BOOK XV. XXI. 82-xxiii. 85 



for agricultural labourers, prescribcs that they are to 

 be reduced in quantity during the time when the figs 

 are ripe.'* A plan has lately been devised to use a 

 fresh fig instead of salt when eating cheese. To 

 this class, as we have said, belong the Syrian and the xiii. 51. 

 Carian figs and the Caunean figs that, when Marcus 

 Crassus was embarking to sail against the Parthians, 

 gave him an omen by the voice of a man crying them 

 for sale.* All these varieties of fruit were importcd 

 from Syria to his country place at Alba by Lucius 

 VitelUus, afterwards censor, when he was Heutenant- 

 governor in that province, in the latter part of the 

 principate of the emperor Tiberius. 



XXII. Fruits that must be included in the class of ifediar. 

 apples and pears are the medlar and the service-berry. 

 There are three sorts of medlar, the anthedon, the 

 setania, and the third an inferior kind yet rather Hke 



the anthedon, which is called the Gallic medlar. The 

 fruitof the setania is larger and of a palercolour, with 

 a softer pip ; the others have smallcr fruit but with a 

 superior scent and keeping longer. The tree itself 

 is one of the most widely spreading; its leaves turn 

 red before they fall off ; it has a great many roots, 

 which go deep into the ground and consequently it is 

 impossible to grub them up. In Cato's tiine this 

 tree did not exist in Italy. 



XXIII. There are four varieties of service-berry, f?errice- 

 some of them round like an apple, and others of conical ^^''^' 

 shape hke a pear, while others look Hke an egg, as do 

 some kinds of apple. This last variety are Hable to 



be sour, but the round ones excel in scent and sweet- 

 ness, and the rest have a flavour of wine ; the best 

 varieties are those which have their stalks surrounded 

 with tender leaves. The fourth kind is call^^d the 



347 



