42 plint's natueal histoet. [BookXVIir* 



it will produce roses more odoriferous by far than the cultivated, 

 rose : for the earth here is never tired of producing, a circum- 

 Btance in which originated the common saying, that Campaniai 

 produces more unguents ^' than other countries do oil. 



In the same degree, however, that the Campanian soil excelsi 

 that of all other countries, so does that part of it which isi 

 known to us as Laboriae,^^ and to the Greeks as Phlegraeum,, 

 surpass all the rest. This district is bounded on two sides by 

 the consular high road, which leads from Puteoli to Capua cm 

 the one side, and from Cumae on the other. 



Alica is prepared from the grain called zea, which we have! 

 already mentioned ^^ as being known to us as '' seed" wheat. 

 The grain is cleansed in a wooden mortar, for fear lest stone,, 

 from its hardness, should have the effect of grating it. Th© 

 motive power for raising the pestle, as is generally known, is 

 supplied by slaves working in chains, the end of it being en- 

 closed in a case of iron. After the husks have been removedl 

 by this process, the pure grain is broken to pieces, the samei 

 implements being employed. In this way, there are three> 

 different kinds of alica made, the finest, the seconds, and the* 

 coarse, which last is known as " aphoerema."^^ Still, however,, 

 these various kinds have none of them that whiteness as yetl 

 for which they are so distinguished, though even now they arei 

 preferable to the Alexandrian alica. With this view — a mosti 

 singular fact — chalk *^ is mixed with the meal, which, upoi 

 becoming well incorporated with it, adds very materially toi 

 both the whiteness and the shortness *^ of the mixture. This 

 chalk is found between Puteoli and JSTeapolis, upon a hill called 

 Leucogaeum ;''^ and there is still in existence a decree of the 

 late Emperor Augustus, (who established a colony at Capua), 

 which orders a sum of twenty thousand sesterces to be paid 

 annually from his exchequer to the people of Neapolis, for the 

 lease of this hill. His motive for paying this rent, he stated, 

 was the fact that the people of Campania had alleged that it 



^7 Or perfumed oils. 



''' See B. iii. c. 9, A volcanic district 



33 In c. 20 of this Book. 



*'' Grain from which the husk is removed. 



*' A sub-carbonate of lime ; it is still known in those parts of Campa- 

 nia, and is called " lumera." 



*^ Teneritatem. 



*3 From the Greek, meaning "white earth." 



