Translated by H.Rackham (1952), with some minor alterations. Click on the L symbols to go to the Latin text of each chapter.
{30.} L [51] Next in affinity to cardamomum would have come cinnamomum, were it not convenient first to catalogue the riches of Arabia and the reasons that have given it the names of Happy {Felix} and Blessed. The chief products of Arabia then are frankincense and myrrh; the latter it shares also with the Troglodytes' Country, but no country beside Arabia produces frankincense, and not even the whole of Arabia. [52] About in the middle of that country are the Astramitae, a district of the Sabaei, the capital of their realm being Sabota, situated on a lofty mountain; and eight days' journey from Sabota is a frankincense-producing district belonging to the Sabaei called Sariba - according to the Greeks the name means 'secret mystery.' The region faces north-east, and is surrounded by impenetrable rocks, and on the right hand side bordered by a seacoast with inaccessible cliffs. [53] The soil is reported to be of a milky white colour with a tinge of red. The forests measure 20 schoeni in length and half that distance in breadth - by the calculation of Eratosthenes a schoenus measures 40 stades, that is five miles, but some authorities have made the schoenus 32 stades. There are hills rising to a great height, with natural forests on them running right down to the level ground. It is generally agreed that the soil is clay, and that there are few springs and these charged with alkali. [54] Adjacent to the Astramitae is another district, the Minaei, through whose territory the transit for the export of the frankincense is along one narrow track. It was these people who originated the trade and who chiefly practise it, and from them the perfume takes the name of Minaean; 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 3000 families who retain the right of trading in it as a hereditary property, and that consequently the members of these families are called sacred, and are not allowed to be polluted by ever meeting women or funeral processions when they are engaged in making incisions in the trees in order to obtain the frankincense, and that in this way the price of the commodity is increased owing to scruples of religion. Some persons report that the frankincense in the forests belongs to all these peoples in common, but others state that it is shared out among them in yearly turns.
{31.} L [55] Nor is there agreement in regard to the appearance of the incense-tree itself. We have carried on operations in Arabia, and the arms of Rome have penetrated into a large part of it; indeed, Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, won great renown from the country; yet no Latin writer, so far as I know, has described the appearance of this tree. [56] The descriptions given by the Greeks vary: some have stated that it has the leaf of a pear-tree, only smaller and of a grass-green colour; others that it resembles the mastich and has a reddish leaf; some that it is a kind of terebinth, and that this was the view of King Antigonus, to whom a plant was brought. King Juba in his volumes dedicated to Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, whose imagination was fired by the fame of Arabia, states that the tree has a twisted stem and branches closely resembling those of the Pontic maple and that it gives a juice like that of the almond; he says that trees of this description are to be seen in Carmania and in Egypt, where they were introduced under the influence of the Ptolemies when they reigned there. [57] It is well known that it has the bark of a bay-tree, and some have said that the leaf is also like that of the bay; at all events that was the case with the tree when it was grown at Sardis - for the Kings of Asia also interested themselves in planting it. The ambassadors who have come to Rome from Arabia in my time have made all these matters still more uncertain, which may well surprise us, seeing that even some sprigs of the incense-tree find their way to Rome, on the evidence of which we may believe that the parent tree also is smooth and tapering and that it puts out its shoots from a trunk that is free from knots.
{32.} L [58] It used to be the custom, when there were fewer opportunities of selling frankincense, to gather it only once a year, but at the present day trade introduces a second harvesting. The earlier and natural gathering takes place 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 and distended to its thinnest; and the bark is loosened with a blow, but not removed. From the incision a greasy foam spurts out, which coagulates and thickens, being received on a mat of palm-leaves where the nature of the ground requires this, but in other places on a space round the tree that has been rammed 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 to the tree is scraped off with an iron tool, and consequently contains fragments of bark. [59] The forest is divided up into definite portions, and owing to the mutual honesty of the owners is free from trespassing, and though nobody keeps guard over the trees after an incision has been made, nobody steals from his neighbour. At Alexandria, on the other hand, where the frankincense is worked up for sale, good heavens! no vigilance is sufficient to guard the factories. A seal is put upon the workmen's aprons, they have to wear a mask or a net with a close mesh on their heads, and before they are allowed to leave the premises they have to take off all their clothes: so much less honesty is displayed with regard to the produce with them than as to the forests with the growers. [60] The frankincense from the summer crop is collected in autumn; this is the purest kind, bright white in colour. The second crop is harvested in the spring, cuts having been made in the bark during the winter in preparation for it; the juice that comes out on this occasion is reddish, and not to be compared with the former taking, the name for which is carfiathum, the other being called dathiathum. Also the juice produced by a sapling is believed to be whiter, but that from an older tree has more scent. Some people also think that a better kind is produced on islands, but Juba says that no incense grows on islands at all.
