Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

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  CHAP. 19. (18.)

  TWENTY-NINE VARIETIES OF THE FIG.

  Of all the remaining fruits that are included under the name of “pomes,” the fig is the largest: some, indeed, equal the pear, even, in size. We have already mentioned, while treating of the exotic fruits, the miraculous productions of Egypt and Cyprus in the way of figs. The fig of Mount Ida is red, and the size of an olive, rounder however, and like a medlar in flavour; they give it the name of Alexandrian in those parts. The stem is a cubit in thickness; it is branchy, has a tough, pliant wood, is entirely destitute of all milky juice, and has a green bark, and leaves like those of the linden tree, but soft to the touch. Onesicritus states that in Hyrcania the figs are much sweeter than with us, and that the trees are more prolific, seeing that a single tree will bear as much as two hundred and seventy modii of fruit. The fig has been introduced into Italy from other countries, Chalcis and Chios, for instance, the varieties being very numerous: there are those from Lydia also, which are of a purple colour, and the kind known as the “mamillana,” which is very similar to the Lydian. The callistruthiæ are very little superior to the last in flavour; they are the coldest by nature of all the figs. As to the African fig, by many people preferred to any other, it has been made the subject of very considerable discussion, as it is a kind that has been introduced very recently into Africa, though it bears the name of that country. As to the fig of Alexandria, it is a black variety, with the cleft inclining to white; it has had the name given to it of the “delicate” fig: the Rhodian fig, too, and the Tiburtine, one of the early kinds, are black. Some of them, again, bear the name of the persons who were the first to introduce them, such, for instance, as the Livian and the Pompeian figs: this last variety is the best for drying in the sun and keeping for use, from year to year; the same is the case, too, with the marisca, and the kind which has a leaf spotted all over like the reed. There is also the Herculanean fig, the albicerata, and the white aratia, a very large variety, with an extremely diminutive stalk.

  The earliest of them all is the porphyritis, which has a stalk of remarkable length: it is closely followed by the popularis, one of the very smallest of the figs, and so called from the low esteem in which it is held: on the other hand, the chelidonia is a kind that ripens the last of all, and to- wards the beginning of winter. In addition to these, there are figs that are at the same time both late and early, as they bear two crops in the year, one white and the other black, ripening at harvest-time and vintage respectively. There is another late fig also, that has received its name from the singular hardness of its skin; one of the Chalcidian varieties bears as many as three times in the year. It is at Tarentum only that the remarkably sweet fig is grown which is known by the name of “ona.”

  Speaking of figs, Cato has the following remarks: “Plant the fig called the ‘marisca’ on a chalky or open site, but for the African variety, the Herculanean, the Saguntine, the winter fig and the black Telanian with a long stalk, you must select a richer soil, or else a ground well manured.” Since his day there have so many names and kinds come up, that even on taking this subject into consideration, it must be apparent to every one how great are the changes which have taken place in civilized life.

  There are winter figs, too, in some of the provinces, the Mœsian, for instance; but they are made so by artificial means, such not being in reality their nature. Being a small variety of the fig-tree, they cover it up with manure at the end of autumn, by which means the fruit on it is overtaken by winter while still in a green state: then when the weather, becomes milder the fruit is uncovered along with the tree, and so restored to light. Just as though it had come into birth afresh, the fruit imbibes the heat of the new sun with the greatest avidity — a different sun, in fact, to that which originally gave it life — and so ripens along with the blossom of the coming crop; thus attaining maturity in a year not its own, and this in a country, too, where the greatest cold prevails.

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  CHAP. 20.

  HISTORICAL ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH THE FIG.

  The mention by Cato of the variety which bears the name of the African fig, strongly recalls to my mind a remarkable fact connected with it and the country from which it takes its name.

  Burning with a mortal hatred to Carthage, anxious, too, for the safety of his posterity, and exclaiming at every sitting of the senate that Carthage must be destroyed, Cato one day brought with him into the Senate-house a ripe fig, the produce of that country. Exhibiting it to the assembled senators, “I ask you,” said he, “when, do you suppose, this fruit was plucked from the tree?” All being of opinion that it had been but lately gathered, — Know then,” was his reply, “that this fig was plucked at Carthage but the day before yesterday — so near is the enemy to our walls.” It was immediately after this occurrence that the third Punic war commenced, in which Carthage was destroyed, though Cato had breathed his last, the year after this event. In this trait which are we the most to admire? was it ingenuity and foresight on his part, or was it an accident that was thus aptly turned to advantage? which, too, is the most surprising, the extraordinary quickness of the passage which must have been made, or the bold daring of the man? The thing, however, that is the most astonishing of all — indeed, I can conceive nothing more truly marvellous — is the fact that a city thus mighty, the rival of Rome for the sovereignty of the world during a period of one hundred and twenty years, owed its fall at last to an illustration drawn from a single fig!

