Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



olvoi, which Xenophon came across in Asia, must 

 have been some kind of ale. The Greeks held that 

 barley bread strengthened the senses, and especially 

 the eyesight. 



Pearl barley was made into a coarse porridge 

 called ' polenta,' a name afterwards transferred to 

 the finer porridge made of ground chestnuts, and 

 now used of the porridge made of maize. Pliny, 

 if his text be right, implied that the finer porridge 

 made of lentil meal was the earlier use of Italy, and 

 that they took the coarser porridge from the Greeks, 

 whose word for it is ^ofS/oo?. 



Barley was given to mules as we give oats to 

 horses, but draught cattle were said to have no 

 liking for it. 



Virgil accepts the Greek belief that barley, if ill 

 cultivated, would degenerate into darnel (Ec. v. 36). 

 His epithet contrasts the stem with the stronger 

 stem of wheat. 



Italian name, Orzo. 

 Hyacinthus and Vaccinium. 



"^ ' suave rubens hyacinthus ' {Ec. iii. 63). 

 'ferrugineos hyacinthos' (Ge. iv. 183). 

 ■*' latus niveum niolli fultus hyacintho ' (Ec. vi. 53). 

 ' ille comam mollis iam tondebat hyacinthi ' {Ge. iv. 137). 

 ' vaccinia nigra leguntur ' {Ec. ii. 18). 

 ' et nigrae violae sunt et vaccinia nigra ' {Ec. x. 39). 



It seems probable that ' vaccinium ' is the Latin 

 form of va.KivOo'i, and in our last passage it takes its 

 place, Virgil following the line of Theocritus, 



56 



