NATURAL HISTORY OF PLINY. 



BOOK XVIII. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF GRAIN. 



CHAP. 1. (1.) TASTE OF THE ANCIENTS FOK AGRICULTT7EE. 



WE now pass on to the Natural History of the various grains, 

 of the garden plants and flowers, and indeed of all the other 

 productions, with the exception of the trees and shrubs, which 

 the Earth, in her bounteousness, affords us a boundless field 

 for contemplation, if even we regard the herbs alone, when we 

 take into consideration the varieties of them, their numbers, 

 the flowers they produce, their odours, their colours, their 

 juices, and the numerous properties they possess all of whicli 

 have been engendered by her with a view to either the preser- 

 vation or the gratification of the human race. 



On entering, however, upon this branch of my subject, it is 

 my wish in the first place to plead the cause of the Earth, and 

 to act as the advocate of her who is the common parent of all, 

 although in the earlier 1 part of this work I have already had 

 occasion to speak in her defence. For my subject matter, as I 

 proceed in the fulfilment of my task, will now lead me to con- 

 sider her in the light of being the producer of various noxious 

 substances as well ; in consequence of which it is that we are 

 in the habit of charging her with our crimes, and imputing to 

 her a guilt that is our own. She has produced poisons, it is 

 true ; but who is it but man that has found them out ? For 

 the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, it is sufficient to 

 be on their guard against them, and to keep at a distance from 

 them. The elephant, we find, and the urus, know how to 



1 In B. ii. c. 63. 

 VOL. iv. B 