[61] Frankincense that hangs suspended in a globular drop we call male frankincense, although in other connexions the term 'male' is not usually employed where there is no female; but it is said to have been due to religious scruple that the name of the other sex was not employed in this case. Some people think that male frankincense is so called from its resemblance to the testes. The frankincense most esteemed, however, is the breast-shaped, formed when, while a previous drop is still hanging suspended, another one following unites with it. I find it recorded that one of these lumps used to be a whole handful, in the days when men's eagerness to pluck them was less greedy and they were allowed to form more slowly. [62] The Greek name for frankincense formed in this manner is 'drop-incense' or 'solid incense,' and for the smaller kind 'chick-pea incense'; the fragments knocked off by striking the tree we call manna. Even at the present day, however, drops are found that weigh as much as a third of a mina, that is 28 denarii. Alexander the Great in his boyhood was heaping frankincense on the altars in lavish fashion, when his tutor Leonides told him that he might worship the gods in that manner when he had conquered the frankincense-producing races; but when Alexander had won Arabia he sent Leonides a ship with a cargo of frankincense, with a message charging him to worship the gods without any stint.
[63] Frankincense after being collected is conveyed to Sabota on camels, one of the gates of the city being opened for its admission; the kings have made it a capital offence for camels so laden to turn aside from the high road. At Sabota a tithe estimated by measure and not by weight is taken by the priests for the god they call Sabis, and the incense is not allowed to be put on the market until this has been done; this tithe is drawn on to defray what is a public expenditure, for actually on a fixed number of days the god graciously entertains guests at a banquet. It can only be exported through the country of the Gebbanitae, and accordingly a tax is paid on it to the king of that people as well. [64] Their capital is Thomna, which is 1487 miles distant from the town of Gaza in Judaea on the Mediterranean coast; the journey is divided into 65 stages with halts for camels. Fixed portions of the frankincense are also given to the priests and the king's secretaries, [65] but beside these the guards and their attendants and the gate-keepers and servants also have their pickings: indeed all along the route they keep on paying, at one place for water, at another for fodder, or the charges for lodging at the halts, and the various taxes ; so that expenses mount up to 688 denarii per camel before the Mediterranean coast is reached; and then again payment is made to the customs officers of our empire. Consequently the price of the best frankincense is 6, of the second best 5, and the third best 3 denarii a pound. It is tested by its whiteness and stickiness, its fragility and its readiness to catch fire from a hot coal; iand also it should not give to pressure of the teeth, and should rather crumble into grains. Among us it is adulterated with drops of white resin, which closely resemble it, but the fraud can be detected by the means specified.
{33.} L [66] Some authorities have stated that myrrh is the product of a tree growing in the same forests among the frankincense-trees, but the majority say that it grows separately; and in fact it occurs in many places in Arabia, as will appear when we deal with its varieties. A kind highly spoken of is also imported from islands, and the Sabaei even cross the sea to the Troglodytes' Country to procure it. Also a cultivated variety is produced which is much preferred to the wild kind. The plant enjoys being raked and having the soil round it loosened, as it is the better for having its roots cool.
{34.} L [67] The tree grows to a height of five cubits; it has thorns on it, and the trunk is hard and twisted, and thicker than that of the frankincense-tree, and even thicker at the root than in the remaining part of it. Authorities state that the bark is smooth and resembles that of the strawberry-tree, and others that it is rough and prickly; and they say that the leaf is that of the olive, but more wrinkled and with sharp points though Juba says it is like that of the alexanders. Some say that it resembles the juniper, only that it is rougher and bristling with thorns, and that the leaf is rounder but tastes like juniper. Also there have been writers who have falsely asserted that the frankincense-tree produces myrrh as well as frankincense.
{35.} L [68] The myrrh-producing tree also is tapped twice a year at the same seasons as the frankincense-tree, but in its case the incisions are made all the way 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 called staete, which is the most highly valued of all myrrh. Next after this comes the cultivated kind, and also the better variety of the wild kind, the one tapped in summer. No tithes are given to a god from myrrh, as it also grows in other countries; however, the growers have to pay a quarter of the yield to the king of the Gebbanitae. For the rest it is bought up all over the district from the common people and packed into leather bags; and our perfumers have no difficulty in distinguishing the different sorts by the evidence of the scent and consistency. [69] There are a great many varieties, the first among the wild kinds being the Troglodyte myrrh, next the Minaean, which includes the Astramitic, Gebbanitic and Ausaritic from the kingdom of the Gebbanitae; the third quality is the Dianite, the fourth a mixture from various sources, the fifth the Sambracene from a seaboard state in the kingdom of the Sabaei, and the sixth the one called Dusirite. There is also a white kind found in one place only, which is brought into the town of Mesalum for sale. The Troglodyte kind is distinguished by its thickness and because it is rather dry and dusty and foreign in appearance, but has a stronger scent than the other sorts. The Sambracene variety is advertised as surpassing other kinds in its agreeable quality, but it has not a strong scent. [70] Broadly speaking, however, the proof of goodness is given by its being in small pieces of irregular shape, forming in the solidifying of the juice as it turns white and dries up, and in its showing white marks like fingernails when it is broken, and having a slightly bitter taste. The second best kind is mottled inside, and the worst is the one that is black inside; and if it is black outside as well it is of a still inferior quality.
