid, and all of these varieties are called by the Greekspissasphalt,from its likeness to vegetable-pitch and bitumen. There is also an unctuousbitumen, of the consistency of oil, found in Sicily, in a spring at Girgenti,the stream from which is tainted by it. The inhabitants collect it on tufts ofreeds, as it very quickly adheres to them, and they use it instead of oil forburning in lamps, and also as a cure for scab in beasts of burden. Someauthorities also include among the varieties of bitumen naphtha about which wespoke inBook II, but its burning property and liability to ignition is farremoved from any practical use. The test of bitumen is that it should beextremely brilliant, and that it should be massive, with an oppressive smell;when quite black, its brilliance is moderate, as it is commonly adulterated withvegetable pitch. Its medical effect is that of sulphur, as it is astringent, dispersive, contractive, and agglutinating. Ignited it drives away snakes by ussmell. Babylonian bitumen is said to be serviceable for cataract and film in theeye, and also for leprosy lichen and itch. It is also used as a liniment forgout; while all varieties of it are used to fold back eyelashes that get in theway of sight, and also to cure toothache, when smeared on with soda. Taken as adraught with wine it alleviates an inveterate cough and shortness of breath; andit is also given in the same way in cases of dysentery, and arrestsdiarrhoea. Drunk however with vinegar it dissolves and brings away coagulatedblood. It reduces pains in the loins and also in the joints, and applied withbarley-meal it makes a special kind of plaster that bears its name. It stops aflow of blood, closes up wounds, and unites severed muscles. It is employed alsofor quartan fevers, the dose being a dram of bitumen and an equal weight of wildmint pounded up with a sixth of a dram of myrrh. Burnt bitumen detects cases ofepilepsy, and mixed with wine and beaver-oil its scent dissipates suffocationsof the womb; its smoke when applied from beneath relieves prolapsus of the womb;and drunk in wine it hastens menstruation. Among other uses of it, it is appliedas a coating to copper and bronze vessels to make them fireproof.

We have stated that it also used to be the practice to employ it forstaining copper and bronze and coating statues. It has also been used as asubstitute for lime, the walls of Babylon being cemented with it. In smithiesalso it is in favour for varnishing iron and the heads of nails and many otheruses.

LII. Not less important or very different is the use made of alum,by which is meant a salt exudation from the earth. There are several varietiesof it. In Cyprus there is a white alum and another sort of a darker colour,though the difference of colour is only slight; nevertheless the use made ofthem is very different, as the white and liquid kind is most useful for dyingwoollens a bright colour whereas the black kind is best for dark or sombre hues.Black alum is also used in cleaning gold. All alum is produced from water andslime, that is, a substance exuded by the earth; this collects naturally in ahollow in winter and its maturity by crystallisation is completed by thesunshine of summer; the part of it that separates earliest is whiter in colour.It occurs in Spain, Egypt, Armenia, Macedonia, Pontus, Africa, and the islandsSardinia, Melos, Lipari and Stromboli; the most highly valued is in Egypt andthe next best in Melos. The alum of Melos also is of two kinds, fluid and dense. The test of the fluid kind is that it should be of a limpid, milky consistency, free from grit when rubbed between the fingers, and giving a slight glow of colour; this kind is called in Greek 'phorimon' in the sense of'abundant.' Its adulteration can be detected by means of the juice of a pomegranate, as this mixed with it does not turn it black if it is pure. The other kind is the pale rough alum which may be stained with oak-gall also, and consequently this is called 'paraphoron,' perverted or adulterated alum.Liquid alum has an astringent, hardening and corrosive property. Mixed withhoney it cures ulcers in the mouth, pimples and eruptions; this treatment iscarried out in baths containing two parts of honey to one of alum. It reducesodour from the armpits and perspiration. It is taken in pills against disordersof the spleen and discharge of blood in the urine. Mixed with soda and chamomileit is also a remedy for scabies.

One kind of solid alum which is called in Greekschiston, 'splittable,' splitsinto a sort of filament of a whitish colour, owing to which some people havepreferred to give it in Greek the name of trichitis, 'hairy alum.' This isproduced from the same ore as copper, known as copperstone, a sort of sweat fromthat mineral, coagulated into foam. This kind of alum has less drying effect andserves less to arrest the detrimental humours of the body, but it is extremelybeneficial as an ear-wash, or as a liniment also for ulcers of the mouth and forthe teeth, and if it is retained in the mouth with saliva; or it forms asuitable ingredient in medicines for the eyes and for the genital organs ofeither sex. It is roasted in crucibles until it has quite lost its liquidity.There is another alum of a less active kind, called in Greekstrongyle, 'roundalum.' Of this also there are two varieties, the fungous which dissolves easilyin any liquid and which is rejected as entirely worthless, and a better kindwhich is porous and pierced with small holes like a sponge and of a roundformation, nearer white in colour, possessing a certain quality of unctuousness,free from grit, friable, and not apt to cause a black stain. This is roasted byitself on clean hot coals till it is reduced to ash. The best a of all kinds isthat calledMelos alum, after the island of that name, as we said; no other kindhas a greater power of acting as an astringent, giving a black stain andhardening, and none other has a closer consistency. It removes granulations ofthe eyes, and is still more efficacious in arresting defluxions when calcined,and in that state also it is applied to itchings on the body. Taken as a draftor applied externally it also arrests haemorrhage. It is applied in vinegar toparts from which the hair has been removed and changes into soft down the hairthat grows in its place. The chief property of all kinds of alum is theirastringent effect, which gives it its name in Greek. This makes them extremelysuitable for eye troubles, and effective in arresting haemorrhage. Mixed withlard it checks the spread of putrid ulcersso applied it also dries ulcers ininfants and eruptions in cases of dropsyand, mixed with pomegranate juice, itchecks ear troubles and malformations of the nails and hardening of scars, andflesh growing over the nails, and chilblains. Calcined with vinegar or gallnutsto an equal weight it heals gangrenous ulcers, and, if mixed with cabbage juice, pruritus, or if with twice the quantity of salt, serpiginous eruptions, and ifthoroughly mixed with water, it kills eggs of lice and other insects that infestthe hair. Used in the same way it is also good for burns, and mixed with wateryfluid from vegetable pitch for scurf on the body. It is also used as aninjection for dysentery, and taken in the mouth it reduces swellings of theuvula and tonsils. It must be understood that for all the purposes which we havementioned in the case of the other kinds the alum imported from Melos is moreefficacious. It has been indicated how important it is for the otherrequirements of life in giving a finish to hides and woollens.

LIII. Next to these we will deal with the various kinds of earth whichare connected with medicine. There are two sorts of Samos earth, calledcollyrium, 'eye-salve,' and star-earth. The recommendation of the former is thatit must be fresh and very soft and sticky to the tongue; the second is morelumpy; both are white in colour. The process is to calcine them and then to washthem. Some people prefer the former kind. They are beneficial for peoplespitting blood, and for plasters made up for drying purposes, and they are alsoused as an ingredient in medicines for the eyes.

LIV. Earth of Eretria has the same number of varieties, as one iswhite and one ash-coloured, the latter preferred in medicine. It is tested byits softness and by its leaving a violet tint if rubbed on copper. Its efficacyand the method of using it as a medicine have been spoken of among the pigments.

LV. All these earthswe will mention it in this placeare washed byhaving water poured over them and dried in the sun, and then after being put inwater again ground up and left to stand, till they settle down and can bedivided into tablets. They are boiled in cups that are repeatedly well shaken.

LVI. White earth of Chios is also among medicaments; its effect is thesame as that of Samos earth. It is specially used as a cosmetic for theskin of women, and Selinunte earth is used in the same way. The latter is of thecolour of milk, and it dissolves very quickly in water, and likewise dissolvedin milk it is used for touching up the whitewash on plastered walls. Pnigitis,or suffocating earth closely resembles that of Eretria, only it is in largerlumps and is sticky. It produces the same effect as Cimolian earth, although itis less powerful. Arnpelitis or vine earth is very like bitumen. The test for itis whether it dissolves when oil is put in it, like wax, and whether whenroasted it retains a blackish colour. It is used for an emollient and dissipant,and is added to drugs for these purposes, especially in the case of eyelashbeautifiers and for hair dyes.

LVII. There are several sorts of white earth. Among them there are twosorts of Cimolian earth that concern doctors one bright white and oneinclining to purple. Either is effective for dispelling tumours, and, withvinegar added, for stopping fluxes. They also check swellings and inflammationof the parotid glands, and applied as a liniment, troubles of the spleen andpimples; while if foam-soda and oil of cypros and vinegar are added, they cureswollen feet, provided the treatment is applied in the sun, and the applicationis washed off again with salt water six hours later. A mixture of this earthwith oil of cypros and wax is good for swellings of the testicles. Cretaceousearth also possesses cooling properties, and applied in a liniment it stopsimmoderate sweating, and likewise taken in wine while in a bath it removespimples. The kind from Thessaly is most esteemed, but it is also found in theneighbourhood of Bubo in Lycia. Another use also made of Cimolus earth is inregard to cloth. The kind called Sarda, which is brought from Sardinia, is onlyused for white fabrics, and is of no use for cloths of various colours; it isthe cheapest of all the Cimolus kinds; more valuable are the Umbrian and theone called 'rock.' The peculiarity of the latter is that it increases insize when it is steeped in liquid; consequently it is sold by weight, whereasUmbrian is sold by measure. Umbrian earth is only employed for giving lustre tocloths. It will not be out of place to touch on this part of the subject also,as a Metilian law referring to fullers still stands, the law which Gaius Flamiuius andLucius Aemilius as censors put forwardto be carried in parliament: so careful about everything were our ancestors.The process then is this: the cloth is first washed with earth of Sardinia, andthen it is fumigated with sulphur, and afterwards scoured with Cimolian earthprovided that the dye is fast; if it is coloured with bad dye it is detected andturns black and its colour is spread by the action of the sulphur; whereasgenuine and valuable colours are softened and brightened up with a sort ofbrilliance by Cimolian earth when they have been made sombre by the sulphur. The'rock' kind is more serviceable for white garments, after the application ofsulphur, but it is very detrimental to colour. In Greece they use Tymphaeagypsum instead of Cimolian earth.

LVIII. There is another cretaceous earth called silversmiths' powder asused for polishing silver; but the most inferior kind is the one whichour ancestors made it the practice to use for tracing the line indicatingvictory in circus-races and for marking the feet of slaves on sale that had beenimported from overseas; instances of these being Publilius of Antioch the founder of ourmimic stage and his cousinManilius Antiochusthe originator of our astronomy, and likewiseStaberius Eros our first grammarian, all of whom our ancestors sawbrought over in the same ship. But why need anybody mention these men,recommended to notice as they are by their literary honours? Other instancesthat have been seen on the stand in the slave market areChrysogonus, freedman ofSulla,Amphion, freedman ofQuintus Catulus,Hector, freedman ofLucius Lucullus,Demetrius, freedman ofPompey, andAuge, freedwoman ofDemetrius, although she herself also wasbelieved to have belonged toPompey;Hipparchus freedman ofMark Antony,Menas andMenecrates freedmen ofSextus Pompeius, and a list of otherswhom this is not the occasion to enumerate, who have enriched themselves by thebloodshed of Roman citizens and by the licence of the proscriptions. Such is themark set on these herds of slaves for sale, and the disgrace attached to us bycapricious fortune persons whom even we have seen risen to such power that weactually beheld the honour of the praetorship awarded to them by decree of theSenate at the bidding ofClaudius Caesar'swifeAgrippina and all but sent backwith the rods of office wreathed in laurels to the places from which they cameto Rome with their feet whitened with white earth.

LIX. Moreover there are other kinds of earth with a special property of their own about which we have spoken already, but the nature of which must again be stated here: soil taken from the island of Galata and in the neighbourhood of Clupea in Africa kills scorpions, and that of the Balearic Islands and Iviza is fatal to snakes.

I. IT remains for us to deal with the nature of stones, or,in other words, the prime folly in our behaviour, to be considered as such eventhough no reference be made to gems, amber and vessels of rock-crystal andfluorspar. For everything that we have investigated up to the present volume maybe deemed to have been created for the benefit of mankind. Mountains, however,were made by Nature for herself to serve as a kind of framework for holdingfirmly together the inner parts of the earth, and at the same time to enable herto subdue the violence of rivers, to break the force of heavy seas and so tocurb her most restless elements with the hardest material of which she is made.We quarry these mountains and haul them away for a mere whim; and yet there wasa time when it seemed remarkable even to have succeeded in crossing them. Ourforefathers considered the scaling of the Alps byHannibal and later by the Cimbri to bealmost unnatural. Now these selfsame Alps are quarried into marble of a thousandvarieties.

Headlands are laid open to the sea, and nature isflattened. We remove the barriers created to serve as the boundaries of nations,and ships are built specially for marble. And so, over the waves of the sea,Nature's wildest element, mountain ranges are transported to and fro, and eventhen with greater justification than we can find for climbing to the clouds insearch of vessels to keep our drinks cool, and for hollowing out rocks thatalmost reach the heavens, so that we may drink from ice. When we hear of theprices paid for these vessels, when we see the masses of marble that are beingconveyed or hauled, we should each of us reflect, and at the same time think howmuch more happily many people live without them. That men should do such things,or rather endure them, for no purpose or pleasure except to lie amid spottedmarbles, just as if these delights were not taken from us by the darkness ofnight, which is half our life's span!

II. When we think of these things we feel ourselves blushing prodigiouslywith shame even for the men of former times. There exist the laws passed byClaudius in his censorship forbiddingdormice and other trifles too insignificant to mention to be served at dinner.But no law was ever passed forbidding us to import marble and to traversethe seas for its sake. Perhaps it may be said 'Of course not. No marbles werebeing imported.' That suggestion at least is untrue. In the aedileship ofMarcus Scaurus there was the spectacleof 360 columns being taken to the stage of an improvised theatre that wasintended to be used barely for a month, and the laws were silent. Of course, itwas the official pleasures of the community for which some allowance was beingmade by our laws. But why should this, of all excuses, have been made? Or whatroute is more commonly taken by vices in their surreptitious approach than theofficial one? How else have ivory, gold and precious stones come to be used inprivate life? Or what have we left entirely to the gods? Very well; someallowance was being made for the pleasures of the community. Were not the lawssilent also when the largest of those columns, which were each fully 38 feetlong and of Lucullean marble, were placed in the hall of Scaurus' house?

And there was no secrecy or concealment. A sewer contractor forcedScaurus to give him security againstpossible damage to the drains when the columns were being hauled to thePalatine. Would it not have been more expedient, therefore, when so harmful aprecedent was being set, to afford some security for our morals? The laws werestill silent when these great masses of marble were dragged to a private housepast the earthenware pediments of temples!

III. Nor can we suppose that Scaurussurprised with an elementary lesson in vice a community that was untutored andunable to foresee the consequences of the mischief. It was before this thatduring a quarrel the orator Lucius Crassus,having been the first to install, also on the Palatine, columns of foreignmarble, columns which were after all merely of Hymettus marble and not more thansix in number or more than 12 feet each in length, was in consequence nicknamedbyMarcus Brutus the Palatine Venus. Ofcourse these matters were disregarded because morals had already lost thebattle; and when it was seen that there was no effective way of banning what hadbeen expressly forbidden, it seemed preferable to have no laws at all ratherthan laws that were of no avail. These events and those that have followed themin our time will show that we are better men. For who nowadays possesses a hallequipped with such large columns? However, before we speak of marbles, I am ofthe opinion that we should display the merits of the men who have worked in thismaterial. First, then, we shall make a survey of artists.

IV. The very first men to make a name as sculptors in marble were Dipoenus andScyllis, who were born in theisland of Crete while Media was still a great power andCyrus had not yet come to the throne ofPersia. Their date falls approximately in the 50th Olympiad. They made their wayto Sicyon, which was for long the motherland of all such industries. The men ofSicyon had given them a contract in the name of the state for making statues ofgods; but before these were finished the artists complained that they had beenwronged and went away to Aetolia. Sicyon was instantly stricken with famine,barrenness and fearful affliction. When the people begged the oracle for relief,Apollo of Delphi replied that relief would come 'if Dipoenus andScyllis completed the images of thegods.' This they were prevailed upon to do thanks to the payment of high feesand high compliments. The statues, incidentally, were those of Apollo, Diana,Hercules and Minerva, the last of which was later struck by lightning.

Before the time ofDipoenus andScyllis there had already lived in theisland of Chios a sculptorMelas, whowas succeeded by his sonMicciades andhis grandsonArchermus; and the sons ofArchermus, namedBupalus andAthenis, were quite the most eminentmasters of the art at the time of the poetHipponax, who is known to have been alive in the 60th Olympiad. Now if wetrace their lineage back to the time of their great-grandfather, we find thatthe beginnings of this art coincide in lime with the 1st Olympiad.Hipponax had a notoriously ugly face;and because of this they made impudent jokes much to the amusement of the groupsof companions to whom they exhibited his likeness. This angeredHipponax, who rebuked them so violently in his mordant lampoons that he is believed by some to have driven them to hang themselves. But this is untrue because later they made several statues in neighbouring islands, for example in Delos; and to their pedestals they attached verses to the effect that 'Chios is esteemed not merely for its vines, but alsofor the works of the sons of Archermus.' Moreover the people of Iasos proudlydisplay a Diana made by them. In Chios itself there is stated to be a face ofDiana which is their work. It is set in a lofty posilion, and people enteringthe building imagine that her expression is stern, but when they leave theyfancy that it has become cheerful. At Rome there are statues by them on theangles of the pediment of the temple of Apollo on the Palatine and on almostall the buildings for which the emperorAugustus of Revered Memory was responsible. There were works by theirfather too at Delos and in the island of Lesbos. As forDipoenus, Ambracia, Argos andCleonae were full of his productions.

All these artists used only white marble from the island of Paros, a stone which they proceeded to call 'lychnites,' since, according toVarro, it was quarried ingalleries by the light of oil lamps. However, many whiter varieties have beendiscovered since their time, some indeed only recently, as is the case with theLuna quarries. As for the quarries of Paros, there is an extraordinary traditionthat once, when the stone-breakers split a single block with their wedges, alikeness ofSilenus was found inside.

We should not forget to mention that this art is much older than that ofpainting or of bronze statuary, both of which arose with Pheidias in the 83rd Olympiad, that is,about 332 years later. It is reported thatPheidias himself carved in marble and that the exceptionally beautifulVenus in Octavia's Buildings at Rome is his. What is certain is that a pupil ofhis was the AthenianAlcamenes, aparticularly famous sculptor, several of whose works are to be seen at Athensin the temples, while outside the walls there is the celebrated statue of Venus,which in Greek is known as Aphrodite of the Gardens. Pheidias himself is said to have put thefinishing touches to this. Another of his pupils wasAgoracritus of Paros, who pleased him,moreover, because of his youthful good looks, and consequently Pheidias is saidto have allowed him to pass as the author of several of his awn works. Howeverthat may be, the two pupils competed with each other in making a Venus, andAlcamenes won the contest, not indeed through his skill, but through the votesof his fellow-citizens, who supported their kinsman at the expense of hisforeign rival. Consequently,Agoracritusis reported to have sold his statue under a proviso that it should not remain inAthens, and to have called it Nemesis. It was set up within Attica in the demeofRhamnus, andMarcus Varro preferred it to any otherstatue. In the same township there is also a work byAgoracritus in the shrine of the GreatMother. ThatPheidias is the most famoussculptor among all peoples who appreciate the fame of his Olympian Jupiter isbeyond doubt, but in order that even those who have not seen his works may beassured that his praises are well-earned shall produce evidence that isinsignificant in itself and sufficient only to prove his inventiveness. To doso, I shall not appeal to the beauty of his Olympian Jupiter or to the size ofhis Minerva at Athens, even though this statue, made of ivory and gold, is 26cubits in height. But rather, I shall mention her shield, on the convex borderof which he engraved a Battle of the Amazons, and on the hollow side Combats ofGods and Giants; and her sandals, on which he depicted Combats of Lapiths andCentaurs. So truly did every detail lend itself to his art. On the pedestalthere is carved what is entitled in Greek the Birth of Pandora, with twenty godsassisting at the birth. Although the figure of Victory is especially remarkable,connoisseurs admire also the snake, as well as the bronze sphinx that crouchesjust beneath her spear. These are things which should be stated in passing withregard to an artist who has never been praised enough. At the same time, theymake us realize that the grandeur of his notions was maintained even in smallmatters. Praxiteles is an artist whose date I have mentioned among those of themakers of bronze statues, but in the fame of his work in marble he surpassedeven himself. There are works by him at Athens in the Ceramcicus; and yetsuperior to anything not merely byPraxiteles,but in the whole world, is the Venus, which many people have sailed to Cnidus tosee. He had made two figures, which he put up for sale together. One of them wasdraped and for this reason was preferred by the people of Cos, who had an optionon the sale, although he offered it at the same price as the other. This theyconsidered to be the only decent and dignified course of action. The statuewhich they refused was purchased by the people of Cnidus and achieved animmeasurably greater reputation. Later KingNicomedes was anxious to buy it from them, promising so to discharge allthe state's vast debts. The Cnidians, however, preferred to suffer anything butthis, and rightly so; for with this statue Praxiteles made Cnidus a famous city.The shrine in which it stands is entirely open so as to allow the image of thegoddess to be viewed from every side, and it is believed to have been made inthis way with the blessing of the goddess herself. The statue is equallyadmirable from every angle. There is a story that a man once fell in love withit and hiding by night embraced it, and that a stain betrays this lustful act.In Cnidus there are also other marble figures by notable artists, a Father LiberbyBryaxis, a Father Liber and a MinervabyScopas; but there is no greater proofof the excellence ofPraxiteles' Venusthan the fact that amidst these works it alone receives mention. ToPraxiteles belongs also a Cupid, withwhichCicero tauntedVerres, the famous Cupid for the sake ofwhich men visited Thespiae, and which now stands in Octavia's Rooms. To himbelongs, moreover, another Cupid, which is naked, at Parium, the colony on theSea of Marmara, a work that matches the Venus of Cnidus in its renown, as wellas in the outrageous treatment which it suffered. ForAlcetas, a man from Rhodes, fell in lovewith it and left upon it a similar mark of his passion. At Rome the works ofPraxiteles are a Flora, aTriptolemus and a Ceres in the Gardens of Servilius, images of Success and GoodFortune on the Capitol, and likewise the Maenads, the so-called Thyiads andCaryatids and the Sileni in the Collection of Asinius Pollio, as well as anApollo and a Neptune. The son ofPraxiteles,Cephisodotus, inherited also his skill.His Persons Grappling at Pergamum is highly praised, being notable for thefingers, which seem genuinely to sink into living flesh rather than into deadmarble. At Rome his works are the Latona in the temple of the Palatine Apollo, aVenus in the Collection ofAsinius Pollio,and the Aesculapius and Diana in the temple of Juno within the Porticoes ofOctavia.

These artists are rivalled in merit byScopas.He made a Venus and a figure of Desire, which are worshipped with the mostsolemn rites in Samothrace. He was responsible also for the Apollo on thePalatine and the much praised Seated Vesta in the Gardens of Servilius, alongwith the two turning-posts on either side of her, of which there are facsimilesin the Collection of Asinius, where there is also his Girl Carrying a SacredBasket. But most highly esteemed is his composition in the shrine built by Cn.Domitius in the FlaminianCircus. There is Neptune himself, and with him are Thetis and Achilles. Thereare Nereids riding on dolphins and mighty fish or on seahorses, and also Tritons, 'Phorcus' band,' swordfish and a host of other sea creatures, all bythe hand of the one man, a magnificent achievement even if it had occupied hiswhole career. As it is, apart from the works mentioned above and those unknownto us, there is furthermore the colossal seated statue of Mars by the sameartist in the temple built by Brutus Callaecus also in the Circus, as well ashis naked Venus in the same place, a work that surpasses the Venus ofPraxiteles and would have brought fameto any locality but Rome.

At Rome, indeed, the great number of works of art and again their consequenteffacement from our memory, and, even more, the multitude of official functionsand business activities must, after ally deter anyone from serious study, sincethe appreciation involved needs leisure and deep silence in our surroundings.Hence we do not know the maker even of the Venus dedicated by the emperorVespasian [AD. 69-79] in the precinctsof his temple of Peace, although it deserves to rank with the old masters.Equally there is doubt as to whether the Dying Children of Niobe in the templeof the Sosian Apollo was the work ofScopasor ofPraxiteles. Similarly, we cannottell which of the two carved the Father Janus which was dedicated in itsrightful temple byAugustus after beingbrought here from Egypt; and now a covering of gilt has hidden its secret stillmore. Equally, there is a controversy about the Cupid Holding a Thunderbolt inthe Hall of Octavia. Only one thing is stated with conviction, namely that thefigure is that ofAlcibiades the mosthandsome youth of that time. In the same salon there are many pleasing works ofwhich the authors are unknown, for example, the Four Satyrs, of whom one iscarrying on his shoulders Father Liber dressed in a robe and another is likewisecarrying Ariadne, while a third stops a child crying and a fourth gives a drinkto another child out of a mixing-bowl; and the Two Breezes, who are spreadingtheir cloaks like sails. There is just as much dispute as to the makers of theOlympus and Pan and the Chiron With Achilles in the Voting Enclosure, eventhough their fame pronounces them to be so valuable that their keepers mustanswer for their safety with their lives.

The contemporaries and rivals ofScopaswereBryaxis,Timotheus andLeochares, whom we must discussalong with him because together with him they worked on the carvings of theMausoleum. This is the tomb that was built byArtemisia for her husbandMausolus,the viceroy of Caria, who died in the second year of the 107th Olympiad. These artists were chiefly responsible for making the structure one of the seven wonders of the work. On the north and south sides it extends for 63 feet, but the length of the façades is less, the total length of the façades and sides being 440 feet. The building rises to a height of 25 cubits and is enclosed by 36 columns. The Greek word for the surrounding colonnade is 'pteron,' a 'wing.'The east side was carved by Scopas, thenorth byBryaxis, the south byTimotheus and the west byLeochares; and before they completedtheir task, the queen died. However, they refused to abandon the work withoutfinishing it, since they were already of the opinion that it would be a memorialto their own glory and that of their profession; and even today they areconsidered to rival each other in skill. With them was associated a fifthartist. For above the colonnade there is a pyramid as high again as the lowerstructure and tapering in 24 stages to the top of its peak. At the summit thereis a four-horse chariot of marble, and this was made by Pythis. The addition of this chariotrounds off the whole work and brings it to a height of 140 feet. There is aDiana byTimotheus at Rome in the templeof the Palatine Apollo, a statue for which a head was made as a replacement byAvianius Evander.

The Hercules ofMenestratus is greatlyadmired, and so too is the Hecate in the precinct behind the temple of Diana atEphesus. In studying this statue people are warned by the sacristans to becareful of their eyes; so intense is the glare of the marble. As highlyesteemed, too, are the Graces in the Propylaeum at Athens. These were the workofSocrates, who was not the same man asSocrates the painter, although somethink that he was. As for the famousMyron,who is so highly praised for his bronzes, his Tipsy Old Woman atSmyrna is especially renowned.

