66 OTJE COMMON FRUITS. 



freeing Asia from the Roman yoke. Unscrupulous as to 

 means, a general massacre throughout the country, of 

 every man, woman, and child of Italian birth or origin, 

 was planned, the tragedy of Cawnpore rehearsed on a 

 terribly vaster scale, and the ruthless worker out of a 

 grand "idea" thus became master of almost the whole of 

 Asia Minor. Home in wrathful fury sent out Maccus to 

 execute vengeance ; on his death Lucullus took his place, 

 and met at first with great success, but being at last 

 defeated, the command was taken by Pompey, whose vic- 

 tories, finally terminating a contest which, it is said, had 

 cost the Armenians 155,000 men, delivered the Roman 

 republic from the most formidable foe she had ever known. 

 The fruit of all this mighty conflict of thrones and do- 

 minions, this strife, and massacre, and bloodshed, was 

 a cherry. For this Armenia, deemed by its proud con- 

 querors half barbarous, possessed a treasure yet unknown 

 in mighty Rome ; and when Lucullus, notwithstanding 

 subsequent reverses, was decreed a triumph for the vic- 

 tories he had gained, amid all the golden spoil, the weep- 

 ing prisoners and the captured standards, the most striking 

 object in all that proud procession were the branches of 

 Pontic cherries with which the victor had wreathed his 

 triumphal car. And well it might be so, for every other 

 result of that victory has long since passed away the 

 mistress of the world is now not even mistress of herself, 

 but her cherries at least she still retains, and the credit 

 too of having introduced them to the rest of Europe ; for, 

 from the trees planted by Lucullus B.C., " Italy," says 

 Pliny, " was so well stocked, that in less than 20 years 

 after they had spread to other lands, even as far as Britain 

 beyond the ocean." Some have affirmed that we are in- 

 debted to the great Mithridates personally for this fruit, 

 and that this famous master of 25 languages, when at the 

 height of his power, deigned occasionally to vary his 

 linguistic studies with experiments in gardening, and by 

 grafts made by his own royal hands perpetuated what 

 was at first perhaps but an accidental variety. On the 

 other hand, Theophrastus is quoted to show that it was 

 in his time that the good cherries, as distinguished from 