The prices vary with the supply of buyers; that of staete ranges from 3 to 50 denarii a pound, whereas the top price for cultivated myrrh is 11 denarii and for Erythrean 16 - this kind is passed off as Arabian - and for the kernel of Troglodyte 16, but for the variety called scented myrrh 12. [71] Myrrh is adulterated 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 to increase its weight. The rest of the impurities can be detected by taste, and gum by its sticking to the teeth. But the adulteration most difficult to detect is that practised in the case of Indian myrrh, which is collected in India from a certain thorn-bush; this is the only commodity imported from India that is of worse quality than that of other countries - indeed it is easily distinguished because it is so very inferior.
{36.} L [72] Consequently Indian myrrh passes over into mastich, which is also obtained from a thorn in India, and in Arabia as well; it is called laina. Of mastich also there are two kinds, since in Asia and Greece there is also found a plant sending out from its root leaves and a prickly head like an apple, full of seed and of juice which spurts out when an incision is made in the 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 kind most highly praised is the white mastich of Chios, which fetches a price of 10 denarii a pound, while the black kind costs 2 denarii. It is said that the Chian mastich exudes from the lentisk like a kind of gum. Like frankincense it is adulterated with resin.
{37.} L [73] Arabia also still boasts of her ladanum. A considerable number of writers have stated that this becomes aromatic entirely by accident and owing to an injury; goats, they say, an animal very destructive of foliage in general, but especially fond of scented shrubs, as if understanding the prices they fetch crop the stalks of the shoots, which swell with an extremely sweet fluid, and wipe off with the nasty shaggy hair of their beards the juice dropping from the stalks in a random mixture, and this forms lumps in the dust and is baked by the sun; and that is the reason why goats' hairs are found in ladanum; though they say that this does not take place anywhere else but in the territory of the Nabataei, a people from Arabia who border on Syria. [74] The more recent of the authorities call this substance 'storbon,' and say that the trees in the Arabs' forests are broken by the goats when browsing, and so the juice sticks to their hairs; but that the true ladanum belongs to the island of Cyprus - to mention the various kinds of scents incidentally even though not in the order of their localities of provenance. It is reported that the same thing takes place there too, and that there is a substance called oesypum which sticks to the beards and shaggy knees of the goats, but that it is produced by their nibbling down the flower of the ivy while they are browsing in the morning, when Cyprus is wet with dew; and that subsequently when the sun has driven away the mist the dust clings to their damp fleeces and thus ladanum can be combed out of them.
[75] 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, the natural sort mingled with earth and the artificial; the earthy sort is friable, whereas the artificial sort is tough.
[76] It is also stated that there is a ladanum shrub in Carmania and beyond Egypt, where plants of it were introduced through the agency of the Ptolemies, or, as others say, it is a throwback from the incense-tree; and that it is collected like gum by making a cut in the bark and received in goatskin sacks. The most highly approved kind is sold at a price of 40 asses a pound. It is adulterated with myrtle berries and with filth from the fleeces of other animals beside the goat. When genuine it ought to have a fierce scent, somehow suggesting the smell of the desert, and though looking dried up it should soften immediately to the touch, and when set light to flare up with an agreeable scent; but when adulterated with myrtle-berries it can be detected by its unpleasant smell, and it crackles in the fire. Moreover, the genuine ladanum has dust or rather bits of stone from the rocks clinging to it.
{38.} L [77] In Arabia there is also an olive endowed with a sort of tear out of which a medicine is made, called in Greek enhaemon, because of its remarkable effect in closing the scars of wounds. These trees grow on the coast and are covered by the waves at high tide without this doing any harm to the berry, although accounts agree that salt is left on the leaves.
[78] These trees are peculiar to Arabia, and it also has a few in common with other countries, which we must mention elsewhere because in their case it does not hold the first place. Also in Arabia there is a surprising demand for foreign scents, which are imported from abroad: so tired do mortals get of things that are their own, and so covetous are they of what belongs to other people.