Asinius Pollio, being an ardententhusiast, was accordingly anxious for his collection to attract sightseers.In it are the Centaurs Carrying Nymphs byArcesilas, the Muses of Helicon byCleomenes, the Oceanus and Jupiter byHeniochus, the Nymphs of the Appian Water byStephanus, the double busts of Hermesand Eros byTauriscus (notthe well-known worker in metal and ivory, but a native of Tralles), the JupiterPatron of Strangers byPapylus, thepupil ofPraxiteles, and a compositionbyApollonius andTauriseus which was brought from Rhodes,namely Zethus and Amphion, and then Dirce and the bull with its rope, all carvedfrom the same block of stone. These two artists caused a dispute as to theirparentage, declaring that their putative father wasMenecrates and their real fatherArtemidorus. In the same galleriesthere is a Father Liber byEutychideswhich is warmly praised, and close by the Portico of Octavia an Apollo byPhiliscus of Rhodes standing in thetemple of Apollo, and furthermore a Latona, a Diana, the Nine Muses, andanother Apollo, which is naked. The Apollo With His Lyre in the same temple wasmade byTimarchides, and in the templeof Juno that stands within the Portico of Octavia the image of the goddessherself was made byDionysius, althoughthere is another byPolycles, while theVenus in the same place was executed byPhiliscus and the other statues byPraxiteles.Polycles andDionysius, who were the sons ofTimarchides, were responsible also forthe Jupiter in the adjacent temple, while in the same place the Pan and OlympusWrestling, which is the second most famous grappling group in the world, was thework ofHeliodorus, the Venus Bathing ofDaedalsas, and the Venus Standing ofPolycharmus. It is clear from the honouraccorded to it that a work much esteemed was that of Lysias whichAugustus of Revered Memory dedicated inhonour of his fatherOctavius in a nicheembellished with columns upon the arch on the Palatine. This work consists of ateam of four horses with a chariot and Apollo with Diana all carved from oneblock of marble. In the Gardens of Servilius I find that works much admired arethe Apollo by the eminent engraverCalamis,the Boxers byDereylides, and thehistorianCallisthenes byAmphistratus. Beyond these men, thereare not a great many more that are famous. The reputation of some, distinguishedthough their work may be, has been obscured by the number of artists engagedwith them on a single task, because no individual monopolizes the credit noragain can several of them be named on equal terms. This is the case with theLaocoon in the palace of the emperorTitus,a work superior to any painting and any bronze. Laocoon, his childrenand the wonderful clasping coils of the snakes were caned from a single block inaccordance with an agreed plan by those eminent craftsmenHagesander,Polydorus andAthenodorus, all of Rhodes. Similarly,the imperial mansions on the Palatine were filled with excellent statues made bypairs of artists,Craterus andPythodorus,Polydeuces andHermolaus, anotherPythodorus andArtemon, and individually byAphrodisius of Tralles. The Pantheon ofAgrippa was embellished byDiogenes of Athens; and among thesupporting members of this temple there are Caryatids that are almost in a classof their own, and the same is true of the figures on the angles of the pediment,which are, however, not so well known because of their lofty position. A workthat is without honour and stands in no temple is the Hercules, beforewhich the Carthaginians were wont to perform human sacrifices every year. Thisstands at ground-level in front of the entrance to the Portico of the Nations.Formerly too there were statues of the Muses of Helicon by the temple ofProsperity, and a Roman knight,JuniusPisciculus, fell in love with one of them, according toVarro, who incidentally was an admirerofPasiteles, a sculptor who was alsothe author of a treatise in five volumes on the World's Famous Masterpieces. Hewas a native of Magna Graecia and received Roman citizenship along with thecommunities of that region. The ivory Jupiter in the temple of Metellus at theapproaches to the Campus Martius is his work. Once, he was at the docks, wherethere were wild beasts from Africa, and was making a relief of a lion, peeringas he did so into the cage at his model, when it so happened that aleopard broke out of another cage and caused serious danger to this mostconscientious of artists. He is said to have executed a number of but theirtitles are not recorded.Arcesilaus,highly praised byVarro, who states thathe once possessed a work of his, namely Winged Cupids Playing with a Lioness, ofwhom some were holding it with cords, some were making it drink from ahorn, and some were putting slippers on its feet, all the figures having beencarved from one block.Varro relatesalso that it wasCoponius who wasresponsible for the fourteen figures of the Nations that stand around Pompey'stheatre. I find thatCanachus, who wasmuch admired as a maker of bronzes, also executed figures in marble. Nor shouldwe forgetSauras andBatrachus, who built the temples thatare enclosed by the Porticoes of Octavia. They were mere natives of Sparta. Andyet, some people actually suppose that they were very rich and erected thetemples at their awn expense because they hoped to be honoured by aninscription; and the story is that, although this was refused, they attainedtheir object in another way. At any rate, on the moulded bases of the columnsthere are still in existence carvings of a lizard and a frog in token of theirnames. One of these temples is that of Jupiter, in which the subjects of thepaintings and of all the other embellishments are concerned with women. For ithad been intended as the temple of Juno; but, according to the tradition, theporters interchanged the cult-images when they were installing them, and thisarrangement was preserved as a matter of religious scruple, in the belief thatthe gods themselves had allotted their dwelling-places in this way. Similarly,therefore, the embellishments in the temple of Juno are those that were destinedfor the temple of Jupiter.

Fame has been won in the making also of marble miniatures, namely byMyrmecides, whose Four-horse Chariot andDriver were covered by the wings of a fly, and byCallicratides, whose ants have feet andother parts too small to be discerned.

V. So much for the sculptors in marble and the artists who have achievedthe greatest fame. In discussing this subject, however, I am reminded that inthose times no value was attached to marble with markings. Apart from the marbleof the Cyclades, sculptors worked in that of Thasos, which rivals it, and ofLesbos, which has a slightly more bluish tinge. Markings of various colours anddecorations of marble in general are first mentioned by that most accurateexponent of the details of high living,Menander, and even he rarely alludes to them. Marble columns werecertainly used in temples, not, however, as an embellishment, sinceembellishments as such were not yet appreciated, but merely because there was noway of erecting stronger columns. Thus they are a feature of the unfinishedtemple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens, from whichSulla brought columns to be used fortemples on the Capitol. However, ordinary stone and marble were distinguishedalready inHomer, for he speaks of a manbeing struck by a piece of marble; but this is as far as he goes. He decorateseven his royal palaces, however sumptuously, only with ivory, apart frommetalsbronze, gold, electrum and silver. In my opinion, the first specimens ofour favourite marbles with their parti-coloured markings appeared from thequarries of Chios when the people of that island were building their walls.Hence the witty remark made at the expense of this work byCicero. It was their practice to show itas a splendid structure to all their visitors; and his remark to them was 'Ishould be much more amazed if you had made it of stone from Tibur.' And, heavenknows, painting would not have been valued at all, let alone so highly, hadmarbles enjoyed any considerable prestige.

VI. The art of cutting marble into thin slabs may possibly have beeninvented in Carla. The earliest instance, so far as I can discover, isthat of the palace of Mausolus atHalicarnassus, the brick walls of which were decorated with marble from theisland of Marmara. He died in the second year of the 107th Olympiads and in the403rd year after the founding of Rome.

VII. The first man in Rome to cover with marble veneer whole walls in hishouse, which was on the Caelian Hill, was, according toCornelius Nepos,Mamurra, a Roman Knight and a native ofFormiae, who wasGaius (Julius) Caesar'schief engineer in Gaul. That such a man should have sponsored the invention isenough to make it utterly improper. For this is theMamurra who was reviled byCatullus of Verona inhis poems, the Mamurra whose house, as amatter of fact, proclaims more clearly thanCatullus himself that he 'possesses all that Shaggy Gaul possessed.' Incidentally Nepos adds also that hewas the first to have only marble columns in his whole house and that these wereall solid columns of Carystus or Luna marble.

VIII.Marcus Lepidus, who wasconsul withQuintus Catulus, was thevery first to lay down door-sills of Numidian marble in his house; and for thishe was sharply criticized. He was consul in the 676th year after the founding ofthe city. This is the first indication that I can find of the importing ofNumidian marble. The marble, however, was not in the form of columns or slabs,like that of Carystus mentioned above,but came in blocks to be used in the most sordid manneras door-sills! Fouryears after the consulship of this Lepiduscame that ofLucius Lucullus, who gavehis name, as is evident from the facts, to Lucullean marble. He took a greatdelight in this marble and introduced it to Rome, although it is in generalblack and all other marbles are favoured because of their markings or colours.It is found in the island of Chios and is almost the only marble to have derivedits name from that of a devotee. Of these men, it wasMarcus Scaurus, in my opinion, whosestage was the first structure to have marble walls, though I am not prepared tosay whether these were of veneer or of solid polished blocks, as, for instance,is the case today with the walls of the temple of Jupiter the Thunderer on theCapitol. For I find no evidence of marble veneer in Italy that is as early asthis.

IX. But whoever first discovered how to cut marble and carve upluxury into many portions was a man of misplaced ingenuity. The cutting of themarble is effected apparently by iron, but actually by sand, for the saw merelypresses the sand upon a very thinly traced line, and then the passage of theinstrument, owing to the rapid movement to and fro, is in itself enough to cutthe stone. The Ethiopian variety of this sand is the most highly esteemed; for,to make matters worse, material for cutting marble is sought from as far afieldas Ethiopia; and, moreover, men go in search of it even to India, which it wasonce an affront to strict morality to visit even for pearls. The Indian is thenext most highly praised, but the Ethiopian is finer and cuts without leavingany roughness. The Indian does not give the stone such a smooth surface.However, people engaged in polishing marble are strongly recommended to rubmarble with it when it has been calcined. There is a similar fault in the Naxiansand and in that of Coptos, which is known as the Egyptian variety.These were the kinds used for cutting marble in early times. Later there wasdiscovered an equally valuable sand from a sandbank in the Adriatic which isuncovered only at low tide. Consequently, its position is not easy to mark. Nowalso fraudulent craftsmen dare to cut slabs with any kind of sand from anyriver, a waste which very few clients perceive. For in fact the coarser thesand, the less accurate the sections it grinds, the more marble it wears away,and owing to the rough surfaces produced, the more work it leaves for thoseresponsible for polishing the slabs. Hence the cut slabs are made thinner.Again, for polishing marble, sand from the Thebaid is suitable, as well aspowder made from limestone or pumice.

X. For smoothing marble statues and also for en-paving and filing downgems the Naxian stone was for long the favourite. This is the name given to thewhetstones found in the island referred to above. Later, those imported fromArmenia were preferred.

XI. It is not important to mention the colours and species of marbleswhen they are so well known, nor is it easy to list them when they are sonumerous.

For there are few places for which a characteristic marble is not found toexist. Even so, the most famous kinds have already been mentioned, along withthe peoples whose names they bear, in the course of our circuit of the world.Not all of them occur in quarries, but many are found scattered also beneath theearth's surface, some indeed being very valuable, like the green Lacedaemonian,which is brighter than any other marble, or the Augustean and, more recently,the Tiberian, which were found in Egypt for the first time during theprincipates of Augustus and acta Tiberius respectively! From serpentine, themarkings of which resemble snakeshence its namethese stones differ in thattheir markings are grouped differently. Those of the Augustean curl over likewaves so as to form coils, while the Tiberian has scattered greyish-white spotswhich are not rolled into coils. Another difference is that only quite smallcolumns made of serpentine are to be found. It has two varieties: one is softand white, the other hard and dark. When worn as amulets, both are said torelieve headaches and snakebites. Some authorities recommend the white varietyas an amulet to be worn by sufferers from delirium or a coma. But as an antidoteto snakebites some praise particularly the variety of serpentine known as 'tephrias' from its ashen colour. Another stone, named from its place of origin, is the Memphis stone, which is like a gem. The method of using this is to grind it to powder and to smear it mixed with vinegar on places which need to be cauterized or lanced; thus the body is numbed and feels no severe pain. In Egypt too there is red porphyry, of which a variety mottled with white dots is known as 'leptopsephos.' The quarries supply masses of any size to be cut away.Statues of this stone were brought from Egypt to the emperorClaudius in Rome by his official agentVitrasius Pollio, an innovation that did not meet with much approval. No one at least has since followed his example. The Egyptians also discovered in Ethiopia what is called 'basanites,' a stone whichin colour and hardness resembles iron: hence the name they have given it. Nolarge specimen of this stone has ever been found than that dedicated by theemperorVespasian in the temple ofPeace, the subject of which is the Nile, with sixteen of the river-god'schildren playing around him, these denoting the number of cubits reached by theriver in flood at its highest desirable level. Not unlike this, we are told, isthe block in the shine of Serapis at Thebes chosen for a statue of what issupposed to be Memnon; and this is said to creak every day at dawn as soon asthe sun's rays reach it.

XII. Onyx marble was supposed by our old authorities to occur in themountains of Arabia and nowhere else. Sudines, however, thought thatit occurred in Carmania. At first only drinking-vessels were made of it, andthen the feet of couches and the frames of chairs.Cornelius Nepos records that it wasconsidered quite extraordinary whenPubliusLentulus Spinther exhibited wine jars of onyx marble big enough to hold 9Chian gallons, but that only five years later he himself saw columns 32feet long. There were striking changes in the history of the stone even afterthis, for the four small columns placed byCornelius Balbus in his theatre caused a sensation, whereas I have seenthirty quite large ones in the dining-room which the emperorClaudius' freedman, the notoriouslypowerfulCallistus, built for himself. This stone is sometimes called 'alabastrites,' for it is hollowed out to be usedalso as unguent jars because it is said to be the best means of keeping unguentsfresh. It is suitable too, when burnt, for plasters. It occurs in theneighbourhood of Thebes in Egypt and of Damascus in Syria. The latter varietyis whiter than the rest, but that of Carmania is the most excellent. Next comesthe Indian, and then of course there is that of Syria and the province of Asia,while the least valuable is the Cappadocian, which has no lustre whatsoever.The specimens most warmly recommended are the honey-coloured, marked withspirals, and opaque. A colour resembling that of horn, or else gleaming white,and any suggestion of a glassy look are serious faults in onyx marble.

XIII. Many people consider that for the preservation of unguents there is little to choose between onyx marble and the 'lygdinus,' which isfound in Paros in pieces no larger than a dish or mixing bowl, although inearlier times it was normally imported only from Arabia. It is of anexceptionally brilliant whiteness. Two stones of a directly opposed characterare also greatly esteemed. There is the coral stone found in the province ofAsia in sizes not exceeding two cubits, with a white colour close to thatof ivory and a certain resemblance to it in appearance. On the other hand, thestone named after Alabanda, its place of origin, although it occurs alsoat Miletus, is black. In appearance, however, this stone tends rather to have areddish tinge. It can, moreover, be melted by fire and fused to serve as glass.The Thebaie stone mottled with gold spots is found in a part of Africa that hasbeen assigned to Egypt and is naturally well adapted for use as stones on whichto grind eye-salves. The granite of Syene is found in the neighbourhood of Aswanin the Thebaid and in earlier times was known as pyrrhopoecilos.

XIV. Monoliths of this granite were made by the kings, to some extent inrivalry with one another. They called them obelisks and dedicated them tothe Sun-god. An obelisk is a symbolic representation of the sun's rays, and thisis the meaning of the Egyptian word for it. [Tekhen = sunbeam/obelisk]The first of all the kings to undertake such a task wasMesphres [Menes?], who ruled atHeliopolis, the city of the Sun, and was commanded to do so in a dream. Thisvery fact is inscribed on the obelisk; for those carvings and symbols that wesee are Egyptian letters. Later, other kings also cut obelisks.Sesothes set up four of them in the cityjust mentioned, these being 48 cubits in height, whileRameses, who ruled at the time of thecapture of Troy, erected one of 140 cubits.Rameses also erected another at the exit from the precinct where thepalace of Mnevis once stood, and this is 120 cubits high, but abnormally thick,each side measuring 11 cubits. The completion of this work is said to haverequired 120,000 men. When the obelisk was about to be erected, the king fearedthat the scaffolding would not be strong enough for the weight, and in order toforce an even greater danger upon the attention of the workmen, he himself tiedhis son to the pinnacle, intending that the stone should share the benefit ofhis deliverance at the hands of the labourers. This work was so greatly admiredthat when Cambyses was storming the cityand the conflagration had reached the base of the obelisk, he ordered thefires to be put out, thus showing his respect for the mighty block when he hadfelt none for the city itself. There are also two other obelisks here, one setup byZmarres, and the other byPhius: a both lack inscriptions and are48 cubits in height. At AlexandriaPtolemyPhiladelphus erected one of 80 cubits. This had been hewn uninscribed byKingNeethebis, and it proved to be agreater achievement to carry it down the river and erect it than to havequarried it. According to some authorities, it was carried downstream by theengineerSatyrus on a raft; butaccording toCallixenus it was conveyedbyPhoenix, who by digging a canalbrought the waters of the Nile right up to the place where the obelisk lay. Twovery broad ships were loaded with cubes of the same granite as that of theobelisk, each cube measuring one foot, until calculations showed that the totalweight of the blocks was double that of the obelisk, since their total cubiccapacity was twice as great. In this way, the ships were able to come beneaththe obelisk, which was suspended by its ends from both banks of the canal. Thenthe blocks were unloaded and the ships, riding high, took the weight of theobelisk. It was erected on six stone baulks from the same quarries, and thedeviser of the scheme received 50 talents for his services. The obelisk was oncein the Arsinoeum, having been placed there by the king to whom we previouslyreferred as a tribute to his affection for his wife and sister Arsinoe. Fromthere, because it was in the way of the dockyards, it was moved to themarket-place by a certainMaximus, agovernor of Egypt, who cut off the point, intending to add a gilt pinnacle inits place, a plan which he later abandoned. There are two other obelisks atAlexandria in the precinct of the temple ofCaesar near the harbour. These were cut by King Mesphres and measure 42 cubits.

Above all, there came also the difficult task of transporting ohelisks to Romeby sea. The ships used attracted much attention from sightseers. Thatwhich carried the first of two obelisks was solemnly laid up byAugustus of Revered Memory in apermanent dock at Pozzuoli to celebrate the remarkable achievement; but laterit was destroyed by fire. The ship used by the EmperorGaius for bringing a third was carefullypreserved for several years byClaudiusof Revered Memory, for it was the most amazing thing that had ever been seen atsea. Then caissons made of cement were erected in its hull at Pozzuoli;whereupon it was towed to Ostia and sunk there by order of the emperor, so tocontribute to his harbour-works. Then there is another problem, that ofproviding ships that can carry obelisks up the Tiber; and the successfulexperiment shows that the river has just as deep a channel as the Nile. Theobelisk placed byAugustus of ReveredMemory in the Circus Maximus was cut by KingPsemetnepserphreus, who was reigning whenPythagoras was in Egypt, and measures 85feet and 9 inches, apart from its base, which forms part of the same stone. Theobelisk in the Campus Martius, however, which is 9 feet less, was cut bySesothis. Both have inscriptionscomprising an account of natural science according to the theories of theEgyptian sages.

XV. The one in the Campus was put to use in a remarkable way byAugustus of Revered Memory so as to markthe sun's shadow and thereby the lengths of days and nights. A pavement was laiddown for a distance appropriate to the height of the obelisk so that the shadowcast at noon on the shortest day of the year might exactly coincide with it.Bronze rods let into the pavement were meant to measure the shadow day by day asit gradually became shorter and then lengthened again. This device deserves tobe carefully studied, and was contrived by the mathematician Novius Facundus. He placed on thepinnacle a gilt ball, at the top of which the shadow would be concentrated, forotherwise the shadow cast by the tip of the obelisk would have lackeddefinition. He is said to have understood the principle from observing theshadow cast by the human head. The readings thus given have for about thirtyyears past failed to correspond to the calendar, either because the course ofthe sun itself is anomalous and has been altered by some change in the behaviourof the heavens or because the whole earth has shifted slightly from its centralposition, a phenomenon which, I hear, has been detected also in other places. Orelse earth-tremors in the city may have brought about a purely localdisplacement of the shaft or floods from the Tiber may have caused the mass tosettle, even though the foundations are said to have been sunk to a depth equalto the height of the load they have to carry. The third obelisk in Rome standsin the Vatican Circus that was built by the emperorsGaius andNero. It was the only one of the threethat was broken during its removal. It was made byNencoreus, the son ofSesosis; and there still exists anotherthat belongs to him: it is 100 cubits in height and was dedicated by him to theSun-god in accordance with an oracle after he had been stricken with blindnessand had then regained his sight.

XVI. In Egypt too are the pyramids, which must be mentioned, if onlycursorily. They rank as a superfluous and foolish display of wealth on the partof the kings, since it is generally recorded that their motive for building themwas to avoid providing funds for their successors or for rivals who wished toplot against them, or else to keep the common folk occupied. Much vanity wasshown by these kings in regard to such enterprises, and the remains of severalunfinished pyramids are still in existence. There is one in the nome of Arsinoe, and there are two in that of Memphis, not far from the labyrinth, awork which also will be described. Two more stand in a position once occupied byLake Moeris, which is merely a vast excavation, but is nevertheless recorded bythe Egyptians as one of their remarkable and memorable achievements. The pointsof these pyramids are said to tower above the surface of the water. The otherthree pyramids, the fame of which has reached every part of the world, are ofcourse visible to travellers approaching by river from any direction. They standon a rocky hill in the desert on the African side of the river betweenthe city of Memphis and what, as we have already explained, is known as theDelta, at a point less than 4 miles from the Nile, and 7½ miles from Memphis.Close by is a village called Busiris, where there are people who are used toclimbing these pyramids.

XVII. In front of them is the Sphinx, which rite deserves to be describedeven more than they, and yet the Egyptians have passed it over in silence. Theinhabitants of the region regard it as a deity. They are of the opinion that aKing Harmais is buried inside it and tryto make out that it was brought to the spot: it is in fact carefully fashionedfrom the native rock. The face of the monstrous creature is painted with ruddleas a sign of reverence. The circumference of the head when measured across theforehead amounts to 102 feet, the length is 243 feet, and the heightfrom the paunch to the top of the asp on its head is 61½ feet.

The largest pyramid is made of stone from stone from the Arabian quarries. It issaid that 360,000 men took 20 years to build it. The time taken to buildall three was 88 years and 4 months. The authors who have written about them,namelyHerodotus, Euhemerus, Duris ofSamos,Aristagoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus,Alexander Polyhistor, Butmidas, Antisthenes, Demetrius, Demoteles andApion, are not all agreed as to whichkings were responsible for their construction, since chance, with the greatestjustice, has caused those who inspired such a mighty display of vanity to beforgotten. Some of the writers mentioned record that 1600 talents were spent onradishes, garlic and onions alone. The largest pyramid covers an area of nearly5 acres. Each of the four sides has an equal measurement from corner to cornerof 783 feet; the height from ground-level to the pinnacle amounts to 725 feet,while the circumference of the pinnacle is 164 feet. As for the secondpyramid, each of its sides from corner to corner totals 7574 feet. The third issmaller than those already mentioned, but on the other hand is far moresplendid, with its Ethiopian stoned towering to a height of 363 feet along itssloping sides between the corners. No traces of the building operationssurvive. All around far and wide there is merely sand shaped like lentils, suchas is found in most of Africa? The crucial problem is to know how the masonrywas laid to such a great height. Some think that ramps of soda and salt werepiled against the structure as it was raised; and that after its completionthese were flooded and dissolved by water from the river. Others hold thatbridges were built of mud bricks and that when the work was finished the brickswere allotted to individuals for building their own houses. For it isconsidered impossible that the Nile, flowing at a far lower level, could haveflooded the site. Within the largest pyramid is a well 86 cubits deep, intowhich water from the river is supposed to have been brought by a channel. Themethod of measuring the height of the pyramids and of taking any similarmeasurement was devised by Thales of Miletus,the procedure being to measure the shadow at the hour at which its length isexpected to be equal to the height of the body that is throwing it. Such are thewonders of the pyramids; and the last and greatest of these wonders, whichforbids us to marvel at the wealth of kings, is that the smallest but mostgreatly admired of these pyramids was built byRhodopis, a mere prostitute. She was once the fellow-slave and concubineofAesop, the sage who composed theFables; and our amazement is all the greater when we reflect that such wealthwas acquired through prostitution.

XVIII. Another towering structure built bya king is also extolled, namely the one that stands on Pharos, the island thatcommands the harbour at Alexandria. The tower is said to have cost 800 talents.We should not fail to mention the generous spirit shown by KingPtolemy, whereby he allowed the name ofthe architect,Sostratus of Cnidos, tobe inscribed on the very fabric of the building. It serves, in connection withthe movements of ships at night, to show a beacon so as to give warning ofshoals and indicate the entrance to the harbour. Similar beacons now burnbrightly in several places, for instance at Ostia and Ravenna. The danger liesin the uninterrupted burning of the beacon, in case it should be mistaken for astar, the appearance of the fire from a distance being similar. The samearchitect is said to have been the very first to build a promenade supported onpiers: this he did at Cnidos.

XIX. We must mention also the labyrinths, quite the most abnormalachievement on which man has spent his resources, but by no means a fictitiousone, as might well be supposed. One still exists in Egypt, in the nome of Heracleopolis. This, the first ever to be constructed, was built, according totradition, 3600 years ago by KingPetesuchisor KingTithoes, althoughHerodotus attributes the whole work tothe 'twelve kings,' the last of whom was Psammetichus. Various reasons are suggested for its construction.Demoteles supposes it to have been thepalace ofMoteris, andLyceas the tomb ofMoeris, while many writers state that itwas erected as a temple to the Sun-god, and this is the general belief. Whateverthe truth may be, there is no doubt thatDaedalus adopted it as the model for the labyrinth built by him in Cretebut that he reproduced only a hundredth part of it containing passages thatwind, advance and retreat in a bewilderingly intricate manner. It is not just anarrow strip of ground comprising many miles 'walks' or 'rides,' such as we seeexemplified in our tessellated floors or in the ceremonial game played by ourboys in the Campus Martius but doors are let into the walls at frequentintervals to suggest deceptively the way ahead and to force the visitor to goback upon the very same tracks that he has already followed in his wanderings.This Cretan labyrinth was the next in succession after the Egyptian, and therewas a third in Lemnos and a fourth in Italy, all alike being roofed with vaultsof carefully worked stone. There is a feature of the Egyptian labyrinth which Ifor my me part find surprising, namely an entrance and columns made of Parianmarble. The rest of the structure is of Aswan granite, the great blocks of whichhave been laid in such a way that even the lapse of centuries cannot destroythem. Their preservation has been aided by the people of Heracleopolis, who haveshown remarkable respect for an achievement that they detest.

The ground-plan and the individual parts of thisbuilding cannot be fully described because it is divided among the regions oradministrative districts known as nomes, of which there are 21, each having avast hail allotted to it by name. Besides these halls, it contains temples ofall the Egyptian gods; and, furthermore,Nemesis placed within the 40 shrines several pyramids, each with a heightof 40 cubits and an area at the base of 4 acres. It is when he is already exhausted with walking that the visitor reaches the bewildering maze of passages. Moreover, there are rooms in lofty upper storeys reached by inclines, and porches from which flights of 90 stairs lead down to the ground. Inside are columns of imperial porphyry, images of gods, statues of kings and figures of monsters. Some of the halls are laid out in such a way that when the doors open there is a terrifying rumble of thunder within: incidentally, most of the building has to be traversed in darkness. Again, there are other massive structures outside the wall of the labyrinth: the Greek term for these is 'pteron,' or a 'wing.' Then there are other halls that have been made by digginggalleries underground. The few repairs that have been made there were carriedout by one man alone,Chaeremon, theeunuch of King Necthebis 500 yearsbefore the time ofAlexander the Great.There is a further tradition that he used beams of acacia boiled in oil to serveas supports while square blocks of stone were being lifted into the vaults.

What has already been said must suffice for the Cretan labyrinth likewise. TheLemnian which was similar to it, was more noteworthy only in virtue of its 150columns, the drums of which were so well balanced as they hung in the workshopthat a child was able to turn them on the lathe. The architects wereZmilis,Rhoecus andTheodorus, allnatives of Lemnos. There still exist remains of this labyrinth, although notraces of the Cretan or the Italian now survive. For it is appropriate tocall 'Italian,' as well as 'Etruscan,' the labyrinth made by King Porsena of Etruria to serve as his tomb,with the result at the same time that even the vanity of foreign kings issurpassed by those of Italy. But since irresponsible story-telling here exceedsall bounds, I shall in describing the building make use of the very words ofMarcus Varro himself: 'He is buriedclose to the city of Clusiuni, in a place where he has left a square monumentbuilt of squared blocks of stone, each side being 300 feet long and 50 feet highInside this square pedestal there is a tangled labyrinth, which no one mustenter without a ball of thread if he is to find his way out. On this squarepedestal stand five pyramids, four at the corners and one at the centre, each ofthem being 75 feet broad at the base and 150 feet high. They taper in such amanner that on top of the whole group there rests a single bronze disk togetherwith a conical cupola, from which hang bells fastened with chains: when theseare set in motion by the wind, their sound carries to a great distance, as wasformerly the case at Dodona. On this disk stand four more pyramids, each 100feet high, and above these, on a single platform, five more.' The height ofthese last pyramids was a detail thatVarrowas ashamed to add to his account; but the Etruscan stories relate that it wasequal to that of the whole work up to their level, insane folly as it was tohave courted fame by spending for the benefit of none and to have exhaustedfurthermore the resources of a kingdom; and the result, after all, was morehonour for the designer than for the sponsor.

XX. We read also of a hanging garden, and, more than this, of a wholehanging town, Thebes in Egypt. The kings used to lead forth their armiesin full array beneath it without being detected by any of the inhabitants. Evenso, this is less remarkable than would have been the ease had a river flowedthrough the middle of the town. If any of this had been true,Homer would certainly have mentioned itwhen he spoke so emphatically of the hundred gates at Thebes.

XXI. Of grandeur as conceived by the Greeks a real and remarkableexample still survives, namely the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the building ofwhich occupied all Asia Minor for 120 years. It was built on marshy soil so thatit might not be subject to earthquakes or be threatened by subsidences. On theother hand, to ensure that the foundations of so massive a building would not belaid on shifting, unstable ground, they were underpinned with a layer of closelytrodden charcoal, and then with another of sheepskins with their fleecesunshorn. The length of the temple overall is 425 feet, and its breadth 225 feet.There are 127 columns, each constructed by a different king and 60 feet inheight. Of these, 36 were carved with reliefs, one of them by Scopas. Thearchitect in charge of the work wasChersiphron.The crowning marvel was his success in lifting the architraves of this massivebuilding a into place. This he achieved by filling bags of plaited reed withsand and constructing a gently graded ramp which reached the upper surfaces ofthe capitals of the columns. Then, little by little, he emptied the lowest layerof bags, so that the fabric gradually settled into its right position. But thegreatest difficulty was encountered with the lintel itself when he was trying toplace it over the door; for this was the largest block, and it would not settleon its bed. The architect was in anguish as he debated whether suicide should behis final decision. The story goes that in the course of his reflections hebecame weary, and that while he slept at night he saw before him thegoddess for whom the temple was being built: she was urging him to live because,as she said, she herself had laid the stone. And on the next day this was seento be the case. The stone appeared to have been adjusted merely by dint of itsown weight. The other embellishments of the building are enough to fill manyvolumes, since they are in no way related to natural forms.

XXII. At Cyzicus too there survives a temple; and here a small gold tubewas inserted into every vertical joint of the dressed stonework by thearchitect, who was to place within the shrine an ivory statue of Jupiter with amarble Apollo crowning him. Consequently very fine filaments of light shinethrough the interstices and a gentle refreshing breeze plays on the statues.Apart from the ingenuity of the architect, the very material of his device,hidden though it may be, is appreciated as enhancing the value of the wholework.

