THE GARDENS OF EPICURUS 29 



well as cucumbers ; O/us, which is a common word 

 for all sorts of pot-herbs and legumes ; Verbenas, which 

 signifies all kinds of sweet or sacred plants that were 

 used for adorning the altars ; as bays, olive, rosemary, 

 myrtle : the Acanthus seems to be what we call Peri- 

 canthe ; but what their Hedera were, that deserved 

 place in a garden, I cannot guess, unless they had sorts 

 of ivy unknown to us ; nor what his Vescum Papaver 

 was, since poppies with us are of no use in eating. 

 The fruits mentioned, are only apples, pears, and plums ; 

 for olives, vines and figs, were grown to be fruits 

 of their fields, rather than of their gardens. The 

 shades were the elm, the pine, the lime-tree, and the 

 Plat anus, or plane-tree ; whose leaf and shade, of all 

 others, was the most in request ; and having been 

 brought out of Persia, was such an inclination among 

 the Greeks and Romans, that they usually fed it with 

 wine instead of water ; they believed this tree loved 

 that liquor, as well as those that used to drink under its 

 shade ; which was a great humour and custom, and 

 perhaps gave rise to the other, by observing the growth 

 of the tree, or largeness of the leaves, where much wine 

 was spilt or left, and thrown upon the roots. 



'Tis great pity the haste which Virgil seems here to 

 have been in, should have hindered him from entering 