{39.} L Consequently they send to the Elymaei for the wood of the bratum, a tree resembling a spreading cypress, with very white branches, and giving an agreeable scent when burnt. It is praised in the Histories of Claudius Caesar as having a marvellous property: 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 antidote against the effects of other woods. It grows beyond the River Pasitigris on Mount Scanchrus in the territory of the city of Sostrata.
{40.} L [79] They also import from Carmania the stobrus tree, to use for the purpose of fumigation; it is soaked in palm wine and then set alight. The vapour is thrown back from the ceiling to the floor; it has an agreeable scent, but it causes headache, which is not however severe enough to be painful: it is used as a soporific for invalids. [80] For these trades they have opened up the city of Carrhae, which is the market town of these parts. From Carrhae everybody used formerly to go on to Gabba, a journey of twenty days, and to Palestine in Syria; but afterwards, according to Juba, they began to make for Charax and the Parthian kingdom for the sake of the perfume trade. But my own view is that they used to convey those commodities to the Persians even before they took them to Syria or Egypt, this being attested by Herodotus { 3.97 }, who records that the Arabs used regularly to pay a yearly tribute of a thousand talents of incense to the kings of the Persians. [81] From Syria they bring back styrax, which they burn on their hearths, for its powerful scent to dispel their dislike for their own scents. For the rest, no other kinds of wood are in use among them except those that are scented; and the Sabaei even cook their food with incense-wood, and other tribes with that of the myrrh-tree, so that the smoke and vapour of their towns and districts is just like that which rises from altars. In order therefore to remedy this smell they obtain styrax in goatskins and fumigate their houses with it: so true it is that there is no pleasure the continued enjoyment of which does not engender disgust. They also burn styrax to drive away the snakes which abound in the forests of perfume-producing trees.
{41.} L [82] These people have not got cinnamon or casia, and nevertheless Arabia is styled 'Happy' {Felix} - a country with a false and ungrateful appellation, as she puts her happiness to the credit of the powers above, although she owes more of it to the power below. Her good fortune has been caused by the luxury of mankind even in the hour of death, when they burn over the departed the products which they had originally understood to have been created for the gods. [83] Good authorities declare that Arabia does not produce so large a quantity of perfume in a year's output as was burned by the Emperor Nero in a day at the obsequies of his consort Poppaea. Then reckon up the vast number of funerals celebrated yearly throughout the entire world, and the perfumes such as are given to the gods a grain at a time, that are piled up in heaps to the honour of dead bodies. Yet the gods used not to regard with less favour the worshippers who petitioned them with salted spelt, but rather, as the facts show, they were more benevolent in those days. [84] But the title 'happy' belongs still more to the Arabian Sea, for from it come the pearls which that country sends us. And by the lowest reckoning India, China and the Arabian peninsula take from our empire 100 million sestertii every year - that is the sum which our luxuries and our women cost us; for what fraction of these imports, I ask you, now goes to the gods or to the powers of the lower world?
{42.} L [85] In regard to cinnamomum and casia a fabulous story has been related by antiquity, and first of all by Herodotus { 3.111 }, that they are obtained from birds' nests, and particularly from that of the phoenix, in the region where Father Liber was brought up, and that they are knocked down from inaccessible rocks and trees by the weight of the flesh brought there by the birds themselves, or by means of arrows loaded with lead; and similarly there is a tale of casia growing round marshes under the protection of a terrible kind of bats that guard it with their claws, and of winged serpents - these tales having been invented by the natives to raise the price of their commodities. [86] However, there goes with them a story that under the reflected rays of the sun at midday an indescribable sort of collective odour is given off from the whole of the peninsula, which is due to the harmoniously blended exhalation of so many kinds of vapour, and that the first news of Arabia received by the fleets of Alexander the Great was carried by these odours far out to sea - all these stories being false, inasmuch as cinnamomum, which is the same thing as cinnamon, grows in Ethiopia, which is linked by intermarriage with the Troglodytes. [87] The latter buy it from their neighbours and convey it over the wide seas in ships that are neither steered by rudders nor propelled by oars or drawn by sails, nor assisted by any device of art: in those regions only man and man's boldness stands in place of all these things. Moreover they choose the winter sea about the time of the shortest day, as an east wind is then chiefly blowing. [88] This carries them on a straight course through the bays, and after rounding a cape a west-north-west wind brings them to the harbour of the Gebbanitae called Ocilia. On this account that is the port most resorted to by these people, and they say that it is almost five years before the traders return home and that many perish on the voyage. In return for their wares they bring back articles of glass and copper, clothing, and buckles, bracelets and necklaces; consequently that traffic depends principally on having the confidence of the women.