XXIII. In the same city is the so-called Runaway Stone, which theArgonauts used as an anchor and left there. This has frequently strayed from thePresidents' House (this being the name of the place where it is kept), and so ithas been fastened with lead. In this city too, close to the so-calledThracian Gate, there are seven towers that repeat with numerous reverberationsany sounds that strike upon them. The Greek term for this remarkable phenomenonis 'Echo.' It is caused of course by the configuration of the landscape andgenerally of deep valleys; but at Cyzicus it occurs by pure chance, while atOlympia it is produced artificially in a remarkable manner within theportico known as 'The Seven Voices,' so called because the same sound re-echoesseven times. At Cyzicus, moreover, there is a large building called the CouncilHouse, the rafters of which have no iron nails and are so arranged that beamscan be removed and replaced without scaffolding. This is the case also with the Sublician Bridge in Rome, where there has been a solemn ban on the use of nailsever since it was torn down with such difficulty whileHoratius Cocles was defending it.

XXIV. But this is indeed the moment for us to pass on to the wonders ofour own city, to review the resources derived from the experiences of 800years, and to show that here too in our buildings we have vanquished the world;and the frequency of this occurrence will be proved to match within a little thenumber of marvels that we shall describe. If we imagine the whole agglomerationof our buildings massed together and placed on one great heap, we shall see suchgrandeur towering above us as to make us think that some other world were beingdescribed, all concentrated in one single place. Even if we are not to includeamong our great achievements the Circus Maximus built byJulius Caesar, three furlongs in lengthand one in breadth, but with nearly three acres of buildings and seats for250,000, should we not mention among our truly noble buildings the Basilica ofPaulus, so remarkable for its columns from Phrygia, or the Forum ofAugustus of Revered Memory or the Templeof Peace built by his Imperial Majesty the EmperorVespasian, buildings the most beautifulthe world has ever seen? Should we not mention also the roof ofAgrippa's Ballot Office, although atRome long before this the architectValeriusof Ostia had roofed a whole theatre for Libo's games? We admire the pyramids ofkings whenJulius Caesar gave100,000,000 sesterces merely for the ground on which his forum was to be built,andClodius, who was killed byMilo, paid 14,800,000 sesterces (ifreferences to expenditure can impress anyone now that miserliness has becomean obsession) just for the house in which he lived. This amazes me for my partjust as much as the mad schemes of kings; and therefore I regard the fact thatMilo himself incurred debts amounting to70,000,000 sesterces as one of the oddest manifestations of the human character.But at that time elderly men still admired the vast dimensions of the Rampart,the substructures of the Capitol and, furthermore, the city sewers, the mostnoteworthy achievement of all, seeing that hills were tunnelled and Rome, as wementioned a little earlier, became a hanging city, beneath whichmen travelled in boats duringMarcus Agrippa'sterm as aedile after his consulship. Through the city there flow seven riversmeeting in one channel. These, rushing downwards like mountain torrents, areconstrained to sweep away and remove everything in their path, and when theyare thrust forward by an additional volume of rain water, they batter the bottomand sides of the sewers. Sometimes the backwash of the Tiber floods the sewersand makes its way along them upstream. Then the raging flood waters meet head onwithin the sewers, and even so the unyielding strength of the fabric resiststhe strain. In the streets above, massive blocks of stone are dragged along, andyet the tunnels do not cave in. They are pounded by falling buildings, whichcollapse of their own accord or are brought crashing to the ground by fire. Theground is shaken by earth tremors; but in spite of all, for 700 years from thetime of Tarquinius Priscus, the channelshave remained well-nigh impregnable. We should not fail to mention an occasionthat is all the more worthy of record because the best-known historians haveoverlooked it.Tarquinius Priscus wascarrying out the work using the common folk as his labourers, and it becamedoubtful whether the toil was to be more notable for its intensity or for itsduration. Since the citizens were seeking to escape from their exhaustion bycommitting suicide wholesale, the king devised a strange remedy that was nevercontrived except on that one occasion. He crucified the bodies of all who haddied by their own hands, leaving them to be gazed at by their fellow-citizensand also torn to pieces by beasts and birds of prey. Consequently, the sense ofshame, which is so characteristic of the Romans as a nation and has so oftenrestored a desperate situation on the battlefield, then too came to their aid;but this time it imposed upon them at the very moment when they blushed fortheir honour, since they felt ashamed while alive under the illusion that theywould feel equally ashamed when dead. Tarquinis said to have made the tunnels large enough to allow the passage of a waggonfully loaded with hay.

The works that we have so far mentioned amount in all to little; and before wetouch upon fresh topics we will show that just one marvel by itself bearscomparison with them all. Our most scrupulous authorities are agreed that in theconsulship ofMarcus Lepidus andQuintus Catulus as fine a house as anyin Rome was that ofLepidus himself;but, I swear, within 35 years the same house was not among the first hundred.Confronted by this assessment, anyone who so wishes may count the cost of themasses of marble, the paintings, the regal budgets, the cost, in fact, of ahundred houses, each of which rivalled one that had been the finest and the mosthighly appreciated in its time, houses that were themselves to be surpassed bycountless others right up to the present day. Fires, we may be sure, arepunishments inflicted upon us for our extravagance; and even so, human naturecannot be made to understand that there are things more mortal than man himself.

However, all these houses were surpassed by two. Twice have we seen the wholecity girdled by imperial palaces, those ofGaius andNero, the latter'spalace, to crown all, being indeed a House of Gold. Such, doubtless, were thedwellings of those who made this empire great, who went straight from plough orhearth to conquer nations and win triumphs, whose very lands occupied a smallerspace than those emperors' sitting-rooms! Indeed, one begins to reflect howsmall in comparison with those palaces were the building-sites formally grantedby the state to invincible generals for their private houses. The highestdistinction that these houses displayed was one accorded, for example, after hismany services toPublius Valerius Publicola,the first of our consuls along withLuciusBrutus, and to his brother, whoalso as consulinflicted two crushingdefeats on the Sabines. I refer to the additional decree which provided that thedoors of their houses should be made to open outwards so that the portals couldbe flung open on to the public highway. This was the most notable mark ofdistinction in the houses even of men who had celebrated a triumph.

I shall not allow these two birds of a feather, two Gaiuses or two Neros as youplease, to enjoy unchallenged even renown such as this; and so I shall show thateven their madness was outdone by the resources of a private individual,Marcus Scaurus, whose aedileship mayperhaps have done more than anything to undermine morality, and whose powerfulascendancy may have been a more mischievous achievement on the part of hisstepfatherSulla than the killing byproscription of so many thousands of people. As aedile he constructed thegreatest of all the works ever made by man, a work that surpassed not merelythose erected for a limited period but even those intended to last for ever.This was his theatre, which had a stage arranged in three storeys with 360columns; and this, if you please, in a community that had not tolerated thepresence of six columns of Hymettus marble without reviling a leading citizen.The lowest storey of the stage was of marble, and the middle one of glass (anextravagance unparalleled even in later times), while the top storey was madeof gilded planks. The columns of the lowest storey were, as I have stated, each38 feet high. The bronze statues in the spaces between the columnsnumbered 3000, as I mentioned earlier. As for the auditorium, it accommodated80,000; and yet that of Pompey's theatre amply meets all requirements with seatsfor 40,000 even though the city is so many times larger and the population somuch more numerous than it was at that time. The rest of the equipment, withdresses of cloth of gold, scene paintings and other properties was onso lavish a scale that when the surplus knick-knacks that could be put toordinary use were taken toScaurus'villa at Tusculum and the villa itself set on fire and burnt down by theindignant servants, the loss was estimated at 30,000,000 sesterces.

Thoughts of this wasteful behaviour distract our attention and force us to leaveour intended course, since with this theatre they cause us to associate another,even more frenzied, fantasy in wood.GaiusCurio, who died during the Civil War while fighting onCaesar's side, could not hope, in theentertainment which he provided in honour of his father's funeral, to outstrip Scaurus in the matter of costlyembellishments. For where was he to find a stepfather likeSulla or a mother like Metella, who speculated by buying up theproperty of the proscribed, or a father likeMarcus Scaurus, who was for solong a leader in the government and acted forMarius and his cronies as their receiver of goods plundered from theprovinces? EvenScaurus himself could nolonger have matched his own achievement, for since he had collected his materialfrom all parts of the world, he gained at any rate one advantage from that fire,namely that it was impossible in the future for anyone to emulate hismadness. Curio, therefore, had to use his wits and devise some ingenious scheme.It is worth our while to be acquainted with his discovery, and so to be thankfulfor our modern code of morality and call ourselves 'elders and betters,'reversing the usual meaning of the term. He built close to each other two verylarge wooden theatres, each poised and balanced on a revolving pivot. During theforenoon, a performance of a play was given in both of them and they faced inopposite directions so that the two casts should not drown each other's words.Then all of a sudden the theatres revolved (and it is agreed that after thefirst few days they did so with some of the spectators actually remaining intheir seats), their corners met, and thusCurioprovided an amphitheatre in which he produced fights between gladiators, thoughthey were less in chancery than the Roman people itself as it was whirled aroundby Curio. Truly, what should first astonish one in this, the inventor or theinvention, the designer or the sponsor, the fact that a man dared to plan thework, or to undertake it, or to commission it? What will prove to be moreamazing than anything is the madness of a people that was bold enough to takeits place in such treacherous, rickety seats. Here we have the nation that hasconquered the earth, that has subdued the whole world, that distributes tribesand kingdoms, that despatches its dictates to foreign peoples, that is heaven'srepresentative, so to speak, among mankind, swaying on a contraption andapplauding its own danger! What a contempt for life this showed! What force nowhave our complaints of the lives lost at Cannae! What a disaster it could havebeen! When the earth yawns and cities are engulfed, whole communities grieve.Here the entire Roman people, as if on board two frail boats, was supported by acouple of pivots, and was entertained with the spectacle of its very selfrisking its life in the fighting arena, doomed, as it was, to perish at somemoment or other if the framework were wrenched out of place. And the aim, afterall, was merely to win favour for the speeches thatCurio would make as tribune, so that hemight continue to agitate the swaying voters, since on the speaker's platform hewould shrink from nothing in addressing men whom he had persuaded to submit tosuch treatment. For, if we must confess the truth, it was the whole Roman peoplethat struggled for its life in the arena at the funeral games held at hisfather's tomb. When the pivots of the theatres were worn and displaced healtered this ostentatious display of his. He kept to the shape of theamphitheatre, and on the final day gave athletic displays on the two stages asthey stood back to back across the middle of the arena. Then suddenly theplatforms were swept away on either side, and during the same day he brought onthose of his gladiators who had won their earlier contests. AndCurio was not a king nor an emperor nor,indeed, was he particularly rich, seeing that his only financial asset was thefeud that had arisen between the heads of state.

But we must go on to describe marvels which are unsurpassed in virtue oftheir genuine value.Quintus Marcius Rex,having been ordered by the senate to repair the conduits of the Aqua Appia, theAnio, and the Tepula, drove underground passages through the mountains andbrought to Rome a new water-supply called by his own name and completedwithin the period of his praetorship.Agrippa,moreover, as aedile added to these the Aqua Virgo, repaired the channels of theothers and put them in order, and constructed 700 basins, not to speak of 500fountains and 130 distribution-reservoirs, many of the latter being richlydecorated. He erected on these works 300 bronze or marble statues and 400 marblepillars; and all of this he carried out in a year. He himself in the memoirs ofhis aedileship adds that in celebration games lasting for 59 days were held, andthe bathing establishments wereDio Cassius,thrown open to the public free of charge, all 170 of them, a number whichat Rome has now been infinitely increased. But all previous aqueducts have beensurpassed by the most recent and very costly work inaugurated by theEmperor Gaius and completed byClaudius, inasmuch as the Curtian andCaerulean Springs, as well as the Anio Novus, were made to flow into Rome fromthe 40th milestone at such a high level as to supply water to all the sevenhills of the city, the sum spent on the work amounting to 350,000,000 sesterees.If we take into careful consideration the abundant supplies of water in publicbuildings, baths, pools, open channels, private houses, gardens and countryestates near the city; if we consider the distances traversed by the waterbefore it arrives, the raising of arches, the tunnelling of mountains and thebuilding of level routes across deep valleys, we shall readily admit that therehas never been anything more remarkable in the whole world. One of the mostremarkable achievements of the same emperor,Claudius, neglected, though it was, by his malicious successor, is, in myopinion at least, the channel that he dug through a mountain to drain the FucineLake. This, I need hardly say, entailed the expenditure of an indescribablylarge sum of money and the employment for many years of a horde of workersbecause, where earth formed the interior of the mountain, the water channel hadto be cleared by lifting the spoil to the top of the shafts on hoistsand everywhere else solid rock had to be cut away, and operationsunderground (and how vast they were!) had to be carried out in darkness,operations which only those who witnessed them can envisage and no humanutterance can describe. Incidentally, I must forbear to mention the harbourworks at Ostia, and likewise the roads driven through hills in cuttings, themoles that were built to separate the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Lucrine Lake, andall the bridges erected at such great cost. Among the many marvels of Italyitself is one for which the accomplished natural scientist Papirius Fabianus vouches, namely thatmarble actually grows in its quarries; and the quarrymen, moreover, assert thatthe scars on the mountain sides fill up of their own accord. If this is true,there is reason to hope that there will always be marble sufficient to satisfyluxury's demands.

XXV. As we pass from marble to the other remarkable varieties of stone,no one can doubt that it is the magnet that first of all comes to mind. For whatis more strange than this stone? In what field has Nature displayed a moreperverse wilfulness? She has given to rocks a voice which, as I have explained,echoes that of Man, or rather interrupts it as well. What is more impassive thanthe stiffness of stone? And yet we see that she has endowed the magnet withsenses and hands. What is more recalcitrant than the hardness of iron? We seethat she has bestowed on it feet and instincts. For iron is attracted by themagnet, and the substance that vanquishes all other things rushes into a kindof vacuum and, as it approaches the magnet, it leaps towards it and is held byit and clasped in its embrace. And so the magnet is called by the Greeks byanother name, the 'iron stone,' and by some of them the 'stone of Heracles.'According to Nicander, it was called 'magnes' from the name of its discover, who found it on Mount Ida. Incidentally,it is to be found in many places, including Spain. However, the story goes thatMagnes discovered the stone when thenails of his sandals and the tip of his staff stuck to it as he was pasturinghis herds.Sotacus describes five kindsof magnet: an Ethiopian; another from Magnesia, which borders on Macedonia andis on the traveller's right as he makes for Volos from Boebe; a third fromHyettus in Boeotia; a fourth from the neighbourhood of Alexandria in the Troad;and a fifth from Magnesia in Asia Minor. The most important distinction isbetween the male and female varieties, while the next lies in their colour.Those found in the Magnesia that is close to Macedonia are red and black,whereas the Boeotian have more red than black in them. Those found in the Troadare black and female, and therefore exert no force, while the most worthlesskind is that of Magnesia in Asia Minor, which is white, has no power ofattracting iron and resembles pumice. It has been ascertained that, the bluer amagnet is, the better it is. The palm goes to the Ethiopian variety, which inthe market is worth its weight in silver. It is found in the sandy district ofEthiopia known as Zmiris. There, too, is found the haematite magnet, which isblood-red in colour and, when ground, produces not only blood-red but alsosaffron-yellow powder. But haematite has not the same property of attractingiron as the magnet. The test of an Ethiopian magnet is its ability to attractanother magnet to itself. All magnets, incidentally, are useful for making upeye-salves if each is used in its correct quantity, and are particularlyeffective in stopping acute watering of the eyes. They also cure bums whenground and calcined. Also in Ethiopia and at no great distance is anothermountain, (the ore from) which on the contrary repels and rejects all iron.Both of these properties have already been discussed by me on several occasions.

XXVI. It is said that a stone from the island of Syros floats onthe waves, but that it sinks when ithas been broken into small pieces.

XXVII. At Assos in the Troad we find the Sarcophagus stone, whichsplits along a line of cleavage. It is well known that corpses buried in it areconsumed within a period of forty days, except for the teeth: Mucianus vouches for the fact thatmirrors, scrapers, clothes and shoes placed upon the dead bodies are turned tostone as well. There are similar stones both in Lycia and in the East; andthese, when attached even to living persons, eat away their bodies.

XXVIII. However, there are stones that are gentler in their effects in that they preserve a body without consuming it, for example, the 'chernites,' which closely resembles ivory and is said to be the material of which the coin of Darius is said to have been made, and, again, a stone called 'porus,' which is similar to Parian marblein whiteness and hardness, only not so heavy.Theophrastus is our authority also for atranslucent Egyptian stone said by him to be similar to Chian marble. Such astone may have existed in his time: stones cease to be found and new ones arediscovered in turn.

The stone of Assos, which has a salty taste, relieves gout if the feet areplunged into a vessel hollowed out of it. Moreover, all affections of the legsare cured in the quarries where it is hewn, whereas in all mines the legs areattacked by ailments. Belonging to the same stone is what is called theefflorescence, which is soft enough to form powder and is just as effective asthe stone for certain purposes. It looks, incidentally, like reddish pumice.Combined with Cyprian wax it cures affections of the breasts, and, if mixed withpitch or resin, disperses scrofulous sores and superficial abscesses. Taken asan electuary it is also good for consumption. When blended with honey, it causesscars to form over chronic sores, reduces excrescences of flesh and dries upmatter discharging from a bite when it will not yield to other treatment. Incases of gout a plaster is made of it with an admixture of bean-meal.

XXIX. Theophrastus, again, and Mucianus express the opinion that thereare certain stones that give birth to other stones.Theophrastus states also that fossilivory coloured black and white is found, that bones are produced fromthe earth and that stones resembling bones come to light.

In the neighbourhood of Munda in Spain, the place whereJulius Caesar defeated Cn.Pompeius, occur stones containing thelikeness of a palm branch, which appears whenever they are broken. There arealso black stones, like that of Cape Matapan, that have come to be esteemed asmuch as any marble.Varro states thatblack stones from Africa are harder than the Italian, but that, on the otherhand, the white stone of Cora is harder than that of Paros. He mentions too thatCarrara stone can be cut with a saw, that Tusculan stone is split by fireand that the dark Sabine variety actually becomes bright if oil is poured on it.Varro also assures us that rotary quernshave been found at Bolsena; and we find in records of miraculousoccurrences that some querns have even moved of their own accord.

XXX. Nowhere are more serviceable millstones to be found than in Italy,for here they are proper stones and not lumps of rock. In certain provinces,however, they are not found at all. Some stones of this kind are quite soft andcan be smoothed also with a whetstone, so that from a distance they may bemistaken for serpentine. No other stones are more durable than millstones; for,as with wood, it is characteristic of stones of one sort or another to be unableto stand rain, sun or wintry weather. Some are affected even by the moon, whileothers acquire a patina in course of time or lose their white colour whentreated with oil.

Some people call a millstone 'pyrites,' or 'fire-stone,' because there is agreat amount of fire in it. However, there is another 'pyrites' which issimilar, only more porous, and yet another which resembles copper. It is claimedthat in the mines near Acamas in Cyprus two kinds of pyrites are found, onehaving the colour of silver and the other of gold. There are several ways ofroasting the mineral. Some roast it two or three times with honey until themoisture is consumed, whereas others roast it first on hot coals and then withhoney. Afterwards, it is washed like copper. The varieties of pyrites are usedin pharmacy for their warming, drying, dispersing and reducing effects, andalso to cause indurations to discharge their matter. They are also used raw, inthe form of powder, for treating scrofulous sores and boils. Some writers classas 'pyrites' yet another kind of stone that contains a great quantity of fire.Stones known as 'live stones' are extremely heavy and are indispensable toreconnaissance parties preparing a camp-site. When struck with a nail oranother stone they give off a spark, and if this is caught on sulphur or else ondry fungi or leaves it produces a flame instantaneously.

XXXI. The 'ostracites,' or 'potsherd stone,' resembles a potsherd and is used instead of pumice as a depilatory. Taken as a draught it arrests bleeding and applied as an ointment with honey cures sores and pains in the breasts. 'Amiantus,' which looks carysotne like alum, is quite indestructible by fire. Itaffords protection against all spells, especially those of the Magi.

XXXII. Geodes receive their name in token of their earthycharacter, since earth is enclosed within them. They are of great use asingredients of eye-salves and also in treating affections of the breasts andtesticles.

XXXIII. The 'melitinus' stone exudes a liquid that is sweet and is likehoney. When pounded and mixed with wax it cures acute catarrh, spots on the skinand sore throats, and removes sores on the eyelids; and if applied on a wooldressing it causes pains in the uterus to disappear.

XXXIV. Jet derives its name from a district and a river in Lyciaknown as Gages. It is said also to be washed up by the sea on the promontory ofLeucolla and to be gathered at places up to a distance of a mile and a half. Jetis black, smooth, porous, light, not very different from wood, and brittle, andhas an unpleasant smell when rubbed. Anything inscribed in it on earthenware isindelible. When it is burnt it gives off a smell like that of sulphur. What isremarkable is that it is ignited by water and quenched by oil. The kindling ofjet drives off snakes and relieves suffocation of the uterus. Its fumes detectattempts to simulate a disabling illness or a state of virginity. Moreover, whenthoroughly boiled with wine it cures toothache and, if combined with wax,scrofulous tumours. The Magi are said to make use of it in what they calldivination by axes and they assert it will not burn away completely if a wish isdestined to come true.

XXXV. Sponge stones are found in sponges, and therefore belong to thesea. They are sometimes called in Greek stone-solvents because they cureaffections of the bladder and break up stone in it if they are taken in wine.

XXXVI. Phrygian stone is so called from the people of that name andoccurs as porous lumps. After being soaked in wine it is roasted, and bellowsare used to fan it until it turns red, whereupon it is quenched with sweet wine,and the process is repeated three times on each occasion. It is of use only indyeing garments.

XXXVII. 'Schistos' and haematite are closely related. Haematite is foundin mines, and when roasted reproduces the colour of red-lead. It is roasted inthe same way as the Phrygian stone, except that it is not quenched with wine. Itcan be counterfeited, but genuine haematite is distinguished by its occurrenceas red veins and by its friable character. It is extraordinarily good forbloodshot eyes, and checks excessive menstruation if it is taken as a draught.It is drunk also, with pomegranate juice added, by patients who have brought upblood. A draught of it is an effective remedy for bladder trouble; moreover, ifit is taken in wine it is an antidote for snakebites. All these properties exist, but in a weaker form, in the substance known as 'schistos.' Among itsvarieties, the more suitable is like saffron in colour. Mixed with human milk itis a specific for filling cavities left by sores. It is also admirable forreducing protruding eyes. Such is the consensus of opinion among the most recentwriters.

XXXVIII. Among the oldest authorities Sotacus records five kinds of haematite,apart from the magnet. Of these, the Ethiopian receives from him the firstplace, a variety which is very useful for making up eye-salves and what theGreeks call 'universal remedies,' as well as being effective for burns. Thesecond is, according to him, known as man-tamer, black in colour andexceptionally heavy and hard: hence its name. It is found mainly in Africa andattracts silver, copper and iron. The method of testing it is to rub it on awhetstone of slate, when, if genuine, it gives off a blood-red smear. It is acapital remedy for affections of the liver. The third kind, according to Sotacus' reckoning, is the Arabian,which is similarly hard and produces scarcely any smear on a hone used withwater although on occasion there is a saffron-coloured smear. The fourth kind,so he says, is known as 'liver ore' in its natural state, and as 'ruddle ore'when it is roasted. It is useful for treating burns and more useful than ruddle for any purpose. The fifth is 'schistos,' and this when taken as a draughtreduces piles.Sotacus goes on to saythat three drachms of any haematite pounded in oil should be swallowed on anempty stomach to counteract blood ailments. He also describes a 'schistos' different in kind from the haematite 'schistos' and known as anthracite. Hestates that it is a black stone found in Africa and that, when it is rubbed on awater hone, what was originally the lower end produces a black mark and theother end a saffron-coloured one. According to him, it is useful by itself formaking up eye-salves.

XXXIX. Eagle stones have acquired a reputation owing to the associationsaroused by the term. As I have already stated inBook X, they are found ineagles' nests. It is said that they are found in pairs, a male and a female, andthat without them the eagles in question cannot produce young: hence there isonly a pair of stones. There are four kinds of eagle stones. One kind found inAfrica is small and soft, and carries inside it, as though in a womb, a pleasingwhite clay. The stone itself is liable to crumble and is considered to befemale, while a kind that occurs in Arabia and is hard, coloured like an oakgall or else reddish in appearance and containing a hard stone in its hollowcentre, is regarded as a male. A third kind found in Cyprus is similar in colourto those of Africa, but is larger and elongated, the shape of all other kindsbeing spherical. It carries inside it an agreeable kind of sand and smallnodules, while the stone itself is soft enough to be crumbled merely with one'sfingers. The fourth kind, known as the Taphiusian, occurs not far from theisland of Leucas in Taphiusa, a district that lies to the right as one sails toLencas from Ithaca. It is found as a white, round stone in streams. In its hollow centre is a stone known as the 'callimus,' but no trace of earthy matter.Eagle stones, wrapped in the skins of animals that have been sacrificed, areworn as amulets by women or four-footed creatures during pregnancy so as toprevent a miscarriage. They must not be removed except at the moment ofdelivery: otherwise, there will be a prolapse of the uterus. On the other hand,if they were not removed during delivery no birth would take place.

XL. There is also the stone of Samos, found in the island of that name,the earth from which we have already had occasion to praise. The stone is usefulas a gold polish, while in pharmacy, if it is mixed with milk in the mannerdescribed above, it is good for ophthalmic ulcers and chronic watering of theeyes. When taken as a draught it also counteracts stomach ailments, relievesgiddiness and corrects disturbances of the mind. Some doctors hold that it canbe administered with benefit in cases of epilepsy and strangury. Moreover, it ismixed with other ingredients in embrocations to relieve fatigue. The test of itsgenuineness is based upon its weight and white colour. Worn as an amulet, it isclaimed to prevent a miscarriage.

XLI. The Arabian stone, which resembles ivory, can, if calcined, besuitably used as a tooth powder. But, in particular, it cures pilesif combined with lint or placed on a linen dressing locally applied.

XLII. We must not forget to discuss also the Pumice. characteristics ofpumice. This name, of course, is given to the hollowed rocks in the buildingscalled by the Greeks Homes of the Muses, where such rocks hang from the ceilingsso as to create an artificial imitation of a cave. But as for the pumice whichis used as a depilatory for women, and nowadays also for men, and moreover, as Catullus reminds us, for books, thefinest quality occurs in Melos, Nisyros, and the Aeolian Islands. The test ofits quality is that it should be white, very light in weight, extremely porousand dry, and easy to grind, without being sandy when rubbed. In pharmacy it hasa reducing and drying effect. It is calcined three times in a fire of purecharcoal and quenched the same number of times in white wine. It is then washedlike cadmea, and having been dried is stored in a place as free from dampas possible. The powder is used mostly for eye-salves, since it gently cleansesophthalmic ulcers and heals them, and removes the scars. Incidentally, somepharmacists, after calcining the pumice three times, prefer to let it coolrather than quench it, and then to pound it mixed with wine. It is added also topoultices, and is then most useful for treating sores on the head or the privateparts. Tooth powders, too, are prepared from it.Theophrastus assures us that toperscompeting in drinking contests first take a dose of the powder, but states thatthey run a grave risk unless they fill themselves with wine at a single draught.He adds that the cooling properties of pumice are so powerful that new winestops bubbling when pumice is added to it.

XLIII. Our authorities have been interested also in stones used for making mortars; and I do not mean merely mortars used for pounding drugs or grinding pigments. Among such stones, they give the first place to the Etesian and the second to that of the Thebaid which I have already cited as the 'pyrrhopoecilos,' or 'the stone with the red spots,' and some people call 'psaros,' 'the speckled stone'.

The third place they award to the touchstone ofrock resembling hail, or for medical purposes to one of siliceous slate. Forthis latter stone yields nothing from its own substance. Stones which produce asmear are considered to be useful for making up eye-salves: hence the Ethiopianis most highly valued for this purpose. The stone of Cape Matapan, thePhoenician stone and haematite are said to be good for preparing prescriptionsthat contain saffron. But mortars made of another stone from Cape Matapan, ablack marble, or of Parian marble are not so useful to doctors, so we are told,better ones being made of onyx marble from Egypt or of white serpentine. Forthere is such a species of serpentine, and vessels and boxes also are made ofit.

XLIV. In the island of Siphnos there is a stone that is hollowed out andturned on the lathe so as to form cooking utensils or tableware; and thisI myself know to be the case also with the green stone of Como in Italy. TheSiphnian stone, however, has a peculiarity of its own in that when thoroughlyheated with oil it becomes black and hard, whereas naturally it is very soft.Such are the divers properties to be found in one substance. Incidentally,exceptional instances of soft stones occur beyond the Alps. In the province ofBelgic Gaul a white stone is said to be cut with a saw, just like wood, onlyeven more easily, so as to serve as ordinary roof tiles and as rain tiles or, ifso desired, as the kind of roofing known as 'peacock-style.'

