NUTS. 273 



conjectures, some considering it to have been the orange 

 or lemon, others the pomegranate, and some even de- 

 ciding finally on the quince ; but all these guesses have 

 been determined by fixing"on the appellation "golden," 

 and connecting it with the idea of a yellow colour in the 

 fruit, without considering that the ancients (like the 

 modern Germans) applied this poetical term to whatever 

 was excellent of its kind, Venus even being called by 

 Homer, " Golden Venus ; " so that in fact the word is only 

 used to express that Hercules brought to Greece some 

 very superior kind of fruit. Being regarded as the patron 

 of agriculture, and more particularly of fruit culture, it 

 was the custom to offer to this divinity the tenth of all 

 fruits, but the white poplar, the quince, and a certain kind 

 of acorn, were peculiarly consecrated to him. Now, in all 

 probability this acorn, so specially devoted to him, was 

 merely a fruit with a hard shell a nut, in fact ; for we 

 learn from Theophrastus that the Greeks classed nuts 

 and acorns together as of one family, from their similar 

 nature, each having a kernel within a shell. One of the 

 best of this family bore the name of Jupiter's Acorn, and 

 was also termed the Nut of Hercules, a conjunction which 

 fairly leads the German scholar to the supposition that 

 the former name may have been bestowed because it was 

 brought to Greece from the garden of the gods, and the 

 latter because Hercules was the bringer ; while the de- 

 scription given of it by Theophrastus and other ancient 

 writers sufficiently, he thinks, identifies it with our modern 

 Walnut. The notion of its being the same fruit which had 

 been presented as a marriage gift to Juno, is certainly 

 countenanced by the universal classical custom of strew- 

 ing the nuts at weddings, though this use for them is 

 thought by some to have been derived from the fact of 

 the tree itself being dedicated to Diana, the nut-strewing 

 therefore having been an allusion to the bride's taking 

 her leave of the vestal goddess. The opinion entertained 

 of the tree fully justified its being consecrated to celibacy, 

 for it seems to have been considered only fit to grow by 

 itself, since, according to Pliny, nothing else could thrive 

 near it, its shade being as baneful to man as to vegetation, 



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