[89] The actual shrub of the cinnamon is only about two cubits high at the most, the smallest being only a span high, and 4 digits {7½ cm} thick, and it throws out shoots as low as six digits {11 cm} from the ground; it has a dried up appearance, and while it is green has no scent; the leaf is like that of the wild marjoram; it likes a dry soil and is less fertile in wet weather; and it stands constant clipping. Though it grows on level ground, it flourishes among the 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 the Ethiopian name for him is Assabinus. They sacrifice 44 oxen, goats and rams to obtain leave to cut it, though this does not include permission to do so before sunrise or after sunset. [90] A priest divides the twigs with a spear, and sets aside a 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 the wood is divided into three portions, and then lots are cast twice to assign the shares, and the share that falls to the sun is left, and bursts out in flames of its own accord.
[91] 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 shorter length, and so on in order; the worst in quality is the part nearest to the roots, because it has the least amount of bark, which is the part most favoured, and consequently preference is given to the tops of the plants, where there is most bark. The actual wood, however, is held in no esteem, because it has the bitter taste of wild marjoram: it is called wood-cinnamon; [92] it fetches 10 denarii a pound. Some writers mention two kinds of cinnamon, one lighter and the other darker in colour; and in former days the light kind was preferred, but now on the other hand the dark is praised, and even a mottled kind is preferred to the pure white. Still, the most certain test of value is that it must not be rough, and that when rubbed together it must crumble slowly. The lowest value is attached to it when it is soft or when the bark is falling off.
[93] The right of controlling the sale of cinnamon is vested solely in the king of the Gebbanitae, who opens the market by public proclamation. The prices formerly were 1000 denarii a pound, but this was raised to half as much again after the forests had been burnt, so it is said, by infuriated barbarians; but it is not absolutely certain whether this was incendiarism provoked by injustice on the part of those in power or was due to accident, as we find it stated in the authorities that the south winds that blow there are so hot that they set lire to the forests in summer. [94] The emperor Vespasian Augustus was the first person to dedicate in the Temples of the Capitol and of Peace chaplets of cinnamon surrounded with embossed gold. We once saw in the Temple of the Palatine erected in honour of the deified Augustus by his consort Augusta a very heavy cinnamon-root placed in a golden bowl, out of which drops used to distil every year which hardened into grains; this went on until the shrine in question was destroyed by fire.
{43.} L [95] Casia also is a shrub, and it grows close to the plains of cinnamon, but on the mountains; it has thicker stalks, and a thin skin rather than bark, which, in the opposite way to what we said in the case of cinnamon gains value when it falls off and thins away. This shrub grows to a height of 3 cubits and it has three colours: when it first sprouts up, to the length of a foot it is white, then for the next half a foot it is reddish, and beyond that point it is black. [96] The black part is most highly esteemed, and next the part nearest to it, but the white part has no value at all. They cut the shoots to the length of two inches, and then sew them up in newly flayed hides of animals slaughtered for the purpose, so that as they rot maggots may gnaw away the wood and hollow out the whole of the bark, which is protected from them by its bitter taste. [97] The bark is valued most highly when fresh, when it has a very pleasant smell and is hardly at all hot to the taste, and rather gives a slight nip with its moderate warmth; it must be of a purple colour, and though bulky weigh very little, and the pores of the outer coats should be short and 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 of balsam, but it has a bitter taste and consequently is more useful for medicinal purposes, just as the black kind is more employed for unguents. No substance has a wider range of price - the best qualities sell at 50 denarii a pound and the others at 5.
[98] To these varieties the dealers have added one which they call Daphnis's casia, with the further designation of near-cinnamon, and they price it at 300 denarii. It is adulterated with styrax, and with very small sprigs of bay because of the similarity of the barks. It is also grown in our part of the world, and I have seen 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 produced by the sun, and for the same reason also it has not the same scent as the southern product.
{44.} L From the border of the casia and cinnamon district gum-resin and aloe-wood are also imported, but they come by way of the Nabataean Troglodytes, who are a colony from the Nabataeans.
{45.} L [99] The same place is also a centre for the collection of serichatum and gabalium, the supply of which is used up by the Arabs in their own country, so that they are only known by name to our part of the world, although growing in the same country as cinnamon and casia. However, serichatum does occasionally get through to us, and is employed by some persons as an ingredient in unguents. It fetches up to 6 denarii a pound.