XLV. These stones, then, can be cut with a saw. However, the specularstone (for even this substance ranks as a stone) has a far more amenablecharacter which allows it to be split into plates as thin as may be wished.Formerly it was produced only in Hither Spain, and even then not in the whole ofthe province, but merely within an area of a hundred miles around the city ofPriego. Nowadays supplies come too from Cyprus, Cappadocia, Sicily and, a recentdiscovery, from Africa. However, all these kinds are inferior to that of Spain:Cappadocia produces the largest pieces, but they lack transparency. Moreover,in the region of Bologna in Italy small streaks occur tightly embedded withinhard rock; and yet they are large enough for their essential similarity to therest to be unmistakable. In Spain the specular stone is dug at a great depth bymeans of shafts; and it is found too just beneath the surface enclosed in rock,in which case it has to be torn away or cut out; but for the most part itsformation allows it to be dug, since it occurs in isolation as rough blocks. Nopiece exceeding five feet in length has hitherto been discovered. It is palpablyobvious that we have here a liquid which, like rock-crystal, has been frozen andpetrified by an exhalation in the earth, because when wild animalsfall down the shafts just mentioned the marrow in their bones after a singlewinter takes on the appearance of this selfsame stone. On occasion a blackvariety of the stone is also found, but it is the bright kind,notoriously soft though it may be, that has a remarkable property ofwithstanding the effects of hot and cold weather. Moreover, provided that itescapes abuse, it does not deteriorate, although this is apt to happen even withblocks of many varieties of stone. A further use has been devised for thespecular stone in the shape of the shavings and flakes strewn on the surface ofthe Circus Maximus during the Games to produce an attractively bright effect.

XLVI. DuringNero's principatethere was discovered in Cappadocia a stone as hard as marble, white and, even where deep-yellow veins occurred, translucent. In token of its appearance it was called 'phengites' or the 'Luminary Stone.' Of this stoneNero rebuilt the temple of Fortune,known as the shrine of Sejanus, but originally consecrated by KingServius Tullius and incorporated byNero in his Golden House. Thanks to thisstone, in the daytime it was as light as day in the temple, even when the doorswere shut; but the effect was not that of windows of specular stone, since thelight was, so to speak, trapped within rather than allowed to penetrate fromwithout. According toJuba, there existsin Arabia too a stone that is transparent like glass, and is used as windowpanes.

XLVII. It is now high time to pass on to stones used in industry, andfirst of all to whetstones intended for sharpening iron. Of these there aremany varieties. Cretan whetstones for long enjoyed the highest reputation, thesecond place being held by the Laconian from Mount Taygetus. Both kinds need tobe lubricated with oil. Among those used with water the Naxiau came first inmerit, and then the Armenian, both of which were mentioned earlier.Cilician whetstones are effective if used with oil and water mixed, and those ofArsinoee if used with water alone. In Italy too there have been discovered whetstones which, when used with water, extract a sharp edge and operate most keenly, as well as beyond the Alps, where they are known as 'passernices.' Thefourth method of operation is that adopted for the hones which are so useful inbarbers' shopslubrication by means of human saliva from Hither Spain areoutstanding in this class.

XLVIII. Of the numerous stones that remain to rap. be considered, tufa isunsuitable for building construction because of its short life and itssoftness. However, some localities, for example Carthage in Africa have no otherstone to offer. It is eaten away by evaporation from the sea, rubbed by wind.and lashed and scarred by rain. But the Carthaginians are careful to protecttheir house walls by coating them with pitch; for lime plaster is another thingthat erodes tufa. Hence the witty remark that people there treat their buildingswith pitch and their wine with lime, since that is how they tempertheir new wine. Other soft varieties are found near Rome in the neighbourhood ofFidenae and Alba. In Umbria and Venetia, moreover, there is a white stone thatcan be cut with a toothed saw. These stones, besides being easy to work, canalso bear a heavy load, provided that they are under cover. When exposed tospray, frost or rime they break up into slabs, nor do they show much resistanceto sea breezes. Travertine is split by heat, although it stands up to allother forces.

XLIX. The best silexa is the black variety, although in certainlocalities it is the red that is best, and in several places even the white, asin the Anician quarries round Lake Bolsena near Trachina or, again, in theneighbourhood of Statonia, the stone from these two places being immune even tofire. The same two varieties are, moreover, used for sculpture on monuments,where they offer the added advantage of remaining untouched by the ravages oftime. Of these stones are made the moulds in which bronze implements are cast.There is also a green stone that strongly resists fire, but it is nowhereplentiful and, where it is found, occurs in pieces and not in a mass. Of theremaining varieties, the pale silex can only occasionally be used for roughwalling, while the rounded kind stands up to hard abuse, but is unreliable forbuilding purposes unless it is bonded with large quantities of mortar. The silexfound in rivers is no more reliable, always giving the impression of beingthoroughly damp.

L. When stone is of doubtful quality the remedy is to quarry it in thesummer and to lay it only after it has been subjected to weathering for at leasttwo years. Those stones of this class that have been damaged by such treatmentmay be more profitably incorporated in masonry lying below ground-level, whilethose that have withstood weathering can be safely exposed even to the sky.

LI. The Greeks build house-walls, as thoughthey were using brick, of hard stone or silex dressed to a uniform thickness. When they follow this procedure the style of masonry is what they call 'isodomos,' or 'masonry with equal courses.' When the courses laid are of varying thickness the style is known as 'pseudisodomosi' a spurious variety of the former. A third style is the 'emplectos' or 'interwoven,' in which only the faces are dressed, the rest of the material being laid at random. It is essential that joints should be made to alternate in such a way that the middle of a stone covers the vertical joint in the course last laid. This should be done even in the core of the wall if circumstances permit, and failing this, at least on the faces. When the core of the wall is packed with rubble, the style is 'diatonieos,' 'with single stones stretching from face to face.' 'Networkmasonry,' which is very commonly used in buildings at Rome, is liable to crack.All masonry should be laid to rule and level, and should be absolutelyperpendicular when tested with a plummet.

LII. Cisterns should be made of five partsof clean, coarse sand to two of the hottest possible quicklime, togetherwith pieces of silex each weighing not more than a pound. The floor and wallsbuilt of this material should all alike be beaten with iron bars. It is betterto build cisterns in pairs so that impurities may settle in the first, and waterpass through a filter purified into the adjoining one.

LIII. As for lime,Cato the censor disapproves of preparingit from variegated limestone, for white limestone produces a better quality.Lime made from a hard stone is more effective for walling, while that made fromporous limestone is more suitable for plastering. Lime manufactured from silexis condemned for both purposes. Again, it is more serviceable if it isproduced from quarried stone than from stones collected on the banks of rivers.A superior kind is made from stones used for querns, for they have a certainunctuous character. Lime possesses one remarkable quality: once it has beenburnt, its heat is increased by water.

LIV. Of sand, there are three varieties: there is quarry sand, to whichhas to be added one-quarter of its weight in lime; and river or alternativelysea sand, to which must be added one-third. If one-third of crushed potsherdsalso is added, the material will be improved. No quarry sand is found from theApennines as far as the Po, nor does it occur overseas.

LV. The chief reason for the collapse ofbuildings in Rome is the purloining of lime, as the result of which the roughstones are laid on each other without any proper mortar. It is also a fact thatthe slurry improves with keeping. In the old building laws is to be found aregulation that no contractor is to use a slurry that is less than three yearsold. Consequently, old plaster work was never disfigured by cracks. Stucconever possesses the required brilliance unless three coats of sand mortar andtwo of marble stucco are laid on. Buildings exposed to damp or erected in alocality where they may be affected by moisture from the sea may with profit begiven an undercoat of plaster made from pounded potsherds. In Greece sand mortarfor plaster work is, furthermore, worked up in a trough with wooden polesbefore it is spread. The test for ascertaining that marble stucco has beenworked to the correct consistency is that it should no longer stick to thetrowel, while in whitewashing the test is that the slaked lime should stick likeglue. Slaking should always be carried out when the lime is in lumps. At Elisthere is a temple of Minerva in which, it is said,Panaenus, the brother ofPheidias, applied plaster that had beenworked with milk and saffron. The result is that even today, if one wets one'sthumb with saliva and rubs it on the plaster, the latter still gives off thesmell and taste of saffron.

LVI. As for columns, identical ones appear to increase inthickness merely by being placed more closely together. There are four kinds ofcolumns. Columns the height of which is six times their lower diameter are theso-called Doric. Those in which the height is nine times the lower diameter arethe Ionic; and those in which it is seven times the Tuscan. Corinthian columnshave the same proportions as the Ionic except that the height of the Corinthiancapitals equals the lower diameter, so that they appear to be more slender thanthe Ionic, where the height of the capital is a third of the lower diameter. Inancient times a proportion observed was that the breadth of a temple should bethree times the height of the columns. It was in the earlier temple of Diana atEphesus that columns were for the first time mounted on moulded bases andcrowned with capitals, and it was decided that the lower diameter of thecolumns should be one-eighth of their height, that the height of the mouldedbases should be one-half of the lower diameter and that the lower diametershould exceed the upper diameter by a seventh. Another kind of column is thatknown as the Attic, which is quadrangular and equilateral.

LVII. Lime is commonly used also in pharmacy, preferably when freshlycalcined and unslaked. It has caustic, dispersive and drawing effects, andchecks an onset of ulcers which shows signs of spreading quickly. It bringsabout the formation of scars when it is mixed as a liniment with vinegar androse oil and is later blended with wax and rose oil. It is a cure also fordislocations when applied with liquid resin or pork fat mixed with honey, andthe same mixture, moreover, cures scrofulous sores.

LVIII. Maltha is prepared from freshly calcined lime, a lump ofwhich is slaked in wine and then pounded together with pork fat and figs, bothof which are softening agents. Maltha is the most adhesive of substances andgrows harder than stone. Anything that is treated with it is first thoroughlyrubbed with olive oil.

LIX. There is an affinity between lime and gypsum, a substanceof which there are several varieties. For it can be produced from a heatedmineral, as in Syria and Thurii; it can be dug from the earth, as in Cyprus andPerrhaebia. There is also that of Tymphaea, which is stripped from the earth'ssurface. The mineral that is heated ought to be like onyx marble or crystallinelimestone. In Syria the hardest stones possible are selected for the purpose andare heated along with cow dung so that the burning may be accelerated. However,it has been discovered that the best kind is prepared from specular stone a orfrom stone that flakes in the same way. Gypsum, when moistened, should be usedinstantly, since it coheres with great rapidity. However, there is nothing toprevent it from being pounded and reduced again to a fine powder. Gypsum is aserviceable whitewash and is used with pleasing effect for making mouldedfigures and festoons in architecture. A famous story carries with it somethingof a warning: we are told that Caius Proculeius,a man who could rest assured of his close friendship with the EmperorAugustus, committed suicide byswallowing gypsum when he was suffering from severe pains in the stomach.

LX. Paved floors originated among the Greeks and were skilfullyembellished with a kind of paint-work until this was superseded by mosaics. Inthis latter field the most famous exponent was Sosus, who at Pergamum laid the floor of what is known in Greek as 'the Unswept Room' because, by means of small cubes tinted in various shades, herepresented on the floor refuse from the dinner table and other sweepings,making them appear as if they had been left there. A remarkable detail in thepicture is a dove, which is drinking and casts the shadow of its head on thewater, while others are sunning and preening themselves on the brim of a largedrinking vessel.

LXI. The original paved floors, in my belief, were those now known to usas 'foreign' and 'indoor' floors. In Italy these were beaten with staves: at anyrate, this is what the name itself may imply. At Rome the first floor with adiamond pattern was constructed in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus after thebeginning of the Third Punic War; but tessellated pavements had already becomecommon and extremely popular before the Cimbrian War, as is shown by the famousverse from Lucilius:

LXII. Open-air flooring was an invention of the Greeks, who roof theirhouses in this way, an easy method to use in regions with a warm climate,but unreliable wherever there is heavy rainfall and frost. It is essential thattwo sets of joists should be laid across each other, and that their ends shouldbe nailed down to avoid warping. To fresh rubble should be added a third of itsweight in pounded potsherds; and then the rubble, mixed with two-fifths of itsweight in lime, should be rammed down to a thickness of one foot. After this, afinal coat 4½ inches thick must be applied to the rubble and large square stonesnot less than 1½ inches thick laid on it. A fall of 1½ inches in 10 feet shouldbe maintained and the surface carefully polished with grindstones. It isconsidered impracticable to lay the wood floor with oak planks, because theywarp; and, furthermore, it is thought advisable to spread a layer of fern orstraw below the rubble so that the worst effects of the quicklime may not reachthe planks. It is essential also to lay a foundation of round pebbles under therubble. Tiled floors with a herring-bone pattern are constructed in a similarfashion.

LXIII. There is still one kind of floor that we must not fail to mention,namely the Graecanicum or 'Greek style.' The ground is well rammed andrubble or a layer of pounded potsherds laid on it. Then charcoal is trodden intoa compact mass, and on top of this is spread a mixture of coarse sand, lime andashes to a thickness of 6 inches. This is carefully finished to rule and level,and has the appearance of earth. But if it is smoothed with a grindstone it willpass for a black stone floor.

LXIV. Mosaics came into use as early asSulla's regime. At all events, there exists even today one made of verysmall cubes which he installed in the temple of Fortune at Palestrina. Afterthat, ordinary tessellated floors were driven from the ground level and found anew home in vaulted ceilings, being now made of glass. Here too we have a recentinvention. At any rate,Agrippa, in thebaths that he built at Rome, painted the terracotta work of the hot rooms inencaustic and decorated the rest with whitewash, although he would certainlyhave built vaults of glass if such a device had already been invented or elsehad been extended from the walls of a stage, such as that of Scaurus which we have described, tovaulted ceilings. And so we must now proceed to explain also the nature ofglass.

LXV. That part of Syria which is known asPhoenicia and borders on Judea contains a swamp called Candebia amid the lowerslopes of Mount Carmel. This is supposed to be the source of the River Belus,which after traversing a distance of 5 miles flows into the sea near the colonyof Ptolemais. Its current is sluggish and its waters are unwholesome to drink,although they are regarded as holy for ritual purposes. The river is muddy andflows in a deep channel, revealing its sands only when the tide ebbs. For it isnot until they have been tossed by the waves and cleansed of impurities thatthey glisten. Moreover, it is only at that moment, when they are thought to beaffected by the sharp, astringent properties of the brine, that they become fitfor use. The beach stretches for not more than half a mile, and yet for manycenturies the production of glass depended on this area alone. There is a storythat once a ship belonging to some traders in natural soda put in here and thatthey scattered along the shore to prepare a meal. Since, however, no stonessuitable for supporting their cauldrons were forthcoming, they rested them onlumps of soda from their cargo. When these became heated and were completelymingled with the sand on the beach a strange translucent liquid flowed forth instreams; and this, it is said, was the origin of glass.

LXVI. Next, as was to be expected, Man's inventive skill was no longercontent to mix only soda with the sand. He began to introduce the magnet stonealso, since there is a belief that it attracts to itself molten glass no lessthan iron. Similarly, lustrous stones of many kinds came to be burnt with themelt and, then again, shells and quarry sand. Authorities state that in Indiaglass is made also of broken rock-crystal and that for this reason no glass cancompare with that of India. To resume, a fire of light, dry wood is used forpreparing the melt, to which are added copper and soda, preferably Egyptiansoda. Glass, like copper, is smelted in a series of furnaces, and dull blacklumps are formed. Molten glass is everywhere so sharp that, before there is theleast sensation, it cuts to the bone any part of the body on which it splutters.After being reduced to lumps, the glass is again fused in the workshop and istinted. Some of it is shaped by blowing, some machined on a lathe and somechased like silver. Sidon was once famous for its glassworks, since, apart fromother achievements, glass mirrors were invented there.

This was the old method of producing glass. Now, however, in Italy too a whitesand which forms in the River Volturno is found along 6 miles of the seashorebetween Cuma and Literno. Wherever it is softest, it is taken to be ground in amortar or mill. Then it is mixed with three parts of soda, either by weight orby measure, and after being fused is taken in its molten state to otherfurnaces. There it forms a lump known in Greek as 'sand-soda.' This is againmelted and forms pure glass, and is indeed a lump of clear colourless glass.Nowadays sand is similarly blended also in the Gallic and Spanish provinces.There is a story that in the reign ofTiberiusthere was invented a method of blending glass so as to render it flexible. Theartist's workshop was completely destroyed for fear that the value of metalssuch as copper, silver and gold would otherwise be lowered. Such is the story,which, however, has for a long period been current through frequent repetitionrather than authentic. But this is of little consequence, seeing that inNero's principate there was discovered a technique of glass-making that resulted in two quite small cups of the kind then known as 'petroti' or 'stoneware' fetching a sum of 6000 sesterces.

LXVII. In our classification of glass we include also 'obsian' ware, sonamed from its resemblance to the stone found by Obsius in Ethiopia. This stoneis very dark in colour and sometimes translucent, but has a cloudierappearance than glass, so that when it is used for mirrors attached to walls itreflects shadows rather than images. Gems are frequently made of it, and we haveseen also the solid obsidian statues ofAugustus of Revered Memory, for the substance can yield pieces bulkyenough for this purpose.Augustushimself dedicated as a curiosity four elephants of obsidian in the temple ofConcord, while the EmperorTiberius forhis part restored to the cult of the Sun-god at Heliopolis an obsidian statue ofMenelaus which he found included in alegacy from one Scius who had beengovernor of Egypt. This statue proves that the origin of the stone, which isnowadays misrepresented because of its similarity to the glass, is of an earlierdate.Xenocrates records that obsidianis found in India, in Italy within the territory of the Samnites and in Spain near the shores of the Atlantic. There is also the artificial 'obsian' glasswhich is used as a material for tableware, this being produced by a colouringprocess, as is also the case with a completely red, opaque glass called in Greekblood-red ware. There is, furthermore, opaque white glass and others thatreproduce the appearance of fluorspar, blue sapphires or lapis lazuli, and,indeed, glass exists in any colour. There is no other material nowadays that ismore pliable or more adaptable, even to painting. However, the most highlyvalued glass is colourless and transparent, as closely as possible resemblingrock-crystal. But although for making drinking vessels the use of glass hasindeed ousted metals such as gold and silver, it cannot bear heat unless coldfluid is first poured into it; and yet glass globes containing water become sohot when they face the sun that they can set clothes on fire. Piecesof broken glass can, when heated to a moderate temperature, be stuck together,but that is all. They can never again be completely melted except into globulesseparate from each other, as happens in the making of the glass pebbles that aresometimes nicknamed 'eyeballs' and in some cases have a variety of coloursarranged in several different patterns. Glass, when boiled with sulphur,coalesces into the consistency of stone.

LXVIII. And now that we have describedeverything that depends upon Man's talent for making Art reproduce Nature, wecannot help marvelling that there is almost nothing that is not brought to afinished state by means of fire. Fire takes this or that sand, and melts it,according to the locality, into glass, silver, cinnabar, lead of one kind oranother, pigments or drugs. It is fire that smelts ore into copper, fire thatproduces iron and also tempers it, fire that purifies gold, fire that burns thestone which causes the blocks in buildings to cohere. There are other substancesthat may be profitably burnt several times; and the same substance can producesomething different after a first, a second or a third firing. Even charcoalitself begins to acquire its special property only after it has been fired andquenched: when we presume it to be dead it is growing in vitality. Fire is avast, unruly element, and one which causes us to doubt whether it is more adestructive or a creative force.

LXIX. Fire even by itself has a curative power. It is well establishedthat epidemics caused by an eclipse of the sun are alleviated in many ways bythe lighting of bonfires.Empedocles andHippocrates have proved this in variouspassages of their writings. 'For abdominal cramp or bruises,' statesMarcus Varro, and I quote his verywords, 'your hearth should be your medicine chest. Drink lye made from itsashes, and you will be cured. One can see how gladiators after a combat arehelped by drinking this. Moreover, anthrax, a disease which, as I havementioned, lately carried off two ex-consuls, may be cured by means of oakcharcoal ground and mixed with honey. So true is it that there is some benefitto be found even in substances that are utterly rejected and have ceased to haveany true existence, as we see here and now with charcoal and ashes.

LXX. I must not forget to mention one instance of a hearth that is famous in Roman literature. It is said that during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus [616-579 BC] there suddenly emerged from the ashes on his hearth a male genital organ [see Dion. of Hal. IV.2,1 and PlutarchDe Fortuna Romanorum 10], and that a captive girl who was sitting there, Ocresia, a maidservant of Queen Tanaquil, rose from there in a state of pregnancy. According to the story, this was how Servius Tullius, who succeeded to the throne, came to be born. Afterwards, and likewise in the king's house, it is said that flames blazed round the child's head as he slept, and that he was therefore believed to be then of the god who protected the household. Hence, we are told, he first founded the Festival of the Crossroads in honour of the gods who protect the community.

I. IN order that the work that I haveundertaken may be complete, it remains for me to discuss gemstones. HereNature's grandeur is gathered together within the narrowest limits; and in nodomain of hers evokes more wonder in the minds of many who set such store by thevariety, the colours, the texture and the elegance of gems that they think it acrime to tamper with certain kinds by engraving them as signets, although thisis the prime reason for their use; while some they consider to be beyond priceand to deft evaluation in terms of human wealth. Hence very many people findthat a single gemstone alone is enough to provide them with a supreme andperfect aesthetic experience of the wonders of Nature.

The origin of the use of gemstones and the beginning of our present enthusiasmfor them, which has blazed into so violent a passion, I have already discussedto some extent in my references to gold and to rings. According to the myths,which offer a pernicious misinterpretation of Prometheus' fetters, the wearingof rings originated on the crags of the Caucasus. It was of this rock that afragment was for the first time enclosed in an iron bezel and placed on afinger; and this, we are told, was the first ring, and this the firstgemstone.

II. Hence arose the esteem in which gemstones are held; and this soaredinto such a passion that to Polycratesof Samos, the overlord of islands and coasts, the voluntary sacrifice of asingle gemstone seemed a sufficient atonement for his prosperity, which even hehimself, the happy recipient, owned to he excessive. Thereby he hoped to settlehis account with the fickleness of Fortune. Clearly he supposed that he would befully indemnified against her ill-will if he, who was weary of unremittinghappiness, suffered this one unhappy experience. Accordingly, he put out in aboat and threw the ring into deep water. The ring, however, was seized as baitby a huge fish, fit for a king, which restored the ring as an evil omen to itsowner in his own kitchen, thanks to Fortune's treacherous intervention. The gem,it is agreed, was a sardonyx and is displayed in Rome (if we can believe thatthis is the original stone) in the temple of Concord, set in a golden horn. Itwas presented by the empress and is ranked almost last in a collectioncontaining many gems that are valued more highly.

III. After this ring, the most renowned gemstone is that of another king,the famous Pyrrhus who [319-272 BC]fought a war against Rome. He is said to have possessed an agate on which couldbe seen the Nine Muses with Apollo holding his lyre. This was due not to anyartistic intention, but to nature unaided; and the markings spread in such away that even the individual Muses had their appropriate emblems allotted tothem. Apart from these stones, my authorities can produce no gems famous enoughto be specially recorded. They merely state that Ismenias the pipe-player was in the habit of wearing a large number of brilliant stones and that there is a story associated with his vanity. In Cyprus a 'smaragdus' with the figure ofAmymone engraved upon it was offered for sale at a price of six gold pieces. Ismenias ordered the sum to be paid and, when two of the pieces were returned tohim, he exclaimed, 'Heavens! I've been done. The stone has been robbed of muchof its value.' It is Ismenias who appears to have brought in the fashion wherebyall musical accomplishments came to be assessed partly in terms of this kind oflavish display. This was the case with his contemporary and rivalDionysodorus. Consequently, Ismeniasseemed to be equalled through this very circumstance by a man who was only thirdamong the musicians of the time. As forNicomachus, he is said to have possessed merely large numbers of stoneschosen without any discrimination.

But it is more or less accidentally that in prefacing the present volume I havequoted these instances as a criticism of those despicable people who in makingsuch a display of their gems claim the right to show the world that their vanityand conceit is that of a piper.

IV. And now to resume: the gemstone displayed as that of Polycrates is in its natural state,unmarked by engravings. In the time of Ismenias, many years later, it seems evident that it had become customary to engrave even 'smaragdi.' This impressionis supported, moreover, by an edict ofAlexander the Great forbidding his likeness to be engraved on this stoneby anyone exceptPyrgoteles, who wasundoubtedly the most brilliant artist in this field. Next to him in fame havebeenApollonides,Cronius and the man who made theexcellent likeness ofAugustus ofRevered Memory which his successors have used as their seal, namelyDioscurides.Sulla as dictator always used a signetrepresenting the surrender of Jugurtha. We learn from our authorities also thatthe native of Intercatia, whose father had been slain byScipioAemilianus after challenging him to single combat, used a. signetrepresenting this fight. Hence the familiar witticism made by Stilo Praeconinus, who remarked, 'Whatwould he have done if Scipio had been killed by his father?'Augustus of Revered Memory at thebeginning of his career used a signet engraved with a sphinx, having found amonghis mother's rings two such signets which were so alike as to beindistinguishable. During the Civil Wars, one of these was used by his personaladvisers, whenever he himself was absent, for signing any letters andproclamations which the circumstances required to be despatched in his name. Therecipients used to make a neat joke saying 'the Sphinx brings its problems.' Ofcourse, the frog signet belonging to Maecenaswas also greatly feared because of the contributions of money that it demanded.In later yearsAugustus, wishing toavoid insulting comments about the sphinx, signed his documents with a likenessofAlexander the Great.

V. The first Roman to own a collection of gemstones (for which we normally use the foreign term 'dactyliotheca,' or 'ring cabinet') wasSulla's stepson Scaurus. For many years there was noother untilPompey the Great dedicatedin the Capitol among his other offerings a ring cabinet that had belonged toKingMithridates. This, asVarro and other authorities of theperiod confirm, was far inferior to that of Scaurus.Pompey's example was followed byJulius Caesar, who during hisdictatorship consecrated six cabinets of gems in the temple of Venus Genetrix,and byMarcellus,Octavia's son, who dedicated one in thetemple of Apollo on the Palatine.

VI. However, it was this victory ofPompey over Mithridates that madefashion veer to pearls and gemstones. The victories ofLucius Scipio and ofCnaeus Manlius had done the same forchased silver, garments of cloth of gold and dining couches inlaid with bronze;and that of Mummius for Corinthianbronzes and fine paintings. To make my point clearer, I shall append statementstaken directly from official records ofPompey's triumphs. Thus,Pompey'sthird triumph was held on his own birthday, September 29th of the year in whichMarcus Piso andMarcus Messala were consuls, tocelebrate his [61 B.C.] conquest of the pirates, Asia, Pontui and all thepeoples and kings mentioned in the seventh volume of this work. In this triumph,then, there was carried in the procession a gaming-board complete with a set ofpieces, the board being made of two precious minerals and measuring three feetbroad and four feet long. And in case anyone should doubt that our naturalresources have become exhausted seeing that today no gems even approach such asize, there rested on this board a golden moon weighing 30 pounds. There werealso displayed three gold dining couches; enough gold vessels inlaid with gemsto fill nine display stands; three gold figures of Minerva, Mars andApollo respectively; thirty-three pearl crowns; a square mountain of gold withdeer, lions and every variety of fruit on it and a golden vine entwined aroundit; and a grotto of pearls, on the top of which there was a sundial.Furthermore, there wasPompey's portraitrendered in pearls, that portrait so pleasing with the handsome growth of hairswept back from the forehead, the portrait of that noble head reveredthroughout the worldthat portrait, I say, that portrait was rendered inpearls. Here it was austerity that was defeated and extravagance that more trulycelebrated its triumph. Never, I think, would his surname 'the Great' havesurvived among the stalwarts of that age had he celebrated his first triumph inthis fashion! To think that it is of pearls, GreatPompey, those wasteful things meant onlyfor women, of pearls, which you yourself cannot and must not wear, that yourportrait is made! To think that this is how you make yourself seem valuable! Isnot then the trophy that you placed upon the summit of the Pyrenees a betterlikeness of yourself? This, to be sure, would have been a gross and fouldisgrace were it not rather to be deemed a cruel omen of Heaven's wrath. Thathead, so ominously manifested without its body in oriental splendour, bore ameaning which even then could not be mistaken. But as for the rest of thattriumph, how worthy it was of a good man and true! 200,000,000 sesterces weregiven to the State, 100,000,000 to the commanders and quaestors who had guardedthe coasts and 6000 to each soldier. However, he merely made it easier for us toexcuse the conduct of the Emperor Gaiuswhen, apart from other effeminate articles of clothing, he wore slippers sewnwith pearls, or that of the EmperorNero,when he had sceptres, actors' masks and travelling couches adorned with pearls.Why, we seem to have lost even the right to criticize cups and other pieces ofhousehold equipment inlaid with gems or, again, rings with stones set in openbezels. For compared withPompey's,there is no extravagance that can be considered to have been so harmful.

VII. It was the same victory that brought myrrhine ware for the firsttime to Rome.Pompey was the first todedicate myrrhine bowls and cups, which he set aside from the spoils of histriumphs for Jupiter of the Capitol. Such vessels immediately passed intoordinary use, and there was a demand even for display stands a andtableware. Lavish expenditure on this fashion is increasing every day ... anex-consul, drank from a myrrhine cup for which he had given 70,000 sesterces,although it held just three pints. He was so fond of it that he would gnaw itsrim; and yet the damage he thus caused only enhanced its value, and there is noother piece of myrrhine ware even today that has a higher price set upon it.The amount of money squandered by this same man upon the other articles of thismaterial in his possession can be gauged from their number, which was so greatthat, whenNero took them awayfrom the man's children and displayed them, they filled the private theatre inhis gardens across the Tiber, a theatre which was large enough to satisfy evenNero's desire to sing before a fullhouse at the time when he was rehearsing for his appearance in Pompey's theatre.It was at this time that I saw the pieces of a single broken cup included in theexhibition. It was decided that these, like the body ofAlexander, should be preserved in a kindof catafalque for display, presumably as a sign of the sorrows of the age andthe ill-will of Fortune. When the exconsulTitus Petronius was facing death, he broke, to spiteNero, a myrrhine dipper that had costhim 300,000 sesterces, thereby depriving the Emperor's dining-room table of thislegacy.Nero, however, as was proper foran emperor, outdid everyone by paying 1,000,000 sesterces for a single bowl.That one who was acclaimed as a victorious general and as Father of his Countryshould have paid so much in order to drink is a detail that we must formallyrecord.

