1S2 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOEY. [Book XIX, 



on one occasion, 9 thanks to the skill of his physician, Musa, 10 

 by eating lettuces, a food which the excessive scruples of his 

 former physician, C. _2Emilius, had forbidden him. At the 

 present day, however, lettuces have risen into such high esti- 

 mation, that a method has been discoveied even of preserving 

 them during the months in which they are out of season, by 

 keeping them in oxymel. 11 It is generally supposed, also, 

 that lettuces have the effect of making blood. 



In addition to the above varieties, there is another kind of 

 lettuce known as the " goats' lettuce," 12 of which we shall have 

 occasion to make further mention when we come to the medi- 

 cinal plants : at the moment, too, that I am writing this, a 

 new species of cultivated lettuce has been introduced, known 

 as the Cilician lettuce, and held in very considerable esteem ; 

 the leaf of it is similar to that of the Cappadocian lettuce, 

 except that it is crisped, and somewhat larger. 



CHAP. 39. ENDIVE. 



Endive, though it cannot exactly be said to be of the same 

 genus as the lettuce, still cannot be pronounced to belong to 

 any other. 13 It is a plant better able to endure the rigours 

 of the winter than the lettuce, 14 and possessed of a more acrid 

 taste, though the flavour of the stalk 15 is equally agreeable. 

 Endive is sown at the beginning of spring, and transplanted 

 at the end of that season. There is also a kind of spread- 

 ing 16 endive, known in Egypt as " cichorium," 17 of which we 

 shall have occasion 18 to speak elsewhere more at length. 



9 A.U.C. 731. 



10 Antonius Musa. For this service lie received a large sum of money, 

 and the permission to wear a gold ring, and a statue was erected by pub- 

 lic subscription in honour of him, near that of JEsculapius. He is sup- 

 posed to be the person described by Virgil in the JEneid, B. xii. 1. 390, et 

 seq., under the name of lapis. See B. xxix. c. 5 of this work. 



11 Vinegar and honey ; a mixture very ill-adapted, as Fee observes, to 

 preserve either the medicinal or alimentary properties of the lettuce. 



12 "Caprina lactuca." See B. xx. c. 24. 



13 Endive, in fact, belongs to the same family as the lettuce. 



14 This is not the case; unless, indeed, under the name " lactuca/' 

 Pliny would include several plants, that in reality are not lettuces. 



15 The stalk, in fact, is more intensely bitter than the leaves. 

 " Erraticurn." Wild endive. 



17 From which comes the French "chicoree," and our tf chicory," or 

 " succory." 

 " In B. xx. c. 29, and B. xxi. c. 52. 