{46.} L [100] The Troglodyte country and the Thebaid and Arabia where it separates Judaea from Egypt all alike have the myrobalanum, which is grown for scent, as is shown by its name itself, which also indicates in addition that it is a nut; it is a tree with a leaf that resembles that of the heliotrope, which we shall describe among the herbaceous plants, and a fruit the size of a hazel-nut. [101] The variety growing in Arabia is called the Syrian nut, and is white in colour, whereas the Thebaid kind is black; the former is preferred for the excellent quality of the oil extracted from it, but the Thebaic for its large yield. The Troglodyte kind is the worst among the varieties. Some persons prefer to these the Ethiopian behen, which has a black oily nut and a slender kernel, but the liquid squeezed out of it has a stronger scent; it grows in level districts. [102] It is said that the Egyptian nut is even more oleaginons and has a thicker shell of a reddish colour, and that though it grows on marshy ground the plant is shorter and drier, whereas the Arabian variety, on the contrary, is green in colour and also smaller in size and more compact in shape because it likes mountain regions; but the Petraean kind, coming from the town mentioned above { 6.144 }, is a long way the best - it has a black rind and a white kernel. Perfumers, however, only extract the juice from the shells, but medical men also crush the kernels, gradually pouring warm water on them while pounding them.
{47.} L [103] The palm-tree growing in Egypt called the adipsos is used in a similar way to the behen-nut in perfumery, and is almost as much in request; it is green in colour, with the scent of a quince, and has no kernel inside it. It is gathered in autumn, a little before it begins to ripen. If left on the tree longer, it is called the palm-nut, and it turns black and has the property of making people who eat it intoxicated. The behen-nut is priced at two denarii a pound. The retailers also give the name of behen to the dregs of the unguent made from it.
{48.} L [104] The scented reed which also grows in Arabia is shared with the Indians and Syria, the one growing in the latter country being superior to all the other kinds. About 150 stades { 27 km } from the Mediterranean, between Mount Lebanon and another range of no importance - not Anti-Lebanon as some have supposed - there is a moderately wide valley near a lake the shallow parts of which dry up in summer, where 30 stades { 5½ km }from the lake the scented reed and scented rush grow. For clearly we may speak about the rush also, although I have devoted another volume to herbaceous plants, as here we are only dealing with plants that supply material for unguents. [105] These plants then do not differ at all in appearance from the rest of their class, but the reed has a specially fine scent which attracts people even from a long way off, and is softer to the touch; the better variety is the one that is less brittle and that breaks in splinters rather than like a radish. [106] Inside the tube there is a sort of cobweb which is called the flower; the plant containing most of this is the best. The remaining tests of its goodness are that it should be black - white varieties are thought inferior - that it is better the shorter and thicker it is and if it is pliant in breaking. The price of the reed is one denarius and that of the rush 5 denarii a pound. It is reported that scented rush is also found in Campania.
[107] We have now left the countries looking on the ocean to come to those that converge towards our seas.
{49.} L Well, Africa, which lies below Ethiopia, in its sandy deserts distils tear-like drops of a substance called hammoniacum; this is also the origin of the name of the Oracle of Hammon, near to which this substance is produced from a tree called metopon, after the manner of resin or gum. There are two kinds of hammoniacum: one called thrauston (friable), which is like male frankincense and is the kind most approved, and the other, greasy and resinous, which they call phyrama (paste). It is adulterated with sand, which looks as if it has stuck to it while growing; consequently it is preferred in extremely small lumps and these as pure as possible. The price of the best hammoniacum is 40 asses a pound.
{50.} L [108] The sphagnos valued most highly is found in the province of Cyrenaica, south of these regions: others call it bryon. The second place is held by the Cyprian kind, and the third by the Phoenician. It is also said to grow in Egypt, and indeed in Gaul as well, and I am not prepared to doubt this; for there are grey tufts that bear this name growing on trees, resembling the growths that we principally see on the oak, but having a superior scent. The most highly esteemed are the whitest and most widely spreading mosses, and the bright red ones are in the second class, but no value at all is attached to the black variety; moreover, the mosses that grow on islands and on rocks are not esteemed, nor are all those that have the scent of palm-trees and not that of their own kind.
{51.} L [109] A tree found in Egypt is the cypros, which has the leaves of the jujube-tree and the white, scented seed of the coriander. Cypros-seed is boiled in olive oil and afterwards crushed, producing the cypros of commerce, which sells at 5 denarii a pound. The best is made from the tree grown at Canopus on the banks of the Nile, the second best at Ascalon in Judaea, and the third quality on the island of Cyprus, which has a sort of sweet scent. The cypros is said to be the same as the thorn called privet in Italy.