VIII. Myrrhine vessels come to us from the East. There the substance isfound in several otherwise unremarkable localities, particularly within thekingdom of Parthia. It is in Carmania, however, that the finest specimensexist. The substance is thought to be a liquid which is solidified undergroundby heat. In size the pieces are never larger than a small display stand, whilein bulk they rarely equal the drinking vessels that we have discussed. Theyshine, but without intensity; indeed, it would be truer to say that they glistenrather than shine. Their value lies in their varied colours: the veins, as theyrevolve, repeatedly vary from purple to white or a mixture of the two, thepurple becoming fiery or the milk-white becoming red as though the new colourwere passing through the vein. Some people particularly appreciate the edges ofa piece, where colours may be reflected such as we observe in the inner part ofa rainbow. Others prefer thick veins (any trace of transparency or fading isalways a fault) and also specks and spots. These spots do not protrude, but areusually flattened, like warts on the body. The smell of the substance is also amerit.

IX. A cause contrary to the one mentioned is responsible forcreating rock-crystal, for this is hardened by excessively intense freezing. Atany rate, it is found only in places where the winter snows freeze mostthoroughly; and that it is a kind of ice is certain: the Greeks havenamed it accordingly. Rock-crystal also comes to us from the East, for that ofIndia is preferred to any other. It is found also in Asia Minor, where a verypoor variety occurs around Alabanda and Orthosia and in the neighbouringdistricts, and likewise in Cyprus: in Europe excellent rock-crystal occurs inthe ranges of the Alps.Juba assures usthat it is to be found also on an island called Necron, or Island of the Dead,in the Red Sea facing Arabia, as well as on the neighbouring one which producesperidot: here, according to him, a piece measuring a cubit in length was dug upbyPtolemy's officerPythagoras.Cornelius Bocchus mentions, furthermore,that rock-crystal of quite exceptional weight was found in Portugal, in theAmmacensian mountains, when wells were being sunk to water-level. The surprisingremark is made byXenocrates of Ephesusa that in Asia Minor and Cyprus rock-crystal is turned up by the plough, forpreviously it was not thought to occur in soil, but only amidst rocks. A moreplausible statement made by the sameXenocratesis that it is also often carried down by torrents.Sudines maintains that it occurs only inplaces that face south. What is certain is that it is not found in well-wateredlocalities, however cold the district may be, even if it is one where the riversfreeze down to the bed. The inevitable conclusion is that rock-crystal is formedof moisture from the sky falling as pure snow. For this reason, it cannot standheat and is rejected except as a receptacle for cold drinks. Why it is formedwith hexagonal faces cannot be readily explained; and any explanation iscomplicated by the fact that, on the one hand, its terminal points are notsymmetrical and that, on the other, its faces are so perfectly smooth that nocraftsmanship could achieve the same effect.

X. The largest mass of rock-crystal ever seen by us is that which wasdedicated in the Capitol by Livia, thewife ofAugustus: this weighs about 150pounds.Xenocrates, just mentioned,records that as. he saw a vessel that could hold six gallons, and some authorsmention one from India with a capacity of 4 pints. What I myself canunequivocally affirm is that among the rocks of the Alps it generally forms insuch inaccessible places that it has to be removed by men suspended fromropes. Experts are familiar with the signs that indicate its presence. Pieces ofrock-crystal are impaired by numerous defects, for example by rough, solder-likeexcrescences, cloudy spots, occlusions of moisture that are sometimes hiddenwithin it, or hard yet brittle cores, and also what are known as 'salt-specks.'Some specimens display a bright red rust, and others fibres that look likeflaws. These can be concealed by the engraver. Pieces, however, that have nodefects are preferably left unengraved: these are known to the Greeks as 'acenteta,' or 'lacking a core,' and their colour is that of clear water, not offoam. Finally, the weight of a piece is a part of its value. I find that amongdoctors there is considered to be no more effective method of cauterizing partsthat need such treatment than by means of a crystal ball so placed as tointercept the sun's rays. Rock-crystal provides yet another instance of acrazy addiction, for not many years ago a respectable married woman, who was byno means rich, paid 150,000 sesterces for a single dipper.

Nero, on receiving a message that allwas lost, broke two crystal cups in a final outburst of rage by dashing them tothe ground. This was the vengeance of one who wished to punish his wholegeneration, to make it impossible for any other man to drink from these cups.Once it has been broken, rock-crystal cannot be mended by any method whatsoever.Glass-ware has now come to resemble rock-crystal in a remarkable manner, but theeffect has been to flout the laws of Nature and actually to increase the valueof the former without diminishing that of the latter.

XI The next place among luxuries, although as yet it is fanciedonly by women, is held by amber. All the three substances now under discussionenjoy the same prestige as precious stones; but whereas there are proper reasonsfor this in the case of the two former substances, since rock-crystal vesselsare used for cold drinks and myrrhine-warc for drinks both hot and cold, noteven luxury has yet succeeded in inventing a justification for using amber.

Here is an opportunity for exposing the falsehoods of the Greeks. I only ask myreaders to endure these with patience since it is important for mankind just toknow that not all that the Greeks have recounted deserves to be admired. Thestory how, when Phaethon was struck bythe thunderbolt, his sisters through their grief were transformed into poplartrees, and how every year by the banks of the River Eridanus, which we call thePo, they shed tears of amber, known to the Greeks as 'electrum,' since they callthe sun 'Elector' or 'the Shining One'this story has been told by numerouspoets, the first of whom, I believe, wereAeschylus, Philoxenus, Euripides,Nicander andSatyrus. Italyprovides clear evidence that this story is false. More conscientious Greekwriters have mentioned islands in the Adriatic named the Electrides, to which,they say, amber is carried along by the Po. It is quite certain, however, thatno islands of this name ever existed there, and indeed that there are no islandsso situated as to be within reach of anything carried downstream by the Po.Incidentally,Aeschylus says that theEridanus is in Iberiathat is, in Spainand that it is also called the Rhone,whileEuripides andApollonius, for their part, assert thatthe Rhone and the Pu meet on the coast of the Adriatic. But such statements onlymake it easier to pardon their ignorance of amber when their ignorance ofgeography is so great. More cautious but equally misguided writers havedescribed how on inaccessible rocks at the head of the Adriatic there standtrees which at the rising of the Dog-star shed this gum.Theophrastus states that amber is dug upin Liguria, whileChares states that Phaethon died in Ethiopia on an islandthe Greek name of which is the Isle of Arnmon, and that here is his shrine andoracle, and here the source of amber.Philemondeclares that it is a mineral which is dug up in two regions of Scythia, in oneof which it is of a white, waxy colour and is called 'electrum,' while in the other it is tawny and known as 'snaliternicum.'Demonstratus calls amber 'lyncurium,'or 'lynx-urine,' and alleges that it is formed of the urine of the wild beastsknown as lyxnes, the males producing the kind that is tawny and fiery in colour, and the females, that which is fainter and light in colour. According to him, others call it 'langurium' and state that the beasts, which live in Italy, are 'languri.'Zenothemis calls the same beasts 'langes' and assigns them a habitat on the banks of the Po,while Sudines writes that a tree which produces amber in Liguria is called'lynx.' Metrodorus also holds the sameopinion.Sotacus believes that it flowsfrom crags in Britain called the Electrides.Pytheas speaks of an estuary of the Ocean named Metuonis and extendingfor 750 miles, the shores of which are inhabited by a German tribe,the Guiones. From here it is a day's sail to the Isle of Abalus, towhich, he states, amber is carried in spring by currents, being an excretionconsisting of solidified brine. He adds that the inhabitants of theregion use it as fuel instead of wood and sell it to the neighbouring Teutones.His belief is shared byTimaeus, who,however, calls the island Basilia.Philemondenies the suggestion that amber gives off a flame.Nicias insists on explaining amber as moisture from the sun's rays, as follows: he maintains that as the sun sets in the west its rays fall more powerfully upon the earth and leave there a thick exudation, which is later cast ashore in Germany by the tides of the Ocean. He mentions that amber is formed similarly in Egypt, where it is called 'sacal,' aswell as in India, where the inhabitants find it more agreeable even than frankincense; and that in Syria the women make whorls of it and call it 'harpax,' or 'the snatcher,' because it picks up leaves, straws and the fringesof garments. Theochrestus holds that itis washed up on the capes of the Pyrenees by the Ocean in turmoil, a view whichis shared byXenocrates, the most recentwriter on the subject, who is still living.Asarubas records that near the Atlanticis a Lake Cephisis, called by the Moors Electrum, which, when thoroughly heatedby the sun, produces from its mud amber that floats upon the surface ofits waters.Mnaseas speaks of a districtin Africa called Sicyon and of a River Crathis flowing into the Ocean from alake, on the shores of which live the birds known as Meleager's Daughters orPenelope Birds. Here amber is formed in the manner described above.Theomenes tells us that close to theGreater Syrtes is the Garden of the Hesperides and a pool called Electrum, wherethere are poplar trees from the tops of which amber falls into the pool, and isgathered by the daughters of Hesperus.Ctesiasstates that in India there is a River Hypobarus, a name which indicates that it is the bringer of all blessings. It flows from the north into the eastern Ocean near a thickly wooded mountain, the trees of which produce amber. These trees are called 'psitthacorae,' a word which means 'luscious sweetness.' Mithridates writes that off the coast ofCarmania there is an island called Serita covered with a kind of cedar, fromwhich amber flows down on to the rocks.Xenocrates asserts that amber in Italy is known not only as 'sucinum,' but also as 'thium'; and in Scythia as 'sacrium,' for there too it isfound. He states that others suppose that it is produced from mud in Numidia.But all these authors are surpassed by the tragic poetSophocles, and this greatly surprises meseeing that his tragedy is so serious and, moreover, his personal reputation ingeneral stands so high, thanks to his noble Athenian lineage, his publicachievements and his leadership of an army.Sophocles tells us how amber is formed in the lands beyond India from thetears shed forMeleager by the birdsknown as Meleager's Daughters. Is it not amazing that he should have held thisbelief or have hoped to persuade others to accept it? Can one imagine, onewonders, a mind so childish and naive as to believe in birds that weep everyyear or that shed such large tears or that once migrated from Greece, whereMeleager died, to the Indies to mournfor him? Well then, are there not many other equally fabulous stories told bythe poets? Yes; but that anyone should seriously tell such a story regardingsuch a substance as this, a substance that every day of our lives is importedand floods the market and so confutes the liar, is a gross insult to man'sintelligence and an insufferable abuse of our freedom to utter falsehoods.

It is well established that amber is a product of islands in the Northern Ocean, that it is known to the Germans as 'glaesum' and that, as a result, one of theseislands, the native name of which is Austeravia, was nicknamed by our troopsGlaesaria, or Amber Island, whenCaesarGermanicus was conducting operations there with his naval squadrons. Toresume, amber is formed of a liquid seeping from the interior of a species ofpine, just as the gum in a cherry tree or the resin in a pine bursts forth whenthe liquid is excessively abundant. The exudation is hardened by frost orperhaps by moderate heat, or else by the sea, after a spring tide has carded offthe pieces from the islands. At all events, the amber is washed up on the shoresof the mainland, being swept along so easily that it seems to hover in the waterwithout settling on the seabed. Even our forebears believed it to be a 'sucus,' or exudation, from a tree, and so named it 'sucinum.' That the tree to which itbelongs is a species of pine is shown by the fact that it smells like a pinewhen it is rubbed, and burns like a pine torch, with the same strongly scentedsmoke, when it is kindled. It is conveyed by the Germans mostly into theprovince of Pannonia. From there it was first brought into prominence by theVeneti, known to the Greeks as the Enetoi, who are close neighbours of thePannonians and live around the Adriatic. The reason for the story associatedwith the River Po is quite clear, for even today the peasant women ofTranspadane Gaul wear pieces of amber as necklaces, chiefly as an adornment,but also because of its medicinal properties. Amber, indeed, is supposed to be aprophylactic against tonsillitis and other affections of the pharynx, for thewater near the Alps has properties that harm the human throat in various ways.The distance from Carnuntum in Pannonia to the coasts of Germany fromwhich amber is brought to us is some 600 miles, a fact which has been confirmedonly recently. There is still living a Roman knight who was commissioned toprocure amber by Julianus when thelatter was in charge of a display of gladiators given by the EmperorNero. This knight traversed both thetrade-route and the coasts, and brought back so plentiful a supply that the netsused for keeping the beasts away from the parapet of the amphitheatre wereknotted with pieces of amber. Moreover, the arms, biers and all the equipmentused on one day, the display on each day being varied, had amber fittings. Theheaviest lump that was brought by the knight to Rome weighed 13 pounds. It iscertain that amber is to be found also in India. Archelaus, who was king of Cappadocia,relates that it is brought from India in the rough state with pine bark adheringto it, and that it is dressed by being boiled in the fat of a sucking-pig. Thatamber originates as a liquid exudation is shown by the presence of certainobjects, such as ants, gnats and lizards, that are visible inside it. These mustcertainly have stuck to the fresh sap and have remained trapped inside it as ithardened.

XII. There are several kinds of amber. Of these, the pale kind has thefinest scent, but, like the waxy kind, it has no value. The tawny is more valuable; and still more so if it is transparent, but the colour must not be too fiery: not a fiery glare, but a mere suggestion of it, is what we admire in amber. The most highly approved specimens are the 'Palernian,' so calledbecause they recall the colour of the wine: they are transparent and glowgently, so as to have, moreover, the agreeably mellow tint of honey that hasbeen reduced by boiling. However, it ought to be generally known also that ambercan be tinted, as desired, with kid-suet and the root of alkanet. Indeed, it isnow stained even with purple dye. To resume, when rubbing with the fingers drawsforth the hot exhalation, amber attracts straw, dry leaves and linden-bark, justas the magnet attracts iron. Moreover, amber chippings, when steepedin oil, burn brighter and longer than the pith of flax. Its rating amongluxuries is so high that a human figurine, however small, is more expensive thana number of human beings, alive and in good health; and as a result it is quiteimpossible for a single rebuke to suffice. In the case of Corinthian bronzes, weare attracted by the appearance of the bronze, which is alloyed with gold andsilver; and in the case of chased metalwork, by artistry and inventiveness.Vessels of fluorspar and rock-crystal have beauties which we have alreadydescribed. Pearls can be carded about on the head, and gems on thefinger. In short, every other substance for which we have a weakness pleases usbecause it lends itself either to display or to practical use, whereas ambergives us only the private satisfaction of knowing that it is a luxury. Amongthe other portentous events of his career is the fact that Domitius Nero bestowed this name on thehair of his wife Poppaea, even going so far as to call it in one of his poems 'sucint' or 'amber-coloured,' for no defect lacks a term that represents it asan asset. From that time, respectable women began to aspire to this as a thirdpossible colour for their hair.

However, amber is found to have some use in pharmacy, although it is not forthis reason that women like it. It is of benefit to babies when it is attachedto them as an amulet.Callistratus saysthat it is good also for people of any age as a remedy for attacks of wilddistraction and for strangury, both taken in liquid and worn as an amulet. This writer also introduces a fresh distinction, giving the name 'chryselectrum,' or'gold amber,' to a kind which is golden in colour and has a mostdelightful appearance early in the day, but which very easily catches fire andflares up in a moment when it is close to flames. According to Callistratus, this kind of amber curesfevers and diseases when worn as an amulet on a necklace, affections of the earswhen powdered and mixed with honey and rose oil, as well as weak sight if it ispowdered and blended with Attic honey, and affections even of the stomach if itis either taken as a fine powder by itself or swallowed in water with mastic.Amber plays an important part also in the making of artificialtransparent gems, particularly artificial amethysts, although, as I havementioned, it can be dyed any colour.

XIII. It is the obstinacy of our authorities that compels me to speaknext of lyncurium, since, even when they refrain from asserting that thislyncurium is amber, they still claim that it is a gemstone, stating that it isformed indeed from the urine of the lynx, but also from a particular kind ofearth. They say that the creature, bearing a grudge towards mankind,immediately conceals its urine, which forms a stone in the same place. Thestone is said to have the same fiery colour as amber, to be capable of beingengraved and to attract not merely leaves or straws, but also shavings of copperand iron, a belief which evenTheophrastusaccepts on the authority of a certain Diocles.I for my part am of the opinion that the whole story is false and that nogemstone bearing this name has been seen in our time. Also false are thestatements made simultaneously about its medical properties, to the effect thatwhen it is taken in liquid it breaks up stone in the bladder, and that itrelieves jaundice if it is swallowed in ;vine or even looked at.

XIV. Now I shall discuss those kinds of gemstones that are acknowledgedas such, beginning with the finest. And this shall not be my only aim, but tothe greater profit of mankind I shall incidentally confute the abominablefalsehoods of the Magi, since in very many of their statements about gems theyhave gone far beyond providing an alluring substitute for medical science intothe realms of the supernatural.

XV. The most highly valued of human possessions, Adosse let alone gemstones, is the 'adamas,' which for long was known only to kings, and to very few of them. 'Adamas' was the name given to the 'knot of gold' found veryoccasionally in mines in association with gold and, so it seemed, formed only ingold. Our ancient authorities thought that it was found only in the minesof Ethiopia between the temple of Mercury and the island of Meroe,and stated that the specimens discovered were no larger than a cucumber seed and not unlike one in colour. Now, for the first time, as many as six kinds of 'adamas' are recognized. There is the Indian, which is not formed in gold andhas a certain affinity with rock-crystal, which it resembles in respect of itstransparency and its smooth faces meeting at six corners. It tapers to a pointin two opposite directions and is all the more remarkable because it is like twowhorls joined together at their broadest parts. It can be as large even as ahazel nut. Similar to the Indian, only smaller, is the Arabian, which is,moreover, formed under similar conditions. The rest have a silvery pallor andare liable to be formed only in the midst of the finest gold. All these stonescan be tested upon an anvil, and they are so recalcitrant to blows that an ironhammer head may split in two and even the anvil itself be unseated. Indeed, thehardness of 'adamas' is indescribable, and so too that property whereby itconquers fire and never becomes heated. Hence it derives its name, because,according to the meaning of the term in Greek, it is the unconquerable force. One of these stones is called in Greek 'cenchros,' or millet seed, and is like amillet seed in size. A second is known as the Macedonian and is found in thegoldmines ofPhilippi. This is equal insize to a cucumber seed. Next comes the so-called Cyprian, which is found inCyprus and tends towards the colour of copper, but has potent medicalproperties, which I shall describe later. After this, there is the 'siderites,'or 'iron stone,' which shines like iron and exceeds the rest in weight, but has different properties. For it can not only be broken by hammering but also be pierced by another 'adamas.' This can happen also to the Cyprian kind, and, in a word, these stones, being untrue to their kind, possess only the prestige of the name they bear. Now throughout the whole of this work I have tried to illustrate the agreement and disagreement that exist in Nature, the Greek terms for which are respectively 'sympathia,' or 'natural affinity,' and 'antipathia,' or'natural aversion.' Here more clearly than anywhere can theseprinciples be discerned. For this 'unconquerable force' that defies Nature'stwo most powerful substances, iron and fire, can be broken up by goat's blood.But it must be steeped in blood that is fresh and still warm, and even so needsmany hammer blows. Even then, it may break all but the best anvils and ironhammers. To whose researches or to what accident must we attribute thisdiscovery? What inference could have led anyone to use the foulest of creaturesfor testing a priceless substance such as this? Surely it is to divinities thatwe must attribute such inventions and all such benefits. We must not expect tofind reason anywhere in Nature, but only the evidence of will! When an '`adamas' is successfully broken it disintegrates into splinters so small as to be scarcely visible. These are much sought after by engravers of gems and are inserted by them into iron tools because they make hollows in the hardest materials without difficulty. The 'adamas' has so strong an aversion to the magnet that when it is placed close to the iron it prevents the iron from being attracted away from itself. Or again, if the magnet is moved towards the iron and seizes it, the 'adamas' snatches the iron and takes it away. 'Adamas' prevails also over poisons and renders them powerless, dispels attacks of wild distraction and drives groundless fears from the mind. For this reason the Greeks sometimes call it 'anancites,' or 'compulsive.' Metrodorus of Scepsis is alone, so far as I know from my awn reading, in stating that 'adamas' is found likewise inGermany, namely on the island of Basilia, which also produces amber, and in preferring this 'adamas' to that of Arabia. There can be no doubt that thisstatement is untrue.

XVI. Next in value in our estimation come the pearls of India andArabia, which we discussed inBook IX [106] among the products of the sea. The third rank among gemstones is assigned for several reasons to the 'smaragdus.' Certainly, no colour has a more pleasing appearance. For although we gaze eagerly at young plants and at leaves, we look at 'smaragdi' with all the more pleasure because, compared with them, there is nothing whatsoever that is more intensely green. Moreover, they alone of gems, when we look at them intently, satisfy the eye without cloying it. Indeed, even after straining our sight by looking at another object, we can restore it to its normal state by looking at a 'smaragdus'; and engravers of gemstones find that this is the most agreeable means of refreshing theft eyes: so soothing to their feeling of fatigue is the mellow green colour of the stone. Apart from this property, 'smaragdi' appear larger when they are viewed at a distance because they reflect their colour upon the air around them? They remain the same in sunlight, shadow or lamplight, always shining gently and allowing the vision to penetrate to their further extremity owing to the ease with which light passes through them, a property that pleases us also in respect of water. 'Smaragdi' are generallyconcave in shape, so that they concentrate the vision. Because of theseproperties, mankind has decreed that 'smaragdi' must be preserved in their natural state and has forbidden them to be engraved. In any case, those of Scythia and Egypt are so hard as to be unaffected by blows. When 'smaragdi' that are tabular in shape are laid flat, they reflect objects just as mirrors do. The Emperor Nero used to watch the fights between gladiators in a reflecting 'smaragdus.'

XVII. There are twelve kinds of 'smaragdus.' The most notable is the Scythian, so called from the nation in whose territory it is found. No kind is deeper in colour or more free from defects: it differs as widely in quality from the other 'smaragdi' as they from the other gems. Next to this in esteem,as also in locality, is the Bactrian. These stones are said to be gathered bythe natives in the fissures of rocks when the Etesians blow. For atthis season the ground is uncovered and the stones glitter here and therebecause the sands of the desert are shifted violently by these winds. Thesestones, however, are said to be much smaller than the Scythian. Third in ordercome those of Egypt, which are dug near Coptos, a city of the Thebaid, frommines in the hills.

The other kinds are found in copper-mines, and so the first place amongthem is held by the stones of Cyprus. Their special asset is their colour, whichis limpid without being at all faint. On the contrary, it combines body andclarity, and, wherever one peers through the stones, reproduces the transparencyof seawater, the stones being in an equal degree translucent and brilliant. Inother words, they dissipate their colour and also allow the sight to penetratewithin. There is a story that in this island there stood on the burial-mound ofa prince named Hermias, not far from thetunny-fisheries, the marble statue of a lion, into which had been inserted eyes made of 'smaragdus'; and these, it is said, blazed so brightly,even far below the surface of the sea, that the tunnies fled in tenor, and thefishermen were long puzzled by this strange behaviour until finally they changedthe gemstones in the eye-sockets.

XVIII. But since high prices are so freely paid for these stones, it is only right that we should point out their defects, some of which are common to every kind, while others are regional peculiarities, as with human beings. Thus the Cyprian stones show various shades of sea-green, and these may be more or less intense in different parts of the same 'smaragdus,' so that the stones donot always maintain the familiar uniform deep colour of the Scythian variety.Moreover, some stones are traversed by a 'shadow'; this makes the colour dull, and the fainter the colour, the more serious the defect. In accordance with these defects, 'smaragdi' are divided into classes, some, which are called'blind,' being opaque, while others, instead of being transparent totranslucent, are sub-opaque. Some again are variegated, and some enveloped in a'cloud.' This differs from the 'shadow' mentioned above. 'Cloud' is a defectbelonging to a stone with a whitish hue in it, when the green appearance doesnot pervade the whole stone, but the vision is either blocked beneath thesurface or intercepted at the surface by this white inclusion. Filaments, speckslike salt and inclusions resembling lead are also defects; and these are commonto nearly all varieties.

Next in esteem to the Cyprian 'smaragdi' come the Ethiopian, which, according toJuba, are found at a distance oftwenty-five days' journeying from Coptos, and are bright green, although theyare rarely flawless or uniform inDemocritus includes in this class theThermiaean and Persian stones! He states that the former are massive and convex,while the Persian stones, although they are not transparent, satisfy the eyewith their agreeably uniform colour without allowing it to see within. Hecompares them to the eyes of cats and leopards, which likewise shine withoutbeing transparent, and mentions, moreover, that the stones are dimmed insunlight, glisten in shadow and shine farther than other stones. All thesevarieties have a further defect in that their colour may be that of gall orrancid oil, so that they may be bright and clear, and yet not green. Thesefaults are particularly noticeable in the Attic stones found in thesilver-mines at a place called Thoricus. They are always less massive than theothers, but are more handsome when seen at a distance. These stonestoo are often marred by lead-like inclusions, as a result of which they resemblelead when they are seen in sunlight. One peculiarity is that some of thesestones show the effects of age as their green colour gradually fades away and,moreover, are damaged by exposure to the sun. After these come theMedian stones, which show a great variety of tints and on occasion are evenblended to some extent with lapis lazuli. These stones have undulating bands andcontain inclusions resembling various objects, for example, poppy heads, birds,the young of animals or feathers. Such stones, in spite of their varied colours,seem to be green by nature, since they may be improved by being steeped in oiland there is no variety that displays larger specimens. The 'smaragdi' ofChalcedon have perhaps completely disappeared now that the copper-mines in thedistrict have failed; and, in any case, they were always worthless and verysmall. Moreover, they were brittle and of a nondescript colour, this being more or less bright according to the angle at which it was viewed, like the green feathers in a peacock's tail or on a pigeon's neck. Furthermore, they were marked with veins and were scaly. They had also a characteristic defect called 'sarcion,' that is a kind of fleshy growth on the stone. There is a mountainknown as Smaragdites, or Emerald Mountain, near Chalcedon, on which they used to be gathered. Juba states that a 'smaragdus' known as 'chlora,' or 'green stone,' is used as an inlay in decorating houses in Arabia; and likewise the stone which the Egyptians call 'alabastrites.' Several of our most recent authorities mention not onlyLaconian 'smaragdi,' which are dug on Mount Taygetus and resemble the Medianvariety, but also others that are found in Sicily.

XIX. Among the 'smaragdi' we include also a gem that comes from Persia known as the 'tanos,' which is of an ugly shade of green and is full of flawswithin and another from Cyprus, the 'chalcosmaragdna,' or 'copper smaragdus,' which is clouded by veins resembling copper. Theophrastus records that in Egyptian records are to be found statements to the effect that to one of the kings a king of Babylon once sent as a gift a 'smaragdus' measuring four cubits in length and three in breadth; and that there existed in Egypt in a temple of Jupiter an obelisk made of four 'smaragdi' and measuring forty cubits in height and four cubits in breadth at one extremity and two at the other. He states, moreover, that at the time when he was writing there existed in the temple of Hercules at Tyre a large square pillar of 'smaragdus,' unless this was rather tobe regarded as a 'false smaragdus'; for, according to him, this isanother variety that is found.

He mentions also that there was once discovered in Cyprus a stone of which half was a 'smaragdus' and half an 'iaspis,' because the liquid matter hadnot yet been completely transformed.Apion,surnamedPlistonices, or 'the Cantankerous,' has lately left on record the statement that there still exists in the Egyptian labyrinth a large statue of Serapis, nine cubits high, made of 'smaragdus.'

XX. Many people consider the nature of beryls to be similar to, ifnot identical with, that of emeralds. Beryls are produced in India and arerarely found elsewhere. All of them are cut by skilled craftsmen to a smoothhexagonal shape since their colour, which is deadened by the dullness of anunbroken surface, is enhanced by the reflection from the facets. If they are cutin any other way they lack brilliance. The most highly esteemed beryls are thosethat reproduce the pure green of the sea, while next in value are the so-called 'chrysoberyls.' These are slightly paler, but have a vivid colour approaching that of gold. A variety closely akin to these, but still a little paler and by some regarded as a special kind is the so-called 'chrysoprasus.' Fourth in order are reckoned the 'hyacinthizontes,' or 'sapphire-blue beryls,' and fifth the so-called 'aeroides,' or 'sky-blue' variety. After these come the'waxy' and then the 'oily' beryls, that is, beryls coloured like olive oil.Finally, there are those that resemble rock-crystal. These beryls generallycontain filaments and impurities, and besides are faint in colour; and allthese features like are defects. The Indians are extraordinarily fond ofelongated beryls and claim that they are the only precious stones that arepreferably left without a gold setting. Consequently, they pierce them andstring them on elephants' bristles. They are all agreed that a stone of perfectquality should not be pierced, and in this case they merely enclose the head ofthe stone in a convex gold cap. They prefer to shape beryls into long prismsrather than into gems simply because length is their most attractive feature.Some people are of the opinion that they are formed from the very start asprisms and also that their appearance is improved by perforation,when a white cloudy core is removed and there is, in addition, the reflectionfrom the gold or, in any case, the thickness of the material through which thelight must penetrate is reduced. Besides those already mentioned, beryls show the same defects as 'smaragdi,' and also spots like whitlows. In our part ofthe world beryls, it is thought, are sometimes found in the neighbourhood of theBlack Sea. The Indians have found a way of counterfeiting various preciousstones, and beryls in particulars by staining rock-crystal.

