B II F, A ! ). 





citv, and no baker could pass from one into an<> 

 without special permission. The public primaries 

 were committed to their care; th for 



the corn employed in baking bread, that was to be 

 given in largess to the citi/.ens ; and tin- price of the 

 rest .ilated by the magistrate!. No corn 



was given out of these granai for tin- bake- 



houses, and for the private use of the prince. The 

 bakers had besides private granaries, in which t!:ey 

 deposited the grain, which they had taken from the 

 public granaries for immediate u,.e ; :md it any of 

 them happened to be convicted of having diverted 

 any portion of the gram to another use, he was con- 

 demned to a fine of five hundred pounds weight of 

 gold. 



Most of these regulations were soon introduced 

 among the Gauls ; but it was long before they 

 found their way into the more northern countries of 

 Europe. Borrichius informs us, that in Sweden and 

 Norway, the only bread known, so late as the middle 

 of the I6th century, was unleavened cakes kneaded 

 by the women. At what period in our own history 

 the art of baking became a separate profession, we 

 have not been able to ascertain ; but this profession 

 is now common to all the countries in Europe, and 

 the process of baking is nearly the same in all. 



Before we proceed to describe the method of ma- 

 king bread now generally practised, it may not be 

 improper to give some account of the various kinds 

 of bread made use of by the ar.cients. The Romans 

 distinguished their bread by various denominations, 

 according toils various qualities. I. The finest kind, 

 like our white bread, was made- of the purest flour, 

 from a species of wheat called siligo, held in very 

 high estimation. The siligoof Italy was superior to 

 all others, and the best bread was made of a mixture 

 of siligo of Campania, the colour of which inclined 

 to yeliow, with the siligo of Pisa in Etruria, whose 

 colour was exceedingly white. This bread was cal- 

 led prim's si/i<rineiis, and sometimes panix niini->n.;; 

 alhlcliciix. itiii'ti/ri, coliphivt,m&robyf. As its price 

 was high, it was used only by the richest class of 

 citizens. 2. Next in purity to this, w ; s the j,ani.i 

 xecimdux, called also smilaceus or rmilagineut, which 

 wai made of the finest flour, with a slight admix- 

 ture of bran, f?. The next kind was the (titfnpt/rtix, 



,, -times named ayniiiinnsliis, and confusaneus, made, 

 like our household bread, of the whole substance of 

 the wheat, without retrenching either the finer flour, 

 or coarser bran. 4. The worst kind of all, was that 

 called panis sordidu.i, or cacnbaceus, so wretchedly 

 bad as to be fit only for dogs ; it consisted chiedy 

 of bran, from which circumstance it was called fur- 

 fitraceus, J'nifureits, or furfural ivus ; in the middle 

 ages, it was called Listfis on account of its brownness ; 

 and sometimes also Icibo. 



Other kinds of bread were distinguished by par- 

 ticular names, derived either from the uses to which 

 they were applied, or the manner in which they v 

 made. Such were, 1. Pants mililuris, or soldiers 

 bread, which was in general very coarse and ill ba- 

 ked. The state merely furnished the soldiers with 

 corn, and left them to prepare it as they pleased. 

 For this purpose, they were generally provided with 

 handmills, in which having ground their corn very 

 1 



coarsely, or in 1 1' f hand m /-d Bread. 



it in a mortar, or between iw > i ir, ; - V 



kneaded it with thrir o 



tin- coal i. \V<- ar,' told by 11-roi'i.in, .n- 



peror Caracalla, \v\' with hi< 



r bread than tint which he himself had b.iked. 

 " Triti'.-n la manu m>. , es- 



sct, massamciue ex eo i 1ms 



coquens, co vescebatur." 2 Pniiis r; 

 bread which, in the latter d.. -re, was 



distributed to the people, in lieu of the cor 

 they had formerly been accustomed to receive. Thb 

 custom seems to have been fir^t inir xliiced iiy A 

 lian. The loaves which he caused t . be baked in this 

 manner weighed 25 ounces, and each of the r 

 received one of these loaves daily. Sn m 



perors increased their weight to thirty six ounces; 

 and under Theodore they were made of six ounces 

 each, six of which were given instead of a large one 

 as formerly, so that the allowance to the people con- 

 tinued the same. From their round shape, these 

 loaves were sometimes called corona, crowns. This 

 bread was likewise called ptiiiis Jiscalis, because it 

 was paid out of the treasury ; and panix riix/ifiixalo- 

 riux el gradilis, either because it was distributed from 

 an elevated place, or because the people were ranged 

 on the steps of the amphitheatre, or on steps raised 

 on purpose in the market place at Rome, as Con- 

 stantine the Great caused to be done at Constantino- 

 ple. 3. Ctibanilet, bread baked in an oven, by way 

 of 'contradistinction to the, 4. Svbcinerititu <,rsub 

 cinere cactus, that baked under the embers, which 

 was sometimes also called reverxalus, because it was 

 necessary to turn it in baking. There was likewise, 5. 

 The panix nanticux. or naval bread, which answered to 

 our sea biscuit, and was called alsoi/.v cod us, twice ba- 

 ked, whence the modern word bist ved. 6. 

 Panis madidnx. was a kind of bread which the 

 Romans used as a cosmetic for preset ving the fresh- 

 ness of their complexion, and which they put upon 

 their faces in the form of a mask. This bread was 

 made of the flour of beans and the purest wheat. 

 7. I'anix uci'.'Hx was a sour bread acidulated with vine- 

 gar. S. Panis azt/nii<s was bread without levcn, 

 which Celsns has pronounced very good for the sto- 

 mach. Two entire loaves, which are still preser- 



u-ere found in Herculaneum. Each of th 

 loaves is about a palm and a half in diameter, and 

 about live inches thick. They have both ei-^ht cuts 

 or lines on the back; that is to say, they are first di- 

 vided into a cross, the four parts of which are inter- 

 sected by other lines. The ancient Greeks marked 

 their loaves in the same manner, and hence they are 

 called by Hesiod oxIuZtuftti, with eight lines, but 

 sometimes the loaves were divided only in the form of 

 a cross, and they were then denominated quadra, 

 a square, and among the Greeks i/I{T{t/y{, divided 

 into lour pieces. Hence the phrase, nlienii lir. 

 qttadm, to live at another's table. The reason of 

 marking them in this mannner, soems to have b 

 that they might be the more easily broken and divi- 

 ded. 



The French, who particularly excel in the art of 

 baking, have a great many different kinds of 1m ad. 

 Their pain bis, or brown bread, is the coarsest kind 