{52.} L [110] In the same region grows the aspalathus, a white thorn of the size of a moderate-sized tree, with the flower of a rose; the root is in request for unguents. People say that any shrub over which a rainbow forms its arch gives out a scent as sweet as that of the aspalathus, but that if this happens in the case of an aspalathus a scent rises that is indescribably sweet. Some call this shrub red sceptre and others sceptre. The test of its genuineness lies in its fiery red colour, firmness to the touch and scent like that of beaver-oil. It is sold for 5 denarii a pound.
{53.} L [111] Cat-thyme also grows in Egypt, though not so good a kind as the Lydian variety, its leaves being larger and variegated; those of the Lydian are short and very small, and have a strong scent.
{54.} L But every other scent ranks below balsam. The only country to which this plant has been vouchsafed is Judaea, where formerly it grew in only two gardens, both belonging to the king; one of them was of not more than twenty iugera in extent and the other less. This variety of shrub was exhibited to the capital by the emperors Vespasian and Titus; and it is a remarkable fact that ever since the time of Pompey the Great even trees have figured among the captives in our triumphal processions. [112] The balsam-tree is now a subject of Rome, and pays tribute together with the race to which it belongs; it differs entirely in character from the accounts that had been given of it by Roman and foreign writers, being more like a vine than a myrtle: it has quite recently been taught to grow from mallet-shoots tied up on trellises like a vine, and it covers whole hillsides as vineyards do. A balsam unsupported by a trellis and carrying its own weight is pruned in a similar manner when it puts oat shoots; the use of the rake makes it thrive and sprout rapidly, bearing in its third year. [113] Its leaf is very near that of the tuber-apple, and it is an evergreen. The Jews vented their wrath upon this plant as 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 cultivated by the treasury authorities, and was never before more plentiful; but its height has not advanced beyond two cubits.
[114] 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 a bushy growth and with a stronger scent they call this rough balsam, and the third 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 the lowest grade. [115] Balsam-seed tastes very like wine, and has a red colour and a rather greasy consistency; that contained in a husk, which is lighter in weight and greener in colour, is inferior. The branch is thicker than that of a myrtle; incision is made in it with a piece of glass or a stone, or with knives made of bone it strongly dislikes having its vital parts wounded with steel, and dies off at once, though it can stand having superfluous branches pruned with a steel knife. The hand of the operator making the incision has to be poised under skilful control, to avoid inflicting a wound going below the bark. [116] The juice that oozes out of the incision is called opobalsamum; it is extremely sweet in taste, but exudes in tiny drops, the trickle being collected by means of tufts of wool in small horns and poured out of them into a new earthenware vessel to store; it is like rather thick olive-oil and in the unfermented state is white in colour; later on it turns red and at the same time hardens, having previously been transparent. [117] When Alexander the Great was campaigning in that country, it was considered a fair whole day's work in summer to fill a single 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 twice its weight in silver: whereas at the present day even a single tree produces a larger flow. The incision is made three times in every summer, and afterwards the tree is lopped. [118] There is a market even for the twigs too; within five years of the conquest of Judaea the actual loppings and the shoots fetched 800,000 sestertii. These trimmings are called wood of balsam; they are boiled down in perfumes, and in manufacture they have taken the place of the actual juice of the shrub. Even the bark fetches a price for drugs; but the tears are valued most, the seed coming second, the bark third and the wood lowest. [119] Of the wood the sort resembling boxwood is the best, and also has the strongest scent; the best seed is that which is largest in size and heaviest in weight, which has a biting taste and is hot in the mouth. Balsam is adulterated with the ground-pine of Petra, which can be detected by its size, hollowness and long shape and by its weak scent and its taste like pepper. [120] The test of tear of balsam is that it should be thinning out in consistency, and slightly reddish, and give a strong scent when rubbed. The second quality is white in colour, the next inferior is green and thick, and the worst kind black, inasmuch as like olive oil it deteriorates with age. Out of all the incisions the oil that has flowed out before the formation of the seed is considered the best. Also another mode of adulteration is by using the juice of the seed, and the fraud can be with difficulty detected by the greater bitterness of the taste; for the proper taste is smooth, without a trace of acidity, the only pungency being in the smell. [121] It is also adulterated with oil of roses, of cypros, of mastich, of behen-nut, of the 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 this dries up on the back of the hand and sinks in water, which is a double test of the genuine article - [122] pure tear of balsam ought to dry up likewise, but the sort with gum added to it turns brittle and forms a skin. It can also be detected by the taste; or when adulterated with wax or resin, by means of a hot coal, as it burns with a blacker flame. When mixed with honey, its quality alters immediately, as it attracts flies even when held in the hand. [123] Moreover a drop of pure 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 been tampered with by using almond-oil, a white ring forms round it. The best test of all is that it will cause milk to curdle and will not leave stains on cloth. In no other case is more obvious fraud practised, inasmuch as every pint bought at a sale of confiscated property for 300 denarii when it is sold again makes 1000 denarii: so much does it pay to increase the quantity by adulteration. The price of wood-balsam is six denarii a pound.