XXI. Beryls differ very little, and also very considerably, from opals, stones which yield precedence only to the 'smaragdus.' India, likewise, is the sole producer of these stones and combining, as they do, the brilliant qualities of the most valuable gems, they above all others description. They display the more subtle fires of the 'carbunculus,' the flashing purple of the amethyst and the sea-green tint of the 'smaragdus,' all combined together inincredible brilliance. For some people the vivid colours resemble in theirgeneral effect the pigment known as azurite; for others, the flames from burningsulphur or from a fire that has been kindled with olive oil. The size of thestone is that of a hazel nut. Even among us history makes it famous, since therestill exists even today a precious stone of this variety which caused Antony to outlaw a senator,Nonius, the son of theNonius Struma who made the poetCatullus so indignant when he saw himseated in the magistrate's chair, and the grandfather ofServilius Nonianus, who was consul in mytime. ThisNonius, when outlawed, fled,taking with him this ring alone of all his many possessions. There is no doubtthat at that time the value of the ring was 2,000,000 sesterces; but how amazingwasAntony's savagery and extravagantcaprice in outlawing a man for the sake of a gemstone, and, equally, howextraordinary was the obstinacy ofNoniusin clinging to his 'doom,' when even wild creatures are believed tobuy their safety by biting off the member which, as they know, endangers theirlives, and leaving it behind for their pursuers!

XXII. The defects of the opal are a colour tending towards that of theflower of the plant called heliotrope, or of rock-crystal or hail, as well asthe occurrence of salt-like specks or rough places or dots that distract theeye. There is no stone which is harder to distinguish from the original when itis counterfeited, in glass by a cunning craftsman. The only test is by sunlight. When a false opal is held steadily between the thumb and finger against the rays of the sun there shines through the stone one unchanging colour which is spent at its source, whereas the radiance of the genuine stone continually changes and at different times scatters its colours more intensely from different parts of the stone, shedding a bright light on the fingers where it is held. Owing to its exceptional beauty, this stone is commonly known by the Greek term 'paederos,' or 'Favourite,' but those who regard the 'paederos' as a separate variety a say that the Indian name for it is 'sangenon.' The 'paederos'is said to be found in Egypt and Arabia, in Pontus, where the quality is verypoor, and also in Galatia, Thasos and Cyprus. Exceptional specimens of these latter stones have the charm of an opal, but they shine more softly and rarely lack roughness. The dominant colour of the 'paederos' is a mixture of sky-blue and purple, and the green of the 'smaragdus' is absent. Those in which thebrilliance is darkened by the colour of wine are superior to those in which itis diluted with a watery tint.

XXIII. Up to this point there is agreement as to which stones are supreme, the question having been largely settled by a decree of our Women-councillors of State. There is less certainty regarding the stones about which men too pass judgement. In the case of men, it is an individual's caprice that sets a value upon an individual stone, and, above all, the rivalry that ensues. A case in point is that of the Emperor Claudius, when he took to wearing a 'smaragdus' or a sardonyx. Butaccording toDemostratus, the firstRoman to adopt a sardonyx was the elderAfricanus, and hence arose the esteem which this gemstone enjoys at Rome.And so it is to this stone that I shall award the next place after the opal.

Formerly, as is clear from the very name, sardonyx meant a stone with a layer ofcarnelian resting on a layer of white, that is, like flesh superimposed on ahuman fingernail, both parts of the stone being translucent. Such is thecharacter of the Indian sardonyx according toIsmenias, Demostratus, Zenothemis and Sotacus. The last two writers callsuch other varieties of the stone as are opaque 'blind sardonyx.' Those stonesthat have now usurped the name although they lack all trace of the carncian ofthe Indian stones come from Arabia; and the sardonyx has come to be recognizedin the guise of several colours, the base being black or else having the colourof azurite, while the 'nail' above is coloured vermilion and is banded with athick white line, not without a suggestion of purple where thewhite shades into vermilion. Zenothemiswrites that the sardonyx was not held in high regard by the Indians, though itmight be actually large enough to be commonly made into sword hilts. Indeed, asis generally known, in India the stone is exposed to view by the mountainstreams. He states that in our part of the world, however, the sardonyx waspopular from the beginning because it was almost the only gemstone which, whenengraved as a signet, did not carry away the sealing wax with it. Later wepersuaded the Indians to share our appreciation of it. There the common folkwear it pierced on a necklace; and this perforation is now a proof of Indianorigin. The Arabian stones are remarkable for their whiteness, the band beingbrilliant and quite thick: it does not glimmer in the depths of the stone or onits sloping side, but shines on the convex surface of the gem and is, moreover,set off by a lower layer of the deepest black. In the Indian stones we find thatthis layer has the colour of azure or horn. Moreover, their white band can havea kind of iridescent shimmer, while the surface is red like the shell of acrawfish. Incidentally, if the stones are coloured like honey or wine lees (thelatter term in itself implying a defect) they are condemned; and again, also, ifthe white band is blurred instead of being defined, and similarly if it containsan intrusive patch of some other colour. For no colour must be broken by anotherin its own layer. There is also an Armenian sardonyx which is acceptable inevery respect apart from the faintness of its (white) band.

XXIV. I must describe too the character of the onyx proper, whichshares its name with the sardonyx. Elsewhere, this name is given to a stone, buthere it is that of a gem.Sudinesstates that in onyx one finds a white band resembling a human fingernail, as well as the colour of the 'chrysolith,' the sard and the iaspis, whileZenothemis mentions that the Indian onyxhas several different colours, fiery red, black and that of horn, surrounded bya white layer as in an eye, and in some cases traversed by a slanting layer.Sotacus records also an Arabian onyxwhich differs from the Indian in that the latter displays a small fiery redlayer surrounded by one or more white bands (the arrangement being unlike thatof the Indian sardonyx, where the top red layer is a circle, and not, as in thisinstance, a dot). On the other hand, the Arabian onyx, according to him, is foundto be black with white bands. Satyrus states that there is an Indian onyx that is flesh-coloured, with a part of it resembling the 'carbunculus,' and a part, the 'chrysolith' and theamethyst. This kind he wholly rejects as spurious, asserting that a genuine onyxhas several bands of different colours combined with others that are milk-white,the colours as the bands shade into each other being quite indescribable as theyare reduced to a harmonious and delightfully agreeable unity.

We must not, however, postpone too long our discussion of the sard, which issimilarly a separate componentof the name it shares with the onyx; and as we make our way to this topic, wemust describe the properties of all the other fiery red gemstones.

XXV. The first rank among these is held by 'carbunculi,' so-called because of their fiery appearance, although they are not affected by fire and are therefore sometimes known as 'acaustoe,' or 'incombustible' stones.Two kinds of 'carbunculi' are the Indian and the Garamantic: the latterwas called in Greek the Carthaginian because it was associated with the wealthof Great Carthage. To these Varieties are added the Ethiopian andthat of Alabanda, the latter being found, it is said, at Orthosia in Carla, buttreated at Alabandai. Furthermore, in each Variety there are so-called 'male'and 'female' stones, of which the former are the more brilliant, while thelatter have a weaker lustre.

Among the male stones, moreover, are to be observed some that are clearer thanusual or of an unusually dark red glare, and some that shine from deep beneaththeir surface and blaze with exceptional brilliance in sunlight, while the bestare the 'amethyst-coloured stones,' namely those in which the fiery red shade passes at the edge into amethyst-violet, and the next best, known as 'Syrtitae,'or 'Stones of Syrtis,' have a bright feathery lustre. All these stonesare said to reveal themselves in ground where sunlight is reflected mostpowerfully. Satyrus asserts that Indian 'carbunculi' lack brilliance and lookgenerally flawed, with a 'parched' lustre; and that the Ethiopian stones lookgreasy and shed no lustre at all, but burn with a fire that is compressed withinthem. Callistratus holds that a 'carbunculus' ought to east a brilliant, colourless refulgence, so that whenplaced on a surface it enhances the lustre of other stones that are clouded at the edges, thanks to its own glowing brilliance. Hence many people call such a stone the white 'carbunculus,' and the kind that shines more faintly the 'lignyzon,' or 'murky' stone.Callistratus adds that Carthaginian 'carbunculi' are much smaller than others, and that theIndian stones can be hollowed into vessels holding as much as a pint.Archelaus writes that the Carthaginianstones have a somewhat swarthy appearance, but light up more intensely than therest when they are viewed by firelight or sunlight, and at an angle. Hementions also that they appear purple indoors in shadow, and flame-red in theopen air; that they sparkle when they are held against the sun, and that, whenthey are used as signets, they melt the wax, even in a very dark place. Manywriters state that the Indian stones arc brighter than the Carthaginian, andthat conversely they become dull when viewed at an angle. They add that the maleCarthaginian stones have a blazing star inside them, while the female stones shed all their radiance externally; and that the 'carbunculi' of Alabanda aredarker than the rest, and rough. Around Miletus also, the earth produces stonesof the same colour, which are not at all affected by fire. Theophrastus assures us that 'carbunculi' are found both at Orchomenos in Arcadia and in Chios, theformer, of which mirrors are made, being the darker. According to him, there arevariegated stones, interspersed with white spots, from Troezen, and likewise from Corinth although the white in these Corinthian stones is yellowish. He mentions that 'carbuneuli' are imported also from Marseilles.Bocchus writes that they are dug up tooin the neighbourhood of Lisbon, but only with great difficulty, because thesoil, which is clay, is baked hard by the sun.

XXVI. Nothing is harder than the attempt to distinguish the varieties of this stone, so great is the scope that they afford for the exercise of cunning, when craftsmen force the opaque stones to become translucent by placing foil beneath them. The duller stones, it is said, when steeped in vinegar for fourteen days shine with a lustre that persists for as many months. 'Carbunculi'are counterfeited very realistically in glass, but, as with other gems, thefalse ones can be detected on a grindstone, for their substance is softer andbrittle. Artificial stones containing cores are detected by using grindstonesand scales, stones made of glass paste being less heavy. On occasion, moreover,they contain small globules which shine like silver.

XXVII. There is also a stone called 'anthracitis,' which is dug up inThesprotia and resembles charcoal. Statements that it is found in Liguria I consider to be false, unless it is a fact that it was found there when the statements were made. Among these stones there are said to be some that are surrounded by a white vein. The 'anthracitis' has the fiery colour of the stonespreviously mentioned, but it possesses one peculiar property: when it is touchedits glow dies away and disappears, but when, on the other hand, it is soakedwith water it blazes forth again.

XXVIII. A stone that is closely akin to 'carbonculi' is the 'sandastros,'sometimes known also as the Garamantic stone in virtue of its character.It occurs in a part of India that hears the same name, and is found also inSouthern Arabia. Its chief merit is that its fiery brilliance, displayed, as itwere, in a transparent casing, glitters with golden particles that shine likestars within the stone, and always inside its structure and never upon itssurface. Furthermore, there are religious associations attached to these stones,and we are told of their affinity with the stars, which exists because thestarry particles with which they are embellished generally conform in theirnumbers and arrangement to the constellations of the Pleiades and Hyades. For this reason, they are regarded by astrologers as ritual objects. Here too, the male stones may be distinguished by their deep colour and by a certain vitality, which imparts a tint to objects placed close to them. The Indian stones, it is said, even weaken the sight. The fire of the female stones is more mellow, and glows rather than kindles. Some prefer the Arabian stones to the Indian, and compare the former to the smoky 'chrysolithus.'Ismenias declares that because of its softness the 'sandastros' cannot be polished, and so fails to fetch a high price. Some people call the stone 'sandrisites.' What is universally agreed is that, the larger the number ofstarry particles, the higher the price. Sometimes misunderstanding is caused by the similarity of the term 'sandaresus,' applied to a stone whichNicander calls 'sandaserion' and others 'sandaresos,' although there are certain writers who actually call this stone 'sandastros,' and our former stone 'sandaresus.' This latter stone likewise isfound in India and preserves the name of its place of origin. Its colour is thatof a green apple or green oil, and it is generally despised!

XXIX. To the same class of fiery red stones belongs the 'lychnis,'so called from the kindling of lamps, because at that time it is exceptionallybeautiful. It is found around Orthosia and throughout Caria and the neighbouringregions, but occurs at its finest in India. 'Mild carbuncle' is the term sometimes applied to 'lychnis' of the second grade resembling the so-called'Flower of Jove.' I find that there are other varieties as well, one of whichhas a purple and the other a scarlet sheen! These, when heated in the sun or bybeing rubbed between the fingers, are said to attract straws and papyrus fibres.

XXX. It is said that the same power is exerted by the Carthaginian stone,although it is far less valuable than those previously mentioned. It is formedin the mountain country of the Nasamones by rains of divine origin, as theinhabitants like to think. The stones are found when they reflect the moonlight,particularly at full moon, and in former times were exported to Carthage.Archelaus records that brittle stones, full of veins and resembling a dying ember, are found in Egypt near Thebes. I find that drinking vessels used commonly to be made from this stone and from 'lychnis.' All these varieties, however, obstinately resist engraving and, whenused as signets, retain a portion of the wax.

XXXI. On the contrary, sard, which shares a part of its name withsardonyx, is extremely useful for this purpose. The stone itself is a common oneand was first discovered at Sardis, but the most valuable specimens are foundnear Babylon. When certain quarries are being opened up the stones come to lightadhering to the rock like heart-wood. This mineral is said to be now exhaustedin Persia, but sards are found in several other localities, for example in Parosand at Assos. In India it occurs in three varieties: there are red stones, those known as 'pioniae,' or 'fatty stones,' because of their greasy lustre, andfinally a third kind that is backed with silver foil. The Indian stones aretranslucent, whereas the Arabian are somewhat opaque. Others are found also inEpirus near Leucas and in Egypt; and these are backed with gold foil. Amongsards too there are male and female stones, of which the former shine the moreintensely, while the latter are less lively and have a duller lustre. In ancienttimes no gemstone was more commonly used than the sardthis, at any rate, is thegem that is flaunted in the plays of MenanderandPhilemonand no other translucentgems lose their lustre less readily when they are covered with moisture: oliveoil affects them more than any other liquid. Of these stones, the honey-colouredmeet with disapproval, which is even stronger in the case of those that looklike earthenware.

XXXII. Peridot still preserves its special reputation. It is a greenishvariety of its own and, when first discovered, was preferred to any other. Oncesome Troglodytes, or Cave-dwellers, who were pirates, came ashore, exhausted byhunger and stormy weather, on an Arabian island, the name of which was Cytis;and it so happened that, while they were digging up plants and roots, theyunearthed a peridot. This, at least, is the account accepted byArchelaus.Juba states that Topazos is the name ofan island situated in the Red Sea at a distance of some 35 miles from themainland. According to him, the island is fog-bound: consequently sailors oftenhave to search for it, and this is why it has acquired its name; for in theTroglodyte language topazin means 'to seek.'Juba records that the stone was firstbrought from here as a gift for Queen Berenice,the mother ofPtolemy the Second, by hisgovernor [285-246 B.C.]Philo;and that, because the king greatly admired it, a statue 4 cubits high was latermade of peridot in honour of thisPtolemy'swife,Arsinoe, and consecrated in theshrine which was named after her the Arsinoeum. Our most recent authoritiesassert that the stone is found also near Alabastrum, a town in the Thebaid, and divide it into two varieties, the 'prasoides,' or 'leek-like,' and the 'chrysopteros,' or 'golden-feathered,' of which the latter resembles the 'chrysoprasus.' In general, the colour tends to resemble the tints of the leek.Incidentally, the peridot is the largest of gemstones. Also, it is the onlyprecious stone that is affected by an iron file, whereas all others have to besmoothed with Naxian stone and emery. Moreover, peridot is worn away by use.

XXXIII. With this stone is associated, but more closely in respect of similarity in appearance than of esteem, the pale-green 'callaina.' It occurs inthe hinterland beyond India among the inhabitants of the Caucasus, the Hyrcani,Sacae and Dahae. It is of exceptional size, but is porous and full of flaws. Afar purer and finer stone is found in Cannania. In both localities, however, 'callaina' occurs amidst inaccessible icy crags, where it is seen as aneye-shaped swelling loosely adhering to the rocks, as though it had beenattached to them, rather than formed upon them. Thus tribes accustomed to ridingon horseback and too lazy to use their feet find it irksome to climb insearch of the stones; and they are also deterred by the risks. They, therefore,shoot at them from a distance with their slings and dislodge them, moss and all.This is the article that pays their taxes, this they acknowledge to be the mostbeautiful thing that can be worn on neck or fingers, from this they derive theirwealth, this is their pride and joy as they boast of the number that they haveshot down since their childhood, an operation in which success varies, seeing that some win fine stones with their first shot, while many reach old age without obtaining one. Such, then, is the way in which they hunt the 'callaina.' Subsequently, the stone is shaped by the drill, being in other respects an easy stone to deal with. The best stones have the colour of 'smaragdus,' so that itis obvious, after all, that their attractiveness is not their own. They areenhanced by being set in gold, and no gem sets off gold so well. The finerspecimens lose their colour if they are touched by oil, unguents or evenundiluted wine, whereas the less valuable ones preserve it more steadfastly. No gemstone is more easily counterfeited by means of imitations in glass. Some authorities say that 'callainae' are found in Arabia inside the nests of the birds known as 'melancoryphi,' or 'black caps.'

XXXIV. There are also many other kinds of green stones. A member of thecommoner class is the prase. A second variety of this stone differsin respect of its blood-red spots, and a third, because it is sharply markedwith three white streaks. Preference, however is given to the 'chrysoprasus,' or 'golden prase,' which likewise reproduces the tint of a leek,although in this case the tint veers slightly from that of peridot towards gold.This stone, moreover, may be large enough to be made even into small cups, andit is very commonly cut into cylinders.

XXXV. India produces not only these stones, but also the 'nilios,' which differs from the 'chrysoprasus' in showing a weak lustre and one that iselusive when it is looked at closely.Sudinesstates that it is found also in the Siberus, a river in Attica. Its colour isthat of smoky, or on occasion honey-coloured, peridot.Juba records that the stone is formed onthe banks of the river known to us as the Nile, from which its name, accordingto him, is derived.

XXXVI. Malachite is an opaque stone of a rather deep green shade and owesits name to its colour, which is that of the mallow. It is warmly recommendedbecause it makes an accurate impression as a signet, protects children, and hasa natural property that is a prophylactic against danger.

XXXVII. A green stone that is often translucent is the 'iaspis,' which still preserves the reputation that it enjoyed in the past, even though it now yields to many others. Numerous countries produce it. India produces a variety resembling 'smaragdus,' Cyprus one that is hard and dull greyish-greenin colour, and Persia one that is like the blue sky and is therefore called 'aeizusa,' or 'sky-blue.' A similar kind comes from the Caspian region. Adeep-blue variety is found near the River Thermodon in Phrygia a purple one, andin Cappadocia another that is purplish-blue, sombre and without lustre. FromAmisos comes a kind similar to the Indian, and from Chalcedon one that iscloudy. But it is not so important to distinguish countries of origin asexcellences. The best stone is that which has a shade of purple, the next hasone of rose, and the next again of 'smaragdus.' The Greeks have applied epithets to each kind in accordance with its character. The fourth variety is known among them as 'boria,' or 'north-wind iaspis,' because it islike the sky on an autumn morning. This will be identical with the kind that is called 'aërizusa.' There is also the 'terebinthizusa,' or 'turpentine iaspis,'the epithet being inappropriate, in my opinion, because the stone is, as itwere, compounded of many gems of the same variety, for it is not only like asard, but also resembles in its colour a violet. There are just as many kindsthat remain to be described, but all are blue to a fault, or else are likerock-crystal or a sebesten plum. Consequently the better specimens are set in anopen bezel so that they may remain exposed on both faces, with only their edgesclasped by the gold. A defect found in them is their weak lustre and failure toshine at a distance, and also specks resembling salt, as well as all the faultsthat occur in other gemstones. They too can be counterfeited in glass, and thedeception becomes obvious when the brightness of a stone is scattered abroadinstead of being concentrated within. The remaining varieties are called 'sphragides,' or 'signets,' the common Greek name for a gemstone being thus bestowed on these alone because they are excellent for sealing documents. However, all the peoples of the East are said to wear them as amulets. That variety of 'iaspis' which resembles 'smaragdus' is often surrounded in the middle by a slanting white line, and is therefore called 'monogrammos,' or'single-lined': if there are several such lines the stone is 'polygrammos,' or'many-lined.' In passing, it gives me pleasure to refute here, as elsewhere, the falsehoods of the Magi, who tell us that this stone is helpful to public speakers. There is also an 'iaspis' combined with onyx known as 'iasponyx,' or'jasper onyx,' a stone that has a cloudy inclusion in it and specks on it that look like snow, and is spangled with red dots. There is also an 'iaspis' thatresembles Megarian salt and is stained as though with smoke: hence it is called 'capnias,' or 'smoky.' I myself have seen a figure, representingNero in a breastplate, that was made ofthis stone and was 16 inches high.

XXXVIII. We shall now give a separate account of 'cyanus,' for a short time ago we applied this name to an 'iaspis' owing to itsblue colour. The best kind is the Scythian, then comes the Cyprian and lastly there is the Egyptian. It is very commonly counterfeited by tinting other stones, and this is a famous achievement of the kings of Egypt, whose records also mention the name of the king who first tinted stones in this way 'Cyanus,' too, isdivided into male and female varieties. Sometimes inside cyanus there is agolden dust, which, however, differs from that which occurs inside lapis lazuli;for there the gold glistens as dots.

XXXIX. Lapis lazuli also is blue and is only rarely tinged withpurple. The best is found in Persia, but nowhere are there any transparentstones. Moreover, they are useless for engraving, because cores likerock-crystal interfere with this. Lapis lazuli which is of the colour of azuriteis regarded as a male variety.

XL. Next, we shall assign to another category purple stones orthose varieties that deviate from them. Here the first rank is held by theamethysts of India, although amethysts are found also in that part of Arabia,known as Petra, which borders on Syria, as well as in Lesser Armenia, Egypt andGalatia, while the most imperfect and worthless specimens occur in Thasos andCyprus. The name 'amethyst' has been explained by the supposed fact that thebrilliant colour of the stone closely approaches that of wine, but stops shortof absorbing it and ends in a violet shade. Others, again, offer theexplanation that the characteristic purple colour contains an element that isnot quite bright red, but fades into the colour of wine. However this may be,all amethysts are transparent and are of a handsome violent tint, and all areeasy to engrave. The Indian amethyst has the perfect shade of Tyrian purple at its best, and it is this stone that the dye-factories aspire to emulate. The stone, when examined, sheds a gentle, mellow colour, which does not, like that of the 'carbunculus,' dazzle the eye. A second kind of amethyst deviates towards the sapphire. Its colour is known to the Indians as 'soeos,' and the variety of gem as 'soeondios.' A fainter variety of the same stone is called 'sapenos' and also, in the districts adjacent to Arabia, 'pharanitis' after thename of a tribe. A fourth kind has the colour of red wine, while afifth degenerates nearly into rock-crystal, since its purple fades away towardscolourlessness. This is the least valuable kind, since a fine stone should, when held up to the light, display in its purple colour a rosy tint shining forth gently as though from a 'carbuneulus.' Some people prefer to call such stones 'paederotes,' or 'favourites,' others 'anterotes,' or 'love requited,'and many 'eyelid of Venus.' The Magi falsely claim that the amethyst prevents drunkenness, and that it is this property that has given it its name. Moreover, they say that, if amethysts are inscribed with the names of the sun and moon and are worn hanging from the neck along with baboons' hairs and swallows' feathers, they are a protection against spells. Again, they assert that, however they are used, amethysts will assist people who are about to approach a king as suppliants, and that they keep off hail and locusts if they are used in conjunction with an incantation which they prescribe. Moreover, they have made similar claims on behalf of the 'smaragdus,' provided that it is engraved withan eagle or a scarab beetle. I can only suppose that in committing thesestatements to writing they express a derisive contempt for mankind.

XLI. There is a considerable difference between the amethyst and the 'hyacinthus,' which, however, shows only a slight deviation from a closelyrelated tint. The difference lies in the fact that the brilliant violet radiancethat is characteristic of the amethyst is here diluted with the tint of thehyacinth flower; and although at first sight the colour is agreeable, it losesits power before we can take our fill of it and, indeed, is so far fromsatisfying the eye that it almost fails to strike it and droops more rapidlythan the flower of the same name.

XLII. Besides the 'hyacinthus,' the 'chrysolithus,' a bright golden,transparent stone, comes to us from Ethiopia. Preference over this variety,however, goes to the Indian and, if the colour is uniform, to the Tibarenestones! The worst stones are the Arabian, for these are murky and mottled, withtheir brilliance broken up by cloudy spots. Even the clear stones that have cometo light are full of a kind of powder. The best specimens are those which,placed alongside gold, make it assume a white, silvery appearance. Thesestones are set in an open bezel so as to remain fully transparent, while therest are backed with brass foil.

XLIII. Although they have now ceased to be used as gems, there are certain stones to be mentioned that are called 'chrysoelectri,' or'golden amber.' Their colour passes into that of amber, but only in morninglight. Those from Pontus are betrayed by their light weight. Some of thesestones are hard and reddish, while some are soft and full of flaws. Bocchus assures us that they have been found also in Spain, in the place where, according to his previous account, rock-crystal is dug up from shafts sunk to water-level, and adds that he saw a 'chrysolithus' weighing twelve pounds.

XLIV. There occur also 'leucochrysi,' or 'golden-white' stones, which are traversed by a bright white vein; and there is also the 'capnias,' or 'smoky stone' belonging to this class. There are, moreover, stonesclosely resembling those made of glass-paste, their colour being a kind ofbright saffron-yellow. They can be so convincingly counterfeited in glass thatthe difference cannot be observed, although it may be detected by touch, sincethe glass-paste feels warmer.

XLV. In the same class is the 'melichrysus,' or 'honey-gold stone,' which looks like pure honey seen through a clear film of gold. This stone, a product of India, is brittle, although hard, but is by no means unpleasing. India produces also the 'xuthos' or 'brownish-yellow stone,' a gem regardedthere as fit only for the common folk.

XLVI. White stones are headed by the 'paederos,' or 'favourite,' althoughwe may ask to which colour we should assign a stone bearing a name that is sooften bandied about among beautiful objects of different kinds a that the mereterm has become a guarantee of beauty. However, the species which the nameclaims as its very own likewise fulfils our great expectations. Here, indeed,with the transparency of the rock-crystal are associated a characteristic sky-green tint, along with a brilliant glint of purple and of golden wine, of which the last colour is always the last to be seen, but always has a purple halo. All these colours, both individually and collectively, seem to pervade the stone; and there is no gemstone that can match its clarity, which is delightfully agreeable to the eye. The most highly valued kind is found in India, where it is known as 'sangenon,' while the second-best occurs in Egypt, where the name used is 'tenites.' Third in order is a variety found in Arabia, but this kind is rough. Then there is the 'paederos' from Pontus, which has aweaker lustre, and the kind from Thasos, which is still weaker. Finally, there are the stones of Galatia, Thrace and Cyprus. The defects of the 'paederos' arefaintness and the intrusion of uncharacteristic colours, as well as those thatbelong to all other gems.

XLVII. Next among the bright colourless stones is the 'asteria,' or 'star stone,' which holds its high position owing to a naturalpeculiarity, in that a light is enclosed in it, stored in something resemblingthe pupil of the eye. This light is transmitted and, as the stone is tilted, isdisplayed successively in different places, as if capable of locomotion within.When it is held up to the sun the same stone reflects bright beams radiating asif from a star; and thus it has acquired its name. The stones found in India aredifficult to engrave, and those from Carmania are preferred.

XLVIII. A similarly bright colourless stone is the 'astrion,' or 'littlestar,' which closely resembles rock-crystal, and occurs in India and on thecoasts of Patalene. It has inside it at the centre a star shining brightly likethe full moon. The name is sometimes explained by the fact that the stone, whenheld up to the stars, is supposed to catch their glitter and reflect it. It issaid that the best variety is found in Carmania, and that no kind of gem is less liable to possess defects. We are told that there is also a variety known as 'ceraunia,' or 'thunder-stone,' which is inferior, and that the worst of allrecalls the glimmer of a lantern.

XLIX. Another stone that is much esteemed is the 'astriotes,'again a star stone. It is recorded thatZoroaster proclaimed the remarkable merits of this stone when used in thepractice of magic.

L. The 'astolos' according toSudines, resembles the eye of a fish and sheds brilliant white beams likethe sun.

LI. Among the bright colourless stones there is also the one called 'ceraunia' ('thunder-stone') which catches the glitter of the stars and,although in itself it is like rock-crystal, has a brilliant blue sheen. It isfound in Carmania.Zenothernis admitsthat it is colourless, but describes it as 'containing atwinkling star.' He mentions that there are also to be found dull 'cerauniae'which if steeped in soda and vinegar for several days form such a star, which,however, fades away again after as many months.Sotacus distinguishes also two other varieties of the stone, a black and a red, resembling axe-heads. According to him, those among them that are black and round are supernatural objects; and he states that thanks to them cities and fleets are attacked and overcome, their name being 'baetuli,' while the elongated stones are 'cerauniae.' These writers distinguish yet another kind of 'ceraunia' which is quite rare. According to them, the Magi huntfor it zealously because it is found only in a place that has been struck by athunderbolt.

