Oliva, or Olea 



this must not be taken quite literally. In his day, 

 as now, the ground under the branches was dug 

 every year, every few years manure was applied, and 

 every eighth year some pruning was done. Virgil 

 means that all this was nothing to the many labours 

 of the vineyard. 



Concerning the use of olives and oil for food, for 

 cookery, for an unguent, and for artificial light, there 

 are a few touches in the poems. There is the oil 

 lamp that sputters as a sign of coming rain 

 (Ge. i. 393) ; there is the slippery oil with which 

 above the cliffs of Actium the Trojan athletes 

 anointed themselves to celebrate their escape from 

 their Greek foes (Ae. iii. 281) ; and there is the fling 

 at the town exquisite who spoils his unguent with 

 perfumes (Ge. ii. 466). The victors in the games 

 are crowned with olive blossoms, which drop upon 

 their yellow pollen (Ae. v. 309). The victim on the 

 altar burns the quicker for the oil that is poured 

 over it (Ae. vi. 254). Nor does the use of oil cease 

 with a man's life. Together with frankincense and 

 food it has its place on the funeral pyre (ib. 225). 



Just as in Bentley's phrase the very dust of 

 Pearson's writings is gold, so the watery part of 

 the olive (amurca) was valuable for steeping seeds 

 (Ge. i. 194), for use in a sheep dip (Ge. iii. 448), and 

 for other purposes. 



In face of all these uses it seems strange that for 

 a farm of sixty acres Cato gives the olive only the 

 fourth place. First comes the vineyard and then 

 the irrigated garden and the willow bed. 



9 1 



