BARLEY. 51 



and then dried for one night; the succeeding 

 day it was parched or fried, and afterwards 

 ground in a mill, or pounded in a mortar ; 

 the meal was then mixed with coriander and 

 other seeds, with a small portion of salt : 

 when intended to keep, it was put into new 

 earthen vessels. 



It was not until after the Romans had 

 learnt to cultivate wheat, and to make bread, 

 that they gave barley to their cattle. They 

 made barley-meal into balls, which they put 

 down the throats of their horses and asses, 

 after the manner of fattening fowls ; which 

 was said to make them strong and lusty. 



Barley continued to be the food of the 

 poor, who were not able to procure better 

 provision ; and in the Roman camp, as Ve- 

 getius has informed us, soldiers who had 

 been guilty of any offence, were fed with bar- 

 ley, instead of bread corn.* 



An example may also be found in the second 

 Punic war, when the cohorts who lost their 

 standards had an allowance of barley assigned 

 by Marcellus. And Augustus Caesar com- 

 monly punished the cohorts which gave 

 ground to the enemy, by a decimation, and 

 by allowing them no provision but barley, f 



* De Re Militari, lib. i. cap. 13. + Sueton. chap. 24. 



e 2 



