BOOK XV. X. 37-xi. 40 



of which gives a name " to our native quince, and 

 has an exquisite scent. The Naples quince is 

 also highly esteemed. The smaller varicty of the 

 same kind, the sparrow-apple, gives out a rather 

 pungent smell, and ripens late, whereas the must- 

 quince ripens very early. Grafting the ordinary 

 quince on the sparrow-apple has produced a 

 special kind, the Alulvian quince, which is the only 

 one of the quinces that is eaten even raw ; these at 

 the present day are kept shut up in gentlemen's 

 reception-rooms, and are placed on the statues that 

 share our nights with us.'' There is also a small wild 

 quince, the scent of which is the most powerful next 

 to that of the sparrow-apple and which grows in 

 the hedges. 



XI. We give the name of apples, although they Peachesand 

 really belong to a different kind, to peaches and to ?^'^^«"<«'^^ 

 pomegranates, of which we have specified nine kinds xiii. 112. 

 among the trees of Carthage. Pomegranates con- 

 tain a kernel enclosed in a skin, but peaches have a 

 hard stone inside them. Moreover one variety of 

 pear called the pound pear asserts by its name 

 the largeness of its weight. But the palm among 

 poaches belongs to the nectarine : the GalUc and the 

 Asiatic varieties are named after their nationaUties. 

 The Asiatic peach ripens at the end of autumn, 

 though an early variety ripens in summer — these 

 were discovered within the last thirty years, and were 

 at first sold for a denarius apiece. The Adriatic « 

 peach comes from Samnium, but the common peach 

 grows everywhere. It is a harmless fruit, in demand 

 for invaUds, and peaches have before now fetched 

 thirty sesterces each, a price exceeded by no other 

 fruit — which may surprise us, because there is none 



315 



