192 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



should be mixed with the seed as well, as a preservative against 

 the attacks of caterpillars. The ancients held rue in peculiar 

 esteem ; for I find that honied wine flavoured with rue was 

 distributed to the people, in his consulship, 69 by Cornelius 

 Cethegus, the colleague of Quintus Elamininus, after the 

 closing of the Comitia. This plant has a great liking 70 for the 

 fig-tree, and for that tree only ; indeed, it never thrives better 

 than when grown beneath that tree. It is generally grown 

 from slips, the lower end of which is inserted in a perforated 71 

 bean, which holds it fast, and so nurtures the young plant 

 with its juices. It also reproduces itself ; 72 for the ends of the 

 branches bending downwards, the moment they reach the 

 ground, they take root again. Ocimum 73 is of a very similar 

 nature to rue, except that it dries with greater difficulty. 

 "When rue has once gained strength, there is considerable diffi- 

 culty in stubbing it, as it causes itching ulcerations on the 

 hands, if they are not covered or previously protected by being 

 rubbed with oil. Its leaves, too, are preserved, being packed 

 in bundles for keeping. 



CHAP. 46. PAKSLEY. 



Parsley is sown immediately after the vernal equinox, the 

 seed being lightly beaten 74 first in a mortar. It is thought 

 that, by doing this, the parsley will be all the more crisped, 

 or else by taking care to beat it down when sown with a roller 

 or the feet. It is a peculiarity of this plant, that it changes 

 colour : it has the honour, in Achaia, of forming the wreath 

 of the victors in the sacred contests of the demean Games. 



CHAP. 47. MINT. 

 It is at the same season, too, that mint 75 is transplanted ; or, 



69 A.U.C. 421. 



7 - It so happens that it thrives best on the same soil as the fig-tree. 



71 This practice has no beneficial effect whatever. 



72 This is not the fact ; for its branches never come in- contact with the 

 ground. 



73 Pliny has derived the greater part of this Chapter from Theophrastus, 

 Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 5, and Columella, B. xi. c. 3. 



74 For the purpose of separating the seeds, which are slightly joined to- 

 gether ; and of disengaging a portion of the perisperm. At the present 

 day this is not done, for fear of bursting the kernel of the seed. 



See B. xx. c. 53. 