  Thus did this fig effect that which neither Trebia nor Thrasimenus, not Cannæ itself, graced with the entombment of the Roman renown, not the Punic camp entrenched within three miles of the city, not even the disgrace of seeing Hannibal riding up to the Colline Gate, could suggest the means of accomplishing. It was left for a fig, in the hand of Cato, to show how near was Carthage to the gates of Rome!

  In the Forum even, and in the very midst of the Comitium of Rome, a fig-tree is carefully cultivated, in memory of the consecration which took place on the occasion of a thunderbolt which once fell on that spot; and still more, as a memorial of the fig-tree which in former days overshadowed Romulus and Remus, the founders of our empire, in the Lupercal Cave. This tree received the name of “ruminalis,” from the circumstance that under it the wolf was found giving the breast — rumis it was called in those days — to the two infants. A group in bronze was afterwards erected to consecrate the remembrance of this miraculous event, as, through the agency of Attus Navius the augur, the tree itself had passed spontaneously from its original locality to the Comitium in the Forum. And not without some direful presage is it that that tree has withered away, though, thanks to the care of the priesthood, it has been since replaced.

  There was another fig-tree also, before the temple of Saturn, which was removed on the occasion of a sacrifice made by the Vestal Virgins, it being found that its roots were gradually undermining the statue of the god Silvanus. Another one, accidentally planted there, flourished in the middle of the Forum, upon the very spot, too, in which, when from a direful presage it had been foreboded that the growing empire was about to sink to its very foundations, Curtius, at the price of an inestimable treasure — in other words, by the sacrifice of such unbounded virtue and piety — redeemed his country by a glorious death. By a like accident, too, a vine and an olive-tree have sprung up in the same spot, which have ever since been carefully tended by the populace for the agreeable shade which they afford. The altar that once stood there was afterwards removed by order of the deified Julius Cæsar, upon the occasion of the last spectacle of gladiatorial combats which he gave in the Forum.

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  CHAP. 21.

  CAPRIFICATION.

  The fig, the only one among all the pomes, hastens to maturity by the aid of a remarkable provision of Nature. (19.) The wild-fig, known by the name of “caprificus,” never ripens itself, though it is able to impart to the others the pr
inciple of which it is thus destitute; for we occasionally find Nature making a transfer of what are primary causes, and being generated from decay. To effect this purpose the wild fig-tree produces a kind of gnat. These insects, deprived of all sustenance from their parent tree, at the moment that it is hastening to rottenness and decay, wing their flight to others of kindred though cultivated kind. There feeding with avidity upon the fig, they penetrate it in numerous places, and by thus making their way to the inside, open the pores of the fruit. The moment they effect their entrance, the heat of the sun finds admission too, and through the inlets thus made the fecundating air is introduced. These insects speedily consume the milky juice that constitutes the chief support of the fruit in its infant state, a result which would otherwise be spontaneously effected by absorption: and hence it is that in the plantations of figs a wild fig is usually allowed to grow, being placed to the windward of the other trees in order that the breezes may bear from it upon them. Improving upon this discovery, branches of the wild fig are sometimes brought from a distance, and bundles tied together are placed upon the cultivated tree. This method, however, is not necessary when the trees are growing on a thin soil, or on a site exposed to the north-east wind; for in these cases the figs will dry spontaneously, and the clefts which are made in the fruit effect the same ripening process which in other instances is brought about by the agency of these insects. Nor is it requisite to adopt this plan on spots which are liable to dust, such, for instance, as is generally the case with fig-trees planted by the side of much-frequented roads: the dust having the property of drying up the juices of the fig, and so absorbing the milky humours. There is this superiority, however, in an ad. vantageous site over the methods of ripening by the agency of dust or by caprification, that the fruit is not so apt to fall; for the secretion of the juices being thus prevented, the fig is not so heavy as it would otherwise be, and the branches are less brittle.

  All figs are soft to the touch, and when ripe contain grains in the interior. The juice, when the fruit is ripening, has the taste of milk, and when dead ripe, that of honey. If left on the tree they will grow old; and when in that state, they distil a liquid that flows in tears like gum. Those that are more highly esteemed are kept for drying, and the most approved kinds are put away for keeping in baskets. The figs of the island of Ebusus are the best as well as the largest, and next to them are those of Marrucinum. Where figs are in great abundance, as in Asia, for instance, huge jars are filled with them, and at Ruspina, a city of Africa, we find casks used for a similar purpose: here, in a dry state, they are extensively used instead of bread, and indeed as a general article of provision. Cato, when laying down certain definite regulations for the support of labourers employed in agriculture, recommends that their supply of food should be lessened just at the time when the fig is ripening: it has been a plan adopted in more recent times, to find a substitute for salt with cheese, by eating fresh figs. To this class of fruit belong, as we have already mentioned, the cottana and the carica, together with the cavnea, which was productive of so bad an omen to M. Crassus at the moment when he was embarking for his expedition against the Parthians, a dealer happening to be crying them just at that very moment. L. Vitellius, who was more recently appointed to the censorship, introduced all these varieties from Syria at his country- seat at Alba, having acted as legatus in that province in the latter years of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar.