LII. The name that appears in these writers immediately after 'ceraunia' is that of the so-called 'iris,' or 'rainbow stone.' It is dug up onan island in the Red Sea 60 miles distant from the city of Berenice. In everyother respect it is merely rock-crystal, and is sometimes called 'root ofcrystal' for this reason. It is known as 'iris' in token of its appearance, forwhen it is struck by the sunlight in a room it casts the appearance and coloursof a rainbow on the walls near by, continually altering its tints and evercausing more and more astonishment because of its extremely changeable effects.It is agreed that it has hexagonal faces, like the rockcrystal, but somepeople assert that it has rough faces and unequal angles; and that in fullsunlight it scatters the beams that shine upon it, and yet at the same timelights up adjacent objects by projecting a kind of gleam in front of itself.But, as I have said, it does not produce any colours except in a dark place; andeven then, the effect is not as though the stone itself contained the colours,but rather as though it were forcing them to rebound from the wall. The bestkind is that which produces the spectra that are the largest in size with theclosest resemblance to a rainbow. There is also another 'rainbow stone,' the 'iritis,' which is similar to the former in every respect except that it is veryhard. According toOrus, this when burntand crushed to a powder cures ichneumon bites, but is actually found in Persis.

LIII. A stone that is similar in its appearance but different in its effects is the so-called 'leros,' or 'trifle,' in which there is a white and ablack streak traversing the rock-crystal.

LIV. I have now discussed the principal gemstones, classifying themaccording to their colour, and shall proceed to describe the rest inalphabetical order.

The agate was once held in high esteem, but now enjoys none. It was firstdiscovered in Sicily near the river of the same name, but was later found inmany countries. Its size can be exceptional, and its varieties are verynumerous. The descriptive terms applied to it vary accordingly. For example, itis given names like 'jasper-agate,' 'wax-agate,' 'emerald-agate,' 'blood-agate,''white agate,' 'tree-agate' (which is distinguished by marks resembling smalltrees), 'anti-agate' (which, when burnt, smells like myrrh) and 'coral-agate,'which is sprinkled with golden particles like those of lapis lazuli and is avariety that is very plentiful in Crete. Another name for it is 'sacred agate,'since it is thought to counteract the bites of spiders and scorpions. This Iwould in any ease believe to be true of the Sicilian stones, since the venom ofscorpions is destroyed by a mere hint of a breeze from that province. The agatesfound in India are also effective in this way and have other very remarkablequalifies besides. For they exhibit the likenesses of rivers, woods anddraught-animals; and from them also are made dishes, statuettes, horse-trappingsand small mortars for the use of pharmacists, for merely to look at them is goodfor the eyes. Moreover, if placed in the mouth, they allay thirst.The Phrygian agates contain no green, while those found at Egyptian Thebes lackred and white veins, but these again are effective against scorpions. Those ofCyprus are similarly esteemed. Some people warmly approve of the transparentglassy portions of these last stones. Agates are found too in Trachis near MountOeta, on Parnassus, in Lesbos, in Messenia (where they look like flowers on afield-path) and in Rhodes. Other differences among agates arc found in thewritings of the Magi. Stones are found that resemble a lion's skin, and these,they claim, are effective against scorpions. But in Persia, according to them,the fumes from these stones, when they are burnt, avert storms and waterspoutsand stop the flow of rivers, the test of a genuine stone being that it shouldcool the water when placed in a cauldron that is on the boil. But they insistthat, if the stones are to do good, they should be tied to hairs from a lion'smane. Incidentally, when attached to hairs from a hyena's mane, they avertdiscord in the household. According to the Magi, there is an agate of onesingle colour that makes athletes invincible. The method of testing such a stoneis to throw it into a pot full of oil with various pigments: when it has beenheated for no more than two hours it should have reduced all the pigments to asingle shade of vermilion.

The 'acopos,' or 'reviver,' which in colour resembles soda, is porous andspangled with gold particles. Oil heated along with this stone and applied as anembrocation dispels fatigue, or so we are led to believe.

'Alabastritis,' which is found at Alabastrum in Egypt and at Damascus in Syria, is a white stone interspersed with various colours. When burnt with rock salt and pounded, it is said to alleviate bad breath caused by the mouth and teeth. 'Alectoriae,' or 'cock stones,' is the name given to stones found in the gizzards of cocks. In appearance they are like rock-crystal, and in size like beans; and it is claimed that Milo of Croton owes to his use of these stones his reputation as one who was never worsted in a contest. The 'androdamas,' or 'man tamer,' has a silvery glint, like 'adamas,' and always resembles small cubes. The Magi suppose that its namehas been applied to it in virtue of the fact that it subdues violence and hottemper in men. Whether the 'argyrodamas,' or 'silver tamer,' is the same, or a different, stone, is not made clear by our authorities. 'Antipathes,' orthe 'contrary stone,' is black and opaque. Its genuineness is tested by boilingit in milk, to which it gives the appearance of myrrh. One might perhaps beentitled to expect something prodigious of this stone; for there are manyinstances of 'antipathetic ` substances, and yet it has been granted exclusive possession of the name. The Magi claim that it helps to counteract witchcraft. The Arabian stone closely resembles ivory, and would pass for it if its hardness did not forbid this. According to the Magi, it helps its possessors when they have pains in their sinews. The 'aromatitis,' or 'aromatic stone,' isalso found in Arabia, but likewise in Egypt near Philae. It is always stony and,since it has the colour and scent of myrrh, it is much used by queens.'Asbestos,' which is found in the mountains of Arcadia, has the colour of iron. 'Aspisatis,' according toDemocritus,occurs in Arabia and is of a fiery red colour. He recommends that sufferers froman enlarged spleen should wear it as an amulet with camel dung. Howeverthat may be, he states that it is found in the nests of Arabian birds, and thatanother stone bearing the same name and found in Arabia on Cape Leucopetra has adarting silvery lustre and is effective in counteracting attacks of wilddistraction. The Atizoe, he writes, is found in India and on MountAcidane in Persis. He describes it as shining brightly like silver, as beingjust over two inches in length with the shape of a lentil and an agreeablescent, and as being indispensable for the Magi at the installation of a king. The 'augitis' is supposed by many to be identical with the 'callaina.' 'amphidanes' is the stone otherwise known as 'chrysocolla.' It occurs in theregion of India where gold is dug up by ants. The stone is found actuallyin the gold, being similar to gold and having the shape of a cube. Its nature ispositively stated to be the same as that of the magnet, except that, accordingto tradition, it also causes gold to increase. The 'aphrodisiac' stone is red mixed with white. As for the 'apsyetos,' or 'uncooled stone,' it retains its warmth for seven days if it is thoroughly heated in a fire, and is black, heavy and marked with red veins. It is thought to counteract cold. By the 'Aegyptilla,' or 'little Egyptian stone,' Iaechus understands a stone in which the white layer is traversed bybands of carnelian and black, but the term is commonly applied where there is ablack ground and an upper layer of blue. It is named after the country where itis found.

LV. As to the 'balanites,' or 'acorn-stone,' there are two varieties, of which one is greenish and the other like Corinthian bronze in its colour. The former comes from Coptos and the latter from the Cave-dwellers' country, and both are intersected through the middle by a bright red layer. The 'batrachites,' or 'frog-stone,' also comes from Coptos: one variety has a colour like that of a frog, a second is similar and also has veins, while a third is red mixed with black. The 'baptes,' or 'dipper,' has anexceptionally pleasant scent, but is otherwise an ordinary soft stone. The 'Eyeof Baal' has a whitish ground surrounding a dark eye which sends out a goldengleam from its midst. Because of its appearance, the stone is consecrated tothe holiest god of the Assyrians. There is another 'Baal stone,' as it iscalled, which, according toDemocritus,is found at Arbela and is as large as a walnut, with a glassy appearance. 'Baroptenus,' also known as 'baripe,' is a black stone with blood-red and whitenodules.

As an amulet it is rejected because it is liable to cause monstrous births. 'Botryitis,' or `'grape-cluster,' occurs in two varieties, of which one is dark and the other has the colour of a vine, and resembles a young grape. 'Bostrychitis' is the name given by Zoroaster to a stone that somewhat resembles the locks of a woman's hair. 'Bucardia,' resembling an ox-heart, is found only at Babylon. 'Brontea,' or'thunder stone,' which is like the head of a tortoise, is supposed to fall fromthunderclaps and to extinguish fires where lightning has struck, or so we areled to believe. The 'bolos,' or 'clod,' is found in the river Ebro and is like aclod of earth.

LVI. 'Cadmitis' is identical with the so-called 'ostracitis,' except thatthe latter is sometimes surrounded with blue globules. 'Callais` is similar to lapis lazuli, except that its colour is lighter, like that of the sea close inshore. 'Capnitis,' or 'smoke stone,' is regarded by some as a separate variety, but many people treat it as a smoky 'iaspis,' as I have described it inthe appropriate place. The 'Stone of Cappadocia' occurs there and in Phrygia, and is like ivory. The 'callaica' is so called from its colour, which is that of a clouded 'callais,' and it is said that several of these stones arealways found joined together. The 'catochitis,' or 'clinging stone,' belongs to Corsica and is larger than other precious stones, and more remarkable, if the reports are true, because, if the hand rests on it the stone sticks to it like gum. The 'catoptritis,' or 'mirror-stone,' which occurs in Cappadocia, reflects images from its bright colourless surface. The 'cepitis,' also known as 'cepolatitis,' is white, with lines of veins that meet at a single point. The 'ceramitis,' or 'pottery-stone,' has the colour of earthenware. or 'cinaedus stones,' are white, oblong stones found in the brain of the fish so named. They have a remarkable effect if only we can believe the statement that they predict conditions at sea, foretelling mist or calm as the case may be. 'Ceritis' reminds us of wax, 'circos' of a hawk, 'corsoides' of grey hair, and 'coralloachates,' or 'coral-agate,' of coral. This has markings like drops of gold. The 'corallis' resembles vermilion, and occurs in India and at Aswan. The 'erateritis,' or 'strong stone,' has a colour between that of yellow sapphire and of amber, and is very hard. The 'crocallis' reproducesexactly the appearance of the cells of a honeycomb. 'Cyitis,' or cyitts 'pregnant stone,' which is found in the neighbourhood of Coptos, is white and seems to be pregnant with another stone, the presence of which is in fact perceived by a rattling sound. The 'chalcophonos,' or 'brazen-voiced stone,' which is black, rings like bronze when it is dashed against anything; and actors of tragedies are urged to wear it. As to 'chelidoniae,' or 'swallow-stones,' there are two varieties, both of which are swallow-coloured with purple on one side, but in one variety the purple is interspersed with black markings. The 'chelonia,' Chelon, 'tortoise-stone,' is the eye of the Indian tortoise and,according to the false allegations of the Magi, is the most miraculous of allstones. For they claim that the stone, if it is placed on the tongue after themouth has been rinsed with honey, confers powers of prophecyat full moon or new moon, during the whole of the day; when the moon is waning, before sunrise only; and at other times, from dawn to midday. There are also tortoise-stones which are the eyes of other tortoises and resemble the tortoise-stone previously mentioned; and according to their guidance the Magi often pronounce prophetic incantations in order to cause storms to subside. The variety, however, that is sprinkled with gold drops is said by them to generate storms if it is dropped into boiling water with a scarab beetle. The 'chloritis,' or 'greenstone,' whichis of a grassy colour, is said by the Magi to be found as a congenital growth inthe crop of the water-wagtail. They recommend that it should be set in an iron bezel so as to produce certain of their all too familiar miracles. The 'choaspitis,' which is named after the river Choaspes, is of a brilliant gold colour mixed with green. The 'chrysolampis,' or 'golden gleam,' which found in Ethiopia, is generally pale, but fiery by night. The 'chrysopis,' or 'golden face,' looks just like gold. The 'Cetionis' is found in Aeolis atAtarneus, now a village, but once a town. It is a transparent stone of many colours. The hue is sometimes that of glass, sometimes of rock-crystal and sometimes of 'iaspis,' but even the stones with flaws in them have so brillianta lustre that they reflect an image as if they were mirrors.

LVII. The 'daphnea,' or 'laurel stone,' is prescribed by Zoroaster as a cure for epilepsy. The 'diadochos,' or 'substitute,' resembles beryl. The 'diphyes' is a stone of twofold character. It is subdivided into a black and a white, a male and a female variety, each of the two varieties bearing an outline that distinctively portrays the organ of its sex. The 'Dionysias,' or 'stone of Dionysus,' a hard stone, the colour of which is black intermingled with red spots, produces the flavour of wine when it is ground to powder and mixed with water, and is supposed to be an antidote to drunkenness. The 'draconitis,' otherwise known as 'dracontias,' the 'snake stone,' is obtained from the brainsof snakes, but unless the head is cut off from a live snake, thesubstance fails to turn into a gem, owing to the spite of the creature as itperceives that it is doomed. Consequently, the beast's head is lopped off whileit is asleep. Sotacus, who writes thathe saw such a gem in the possession of a king, states that those who go insearch of it ride in two-horsed chariots, and that when they see the snake theyscatter sleeping-drugs and so put it to sleep before they cut off its head.According to him, the stone is colourless and transparent, and cannotsubsequently be polished or submitted to any other skilful process.

LVIII. The 'encardia,' or 'heart stone,' has been given the epithet 'enaristera,' or 'left-side,' and shows the likeness of a heart in high relief on a black ground. Another variety bearing the same name displays the likeness of a heart in green, and a third in black, the rest of the stone being white. The 'enorchis' is white, and when it is split up into pieces reproduces exactly the shape of the testicles. 'Exhebenus' is, according to Zoroaster, a handsome white stone which goldsmiths use for polishing gold. 'Erythallis,' although it is white, looks red when it is tilted. The 'erotylos,' or 'love stone,' otherwise known as 'amphicomos' and 'hieromnemon,' is praised by Democritus in virtue of its use in prophecy. The 'eumeces,' or 'tallstone,' which is found in Bactria, resembles hard limestone, and, when it is placed beneath the head like a pillow, produces dreams that have the force of an oracle. The 'eumitres,' or 'fine headdress,' is held in high regard by the Assyrians as the jewel of Baal, the most holy of their gods. Its colour is that of the leek, and it is much favoured in religious observances. The 'eupetalos,'or 'leafy stone,' has four colours, blue, fiery red, shaped like an olive stone,is fluted like a seashell, vermilion, and apple-green. 'Eureos,' which is but is not so white. 'Eurotias,' or 'mouldy stone,' looks as if its black surface were covered with mildew. 'Eusebes,' or 'reverent stone,' is the kind of stone of which a seat in the temple of Hercules at Tyre is said to have been made, this seat being the one from which only the pious could rise without difficulty. 'Epimelas,' or 'black-on-top,' is an instance of a white gemstonethat is overlaid with black.

LIX. 'Galaxias,' or 'milk stone,' which is sometimes known as 'galactites,' is similar to the stones next mentioned, but is traversed by blood-red or white streaks. 'Galactitis' is entirely milk-white, and is known also as 'leucogaea' ('white earth'), 'leucographitis' ('white chalk'), and 'synechitis' ('cohesive earth'). It is noteworthy for the fact that when rubbedbetween the fingers it exhibits a milky smear and flavour, and in the rearing ofchildren it ensures wet-nurses a plentiful flow of milk. Moreover, when it istied to the necks of babies as an amulet, it is said to make their saliva flow,but we are told that when placed in the mouth it melts and also causes loss ofmemory. Two rivers, the Nile and the Achelous, produce this substance. Some people apply the term 'galactites' to a 'smaragdus' that is banded with white streaks. 'Gallaica' is similar to 'argyrodamas,' but is somewhat less pure. Two or three stones are found joined together. The 'gassinnades,' which comes fromMedia, has the colour of wild vetch and looks as if it were sprinkled withflowers. It is found also at Arbela. This is yet another gem that is said toconceive, and to betray the presence of the stone in its womb if it is shaken.The 'embryo,' we are told, takes three months to develop. 'Glossopetra,' or'tongue stone,' which resembles the human tongue, does not, we are told, form in the ground, but falls from the sky during the waning of the moon, and is indispensable to the moon-diviner. Our scepticism with regard to this account is reinforced by the falseness of the claim made for the stone; for it is stated that it checks gales. The 'Gorgonia,' or 'Gorgon's stone,' is merely coral. The reason for its name is that it is transformed into the hardness of stone after being softened in the sea. It is said to keep off thunderbolts and whirlwinds. The 'goniaea,' or 'faceted stone,' is guaranteed just asfalsely to bring about the punishment of one's private enemies.

LX. The heliotrope, which is found in Ethiopia, Africa and Cyprus, isleek-green in colour, but is marked with blood-red streaks. The name isexplained by the fact that, when the stone is dropped into a vessel of waterand bright sunshine falls upon it, in reflecting the sunlight it changes it intothe colour of blood. This is true especially of the Ethiopian variety. When itis out of water, the same stone catches the sunlight like a mirror and detectssolar eclipses, showing the passage of the moon below the sun's disc. Here,moreover, we have quite the most blatant instance of effrontery on the part ofthe Magi, who say that when the heliotrope plant is joined to the stone and certain prayers are pronounced over them the wearer is rendered invisible. The 'Hephaestitis,' or 'Hephaestus stone,' is another that acts like a mirror inreflecting images, even though it is red. The test of its genuineness is thatboiling water when poured over it should cool immediately; or, alternatively,that when placed in the sun it should immediately set fire to a parchedsubstance. The stone is found at Corycus. The Hermuaedoeon, or 'sexual organ of Hermes,' is so called from its resemblance to the male organ, the gemstone on which the likeness appears being white or sometimes black, or pale yellow, and surrounded by a circular band of golden yellow. The 'hexecontalithos,' or'sixty-stones-in-one,' contains many colours in a small compass, and so has appropriated its name. It is found in the Cave-dwellers' country. The 'hieracitis,' or 'kite stone,' is entirely covered with feathery scales, black ones alternating with others resembling a kite's feathers. 'Hammitis,' or 'sandy stone,' resembles fish roe, and there is another kind that looks as if it were composed of soda, but is otherwise just a very hard stone. 'Hammonis cornu,' or'horn of Ammon,' which is among the most sacred stones of Ethiopia, has a goldenyellow colour and is shaped like a ram's horn. The stone is guaranteed to ensure without fail dreams that will come true. The 'hormiscion,' or 'necklace stone,' which in its appearance is among the most pleasing of gemstones, reflects beams of gold from a fiery red ground, and these gold beams carry a white gleam at their tips. 'Hyaeniae,' or 'hyena stones,' are, it is said, obtained from the eyes of the hyena, which is actually attacked for the purpose. When the stones are placed under a man's tongue, they are alleged to foretell the future, if we are foolish enough to believe such a thing. 'Haematitis' ofthe finest quality occurs in Ethiopia, but the stone is found also both inArabia and in Africa. It is blood-red in colour. We must not omit to mention theclaims made for it, so that we may expose the treacherous frauds perpetrated bythe Magi. Zachalias of Babylon, in the volumes which he dedicates to KingMithridates, attributes man's destiny to the influence of precious stones; and as for the 'haematitis,' he is not content to credit it with curing diseases of the eyes and liver, but places it even in the hands of petitioners to the king, allows it to interfere in lawsuits and trials, and proclaims also that to be smeared with an ointment containing it is beneficial in battle. There is another stone of the same kind which is sometimes called 'menui,' and sometimes 'xuthos,' or 'brownish-yellow' stone. This is thename given by the Greeks to stones that are. light brown.

LXI. 'Idaei dactyli,' or 'Fingers of Ida,' have the colour of iron and reproduce the shape of the human thumb. The 'icterias,' or'jaundice stone,' is like the yellow skin of an apple, and is thereforeconsidered to be beneficial in treating jaundice. There is also another stone of the same name, but of a more leaden colour. A third, resembling a leaf and flatter than the former varieties, is almost without weight and has dull yellow streaks. A fourth kind has dull yellow streaks spreading over a ground of a similar colour, but darker. 'Iovis gemma,' or 'Jupiter's gem,' is white, light in weight, and soft. It is known also as 'drosolithos,' or 'dew stone.' The 'Indica,' or 'Indian stone,' takes the name of its country of origin and is of areddish hue, but when rubbed between the fingers exudes a purple liquid. Anotherstone of the same name is colourless and has a dusty appearance. The 'ion,' or'violet stone,' is a violet-coloured stone found in India, but only rarely isits colour bright and deep.

LXII. The 'lepidotis,' or 'scaly stone,' mimics fish scales in various colours, while the 'Lesbias,' or 'stone of Lesbos,' resembles a clod of earth. It takes its name from its country of origin, but is found also in India. The 'leucophthalmos,' or 'white eye,' which is otherwise reddish, includes an eye-shaped layer which is white and black. The 'lencopoecilos,' or 'variegated white stone,' has a white ground marked with drops of vermilion mixed with gold. The 'libanochrus,' or 'colour-of-incense,' shows a resemblance to frankincense and gives off a honey-coloured streak. The 'limoniatis,' or 'meadow stone,' seems to be identical with the 'smaragdus.'

As for the 'liparea,' the only fact that is reported is that, when it is burnt, all beasts are flushed from their hiding-places by its fumes. The 'lysimachos' is similar to Rhodian marble with golden-yellow veins, and has to be considerably reduced in size by polishing so that its superfluous excrescences may be smoothed away. The 'leucochrysos,' or 'golden-white stone,' consists of a 'chrysolithos' interspersed with white.

LXIII. No description of the 'Memnonia,' or 'stone of Memnon,' exists. Asfor the 'Media,' a black stone found by the Media who is so famous in legend, it has veins of a golden-yellow colour, exudes saffron-yellow moisture and reproduces the flavour of wine. The 'meconitis,' or 'poppy stone,' closely resembles the poppy. 'Mithrax' comes from Persia and the mountains of thePersian Gulf. It is a stone of many colours and reflects their changing tints insunlight. `Morochthos' is leek-green in colour and exudes milky moisture. 'Mormorion,' a very dark translucent stone from India, is also known as 'promnion'; but it is called 'Alexandrion,' or 'Alexander stone,' when the colour of garnet is mingled with it, and 'Cyprium,' when that of carnelian ispresent. It is found also at Tyre and in Galatia and, according toXenocrates, occurs as well close to the Alps. These are gems which are eminently suitable for cameo-engraving. The 'myrrhitis,' or 'myrrh stone,' has the colour of myrrh and an appearance quiteunlike that of a gemstone. It smells like an unguent and, when rubbed, even likespikenard. The 'black myrmecias,' or 'wart stone,' has excrescences like warts, while the 'myrsinitis,' or 'myrtle stone,' is honey-coloured and has the scent of myrtle. A stone is 'mesoleucos,' or 'white in the middle,' when a white band marks the middle of the gem; and is 'mesomelas,' or 'black in themiddle,' when a black layer intersects a gem of any colour in the middle.

LXIV. The 'Nasamonitis,' or 'stone of the Nasamones,' is blood-red with black veins. The 'nebritis,' or 'fawn stone,' which is sacred to Father Liber,derives its name from its resemblance to a fawnskin, but there is another stone of the same kind that is black and white. 'Nipparene,' which gets its namefrom a city and tribe of Persia, is like the tooth of a hippopotamus.

LXV. The stone that bears the foreign name 'oica' is a pleasing mixture of black, reddish-brown, green and white. The 'ombria' ('rain stone'), otherwise known as 'notia' ('south-wind stone'), is said to fall, like the 'ceraurila' and the 'brontea,' in company with heavy rain and thunderbolts, and to havethe same properties as these stones. But in addition, so we are told, itprevents offerings from being burnt away if it is placed on an altar.'`Onocardia,' or 'ass's heart,' is like the scarlet kermesinsect in colour, but we are told nothing further. 'Oritis,' or 'mountain stone,' sometimes known also as 'sideritis,' 'iron stone,' is spherical in shape and not affected by fire. 'Ostracias,' or 'sherd stone,' otherwise known as 'ostracitis,' resemblesearthenware, but is harder than 'ceramitis.' It is like agate except that the latter has a greasy appearance when it has been polished. This 'ostracias' is so hard that other gemstones are engraved with pieces of it. The 'ostritis,' or'oyster stone,' owes its name to its resemblance to an oyster-shell. 'Ophicardelos' is the foreign name for a black stone that is encircled by twowhite bands. Obsidian has already been discussed by me in an earlier book. Thereare also found gems bearing this same name and colour not merely in Ethiopia andIndia but also in Samnium and, as some people think, in Spain on the shores ofthe Atlantic.

LXVI. The 'panchrus,' or 'stone of all colours,' is composed of almost every colour. 'Pangonus,' or all-angles, is no longer than a finger, and it is only its more numerous plane faces that prevent it from being taken for rock-crystal. As for the 'paneros,' or 'all-love,' Metrodorus does not describe it, but heas cites quite a tasteful poem on the stone composed by Queen Timaris and dedicated to Venus. In this poem it is implied that the stone helped her to bear children. Some people call it 'panerastos,' or 'loved-by-all.' The Pontic stoneoccurs in several varieties. It is spangled sometimes with blood-red, sometimeswith golden spots, and is regarded as a supernatural object. One variety has,instead of stars, similarly coloured lines, and another, figures recallingmountains and deep valleys. The 'phloginos,' or 'flame-coloured stone,' which is also known as 'chrysitis,' or 'gold stone,' resembles the yellow ochre of Attica and is found in Egypt. The 'phoenicitis,' or 'date-palm stone,' is so called from its resemblance to a date, and the 'phycitis,' or 'seaweed stone,'from its similarity to seaweed. A stone is 'perileucos,' or'white-around,' when a white line descends (in a spiral) from the margin to the very base of the stone. The 'paeanis,' or 'Apollo stone,' otherwise known as 'gaeanis,' the 'earth stone,' is said to become pregnant and to give birth toanother stone, and so is thought to relieve labour pains. Its birthplace is inMacedonia, near the tomb of Tiresias, and its appearance is that of ice.

LXVII. 'Solls gemma,' or 'gem of the sun,' is a bright colourless stone that sheds its beams in such a way as to resemble the sun's shining disc. 'Sagda' is the name given by the astrologers to a leek-green stone which they find, so they say, attached to ships' hulls. 'Samothrax,' or 'stone of Samothrace,' is produced in the island after which it is named, and is black, light in weight and like wood. The 'sauritis,' or 'lizard stone,' is stated to be found in the belly of a green lizard when it has been slit with a reed. The 'sarcitis,' or 'fleshy stone,' closely resembles ox-flesh. The 'selenitis,' or'moonstone,' a transparent, colourless stone with a honey-coloured sheen, contains a likeness of the moon, and reproduces, if the report is true, the very shape of the moon as it waxes or wanes from day to day. It is thought to occur in Arabia. The 'sideritis,' or 'iron stone,' resembles iron and likewise causes some people to quarrel when it is brought to a dispute. It is found in Ethiopia. The 'sideropoecilos,' or 'mottled iron stone,' is a variety of this stone, mottled with specks. 'Spongitis,' or 'sponge stone,' is absolutely true to its name. The 'synodontitis' comes from the brain of the fish known as 'synodus.' The 'Syrtitis,' or 'stone of Syrtis,' is found on the shoresof the Gulf of Sidra, and indeed, moreover, in Lucania. It is honey-colouredwith a saffron-yellow sheen and contains faint starry spots inside it. 'Syringitis,' or 'pipe stone,' which resembles the length of a stalkbetween two of its joints, is hollow, with a tube running right through it.

LXVIII. The 'trichrus,' or 'three-coloured' stone, which comes from Africa, is black, but gives off streaks of three colours, black at the base, blood-red in the middle and yellow at the top. The 'thelyrrhizos,' or'lady root,' is ashen or red in colour and is distinguished by its white base. The 'thelycardios,' or 'lady heart,' which displays the colour of a heart, gives great pleasure to the Persians, among whom it is found. Their name for it is 'mucul.' The 'Thracia,' or 'Thracian gem,' occurs in three varieties, emerald-green or alternatively paler, while the third has blood-red spots on it. 'Tephritis,' or 'ash stone,' displays a likeness of the new moon with curving horns, but on a ground that is the colour of ash. The 'tecolithos,' or 'solventstone,' looks like an olive stone and has no value as a gem, but when suckedbreaks up and disperses stone in the bladder.

LXIX. 'Veneris crinis,' or 'the lock of Venus,' is a very dark, brilliant stone, which has an inclusion resembling a lock of red hair. The 'Veientana,'which is an Italian gemstone found at Veii, has a black ground defined by awhite edge.

LXX. The 'zathenes,' according to Democritus, is an amber-coloured stone found in Media, and if it is ground with palm wine and saffron softens like wax and has a most agreeable smell. The 'zamilampis,' Zamilar which is found in the Euphrates, is like themarble from the island of Marmara, but is greyish-green in the centre. 'Zoraniscaea' is said to be a gem found in the river Indus and used by the Magi,but, apart from this, nothing is reported about it.

LXXI. There is still another way of classifying precious stones, and itis one which I should like to employ, now that I have already from time to timevaried my method of presenting my theme. For there are stones named after partsof the body, for example 'hepatitis' after the liver, and numerous past kinds of steatitis after the fat found in one animal or another. We find 'Adad's kidney,' 'Adad's eye' and 'Adad's finger,' Adad also being a god who is worshipped by the Syrians. Again, 'triophthalmos' is a variety of onyx thatdisplays the likeness of three human eyes simultaneously.