{55.} L [124] The region of Syria beyond Phoenicia nearest to Judaea produces styrax in the part round Gabala and Marathus and Mount Casius of Seleucia. The tree has the same name; it is similar to a quince. Its tears have a pleasant, almost pungent scent, and inside it resembles a reed, and is full of juice. About the rising of the Dog-star certain little maggots with wings flutter about this tree, gnawing away the wood, and consequently it is fouled with their scrapings. [125] The styrax esteemed next to the above-named growths comes from 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 even more by perfumers. In every nation a red colour and a sticky consistency are preferred, and styrax that is brown and covered with white mould is considered inferior. It is adulterated with cedar resin or gum, and another way employs honey 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.
{56.} L [126] Syria also supplies galbanum, which also grows on Mount Amanus; it comes from a kind of fennel which they call stagonitis, like the resin of the same name. The kind of galbanum most esteemed is cartilaginous, clear like hammoniacum and free from all woody substance. Even so it is adulterated with beans or with sacopenium. Pure galbanum, if burnt, drives away snakes with its smell. It is sold at 5 denarii a pound.
{57.} L Pure galbanum is only useful for medicinal purposes; but Syria produces all-heal which is used for unguents as well. [127] It also grows at Psophis in Arcadia and round the spring of Erymanthus, and in Africa and in Macedonia also. It has a peculiar stalk 5 cubits long; this throws out first four leaves and then six lying on the ground, which are very large and of a round shape, but the leaves on the top of the plant are like those of the olive; the seed hangs in tufts like that of the fennel. The juice is got by means of incisions made in the stalk at harvest time and at the root in autumn. It is valued for whiteness when 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 two denarii a pound.
{58.} L [128] From this fennel the one called bear's-wort fennel differs only in the leaf, which is smaller, and has divisions like a plane-leaf. It only grows in shady places. Its seed, bearing the same name, resembles that of hart-wort; it is only useful for medicine.
{59.} L [129] Syria also supplies the malobathrum, a tree with a folded leaf, the colour 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 from India is valued more highly; it is said to grow there in marshes, like the lentil, 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 very quickly acquires a musty smell with age. Malobathrurn when placed under the tongue ought to taste like nard; but its scent when it is put in slightly warmed wine surpasses any others. In point of price at all events it approaches the marvellous, the pound ranging from one denarius to four hundred, while the leaf itself reaches 60 denarii a pound.
{60.} L [130] There is also omphacium, the oil of unripe berries, which is made in two varieties and by two processes, one kind being made from the olive and one from the vine. The olive is pressed while still white, or an inferior oil is obtained from the druppa which is the name given to an olive not yet ripe enough to eat but already beginning to change colour - the difference being that the inferior kind is green and the other white. It is made either from the psithian vine { see 14.30 } or from the vine of Aminaea. [131] The vine is plucked when the grapes are the size of a chick-pea, before the rising of the Dog-star, when the first bloom is on them, and the unripe juice is obtained; after which the, remaining pulp is left to dry in the sun - precaution being taken against nocturnal dews, by storing the grapes in an earthenware vessel - while the unripe juice is collected and at once also put to keep in a Cyprian bronze jar. The best kind is that which is red in colour and rather bitter and dry to the taste. Omphacium sells at 6 denarii a pound. There is also another way of making it, by pounding up unripe grapes in mortars; the grapes are afterwards dried in the sun and divided up into lozenges.
{61.} L [132] To the same family also belongs bryon, obtained from the catkins of the 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 grows on the cedar in Lycia. To the same group also belongs oenanthe, obtained from the cluster of the wild vine. It is picked when it flowers, which is the time when it has the best scent, and it is dried in the shade on a linen sheet spread out for the purpose, and then put into casks to store. [133] The best kind comes from Parapotamia, the second best from Antiochia and Laodicea in Syria, and the third best 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 is called massaris. But all the oenanthe obtained from the white wild vine is superior to that from the black.
{62.} L [134] There is also another tree that likewise serves for producing unguents, which is called by some people an elate - the Latin for which is 'fir' - and by others a palm and by others again a spatha. That of Hammon is most highly spoken of, next the Egyptian variety, and then the Scythian. It only has a scent if it grows in regions devoid of water; it has tears of a greasy consistency, which are added to unguents to overcome the hardness of the oil.
{63.} L [135] 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 of the true cinnamon, although it is almost equally agreeable. Its price is 40 asses a pound.
Book 13 →
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