BOOK XVI. Lwi. 170-LXV11. 173 



prepared the reeds began to be fit for iise a few 

 years latcr, thougli even then the actual flutes needed 

 maturing with a great deal of practice, and educating 

 to sing of themselves, with the tongues pressing 

 themselves down, which was more serviceable for 

 the theatrical fashions then prevaiUng. But after 

 variety came into fashion, and luxury even in music, 

 the reeds began to be cut before midsummer and 

 made ready for use in three years, their tongues 

 being wider open to modulate the sounds, and these 

 continue to the present day. But at that time it 

 was firmly beUeved that only a tongue cut from the 

 same reed as the pipe in each case would do, and that 

 one taken from just above the root was suitable for a 

 left-hand flute and one from just below the top for a 

 right-hand ^ flute ; and reeds that had been washed 

 by the waters of Cephisus itself were rated as im- 

 measurably superior. At the present time the flutes 

 used by the Tuscans in rehgious ritual are made of 

 box-wood, but those for theatrical performances are 

 made of lotus and asses' bones and silver. The 

 reeds most approved for fowhng come from Palermo, 

 and those to make fishing-rods are from Abarsa in 

 Africa. 



LXVII. In Italy the reed is chiefly employed to iiaiianreeds 

 serve as a prop for vines. Cato recommends planting f^'' p^'*?^- 

 it in damp lands, after first working the soil with a «.«.vi.3,4. 

 double mattock, a space a yard wide being left between 

 the shoots '^ ; and he says that at the same time also 

 wild asparagus, from which garden asparagus is 

 produced, associates in friendship with it, and so 

 does willow when planted round it — the willow 

 being the most useful of the water-plants, although 

 vines like poplars and the Caecuban vines are trained 



499 