LXXII. Precious stones are named after animals; for example 'carcinias' takes its name from the colour of the crab, and 'echitis' from that of the viper. 'Scorpitis' is so named because it displays the colour or else the likeness of a scorpion, 'scaritis,' similarly, of a parrot-wrasse, and 'triglitis,' of a red mullet. 'Aegophthalmos' takes its name from a goat's eye, and another stone likewise from a pig's eye. 'Geranitis' owes its name to the crane's neck, 'hieracitis' to the kite and 'aëtitis' to the colour of the white-tailed eagle. 'Myrmecitis' displays a naturally formed likeness of a crawling ant, and 'cantharias' that of scarab beetles. 'Lycophthalmos' is astone of four colours, red mixed with blood-red, while in the middle it has blackencircled by white, like a wolf's eye. 'Taos' is like a peacock; and a stone which I find bearing the name 'timictonia' similarly resembles an asp in colour.

LXXIII. A resemblance to inanimate objects is found in 'ammochrysus,' or'sand-gold,' which looks like gold mixed with sand; in 'cenchrites,' or 'millet stone,' which looks as if it were sprinkled with grains of millet; and in 'dryites,' or 'oak stone,' which resembles the trunk of an oak. Moreover, this stone burns like wood. The 'cissitis,' or 'ivy stone,' is a transparent, colourless stone in which ivy leaves are visible, and these cover the whole stone. 'Narcissitis' is marked with veins coloured like narcissus, and has alsoits scent. 'Cyarnias,' or 'bean stone,' is black, but when broken produces from its interior an object resembling a bean. The 'pyren' is so called because it is like an olive stone: sometimes it looks as if it contains fish bones. The 'phoenicitis' is like a date. 'Chalazias,' or 'hail stone,' has thewhiteness arid the shape of hailstones, and is as hard as 'adamas,' so that even when it is placed in a lire it is said to retain its natural coolness. 'Pyritis,' or 'fire stone,' even though it is black, scorches the fingers when it is rubbed. 'Polyzonos,' or 'many-banded stone,' is marked with a number of white bands on a black ground, while the 'astrapaea,' or 'lightning stone,' on a colourless or blue ground is traversed in the centre by beams like lightning flashes. The 'phlogitis,' or 'flame stone,' seems to have burning inside it a flame which, however, is not released, while the 'anthracitis,' or 'carbuncle stone,' appears to have sparks running in different directions through it. The 'enhygros,' or 'stone with moisture inside it,' has a white, smooth ground, and is always perfectly round. When it is shaken, liquid moves to and fro inside it, as in an egg. The 'polythrix,' or 'hairy stone,' displays hairy streaks on agreen ground, but, in spite of its appearance, is said to make one's hair fallout. There are also the so-called 'lion-skin' and 'leopard-skin' stones. Colours too have lent their names to stones. 'Drosolithos,' or 'dew stone,' takes its name from its grass-green tint, 'melichrus,' of which there are several kinds, from its honey colour, 'melichlorus,' or 'honey-yellow stone,' from two tints combined, because it is partly yellow and partly honey-coloured; while 'crocias' is sprinkled as if with saffron, 'polias' with a greyishwhite tint, and 'spartopolias' with markings of a greyish-white more dispersed. 'Rhoditis'is 'rose-coloured,' melitis 'apple-coloured,' 'chalcitis' copper coloured and 'sychitis' 'fig-coloured'. 'Bostrychitis' has white or blood-red leaves branching out on a black ground, while 'chernitis' presents the appearance of white hands clasping each other on stone. The 'anancitis,' or 'compulsive stone,' it is said, is used in divination by water to conjure up divine apparitions, while the 'synochitis,' or 'holding stone,' so we are told, holds the shades of the dead when they have been summoned from below. As for the white 'dendritis,' or 'tree stone,' it is said that if it is buried beneath a treethat is being felled the edges of the axes will not be blunted. There are manymore stones that are even more magical; and these have received foreign namesfrom men who have thus betrayed the fact that they are ordinary, worthlessstones, and not precious stones at all. But I shall here remain content withhaving exposed the abominable falsehoods of the Magi.

LXXIV. New, unnamed precious stones come into existence quiteunexpectedly, like one which, according toTheophrastus, was once found in the gold mines near Lampsacus and wassent to KingAlexander owing to its great beauty. Moreover, 'Cochlides,' or 'shell stones,' are now very common, butare really artificial rather than natural. In Arabia they are found as hugelumps, and these are said to be boiled in honey without interruption for sevendays and nights. Thus all earthy and other impurities are eliminated; and thelump, cleansed and purified, is divided into various shapes by clever craftsmen,who are careful to follow up the veins and elongated markings in such a way asto ensure the readiest sale. Formerly, these lumps were produced in such largesizes that in the East they were made into frontlets for kings' horses aud intopendants to serve as trappings for them. In general, all gems are rendered morecolourful by being boiled thoroughly in honey, particularly if it is Corsican honey, which is unsuitable for any other purpose owing to its acidity. Cunning and talented artists succeed also in cutting away parts of variegated stones so as to obtain novelties; and in order that these selfsame stones may not bear their usual name, they call them 'physis,' or 'works of nature,' and offer themfor sale as natural curiosities.

But there is no end to the names given to preciousstones, and I have no intention of listing them in full, innumerable as theyare, thanks to the wanton imagination of the Greeks. Now that I have mentionedthe precious stones, and also some, indeed, that are common, I must be contentwith having given emphasis to the rarer varieties that deserve notice. One pointonly should be remembered, that, according to the different marks andexcrescences that appear on the surface of stones, and according to the variedtracks and colours of the bands that traverse them, names are often altered whenthe material is commonly the same.

LXXV. Now I shall make some general observations which concern our studyof any precious stone; and here I shall adopt the notions of our authorities.

Concave or convex stones are considered less valuable than those with a planesurface. An elongated shape is the most valuable; then what is called thelenticular; and then a flat, round shape. Stones with sharp angles find theleast favour.

To distinguish genuine and false gemstones is extremely difficult, particularlyas men have discovered how to make genuine stones of one variety into falsestones of another. For example, a sardonyx can be manufactured so convincinglyby sticking three gems together that the artifice cannot be detected: a blackstone is taken from one species, a white from another, and a vermilion-colouredstone from a third, all being excellent in their own way. And furthermore, thereare treatises by authorities, whom I at least shall not deign to mention byname, describing how by means of dyestuffs emeralds and other transparentcoloured gems are made from rock-crystal, or a sardonyx from a sard, andsimilarly all other gemstones from one stone or another. And there is no othertrickery that is practised against society with greater profit.

LXXVI. I, on the other hand, am prepared to explain the methods ofdetecting false gems, since it is only fitting that even luxury should beprotected against deception. Apart, then, from the details that I have given indescribing the best stones of each class, it is recommended that transparentstones in general should be tested early in the morning or, if necessary, np toten o'clock, but on no account later than this. Tests are made in many differentways: first by weight, because genuine stones are heavier; then by coolness,since genuine stones also feel colder in the mouth; and after this by structure.For artificial stones show globules deep below the surface, rough patches on thesurface itself, filaments, an inconsistent lustre and a brightness that fails tostrike the eye. The most effective test is to knock off a piece of the stone sothat it can be baked on an iron plate, but dealers in precious stones notunnaturally object to this, and likewise to testing with a file. Flakes ofobsidian will not scratch a genuine stone, but on a false stone every scratchleaves a white mark. Furthermore, there is a great difference as between onestone and another in that some cannot be engraved with an iron tool and someonly with a blunt iron tool, although all can be worked with a diamond point.But what is most effective in working gemstones is the heat generated by thedrill.

The rivers that produce gems are the Chenab andthe Ganges, and of all the lands that produce them India is the most prolific.

LXXVII. For now that I have completed my survey of Nature's works, it isright that I should make a critical assessment of her products, as well of thelands that produce them. This, then, I declare: in the whole world, wherever theVault of heaven turns, there is no land so well adorned with all that winsNature's crown as Italy, the ruler and second mother of the world, with her menand women, her generals and soldiers, her slaves, her pre-eminence in arts andcrafts, her wealth of brilliant talent, and, again, her geographical positionand her healthy, temperate climate, the easy access which she offers to allother peoples, her shores with their many harbours, and the kindly winds thatblow upon her. All these benefits accrue to her from her situationfor the landjuts out in the direction that is most advantageous, midway between the East andthe Westand from her abundant supply of water, her healthy forests, hermountains with their passes, her harmless wild creatures, her fertile soil andher rich pastures. Nowhere are the things that man is entitled to expect moreexcellentcrops, wine, olive oil, wool, flax, cloth and young cattle. Even thenative breed of homes is preferred to any other on the training-ground. In ores,whether of gold, silver, copper or iron, no country surpassed her so long as itwas lawful to work them. Now she keeps them within her womb, and all her bountylies in the many different liquors and the diverse savours of crops and fruitsthat she lavishes upon us. Next to Italy, if we leave aside the fabulous marvelsof India, I would place Spain, or at least the districts where Spain is borderedby the sea. For although the country is partly rough desert, yet all itsproductive regions are rich in crops, oil, wine, horses and every kind of ore.So far, Gaul is Spain's equal. But it is Spain's deserts that give her theadvantage; for here we find esparto grass, selenite and even luxuryin the formof pigments; here is a place where there is an incentive to toil, where slavescan be schooled, where men's bodies are hard and their hearts passionatelyeager.

LXXVIII. However, to return to products pure and simple, the most costlyproduct of the sea is the pearl; of the earth's surface, rock-crystal; of theearth's interior, diamonds, emeralds, gemstones and vessels of fluorspar; ofthe earth's increase, the scarlet kermes-insect and silphium, with spikenard andsilks from leaves, citrus wood from trees, cinnamon, cassia and amomum fromshrubs, amber, balsam, myrrh and frankincense, which exude from trees or shrubs,and costus from roots. As for those animals which are equipped to breathe, the most costly product found on land is the elephant's tusk, and on sea the turtle's shell. Of the hides and coats of animals, the most costly are the pelts dyed in China and the Arabian she-goat's tufted beard which we call 'ladanum.'Of creatures that belong to both land and sea, the most costly products arescarlet and purple dyes made from shell-fish. Birds are credited with nooutstanding contribution except warriors' plumes and the grease of the Commagenegoose. We must not forget to mention that gold, for which all mankind has so mada passion, comes scarcely tenth in the list of valuables, while silver, withwhich we purchase gold, is almost as low as twentieth.

Hail, Nature, mother of all creation, and mindful that I alone of the men of Rome have praised thee in all thy manifestations, be gracious unto me.

The Romans were rather puzzled, and perhaps a little frightened, by the hyenaand its strange habits. Pliny has a short chapter (VIII § 105, 106) in which herefers to many popular beliefs about the animal: that it is bisexual, becomingmale and female in alternate years; that it can imitate human speech, a beliefarising perhaps from its laughing cry; that it imitates a person being sick, soas to attract dogs; that it digs up graves in search of corpses; and that it isan animal possessing magic powers.

Pliny seems to have obtained most if not all his information from books onmagic, for perhaps none of the seventy-five 'remedies' in chapter XXVIIof thetwenty-eighth book can be considered rational. Neither Serenus nor SextusP1acitus mentions the animal, but Scribonius Largus makes use of hyaena's gallin an eye-salve (XXXVIII), and has much to say about a recipe for hydrophobiawhich he obtainedpro magno munere froma medicus called Zopyrus(CLXXI and CLXXII). It turned out to be a piece of hyena skin wrapped up incloth. Seribonius took great pains to prepare the amulet and keep ii ready, butconfesses that he had not yet had a chance to put it to the test. Many of thehyena remedies were probably fraudulent imitations, although hyenas must haveformed part of the wild-beast shows of which the Romans were so fond.

'The Greeks have applied the terms "sympathy" and "antipathy" to the principleof Nature that water puts out fire ... the magnetic stone draws iron to itselfwhile another kind repels it ... the diamond, unbreakable by any other force, isbroken by goat's blood.' So says Pliny (XX § 1, 2). At the beginning ofBookXXIV he gives a longer list, from which examples are: oak and olive; oak andwalnut; cabbage and vine; cabbage and cyclamen or marjoram; all theircontraries. The affinities include: pitch and oil, both being fatty; gum andvinegar, which washes gum out; ink and water, which combine readily.

In the working out of this theory there must inevitably be, to modern minds,some inconsistency and much sheer fancy. The theory itself is fanciful, and moreakin to the 'Love or Hate' of Empedocles than to theconvenientia of theStoics, although parallels or analogies might be found in the scientificconcepts of today. There was a tendency in Greek speculation to take anattractive idea, work it to death, and ignore or brush aside objections to it.Pliny says (XXIV 4) of sympathy and antipathy: 'Hence medicine was born.' Butit is not always clear whether a remedy is a cure because of antipathy to thedisease or because of sympathy with it. The neutralization of disease suggeststhe former; the 'doctrine of signatures' the latter. When, however, Pliny says(XXVIII § 147) that the power of sympathy under the influence ofreligio isgreat enough to render harmless the drinking of bull's blood by the priestessof Earth at Aegira, the reasoning is hard to follow. Various explanations couldbe given, but most modern minds would have been more satisfied if Pliny had saidthat the power ofreligio is so great that it can turn antipathy intosympathy.

Dr. W. T. Fernie,Animal Simples, pp. 63--65, says that bull's bloodwas once a favourite beverage! He also refers to Grote's suggestion thatimperfect prussic acid, which may be obtained from blood, may have been called'ox-blood.' There was a story that Themistocles committed suicide by drinkingbull's blood, and the belief in its poisonous nature long persisted.

There is an article on 'sympathy,'Der Heilmagnetismus bei Plinius,by Th. Steinweuder, inZeitschrift fur die Oester-reichrischenGymnasien, LXIX 1-20.

Pliny says (XXVIII. 108) that there are two kinds of crocodile, the second beingsmaller, living on land only, and eating scented plants so that in its bowels isformed a much-prized substance calledcrocodilea.

Actually Egypt has today but one crocodile, theCrocodilusniloticus, which has, however, two musk glands, one under the throat and theother in itscloaca.

We can only guess why Pliny says that the scent was taken from smallcrocodiles living on land. Pliny seems to have misunderstood his authorities;perhaps the perfumers kept baby crocodiles in semi-domestication.

P. Fournier, writing in theRevue de Philologie for 1952 and 1953, has afewNotulae Plinianae which did not come to my attention in timete he mentioned in vol. VII. He thinks thatpopulus should often bereplaced byepulus, andornus bycornus. For purelybotanical reasons, he suggests the following emendations:

In XXX. § 24, taking the best attested readings, we have:a quoquevermiculus ... mire prodest, nam urucae bresaicae eius contectu caduntet e melee cimices infunduntur aunibns. This gives: 'The grub also ...is wonderfully good (sc. for the teeth). For (or But) cabbage caterpillars fallat its touch, and bugs from the mallow are poured into ears.' This is rather anon sequitur. Mayhoff emends:mucae e brassicae fetus.That is: 'But at the touch of the caterpillar from the leaves of cabbages teethfall out, and bugs, etc.'

Professor Warmington would read: 'mire prodest, nam eius contactu cadunt;urucce bressicee et e melee cimices, etc.'a simpletransposition: 'is wonderfully good, for at its touch teeth fall out; cabbagecaterpillars and bugs from mallow, etc.'

In XXX. 64 the bestMSS. have:in dotore si quis equam per pedesftuentes (orftuentis)haurire sustineat. Mayhoff has:in dolore si quis equam ter pedes eluens heunine sustinerst. The order of thewords suggests thatter goes witheluens, but the sense that itgoes withhettnine.

Professor Warmington would keep per and changefluentes tofluentem. 'If anyone when in pain can bring himself to swallow the waterthat swirls about his feet.'

TheMSS. read: certior subtilitas, inter pares meliorem esse quae caleflatrefrigereturque celerius, quin et haustam vasis ne manus pendeant depositisquein bumum tepescere adflrmant.

The second sentence is very difficult, and one is reminded of Mayhoff's warningin the Appendix to Vol. IV. (p. 497):verum in talibus rebus, quae omni rationecareant, rectius eat desperare quam nub testimoniorum adiumento e soilslitterarum vestiglls inanem coniecturam facere.

Although it cannot be said thatomaha retio is wanting, yet the ratio isvery obscure, and is perhaps irrecoverable.

The subject of the passage is the wholesomeness or 'lightness' of water. It hasjust been said that the lightness cannot be determined by a pair of scales orsteelyard. A more delicate test is the increase in heat when the water is placedin pots on the ground. The problem is: was Pliny's intention to say, 'don'tweigh' or 'don't warm by touching'? Either alternative would requireconsiderable emendation. Mayhoff adopts from a Dalechamp variantmann formenus, and addsportatis aftervasis in order to balanceimpesitisque, 'in pots carried without weighing by hand and placed etc.'; Ibetlefsen, aiming at much the same sense, readsmenus suspendant, and leavesthequa difficult to explain. The other interpretation would require aradical change ofpendeant totangent ortepecut, and perhaps otherchanges as well. The difficulty ofqua might be overcome by readingimpositam,and if the avoidance of warming by touch is the point of thene-clause,ansaiis,'with handles,' a Plinian word, would be better than Mayhoff'sportatis.

On the whole it is best to confess that the sentence is a puzzle hithertounsolved, and that two meanings are possible, with a preference for the one thatimplies weighing.

Nitrum, from the Arabicnatron, was probably a mixture of sodiumcarbonate, calcium carbonate, and various chlorides. It was often obtained frompools N.W. of Cairo.

From the account of Pliny we can conclude with certainty thatnitrum wasto a great extentsoda, but not entirely so. We are told, for instance, that itcould be used instead of salt in making bread, that it turned green vegetablesgreener, that with dill, cummin, or rue it relieved gripes, that it dissolved inthe month, and that sometimes, but net always, it crackled in lire.

Soda scum (spume nun,ephronitrum) was said to ooze from the sides ofcertain caves in Asia and also to come from Egypt. It was probably carbonatesand nitrates of soda and potash, coloured by copper and iron oxides. See theLoeb Pliny, vol. II, p. LII.

In the former he says that sponges have four or five fistulae, going allthe way through, and that there are others, closed at the upper end. A modernarticle on sponges will probably refer to the various holes of a sponge ascanals, apertures, pores, cavities, funnels, oscules, according to their shapeor purpose. Pliny calls the holes by one name only, fistulae. Now Plinyknew, or took from his authorities, that sponges were animal, but it issometimes impossible to make out whether he is speaking of the living sponge orof the domestic article. Most of XXXI. Ch. 47, deals with the latter, but theclassification is apparently concerned with the former.

Pliny's second class, the female, is said to havefistulae perpetuae, butthe third class to have fistulae that are very small and very numerous.The words of Pliny imply that his first and third classes have fistulaethat are not perpetuae.

As a matter of fact, the oscules of all living sponges never close. Therefore,ifperpetuus can mean 'never-closing,' and if Pliny has in mind spongesin their native state, he is attributing to a particular class a characteristicthat really belongs to them all. The adjectiveperpetuus, however, is astrange one to use in this sense, as it means properly 'long and unbroken.'

It is probable that Pliny has written carelessly and vaguely, and in partialignorance.

The origin of medicine is obscure. Some anthropologists, arguing from thecustoms of primitive peoples, tell us that it arose from magic. By that term aremeant powers, which we should call supernatural, but to primitive man werequite normal, supposed to reside in certain objects, and capable of being putinto action by those who know the proper procedure. Magic of this kind hasplayed a large part in the evolution of medicine, but before the age of magicthere may have been a period, perhaps a long one, when man, like a sick dog,treated himself instinctively if ill or in pain. Very soon in the age of magicappeared 'medicine men,' who did much to build up a system of ritual,incantations, amulets, and taboos, which reinforced or even replaced thevegetable or animal remedies. Out of this stage, there slowly evolved, as man'sreasoning power grew, the stage of rational medicine, in which the medicine manwas superseded by the professional physician or surgeon, although many of hisduties were carried out by the head of the family. In this way arose thedistinction, which even today has not disappeared, between professional, andfolk or popular, medicine.

The best professionals of Greece, mostly by their own efforts but partly throughthe influence of other countries, especially Egypt, had by 400 B.C. entirelydiscarded superstitious methods of healing. Two treatises [Airs,Waters, Places andSacred Disease] in the HippocraticCorpus declare that all diseases are due to natural causes, and can be curedonly by natural means. But traces of superstition are to be seen in the worksof Celsus and Galen, and in popular medicine it flourished. The truth is that,however much the best physicians despised them, superstitious methods had theiruses. A patient who is cheerful, and buoyed up by strong, even if false hopes,is more likely to do well than is a patient worried and depressed. If a man hascomplete faith in the efficacy of a completely inert compound, his chances ofrecovery are improved merely by the psychological effect of his belief. Hereinlies at least one reason for the long vogue of medicines that we now know arephysiologically useless. Magical ritual and incantations were often amusing,and always gave the impression that something of great importance was about tohappen. The power of suggestion and auto-suggestion had full scope to act,especially among people who were far more credulous and superstitious than thepresent age of positive science.

Roman medicine for many generations was entirely popular, for the Romans neverdeveloped a scientific medicine of their own. Until 219 BC., when the Greekphysician Archagathus migrated to Rome from the Peloponnesus, they doctoredthemselves. [Doctors from Magna Graecia certainly influenced, directly orindirectly, medical practice in the rest of Italy, but we know little about thedetails. At Croton was one of the first Greek medical schools.] Cato's hatred ofprofessional physicians, apparent in the letter to his son, may have beenunusually strong, but Pliny's dislike was almost as great, and markeddisapproval is shown by Pliny Junior, Serenus, and pseudo-Apuleius. There weremany low-class physicians in the Graeco-Roman world, for no tests were requiredbefore beginning a practice. These deserved all the blame bestowed upon them bytheir disappointed dupes; Pliny, however, picks out for his most venomous attackAsclepiades, who was really a good physician and highly praised by Celsus.

During and after the Roman conquest of Greece, there came to Italy great numbersof these poorly qualified men, who, desirous of making a living, pandered to thetastes and fancies of the self-doctoring Romans, supplying them with remediesof different sorts, but most of them useless except as faith cures. In this waythere came to be known to the Romans a vast number of foreign drugs, most ofwhich were perhaps never tried in Italy at all, but many of them appear to havebecome popular. How these new remedies were put on the market or 'advertised'(as we might say) can be seen by reading theCompositiones of SeriboniusLargus, a lower-grade doctor of perhaps a better type than the majority. Heconfesses to buying quack remedies from an Africanmuliercula and a Romanhonesta matrona, and one for pleurisy from a man who, to keep hisprescription a secret, pretended to include ingredients which actually he neverused. He also bought from his friend Zopyrus of Gortynpro magno munerean amulet to protect from hydrophobiaa piece of hyena skin wrapped in cloth.

But the man who introduced to the Romans most of the new or foreign remedies wasPliny himself, who in BooksXX,XXI toXXXII gives perhaps several thousands. He didlittle, if any, independent research, but collected recipes, botanical andanimal, from every available source, including some he professed to dislike.According to his own statement Pliny preferred herbal simples, but heprescribes without disapproval mixtures, animal remedies, remedies fromprofessional doctors and even those of the Magi, whom he cordially hated. Thegrosser forms of superstitiondraughts of blood and relics from the cross orgallowsaroused his scorn, but he places them on record, while amulets, ritual,and incantations, are described or mentioned, though often prefixed by 'they saythat,' or 'it is thought that.' Pliny sometimes reports gossip, and forgets hisprofessed aim to be utilitarian. In this jumble of so-called cures very littleguidance is given to the harassed attendant in search of a remedy for adifficult case.

TheNatural History is not a good practical textbook. So thought manywho later wrote popular works on the same subject, several of which are extant.These picked out recipes that appealed to them from Pliny's book, adding somefrom other sources. By the time of Plinius Junior, who wrote what is probablythe earliest of the extant epitomes, a great deal of the matter in theNatural History had become what may be called communal knowledge, so thatdirect borrowing from Pliny, although possible, should not necessarily beassumed. The 'Pliny' just mentioned is the pen-name of one who wrote amedicina Plinii about AD 350. He was followed by Serenus Sammonicus,the author of a didactic poem in 1107 hexameters, covering the whole ground in64 sections, pseudo-Apuleius with hisHerbarius, Sextus Placitus, whogives recipes only from animals and birds, and Marcellus Empiricus of Bordeaux.The dates of these four are uncertain, but are grouped around A.D. 400.

Animal remedies, as given by Pliny, are very often, perhaps usually, based on asimple magic, such as 'like cures like.' There is some magic in the plantremedies, but much more in those from animals. The reason may be that animals,more akin to man than plants, have a closer 'sympathy' and a sharper'antipathy,' two rather mysterious qualities which Pliny, influenced by someGreek thinker, believed to be the active principles in all cures. The magic ofthe medical books is of a mild and inoffensive kindritual, incantations,amulets, neglect of rational doses for those with the magical numbers three,seven, nine, and so on.

A typical but imaginative Plinian cure might be to draw a ring round a plantwith iron, gather it at night without letting it fall to the ground, say forwhat purpose and for whom it is gathered, and to administer three leaves orthree cyathi of a decoction. In a dose of this kind there is 'power' (vis),not only in the plant, but in the ritual, the words, and the number three.

Popular medicine in Italy can be better understood if contrasted withprofessional medicine, which among the Greeks had reached a very high standardby 400 B.C. At Alexandria a hundred years later a further advance wasmade, and Celsus wrote a textbook inspired by Alexandrian influence. Bycomparing the treatment of epilepsy or malaria in Celsus and Pliny we can throwsome light on the question, especially if we remember that epilepsy frightenedthe ancients, and that malaria was obstinate or incurable. The professionalsdiscarded all superstitious or magical remedies, and relied on regimen, rest,and warmth, using drugs (except purges and emetics) very sparingly. Popularmedicine had recourse to any and every supposed remedy, however absurd anddisgusting to our minds, and to amulets, incantations, and various other kindsof magic. What we call 'shock' remedies were sometimes employed; one of the moststriking, used in the treatment of another disease, was to duck the victims ofhydrophobia unawares into cold water.

Some popular medicines used were really of therapeutic value, but most of themwere chosen because of a fanciful resemblance or relationship to the disease,e.g. black hellebore for diseases caused by black bile. Very common wereamulets, usually prophylactic, although curative became common in Italy in thefirst century A.D. A common type of amulet is to take the eye of a crab,the crab being allowed to go free, and to wear it as an amulet for diseases ofthe eye. The theory behind all this is that the crab's eye retains power to healeyes so long as the crab lives; the eye amulet absorbs the eye trouble andtransfers it to the mutilated animal, which usually dies, carrying with it thecomplaint.

Pliny did not like compound prescriptions, but Roman popular medicine hadseveral, for in order to make sure of the proper ingredient a great number ofthem were often combined in a 'blunderbuss,' as in the famous antidote of Mithridates, which finally had over seventy components. Conversely, when aremedy was found suitable for one complaint it was often assumed by falseanalogy that it would be good for many others. The outstanding example isbetony, used for forty-seven ailments.

The main conclusion to be drawn is that popular cures, except in a few obviouscases, were faith cures. Faith is a powerful healer today; in ancient times,owing to the greater credulity of the age, it was probably a far more effectivehealer.

To equate modern diseases with the names used by ancient physicians is a taskfull of uncertainty. In some cases indeed there is no difficulty; a disease mayhave such distinctive symptoms, and be so unlike any other, that its descriptionin Celsus or Galen points clearly to one, and only one, diagnosis, examplesbeing intermittent malarial fevers and the common cold. Pneumonia again in bothGreek and Latin writings is usually easy to detect (although there is somechance of confusion with acute bronchitis), and so are also dropsy and pleurisy.Often, however, we can do no more than divide into groups: (1) diseases and (2)the ancient names of diseases, and then identify a group from one with a groupfrom the other. Many quite different diseases are so alike symptomatically thatidentification can be established, even today, only by a microscopicexamination conducted with a technique quite unknown to the ancients. Greatcare is needed with eye diseases and skin diseases, both of which were far morecommon in earlier days than they are with us, for dust was everywhere anddisinfecting cleansing was practically unknown. The principle of grouping isnearly always the safest one to adopt; to attempt more is hazardous. Forexample, we have on the one handcollectio, furunculus, panus,vomica andtumor; on the other we have 'boil,' 'abscess,''gathering' and 'carbuncle.' The group of complaints covered by the Latin termsis nearly, if not quite, the same as that covered by the English, but anyattempt to make more specific identification is attended with much uncertainty;perhaps panes is the only one we can isolate more completely.

More important for our appreciation of antiquity than the identification ofspecific diseases is to ascertain which, if any, modern diseases were unknown inthe Hellenistic age. Here the evidence, especially that relating to infectiousfevers, is most disappointing. These fevers are endemic in the modem world, andfigure largely in treatises on pathology. But the old medicalwriters'Hippocrates,' Celsus, Galen and the many compilers whosucceeded Galendo not describe, or give treatment for, small-pox, chicken-pox,measles, scarlatina, typhoid or even influenza. The most that can be said isthat in isolated clinical histories or in chance aphoristic remarks one or otherof them may be referred to; the evidence is strongest for diphtheria. Moreover,in the pseudo-AristotelianProblems (VII 8) it is said that consumption, ophthalmia and the itch are infectious, but that fevers are not. It is difficultto believe that a people who knew that consumption is infectious would havecalled scarlatina non-infectious if it had been endemic among them.

The Romans borrowed many names of diseases from the Greeks. Usually, of course,the Latin word refers to the same disease as does the Greek, especially in theworks of medical writers. But care must be exercised; λέπρα, forinstance, seems to be much narrower thanlepra.

Celsus is by far themost trustworthy authority to follow in identifying the diseases mentioned byPliny, for both were Romans, both (probably) laymen and nearly contemporaries.