Chap. 45.] EUE. 191 



and if^ such is the will of heaven, grow all the better for it. 

 They are preserved, too, in a mixture of honey and vinegar,^^ 

 with the addition of root of laser and cummin — so that a day 

 may not pass without our having thistles at table. ^^ 



CHAP. 44. OTHER PLANTS THAT ABE SOWN IN THE GAUDEN : 



OClilUM ; EOCKET ; AND NASTrRTlUM. 



Por the remaining plants a brief description will suffice. The 

 best time for sowing ociraum,^ it is said, is at the festival of the 

 Parilia f^ though some say that it may be done in autumn as 

 well, and recommend, when it is sown in winter, to drench 

 the seed thoroughly with vinegar. Rocket,^^ too, and nastur- 

 tium^ may be grown with the greatest facility eitlier in sum- 

 mer or winter. Rocket, more particularly, is able to stand 

 the cold, and its properties are quite different from those of 

 the lettuce, as it is a great provocative of lust. Hence it is 

 that we are in the habit of mixing these two plants in our 

 dishes, the excess of cold in the one being compensated by the 

 equal degree of heat in the other. Nasturtium has received 

 that name from^' the smarting sensation which its pungency 

 causes to the nostrils, and hence it is that a certain notion of 

 smartness has attached itself to the word, it having become quite 

 a proverbial saying, that a sluggish man should eat nasturtium, 

 to arouse him from his torpidity. In Arabia, it is said, this 

 plant attains a size that is quite marvellous. 



CHAP. 45. — RUE. 



Eue,*^^ too, is generally sown while the west winds prevail, 

 as well as just after the autumnal equinox. This plant has an 

 extreme aversion to cold, moisture, and dung ; it loves dry, 

 sunny localities, and a soil more particularly that is rich in 

 brick clay ; it requires to be nourished, too, with ashes, which 



60 " Si Dis placet." ei Oxyrael. 



*"' This is evidently said contemptuously. 



^2 See further as to the identity of this plant, B. xx. c. 48. 



6^ Twenty-second of April. 



6^ Bra^sica eruca of Linnaeus. See B. xx. c. 49. 



^"^ Cresses, or nosesmart, the Lepidium sativum of Linnoeus. See B. 

 XX. c. 30. ^'' " Quod nasum torqucat." 



6^ The Ruta graveolens of Linnaeus, See B. xx. c. 51. This offensive 

 herb, though looked upon by the Bomans as a vegetable, is now only re- 

 garded as an active medicament of almost poisonous qualities. 



