46 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book XVIII. 



CHAP. 31. LENTILS. PEASE. 



Among the leguminous plants the lentil is sown in the 

 month of November, and the pea, 61 among the Greeks. The 

 lentil thrives best in a soil that is rather thin than rich, and 

 mostly stands in need of dry weather. There are two kinds 

 of lentil grown in Egypt ; one of which is rounder and blacker 

 than the other, which has a peculiar shape of its own. The 

 name of this plant has been applied to various uses, and 

 among others has given origin to our word " lenticula." 62 I 

 find it stated in some authors that a lentil diet is productive of 

 evenness of temper. The pea requires to be sown in a warm, 

 sunny spot, and is ill able to endure cold ; hence in Italy and 

 the more rigorous climates, it is sown in the spring only, a light, 

 loose soil being chosen for the purpose. 



CHAP. 32. THE SEVERAL KINDS OF CHICK-PEASE. 



The chick-pea 63 is naturally salt, 64 for which reason it is apt 

 to scorch the ground, and should only be sown after it has 

 been steeped a day in water. This plant presents consider- 

 able differences in reference to size, colour, 65 form, and taste. 

 One variety resembles in shape a ram's head, from which cir- 

 cumstance it has received the name of " arietinum ;" there 

 are both the white and the black arietinum. There is also the 

 columbine chick-pea, by some known as the "pea of Venus ;" 

 it is white, round, and smooth, being smaller than the arie- 

 tinum, and is employed in the observances of the night festivals 

 or vigils. The chicheling vetch, 66 too, is a diminutive kind of 

 chick-pea, unequal and angular, like 67 the pea. The chick- 

 pea that is the sweetest in flavour is the one that bears the 

 closest resemblance to the fitch ; the pod in the black and the 

 red kinds is more firmly closed than in the white ones. 



61 Pisum sativum of Linnseus. 

 2 Meaning a wart or pirnple on the face. 



63 Cicer arietinum of the botanists. 



64 " Gigni cum salsilagine." It abounds in India, and while blossom- 

 ing, it distils a corrosive acid, which corrodes the shoes of those who tread 

 upon it. 



65 There are still the red and ttie white kinds, the large and the small. 

 63 Cicercula : the Lathyrus sativus of Linnaeus. It is difficult to cook, 



and hard of digestion. See c. 26. 



67 This must be suid in reference to some of the pease when in a dried 

 state. 



