457 



BOOK XXIII. 

 THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE CULTIVATED TREES. 



CHAP. 1. (1.) INTRODUCTION. 



WE have now set forth the various properties, medicinal or 

 otherwise, as well of the cereals as of the other productions 

 which lie upon 1 the surface of the earth, for the purpose either 

 of serving us for food, or for the gratification of our senses 

 with their flowers or perfumes. In the trees, however, 

 Pomona has entered the lists with them, and has imparted 

 certain medicinal properties to the fruits as they hang. Not con- 

 tent with protecting and nourishing, under the shadow of the 

 trees, the various plants which we have 2 already described, 

 she would even appear to be indignant, as it were, at the 

 thought that we should derive more succour from those pro- 

 ductions which are further removed from the canopy of heaven, 

 and which have only come into use in times comparatively re- 

 cent. For she bids man bear in mind that it was the fruits of 

 the trees which formed his first nourishment, and that it was 

 these which first led him to look upwards towards the heavens: 

 and not only this, but she reminds him, too, that even still it 

 is quite possible for him to derive his aliment from the trees, 

 without being indebted to grain for his subsistence. 



CHAP. 2. THE VINE. 



But, by Hercules ! it is the vine more particularly to which 

 she has accorded these medicinal properties, as though she 

 were not contented with her generosity in providing it with 

 such delicious flavours, and perfumes, and essences, in its om- 

 phacium, its cenanthe, and its massaris, preparations upon 

 which we have already 3 enlarged. " It is to me," she says, 

 " that man is indebted for the greater part of his enjoyments, 



1 In contradistinction to the fruits which hang from trees. 



See B. xvii. c. 18. 3 la B. xii. cc. 60 and 61. 



