66 



CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



beans as an oblation in their solemn sacrifice 

 called Fabaria, a festival held in honour of 

 Carna, wife of Janus. Pliny informs us, that 

 they offered cakes made of bean meal unto 

 certain gods and goddesses, in these ancient 

 rites and ceremonies. Lempriere states, 

 that bacon was added to the beans in the 

 offerings to Carna, not so much to gratify 

 the palate of the goddess, as to represent the 

 simplicity of their ancestors. 



One of the most noble and powerful fa- 

 milies of Rome derived the name of Fabii 

 from some of their ancestors having culti- 

 vated the bean called Faba. 



The meal of beans is the heaviest made 

 from pulse, and was called in Latin lomentum. 

 This was mingled with frumentic corn, whole, 

 and so eaten by the ancients; but they 

 sometimes, by way of having a dainty, bruised 

 it first : it was considered a strong food, and 

 was generally eaten with gruel or pottage. 

 It was thought to dull the senses and under- 

 standing, and to cause troublesome dreams. 

 Pythagoras expressly forbade beans to be 

 eaten by his disciples, because he supposed 

 them to have been produced from the same 

 putrid matter from which, at the creation of 

 the world, man was formed. The Romans at 



