BOOK XII. Lix. 129-LX. 131 



kind that comes from India is valued more highly ; 

 it is said to grow there in marshes, hke the lentil, 

 with a scent stronger than that of saffron, a darkish 

 rough appearance, and a sort of salt taste. The 

 white variety is less highly spoken of ; it very quickly 

 acquires a musty smell with age. Malobathrum 

 when placed under the tongue ought to taste hke 

 nard; but its scent when it is put in shghtly 

 warmed wine surpasses any others. In point of 

 price at all events it approaches the marvellous, 

 the pound ranging from one denarius to four 

 hundred, while the leaf itself reaches 60 denarii a 

 pound. 



LX. There is also the oil of unripe berries, which oumadeof 

 is made in two varieties and by two processes, one l^he^s^and 

 kind beinff made from the oHve and one from the ^^£?*' ^ 



rr^i T • 1 1 .1 .11 1 . catk%ns,tmld 



vme. Ihe oiive is pressed while stili white, or an grapes, 

 inferior oil is obtained from the druppa — which is ^iH^HJcun!!^ 

 the name given to an ohve not yet ripe enough to eat 

 but ah-eady beginning to change colour — the differ- 

 ence being that the inferior kind is green and the 

 other white. It is made either from the psithian 

 vine ° or from the vine of Aminaea. The vine is 

 plucked when the grapes are the size of a chick-pea, 

 before the rising of the Dog-star, when the first 

 bloom is on them, and the unripe juice is obtained ; 

 after which the remaining pulp is left to dry in 

 the sun — precaution being taken against nocturnal 

 dews, by storing the grapes in an earthenware 

 vessel — while the unripe juice is collected and at 

 once also put to keep in a C^^prian bronze jar. The 

 best kind is that which is red in colour and rather 



« See XIV. 80. 



91 



