Chap. 11] SIX VARIETIES OF THE PEACH. 293 



from the island of Crete. These fruit bend the branches with 

 their weight, and so tend to impede the growth of the parent 

 tree. The varieties are numerous. The chrysomelum 24 is 

 marked with indentations down it, and has a colour inclining 

 to gold ; the one that is known as the " Italian" quince, is of a 

 paler complexion, and has a most exquisite smell : the quinces 

 of Neapolis, too, are held in high esteem. The smaller varie- 

 ties of the quince which are known as the " struthea," 25 have 

 a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others ; that 

 called the " musteum," 26 ripens the soonest of all. The coto- 

 neuni engrafted 27 on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar 

 variety, known as the "Mulvianum," the only one of them 

 all that is eaten raw. 28 At the present day all these varieties 

 are kept shut up in the antechambers of great men, 29 where they 

 receive the visits of their courtiers ; they are hung, too, upon 

 the statues 30 that pass the night with us in our chambers. 



There is a small wild 31 quince also, the smell of which, next 

 to that of the strutheum, is the most powerful ; it grows in 

 the hedges. 



CHAP. 11. SIX VARIETIES OF THE PEACH. 



Under the head of apples, 32 we include a variety of fruits, 

 although of an entirely different nature, such as the_ Persian 33 

 apple, for instance, and the pomegranate, of which, when 

 speaking of the tree, we have already enumerated 34 nine va- 

 rieties. The pomegranate has a seed within, enclosed in a 



24 Or "golden apple." The quince was sacred to Venus, and was an 

 emblem of love. 



23 Apparently meaning the " sparrow quince." Dioscondes, Galen, and 

 Athenteus, however, say that it was a large variety. Qy. if in such case, 

 it might not mean the ostrich quince ? 



26 " Earlv ripener." 



27 Quince's are not grafted on quinces at the present day, but the pear is. 



28 Fee suggests that this is a kind of pear. 



29 Probably on account of the fragrance of their scent. 



30 We learn from other sources that the bed-chambers were frequently 

 ornamented with statues of the divinities. 



31 The Mala cotonea silvestris of Bauhin ; the Cydonia vulgaris of mo- 

 dern botanists, 



32 "Mala." The term "malum," somewhat similar to u pome"wita 

 us, was applied to a number of different fruits : the orange, the citron, 

 the pomegranate, the apricot, and others. 



3 3 Or peach. 34 See B. siii. c. 34. 



33 



