176 pllnt's natural history. [Book XIII. 



remarkable quality of these is a rich, unctuous juice ; they are 

 of a milky consistency, and have a sort of vinous flavour, with 

 a remarkable sweetness, like that of honey. The Mcolaan 41 

 dates are of a similar kind, but somewhat drier; they are 

 of remarkable size, so much so, indeed, that four of them, 

 placed end to end, will make a cubit in length. A less fine 

 kind, but of sister quality to the caryotae for flavour, are the 

 " adelphides," 42 hence so called ; these come next to them in 

 sweetness, but still are by no means their equals. A third 

 kind, again, are the patetee, which abound in juice to excess, 

 so much so, indeed, that the fruit bursts, in its excess of liquor, 

 even upon the parent tree, and presents all the appearance of 

 having been trodden 43 under foot. 



There are numerous kinds of dates also, of a drier nature, 

 which are long and slender, and sometimes of a curved shape. 

 Those of this sort which we consecrate to the worship of the 

 gods are called " chydaei " 44 by the Jews, a nation remarkable 

 for the contempt which they manifest of the divinities. Those 

 found all over Thebais and Arabia are dry and small, with a 

 shrivelled body : being parched up and scorched by the con- 

 stant heat, they are covered with what more nearly resembles 

 a shell 45 than a skin. In ^Ethiopia the date is quite brittle 

 even, so great is the driness of the climate ; hence the people 

 are able to knead it into a kind of bread, just like so much 



41 Athenseus, B. xiv. c. 22, tells us that these dates were thus called 

 from Nicolaus of Damascus, a Peripatetic philosopher, who, when visiting' 

 Rome with Herod the Great, made Augustus a present of the finest fruit 

 of the palm-tree that could be procured. This fruit retained its name of 

 " Nicolaan," down to the middle ages. 



42 Pliny would imply that they are so called from the Greek adi\<pia, 

 " a sister," as being of sister quality to the caryotse ; but it is much more 

 probable, as Fee remarks, that they got this name from being attached in 

 pairs to the same pedicle or stalk. 



43 Pliny certainly seems to imply that they are so called from the Greek 

 TrctTtio, " to tread under foot," and Hardouin is of that opinion. Fee, 

 however, thinks the name is from the Hebrew or Syriac " patach," " to ex- 

 pand," or " open," or else from the Hebrew " pathah," the name of the first 

 vowel, from some fancied resemblance in the form. 



44 From the Greek xvdaiog, " vulgar," or "common," it is supposed. The 

 Jews probably called them so, ns being common, or offered by the Gentiles 

 to their idols and divinities. Pliny evidently considers that in the name 

 given to them no compliment was intended to the deities of the heathen 

 mythology. 



45 From its extreme driness, and its shrivelled appearance. 