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  CHAP. 22. (20.)

  THREE VARIETIES OF THE MEDLAR.

  The medlar and the sorb ought in propriety to be ranked under the head of the apple and the pear. Of the medlar there are three varieties, the anthedon, the setania, and a third of inferior quality, which bears a stronger resemblance to the anthedon, and is known as the Gallic kind. The setania is the largest fruit, and the palest in colour; the woody seed in the inside of it is softer, too, than in the others, which are of smaller size than the setania, but superior to it in the fragrance of their smell, and in being better keepers. The tree itself is one of very ample dimensions: the leaves turn red before they fall: the roots are numerous, and penetrate remarkably deep, which renders it almost impossible to grub it up. This tree did not exist in Italy in Cato’s time.

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  CHAP. 23. (21).

  FOR VARIETIES OF THE SORB.

  There are four varieties of the sorb: there being some that have all the roundness of the apple, while others are conical like the pear, and a third sort are of an oval shape, like some of the apples: these last, however, are apt to be remarkably acid. The round kind is the best for fragrance and sweetness, the others having a vinous flavour; the finest, however, are those which have the stalk surrounded with tender leaves. A fourth kind is known by the name of “torminalis:” it is only employed, however, for remedial pur- poses. The tree is a good bearer, but does not resemble the other kinds, the leaf being nearly that of the plane-tree; the fruit, too, is particularly small. Cato speaks of sorbs being preserved in boiled wine.

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  CHAP. 24. (22.)

  NINE VARIETIES OF THE NUT.

  The walnut, which would almost claim precedence of the sorb in size, yields the palm to it in reference to the esteem in which they are respectively held; and this, although it is so favourite an accompaniment of the Fescennine songs at nuptials. This nut, taken as a whole, is very considerably smaller than the pine nut, but the kernel is larger in proportion. Nature, too, has conferred upon it a peculiar honour, in protecting it with a two-fold covering, the first of which forms a hollowed cushion for it to rest upon, and the second is a woody shell. It is for this reason that this fruit has been looked upon as a symbol consecrated to marriage, its offspring being thus protected in such manifold ways: an explanation which bears a much greater air of probability than that which would derive it from the rattling which it makes when it bounds from the floor. The Greek names that have been given to this fruit fully prove that it, like many others, has been originally introduced from Persis; the best kinds being known in that language by the names of “Persicum,” and “basilicon;, these, in fact, being the names by which they were first known to us. It is generally agreed, too, that one peculiar variety has derived its name of “caryon,” from the headache which it is apt to produce by the pungency of its smell.

  The green shell of the walnut is used for dyeing wool, and the nuts, while still small and just developing themselves, are employed for giving a red hue to the hair: a discovery owing to the stains which they leave upon the hands. When old, the nut becomes more oleaginous. The only difference in the several varieties consists in the relative hardness or brittleness of the shell, it being thin or thick, full of compartments or smooth and uniform. This is the only fruit that Nature has enclosed in a covering formed of pieces soldered together; the shell, in fact, forming a couple of boats, while the kernel is divided into four separate compartments by the intervention of a ligneous membrane.

  In all the other kinds, the fruit and the shell respectively are of one solid piece, as we find the case with the hazel — nut, and another variety of the nut formerly known as “Abellina,” from the name of the district in which it was first produced: it was first introduced into Asia and Greece from Pontus, whence the name that is sometimes given to it — the “Pontic nut.” This nut, too, is protected by a soft beard, but both the shell and the kernel are round, and formed of a single piece: these nuts are sometimes roasted. In the middle of the kernel we find a germen or navel.

  A third class of nuts is the almond, which has an outer covering, similar to that of the walnut, but thinner, with a second coat in the shape of a shell. The kernel, however, is unlike that of the walnut, in respect of its broad, flat shape, its firmness, and the superior tastiness of its flavour. It is a matter of doubt whether this tree was in existence in Italy in the time of Cato; we find him speaking of Greek nuts, but there are some persons who think that these belong to the walnut class. He
makes mention, also, of the hazel-nut, the calva, and the Prænestine nut, which last he praises beyond all others, and says that, put in pots, they may be kept fresh and green by burying them in the earth.

  At the present day, the almonds of Thasos and those of Alba are held in the highest esteem, as also two kinds that are grown at Tarentum, one with a thin, brittle shell, and the other with a harder one: these last are remarkably large, and of an oblong shape. There is the almond known as the “mollusk,” also, which breaks the shell of itself. There are some who would concede a highly honourable interpretation to the name given to the walnut, and say that “juggles” means the “glens,” or” acorn of Jove.” It is only very lately that I heard a man of consular rank declare, that he then had in his possession walnut-trees that bore two crops in the year.

  Of the pistachio, which belongs also to the nut class, we have already spoken in its appropriate place: Vitellius introduced this tree into Italy at the same time as the others that we mentioned; and Flaccus Pompeius, a Roman of Equestrian rank, who served with him, introduced it at the same period into Spain.

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